Press Release – June 28, 2021 – Weapons Arrest

On June 27th, 2021, beginning at approximately 6:00 pm, The Long Beach Police Department monitored what is referred to as a “Sunset Party” which took place in the vicinity of Edwards Blvd and the Ocean Beach Park. This was a planned, informal event administered on social media that the Police Department was prepared and staffed for. The “Sunset Party” consisted of large groups of students who have recently graduated from numerous area High Schools which included Baldwin High School, Freeport High School, Hempstead High School, Uniondale High School and Valley Stream High Schools. In addition, students from High Schools in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens also attended the event. There was no reported criminal activity during the event and the attendees were cooperative. The number of attendees, at its largest, was approximately 2,500 persons.

At approximately 11:00 pm, the Long Beach Police Department began closing the Ocean Beach Park and the Boardwalk. At approximately 12:10 am, as the crowd was mostly dispersed and thinning, several Long Beach Police Officers assigned to the Sunset Party heard numerous gun shots being fired in the vicinity of West Broadway and West Penn Street. At this time, officers quickly ran toward the area of where they heard the gun shots being fired and observed four males in the vicinity of 25 West Broadway. The four males were stopped by Officers, three of complied. A fourth male, 18 year old Deandre K Oates from Hempstead, was observed by Officers holding a bulky item in his waistband. At this point, Oates began to flee the area jumping over a chain linked fence. Officers pursed Oates and observed Oates throw an object in a nearby yard. Subsequently, Officers discovered that the object Oates threw was a loaded firearm with a defaced serial number. Oates was taken into Police Custody and charged with Criminal Possession of a Firearm Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Firearm Third Degree and Defacement of a Firearm. A second individual in the group, 18 year old Tyreek Williams also of Hempstead, was arrested for an active Arrest Warrant.