Riverhead, NY – A Suffolk County jury has convicted a 61-year-old man of murder for fatally shooting a 23-year-old father-to-be during a violent confrontation outside a family home, prosecutors announced Thursday.
District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said Brent Henry was found guilty of Murder in the Second Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree in the killing of Ines Reyes, who was just weeks away from welcoming his first child.
According to trial evidence, the violence began on August 18, 2023, when Henry and Reyes fought inside the Bellport home Reyes shared with his girlfriend, who is also Henry’s niece. Reyes and his girlfriend later went to a house on Amsterdam Avenue in East Patchogue to be with relatives. Henry arrived soon after, confronting Reyes outside the residence. A second fight broke out before Henry retrieved a .40 caliber handgun from his vehicle and fired multiple shots, striking Reyes in front of his girlfriend.
Reyes was rushed to Long Island Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Henry was arrested the following day.
The jury delivered its verdict on October 2 after a trial before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz. Henry faces up to 25 years to life in prison when sentenced on November 7.
Assistant District Attorneys Elena Tomaro of the Homicide Bureau and Jonathan Cappiello of the Major Crime Bureau prosecuted the case with support from Suffolk homicide detectives.
