RIVERHEAD MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER AND CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON IN 2021 FATAL SHOOTING

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Marcus Reid, 24, of Riverhead, pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, for the fatal shooting of Branzel Bonner, 25, during a robbery in December 2021.

“A life was taken far too soon,” said District Attorney Tierney. “While this plea cannot undo the victim’s death, I thank the prosecutor on this case for securing the defendant’s conviction and holding him accountable for this senseless fatal shooting.”

According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on December 2, 2021, at approximately 9:50 a.m., in the woods behind 50 Middle Country Road in Coram, Reid fired multiple rounds from a semiautomatic .40 caliber handgun at the ground below Bonner’s feet, demanding that he hand over his fanny pack. When Bonner refused, Reid repeatedly shot Bonner in the torso. Reid then attempted to remove Bonner’s fanny pack from his motionless body, but was unsuccessful, so he instead removed the contents. Reid then fled the scene. Bonner was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Hospital within an hour of the shooting.

In his haste to flee, Reid dropped his own debit card at the scene which was recovered by law enforcement and was also captured on surveillance video.

On February 7, 2024, Reid pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Stephen L. Braslow, to Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class B felony, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon, a Class C felony.

Reid is due back in court on March 11, 2024, and is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision. He is being represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.

This case is being prosecuted by Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau, with investigative assistance from retired Detectives Patrick Portela and Kenneth Buckheit of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Section.

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