Mourning Parents Demand Names Of Officers Who Fatally Shot Their Teenaged Son 14 Times

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — It’s been six months since a Bushwick teenager was fatally shot fourteen times by police officers and his mourning parents still have no idea why.

“Only god knows what happened with my son,” said Antonio Taplanco, the father of Sergio Reyes, 18, who police shot in the heart, lungs, aorta, spinal cord, liver, stomach and bones outside a Bushwick bodega on Feb. 19.

“He never had any confrontations, everything was all love.”

Taplanco and Reyes’ mother Patricia Reyes and protesters gathered outside Maria Hernandez Park on Thursday to lay flowers on the site where the teenager was killed and demand the Brooklyn District Attorney release the names of the officers who shot him.

“It could be one of those guys, over there,” said Jesus Gonzalez , an activist Churches United for Fair Housing, pointing at police officers who watched the protesters gather. “We need to know who did this.”

Officers who shot Reyes back in February reported that he had leveled a pellet gun — which they suspect he had used to rob nearby Garden Deli at Irving Avenue and Starr Street — moments before they began shooting.

But Reyes’ parents question this account because of the extreme measures taken by police and because they have yet to see the Brooklyn District Attorney’s report on the case.

“Fourteen shots all over his body,” said Taplanco, who clutched a bouquet of white flowers and cried. “It was horrible finding out that it was fourteen shots.”

“This was murder.”

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A spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office told Patch the case is still under investigation, but declined to comment on whether the officers' names would be released.

Acting DA Eric Gonzalez told Taplanco an Reyes in April that he would continue to update them on the investigation’s progress.

Make The Road New York activist Darian X, who also spoke at the vigil for Reyes on Thursday, said the need for greater law enforcement transparency was urgent.

“We can no longer allow murderers to patrol our streets anonymously,” he said. “We must get the names of these officers before they get the opportunity to harm or even kill another member of our own community.”

Photo by Kathleen Culliton