An Arizona man pleaded guilty to the shooting death of his friend on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR).
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, Nicholas D’Agostino arrived in Long Island on February 13, 2022, after traveling from Arizona to meet the victim, Yusef Staine. On February 15, 2022, the pair, along with two other friends, took an LIRR train from Wyandanch to New York City. In the early morning hours of February 16, 2022, Staine and D’Agostino boarded an LIRR train back to Suffolk County. After missing their stop in Wyandanch, the pair then boarded a westbound train in Ronkonkoma.
Upon boarding that westbound train, D’Agostino pulled a gun from his jacket pocket and shot Staine in the back of the head while walking behind him. When Staine fell to the ground, D’Agostino then fired a second shot into Staine’s torso, then got off the train. D’Agostino ordered a Lyft which picked him up less than a mile from the Ronkonkoma train station and brought him to Yonkers. D’Agostino ultimately boarded a Greyhound bus destined for Arizona.
An extensive investigation by members of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad led to D’Agostino’s ultimate apprehension and arrest in Yonkers on May 18, 2023.
On January 29, 2025, D’Agostino, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder, a Class A felony, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both Class C felonies.
“This defendant took the life of his own friend, Yusef Staine, who was just 20 years old at the time of the murder,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “While we were able to secure this substantial sentence of incarceration, there is no legal consequence that can repair the harm done to Mr. Staine or his loved ones.”
D’Agostino is due back in court on March 10, 2025, and is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.