New York shooting suspect indicted for allegedly murdering friend at LIRR train station

An Arizona man was charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing a friend on the Long Island Railroad in New York in February 2022.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced the indictment of Nicholas D’Agostino, 20, who is accused of murdering 20-year-old Yusef Staine in an execution-style shooting.

D’Agostino faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Investigators claim on Feb. 13, 2022, D’Agostino traveled from Arizona and arrived in Wyandanch to visit Staine. Two days later, the two men, along with two others, took the train into New York City from Wyandanch.

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D’Agostino and Staine returned to Suffolk County during the early morning hours the next day, and surveillance footage provided by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Police showed the two missed their stop at Wyandanch.

Once the train stopped in Ronkonkoma, the two men exited the train and caught the next one heading west, back to Wyandanch.

While getting onto the westbound train, the DA’s office said in a press release, D’Agostino walked behind Staine and shot him once in the back of the head. Stain collapsed to the ground, the DA said, before D’Agostino shot him once more in the torso.

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After the shooting, investigators learned D’Agostino fled the train station. Suffolk County Police collected additional surveillance video that allowed the department to track D’Agostino’s movements leading up to, during, and following the shooting.

Investigators also used cell phone data to track D’Agostino’s movements.

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After a year-long investigation, Suffolk County Police Department detectives arrested D’Agostino on May 18, 2023, in Yonkers, New York, and the next day, he was arraigned in Suffolk County by Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski.

Judge Pilewski ordered D’Agostino be held without bail. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison on the count of murder.

"The defendant allegedly executed someone who considered him a friend. This defendant thought he could get away with it because he was wearing a mask and then fled Suffolk County, but he was clearly wrong," Tierney said. "Due to the great investigative work done by our Suffolk County prosecutors, investigators, and police, we were able to determine the defendant’s identity and charge him with this brutal murder. Let it be clear – if you seek to harm our citizens here in Suffolk, you may run, but you cannot hide, because we will continue to pursue you until you are held responsible for your crimes."

Veteran-owned clothing brand says it discovered one of its suppliers uses cotton from slave labor region

A veteran-owned clothing brand put one of its suppliers on notice after it was allegedly using cotton from a slave labor region in China. 

Tyler Merritt, veteran and CEO of Nine Line Apparel, joined "Fox & Friends" to share why he conducts isotopic testing on fabric to determine where it comes from and why he wants his products to come from sustainable sources. 

"It's very similar to a DNA test. So, it compares isotopes from a region in Xinjiang, China– This is a region where people are forced to work indefinitely for the simple fact of being born a Muslim– So, we test this material, and we've identified that Next Level apparel, doing business as YS Garments, which is the country... the importer of record… you know, that's what came back consistent with Xinjiang cotton, not once, but a second time that we tested at a different lot, a different batch from a different distribution center came back as being consistent as well" he said.

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The Chinese Communist Party reportedly uses Xinjiang, a northwestern region in China, to detain Uyghur Muslims in detention camps and subjects them to conditions of forced labor, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. 

Merritt said his company tested the fabric from its other suppliers, but it did not have the "consistency with this slave region." 

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He added that he spoke with the CEO of Next Level, a wholesaler producer and seller of blank apparel, who told him the company has a "zero tolerance policy" for forced labor but didn’t "elaborate really what that means." 

"And that's what I'm doing here. You know, their lawyers have hit me up on a weekly, monthly basis telling me to stop testing, telling me to– essentially that they've got this under control. They're going to do testing from here on out, and they're going to self-govern. But that's unacceptable to me," Merrit told co-host Pete Hegseth. 

Next Level told Fox News in a statement, "Forced labor is considered a zero-tolerance issue and any confirmed instances of forced labor by our suppliers with any factories and mills that produce garments, accessories or fabric, or use of cotton grown in Xinjiang may result in termination of the business relationship." 

Merritt shared that he would encourage other businesses to find out where their stuff is being made. 

"I take products like Next Level and I relabel them not just for myself, but for our partners. I do private labels for some of my military units. I do it for church groups and school groups that my kids go to. And a lot of people don't realize that their product may derive from the slave trade. And these are church organizations or school groups that people who, you know, visit my stores that are extremely patriotic. And at the very least, we want ethical sourcing," he said. 

"We do look for USA-made, right? This hoodie is made in the US. This shirt is made in the U.S. Our product line is very wide and robust with USA-made options, but at the very least you need to pay humans in South America, Central America and Asia. It's a minimal ethical standard. I think that everyone can get behind it. The CEOs of the companies that I work with have committed themselves to do so," he said. 

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