RIVERHEAD MAN SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MANSLAUGHTER AND CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON FOR 2021 FATAL SHOOTING

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Marcus Reid, 24, of Riverhead, was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision, after pleading guilty to manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon for the fatal shooting of Branzel Bonner, 25, of Riverhead, in December 2021.

“Today’s sentence brings justice to Mr. Bonner’s family and also removes this dangerous defendant from our streets in Suffolk County,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Anyone threatening the safety of our neighborhoods, particularly with gun violence, will be held accountable.”

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.

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

On March 11, 2024, Justice Braslow sentenced Reid to 20 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision. He was represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Detectives Patrick Portela and Kenneth Buckheit of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Section.

###

Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

725 Veterans Memorial Highway ● Building 77 ● Hauppauge, NY 11788 ● 631.852.3185

SuffolkCountyNY.gov/DA ● twitter.com/RayTierneyDA ● instagram.com/RayTierneyDA