Teen to be Sentenced for Role in Downtown Shootings

After for a playing role in two November shootings in the downtown Riverhead area, 18-year-old Juan Soyos-Pixtun is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday in Suffolk County Criminal Court on eight felony charges.

Soyos-Pixtun was originally charged with attempted murder in the second degree, among other charges, after police said he shot a man with a 9mm hangun in Polish Town a week after shooting another man outside the t on West Main Street.

Soyos-Pixtun shot a 20-year-old Riverhead man with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun on Nov. 10 around 10:21 p.m. near Marcy Avenue and Pulaski Street. Police arrived to find the victim on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper leg, according to Lt. Robert Peeker. Witnesses at the scene told police that Soyos-Pixtun was the shooter, according to a police statement. The man's wounds were described as "non-life-threatening," police said.

Peeker added that an investigation revealed Soyos-Pixtun as the shooter in what they said was an unrelated incident on Nov. 4, when police said  downtown outside the  on West Main Street at about 10 p.m.

Surveillance footage from the night of the first shooting allegedly shows Soyos-Pixtun in an altercation with the victim inside the  moments before the shooting, though no audio exists on the tape, said Riverhead Police Detective Robert Boden.

He was arrested and and has been in custody since mid-November. An indictment unsealed on Nov. 22 downgraded the attempted murder charge to assault in the second degree.

The office of District Attorney Thomas Spota is requesting seven years of jail time, plus five years of probation, for Soyos-Pixtun. However Soyos-Pixtun, an undocumented immigrant, will be subject to a hearing through Immigration and Customs Enforcement upon completion of his sentence and will likely be deported to Guatemala.

Soyos-Pixtun pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted assault in the first degree, four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and two counts of assault in the second degree.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Soyos-Pixtun had pleaded guilty to seven felonies. He pleaded guilty to eight, including two - not one - counts of second-degree assault.