Family Of Bushwick Teen Killed By NYPD Demands Answers At Funeral

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — The family of Bushwick teen Sergio Reyes has many unanswered questions after their son was fatally shot by police on Sunday, said Reyes' father, Antonio Tlapanco, at a press conference outside their son's funeral Wednesday evening.

Reyes' parents appeared to be in deep mourning as they spoke to reporters outside the Ortiz Funeral Home.

In a statement written in Spanish, Tlapanco said he and his family want a thorough and independent investigation into the 18-year-old's death — and an answer as to why he was shot 14 times.

"Sergio was 18 years old, he was our son, our brother, an affectionate and good person," Tlapanco said. "As a parent, I can not believe that I am burying one of my children... He should not have been sentenced to death on the street."

According to the NYPD, police officers shot and killed Reyes after he robbed a grocery store with a realistic-looking pellet gun Sunday.

The teen was shot in his heart, lungs, aorta, spinal cord, liver, stomach and bones, according to the NYC Medical Examiner's office. His death is being treated as a homicide, the medical examiner said.

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn DA said the fatal police-involved shooting was being reviewed.

"There are many questions about the NYPD account that have not been answered," Jesus Gonzalez, deputy director of Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), said Wednesday. "Why was he shot 14 times? ... On a residential block with children and families? ... There needs to be more information given to this family."

City Council Member Antonio Reynoso, who represents the Bushwick neighborhood at City Hall, came to the funeral to offer his condolences to Reyes' family and publicly demand a thorough investigation into the police shooting.

According to the NYPD, three officers from the 83rd Precinct responded to a call of a robbery at gunpoint at the Garden Deli at Irving Avenue and Starr Street in Bushwick at around 12:40 a.m.

Once at the deli, the officers talked to witnesses and gathered evidence about the robbery, police said. The officers then saw Reyes walking west on Starr Street, according to the NYPD.

Officers "gave verbal commands and engaged the suspect in front of 169 Starr Street," Chief of Patrol Terence A. Monahan said. Reyes allegedly raised his fake firearm toward the officers — at which point they fired at the teen, striking him 14 times, Monahan said.

Photos by Sarah Kaufman/Patch