Prosecutor: Suspect admits shooting Suffolk cop in the face and killing an acquaintance

A Suffolk County judge ordered a Bay Shore man accused of shooting a police officer in the face and killing a 66-year-old acquaintance with a machete to be held without bail on Friday in Central Islip.

The 33-year-old officer, who has not been identified by the Suffolk County Police Department, was released from Stony Brook University Hospital on Friday morning and is expected to make a full recovery, officials said.

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Dena Rizopoulos told District Judge Steven Weissbard that Nieves F. Reyes, 48, waived his right to remain silent and admitted during a videotaped confession to killing Eugene Allen, of Brentwood, and opening fire on police, injuring the officer.

Dozens of Suffolk police officers and law-enforcement union leaders packed the courtroom as Reyes was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder of a police officer.

Reyes was seen on surveillance video chasing murder victim Eugene Allen, 66, of Brentwood, across a lawn with a machete, Rizopoulos said. Allen was never seen alive again, she added.

Allen’s body was discovered Wednesday afternoon under leaves and brush in a quiet North Bay Shore cul-de-sac with a "deep, gaping wound to the back of his neck," the prosecutor said.

Officers scouring the area for witnesses and evidence actually spoke to Reyes before they reviewed the surveillance video and determined that he was a suspect in Allen’s slaying.

Several of Reyes’ relatives attended Friday’s arraignment but declined to discuss the charges.

Reyes’ attorney, Brett Bennett, of Central Islip, also declined to discuss the case with reporters following Friday’s hearing. "We will do our best to vigorously defend him, but we are not going to have any comment on the case," Bennett said.

Rizopoulos said the case will be presented to a grand jury. Weissbard ordered Reyes to return to court on Tuesday.

During a news conference on Thursday at Stony Brook University Hospital, Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said police received a 911 call at about 4:35 p.m. Wednesday about a body in a wooded lot on New York Avenue. Reyes and Allen, Catalina said, had worked together as mechanics.

The injured officer, a former Navy medic and two-year veteran of the department, was one of several officers trying to execute a search warrant at Reyes’ home on New York Avenue in Bay Shore. The front door was open when police arrived, officials said. Reyes opened fire on police as they approached the home at about 2:25 a.m. on Thursday, police said.  The officer was struck in the face, fracturing his cheek.

Reyes opened fire again after police employed a drone to check the house, Rizopoulos told Weissbard. He continued to struggle with police even after he surrendered later that morning, police said.

Investigators later recovered two shotguns shells and a machete from Reyes’ home, the prosecutor told the judge.

"After admitting a savage and brutal murder, his intent was not only to kill one police officer, but multiple police officers," Suffolk Police Benevolent Association president Lou Civello said after Friday’s hearing. "We were fired upon, and it was only a small miracle that one of our officers was not killed in this incident."

The injured officer, who is assigned to the Third Precinct and is a married father of three, is the second member of the Suffolk County Police Department injured in the line of duty this year.

Officer Brendon Gallagher was severely injured while trying to stop a speeding motorist on the Long Island Expressway in January.

Dr. James Vosswinkel, the hospital’s chief of trauma surgery and the Suffolk police chief surgeon, said at Thursday’s news conference that the officer suffered a fractured cheekbone. He could have been blinded or killed if the slug had hit him at a different angle or a half-inch closer to his eye, Vosswinkel said.

The officer’s partner drove him to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore in a police car, officials said, and he was later transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Civello said the injured officer is an energetic young man who loves his job and helping people.

"I’m sure he will be right back on the street as soon as he is well enough to do so," Civello said Friday.