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One of the men arrested in the shooting of a man on a Flanders street Oct. 15 has been indicted by a Suffolk grand jury on felony charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

Kwame Opoku, 32, of Mastic Beach, was arraigned Monday on all three felony charges, according to Bob Clifford, spokesperson for Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota. Opoku pleaded not guilty and was held in lieu of $250,000 cash bail, according to online Suffolk County Criminal Court records.

Opoku’s codefendant, Emmanuel Coleman, of Riverhead, pleaded guilty on Oct. 24 to a charge of hindering prosecution in the third degree and was sentenced to time served, Clifford said. Coleman was sent to prison for one year for violating parole, he said.

The victim in the attack was shot outside his home on McKinley Street at about 3 p.m. on the afternoon of Oct. 15. He was critically injured and airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital where he had emergency surgery, according to Southampton Town Police.

Opoku and the victim had been involved in a verbal altercation earlier in the day, police said in an Oct. 16 press release.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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