In the summer of 2023, a young man's life was tragically cut short in East Patchogue, New York, following a dispute that escalated to violence. The victim was 23-year-old Ines Reyes, a male resident of Bellport. On the evening of August 18, 2023, Reyes was shot multiple times in front of a home on Amsterdam Avenue. He was rushed by friends to Long Island Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The events leading to the fatal shooting began earlier that day with a verbal and
physical altercation between Reyes and a Riverhead man named Brent Henry at the Bellport home Reyes shared with his girlfriend. The conflict prompted Reyes and his girlfriend, who was also Henry's niece, to leave and go to a family member's house in East Patchogue. However, the dispute was far from over. Henry followed the couple to the Amsterdam Avenue residence, where another physical confrontation ensued. After a brief struggle, Henry retrieved a. 40 caliber semi-automatic handgun from his vehicle and shot Reyes multiple times.
Following an investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department's Homicide Squad, Brent Henry, who was 59 years old at the time of the incident, was arrested the day after the shooting, on August 19, 2023. He was subsequently indicted and charged with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
The case proceeded to trial, where a Suffolk County jury found Brent Henry guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. On November 7, 2025, Henry, then 61, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. It was revealed during the legal proceedings that Ines Reyes was just one month away from becoming a father at the time of his death.
