Crime & Safety

An In-Depth Look at the Bellmore Shooting with Full 911 Audio

A comprehensive overview of the incident.

Tuesday night’s shooting of Bellmore firefighter Justin Angell has sent shock waves through not just all of Bellmore, but across Long Island.

A motive is still unknown after a crazed gunman opened fire on the same people who were coming to his aid after crashing his pickup truck on Bellmore Avenue.

The Accident

Find out what's happening in Bellmorewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At 9:57 p.m. on Tuesday the first 911 call came in to the Bellmore Fire Department and Seventh Precinct for a car that had crashed into a pole on Bellmore Avenue near Claxton Avenue.

Moments later, Bellmore firefighters first arrived to the scene of a single-car accident.

Find out what's happening in Bellmorewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Justin’s brother, Dean Angell, was driving the ambulance with Justin and one other member of the fire department. Behind them was Chief of Department Robert Taylor and firefighter Matt Podolski.

As Justin approached the vehicle the driver began to fire off shots from an SKS 7 — a semi-automatic carbine rifle.

When the shots first rang out, Justin said he felt a sharp pain in his back. He said he knew something was wrong and quickly ran the other way.

“Once I felt the pain I just started running as fast as I could,” he said.

The 20-year-old firefighter made it to the front lawn of a house on Bellmore Avenue and collapsed.

Dean backed up the ambulance and put it between the gunman and the wounded firefighter. At the time, Dean was not aware the firefighter was his brother.

Dean, along with the other members of the fire department, ran to Justin’s aid, put him into the ambulance, pulled down Marion Street and transported him to Nassau University Medical Center.

The fire department’s transmission of the event can be heard here. The audio of the fire department is only the first four minutes of the video.

Police Arrive

According to Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, two Seventh Precinct units and a canine unit, arrived shortly after Justin was transported to the hospital.

The officer with the canine unit, who had overheard the Seventh Precinct’s transmission, responded to the scene, according to Mulvey. When he exited his vehicle, he noticed the laser sights of the SKS 7 honed in on him. He quickly retreated behind the gunman’s vehicle, taking any clear shot away from the driver.

The first Seventh Precinct unit arrived on the scene shortly after and noticed the laser sights then set on him. According to Mulvey, the officer took cover behind his vehicle as several shots from the SKS 7 were fired. The officer also returned fire on the gunman.

As a second Seventh Precinct unit arrived, the officer from the canine unit got into a tactical position, Mulvey said.

According to Mulvey, the second Seventh Precinct officer thought the gunfire was coming from away from the accident and was unaware that he exited his vehicle just six feet from the barrel of the gunman’s weapon. He immediately retreated behind his vehicle.

Mulvey said that as the gunman was focused on the two officers from the Seventh Precinct, the officer from the canine unit crept up along the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle and opened fire on him. The suspect was pronounced dead at the the scene.

The police department’s transmission can be heard here. The audio of the police department is from four minutes into the video until the end.

The Shooter

The gunman responsible for the shooting is believed to be 31-year-old Jason Beller, although police will not confirm his identity.

Beller moved to Commack from Florida within the last year and had a wife and one child on Long Island.

Beller was described by police as "a man that was armed to commit mayhem." He was armed with a total of six weapons, which included four long-barrel guns and two handguns.

While motives are still only a matter of speculation, according to Suffolk Police, there had been a 911 call to Beller's Commack home around 8 p.m. on Tuesday night for a domestic disturbance.

The female complainant, believed to be Beller's wife, was taken to the precinct and spoke with a domestic advocate, Suffolk Police said. She declined to press charges and declined emergency housing because she was staying with a friend.

Suffolk Police also confirmed that when they arrived at the home, that Beller’s car was there but he refused to answer the door. At no point was there contact between officers and Beller, and there was no need for forced entry since the female involved declined to press charges.

"It is clear to us that this man was out to commit mayhem somewhere in this county," Mulvey said. "... He happened to run into that pole, and he committed that mayhem on this young firefighter and attempted to commit it on the police officers."

According to Nassau Police, Beller had been arrested for petit larceny in the past, but had no violent crimes on his record. Police are unsure as to why Beller was in Bellmore at the time of the incident.

Police confirmed that there was an open can of beer in the suspect's car, as well as several unconsumed cans of beer. There was also prescription medication, but the police are awaiting the toxicological reports for definite answers in regards to alcohol and drugs.

Firefighter Recovers

Later in the evening, Nassau County Police Department Detective Lieutenant Kevin Smith gave word that Justin was in “pretty good” condition at the NUMC.

Less then 12 hours later, it was reported that Justin was in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.

By early Wednesday morning, Justin was posting an update on his Facebook page that he "feels ok just got up and walked a bit."

After being discharged from the hospital late Thursday morning, Justin was on hand for a press conference, during which he elaborated on the details of what happened and talked about what he was thinking during the ordeal.

“It was scary. ... It didn’t make much sense,” he said. “It just happened so quick, I didn’t really know what was going on.”

Justin left the hospital shortly after the press conference and returned to his home in Bellmore. According to him, he wants to get back to work as soon as possible.

Procedure

While the Bellmore firefighters are fully trained to respond to various incidents, fire officials were pressed at Thursday’s press conference as to what more could be done to protect the volunteers.

When asked about the possibility of putting bulletproof vests on all firefighters, Taylor said, “I don’t know if we’ll go that far. ... We approach every scene with caution and we’re going to continue to do so.”

The shooting might add a new dynamic to the way things are handled in the future, and Taylor said that the fire department will continue to evaluate its procedures.

“It’s still hard to grasp all of this,” he said. “… We will be overlooking the procedures again.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.