A Huntington Station man threatened to kill a 7-Eleven clerk Tuesday morning after the clerk denied him the purchase of a pack of cigarettes, according to Suffolk police.

The man, Hector Gonzalez, was later arrested in Melville with two other Huntington Station men who police said were also involved in the altercation. Police said one of the men was also found with two illegal loaded guns, which were seized.

The dispute began at around 11:05 a.m. at the 837 Walt Whitman Road store in Huntington Station, where Gonzalez attempted to buy a pack of cigarettes, police said. A clerk at the store asked for ID which Gonzalez, 26, did not provide, and the clerk denied him the sale since it’s illegal in Suffolk to sell cigarettes to those under age 21.

Gonzalez then went out to his car and returned to the store with two other men and what appeared to be a gun in his waistband, police said. Gonzalez then allegedly threatened to kill the clerk.

The clerk wrote down the license plate of the vehicle the men arrived in, and one of the men, 18-year-old Oscar Madrid, pulled the note out of the clerk’s hand, police said. Gonzalez, Madrid and the third man, 18-year-old Timothy Flythe, fled in the vehicle, which was driven by Gonzalez’ mother.

After the men fled the clerk called 911, police said. A Melville Fire Department paramedic who was listening to the police scanner saw the suspects’ vehicle and called police. The vehicle was pulled over by First Precinct officers near Route 110 and Route 109 in Farmingdale at around 11:19 a.m.

Police said that’s when the two illegal loaded handguns, which belonged to Flythe, were found.

Gonzalez is charged with second-degree menacing and a bench warrant; Timothy Flythe is charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon; and Oscar Madrid is charged with fourth-degree grand larceny.

All three men were being held at the Second Precinct in Huntington and were scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday after deadline.

Flythe was also arrested and charged last year in connection with several stolen all-terrain vehicles, according to court records and a previous report in The Long-Islander. He’s next scheduled to appear in court for that case on Feb. 27.

Gonzalez has two open cases in Nassau First District Court, according to online records.

-WROBLEWSKI

The Long Islander

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