Calverton man indicted after shooting at vigil in Bellport
A Calverton man who allegedly opened fire on mourners attending a July 6 candlelight vigil in Bellport was indicted by a Suffolk County jury Oct. 6, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
Steven Reid, 27, allegedly fled New York after the shooting. He was arrested in North Carolina following a weeks-long investigation.
“This defendant allegedly opened fire on an unsuspecting community gathered to mourn the loss of a loved one,” Mr. Tierney said. “His alleged actions severely injured two individuals and put countless others in harm’s way. He then fled Suffolk County to try to avoid responsibility for these alleged actions. Through the great investigative work of our Suffolk County detectives, prosecutors and investigators, we were able to track him down, apprehend him and bring him back to Suffolk County, where he will face these charges.”
According to the investigation, more than 100 people gathered in Bellport to celebrate the life of a community member who had died in a motorcycle accident days before. At the end of the candlelight vigil, Mr. Reid became involved in a physical altercation with another man in attendance.
During the confrontation, Mr. Reid pulled out a gun and shot the man at point-blank range in the upper right thigh. The bullet shattered the man’s femur, passed through his leg, and lodged in his right shin. Vigil attendees placed a tourniquet on the man’s leg and rushed him to the hospital, where he later underwent emergency surgery to replace his shattered femur with metal rods and pins.
Minutes after that incident, the defendant followed the dispersing crowd and opened fire on another group of vigil attendees.
Mr. Reid allegedly shot at another man from close range. That victim suffered four gunshot wounds to his back, shoulder and both legs. Immediately thereafter, Mr. Reid twice opened fire at an adult female and then shot at another group of people, including one woman and a 9-year-old boy, as they were running away to a nearby residence.
The Suffolk County Police Department’s Fifth Precinct Detective Squad launched an investigation after Mr. Reid fled the scene. He remained at large until he was located on Sept. 19, in North Carolina by U. S. Marshals.
On Sept. 26, the Fugitive Unit of the SCPD returned Mr. Reid to New York to face charges related to the shootings, including two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and one count of reckless endangerment in the first degree.
Mr. Reid was arraigned on the indictment Oct. 6 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Philip Goglas, who ordered that he be remanded without bail or bond for the duration of the case.
