A confused castaway washed up on Jones Beach with a loaded gun and told a puzzled jogger he had been lost at sea for days.
The man was being evaluated at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.
State Park Police identified him as Pablo Perez, a 47-year-old resident of Flushing, Queens.
Police say a jogger encountered Perez on the boardwalk at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, wearing a wet suit under his clothes.
They say Perez told first responders he was carrying a gun. Police seized the gun and discovered it was loaded.
"He just looked confused and dazed … He looked like he needed some sort of help,” the jogger, Gary Smith, told the New York Post. "He told me he was fishing and that his raft was tied to another boat and became detached and he drifted out to sea. It was all very incredible."
A 9-foot raft was found along the shore. The U.S. Coast Guard told police it had no reports of a missing fishing boat.
The investigation is ongoing.
