Press Release
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER FOR KILLING ALLEGED RIVAL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Chaz Reyes, 31, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the July 2017 shooting death of a 26-year-old man near a 21st Street bus stop in the vicinity of the Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, Queens.
District Attorney Katz said, “In pleading guilty, the defendant has admitted to killing a perceived rival when the victim happened to pass by him on a bicycle in broad daylight. Without regard for human life, the defendant fired multiple shots at the victim, who was near a bus stop and various businesses, in the middle of the day. The victim was killed, but anyone in the area could have also been shot. The defendant has now been sentenced by the Court for his actions.”
Reyes, of 36th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, pleaded guilty on May 27, 2021, to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder. Today, Justice Holder sentenced the Reyes to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
District Attorney Katz said, according to court records, on July 16, 2017, at approximately noon, Reyes was walking near a bus stop at the intersection of 36th Avenue and 21st Street in Astoria, Queens, when he encountered Tyrell Smith. The victim was riding a bike at the time. Reyes – armed with an illegal gun – fired multiple shots in Mr. Smith’s direction. Three bullets ripped into the victim’s chest. The defendant ran from the scene and into a nearby apartment building.
Mr. Smith was taken to a local hospital where he died from the injuries.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Adarna DeFrietas, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormick III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John Kosinski and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel Saunders.