What started as a baby shower at the North Amityville Fire Department ended in gunfire, shattered glass, and a man now headed to prison for 24 years to life.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced that Michael Lyles, 37, of Central Islip, was sentenced after a jury found him guilty in connection with a January 27, 2024 shooting outside the fire department in North Amityville.
According to prosecutors, Lyles had arrived as a guest for the baby shower. But as the celebration was winding down, a large fight broke out inside involving several people at the event, including Lyles.
Then things escalated fast.
As people spilled out into the parking lot, surveillance video captured Lyles running to the vehicle he had arrived in, opening the passenger-side doors, and grabbing a gun, prosecutors said. Investigators said he then pointed the weapon toward another guest and fired 10 times.
Instagram post @raytierneyda
The intended target was not hit. But the bullets slammed into a gray Toyota Highlander, punching holes through the windshield, hood, and driver’s side panels. Authorities said the vehicle was unoccupied at the time, avoiding what could have been an even worse outcome.
The case turned on the evidence left behind and the video that captured what happened.
Police recovered ten 9 mm shell casings at the scene. Surveillance footage helped identify Lyles as the suspected shooter, according to prosecutors. When investigators later executed a search warrant at his home, they said they recovered the sweatshirt he was seen wearing in the video.
But the story did not end there.
After the shooting, prosecutors said Lyles handed the gun to another person who fled the scene. They also said he later violated parole, became non-compliant, and fled the area altogether. With help from the United States Marshals Service, law enforcement tracked his movements and caught up with him about seven months after the shooting.
That past mattered in court.
Prosecutors said Lyles had already been convicted in 2018 of attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree for possessing a loaded firearm. He had been released to parole supervision in 2022 and was still on parole when this shooting happened.
A jury convicted Lyles on November 25, 2025 of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. On March 23, 2026, he was sentenced to 24 years to life in prison.
What makes this case especially unsettling is how quickly an ordinary family gathering in North Amityville turned into a shooting scene. A baby shower ended with shell casings scattered in a fire department parking lot, a bullet-riddled SUV, and a man who prosecutors said was once again carrying a loaded gun despite a prior violent felony conviction.
Photo: SCDA
