LIBERTY — Two juveniles were arrested Tuesday, June 2, after a shooting investigation that began Saturday night in the Village of Liberty, according to the Village of Liberty Police Department.

Police said officers responded to the area of South Main Street at about 10:15 p.m. on May 30 for a report of a gunshot victim. Officers found a 17-year-old juvenile with an apparent gunshot wound to his foot and provided medical aid, including applying a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

According to police, the victim had been shot at twice. One bullet struck his foot, while a second struck a backpack he was wearing, narrowly missing his body. Officers from Liberty Police, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police searched the area for two suspects who fled on foot, including with the assistance of a State Police K-9 unit, but did not immediately locate them.

Liberty Police detectives and officers, assisted by State Police investigators, later identified the suspects as a 15-year-old male juvenile from Monticello and a 16-year-old male juvenile from Liberty. Police said both juveniles surrendered to the Liberty Police Department at about 1 p.m. Tuesday after roughly 60 hours of investigation and searches.

Both juveniles were charged with first-degree assault, a class B violent felony, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, class C violent felonies.

The 16-year-old was arraigned in Sullivan County Youth Court before Judge E. Danielle Jose-Decker. Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty requested that he be held in a secure juvenile detention facility pending further court appearances. Jose-Decker remanded him to the custody of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office for placement in secure juvenile detention.

The 15-year-old was arraigned in Sullivan County Youth Court before Judge Jacqueline Ricciani. Conaty also requested that he be held in a secure juvenile detention facility, but Ricciani released him to his own recognizance under the supervision of the Sullivan County Probation Department and his legal guardian. He is due back in court at a later date.

In a statement, Liberty Police Chief Steven D’Agata commended the officers and detectives involved in the investigation, as well as Conaty, assistant district attorneys and investigators.

D’Agata also criticized New York’s juvenile justice system, specifically the state’s 2018 Raise the Age legislation, saying it has failed to adequately address violent juvenile offenders.

“Put very plainly, a 15-year-old juvenile was charged with shooting a member of our community with an illegally possessed firearm, fled law enforcement for more than two days, and once arrested and charged, was immediately returned to the supervision of the same guardian under whose care these dangerous acts allegedly occurred,” D’Agata stated.

Police emphasized that criminal charges are allegations and are not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.