A Central Islip man was found guilty of a January 2024 shooting that occurred in the parking lot of a baby shower held at the North Amityville Fire Department.
On January 27, 2024, Michael Lyles arrived at the North Amityville Fire Department as a guest for a baby shower. As the party was ending, a large fight broke out inside the event, involving several individuals attending the baby shower, including the defendant. As people began moving outside, surveillance video captured Lyles running to the vehicle he arrived in, opening both passenger side doors, and retrieving a firearm. He then pointed the firearm in the direction of another party guest and began discharging his firearm 10 times, striking another guest’s vehicle multiple times. The intended victim was unharmed, and the vehicle was unoccupied at the time of the shooting.
Immediately after the shooting, Lyles handed off the firearm to another individual who fled the scene. Suffolk County police officers responded to the scene and located ten nine-millimeter shell casings and a gray Toyota Highlander with multiple bullet holes through the windshield, front hood, and side panels of the driver’s side of the vehicle. Through video surveillance footage, Lyles was identified as a suspect and a search warrant was executed at his residence. During the execution of the search warrant, law enforcement recovered the sweatshirt that the defendant was wearing on video surveillance footage during the shooting.
On November 25, 2025, Lyles, 37, was convicted after a jury trial heard before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski of two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, both Class C violent felonies.
In 2018, Lyles was convicted of Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony, for possessing a loaded firearm. Lyles was released to parole supervision in 2022 and was on parole at the time of this incident. After committing this crime, Lyles became non-compliant with his condition of parole and ultimately fled the jurisdiction. Law enforcement tracked Lyles’ movements with assistance from the United States Marshals Service, and he was apprehended approximately seven months after the shooting.
Pilewski remanded Lyles into custody after the verdict. Lyles is due back in court on January 13, 2026, for sentencing and faces 25 years to life in prison.
“This defendant, a convicted felon on parole, discharged a loaded weapon at another individual ten times in the parking lot of a fire department after a baby shower,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “This conviction ensures that a dangerous repeat offender is held accountable for his actions. Our community will not tolerate individuals who bring guns to gatherings and open fire.”