Authorities have arrested a New York official for shooting a lost DoorDash delivery driver over the weekend.
On Sunday, New York state police announced the arrest of 48-year old John J Reilly of Chester, New York, after he allegedly shot a driver who got lost while attempting to deliver food to a residence in the Valerie Drive neighborhood on Friday evening.
Authorities said the driver approached several homes asking for directions before arriving at Reilly’s residence. Reilly, who is currently Chester’s highway superintendent and a federally licensed firearms dealer, then told the driver to get off his property. As the driver attempted to leave in his vehicle, Reilly fired multiple shots at the driver, striking him once in the back and causing serious injuries, police said.
Reilly has since been charged with assault in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, as well as a criminal possession of a firearm.
The driver required emergency surgery, per a New York Times report. An Orange county district attorney’s office spokesperson told the paper that the driver’s injuries were “serious but not at this time expected to be fatal”.
The driver has not been publicly identified by authorities, but family members told ABC7NY that the driver was 24 years old and from west Africa. He moved to the nearby town of Middletown last month and does not speak English. They added that he was unfamiliar with the area and that his phone had died.
Following the incident, the driver drove home “because he thought he did something wrong”, the outlet added.
“There’s nothing to indicate the victim had any nefarious intentions, he’s just out there doing his job, trying to make a food delivery,” Capt Joseph Kolek of New York state police told reporters.
In a statement to the Guardian, DoorDash said: “No one should ever fear for their safety just for trying to make deliveries in their neighborhood. We’re devastated by this senseless act of violence, and we’re wishing the Dasher a full and speedy recovery. We’ll continue to work closely with law enforcement as they investigate this tragic incident.”
In 2023, a 20-year-old woman, Kaylin Gillis, was shot dead in upstate New York after the car she was riding in mistakenly went to the wrong property. A jury found 66-year-old Kevin Monahan, the property’s owner, guilty of second-degree murder last year.
Gillis’s death occurred just days after a white homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri, shot 16-year old Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang 84-year-old Andrew Lester’s doorbell by mistake. Yarl survived the shooting and Lester was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
