On a February day in Rochester, New York, a family was irrevocably fractured by violence. Jordan Reen, a 21-year-old male, was found shot in the street on Lapham Street, near Lake Avenue. Responding officers discovered him with a gunshot wound to his upper body and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The tragic event, which unfolded on February 25, 2021, did not remain a mystery for long, as the investigation quickly pointed to a suspect alarmingly close to home.
The initial moments
after the shooting were tense, with police locking down the neighborhood. Authorities had received information that the suspect might have fled into a nearby home, possibly armed. A woman, who had hidden herself in a closet within the family home, expressed her fear to the police that Jordan had been shot by his own brother, Robert Reen Jr. Despite the initial belief that he may have barricaded himself inside, a search of the residence came up empty.
The search for the suspect concluded when Robert Reen Jr., who was 31 at the time, turned himself in to the authorities. Two days after his brother's death, he was arrested and subsequently charged with second-degree murder. A Monroe County Grand Jury later indicted him on the murder charge, moving the case towards trial.
