Chester official accused of shooting lost DoorDash driver ordered to wear ankle monitor, surrender passport
John Reilly, 48, dodged News 12’s questions outside of the courthouse in Goshen after entering a not guilty plea in the 13-count indictment for attempted murder, assault with depraved indifference and several weapons offenses.
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A Town of Chester official accused of shooting a lost DoorDash driver was court ordered to wear an ankle monitor and surrender his passport as part of additional restrictions imposed during his arraignment Monday in Orange County Court.
John Reilly, 48, dodged News 12’s questions outside of the courthouse in Goshen after entering a not guilty plea in the 13-count indictment for attempted murder, assault with depraved indifference and several weapons offenses.
Leaked video shared exclusively with News 12 appeared to show Reilly shooting at the 24-year-old three times last month while the victim tried to get away in his car.
Reilly was arrested the next day and initially held on $250,000 cash bail, which he later posted.
Judge Craig Brown said during the arraignment that the bail was enough to ensure Reilly’s return to court but set additional restrictions and ordered Reilly to report to probation for monitoring and to comply with a full stay-away restraining order issued on behalf of the victim.
Prosecutors said the dasher, who speaks broken English, was lost but left Reilly’s residence on Valerie Drive after the official asked him to leave. They say the dasher was in “complete panic mode” when he was shot once in the back while trying to make a K-turn to get out of the unfamiliar driveway. Authorities say Reilly is seen on video leaving his house with a leather firearm holster strapped to his back and firing a .45 caliber firearm as the victim fled.
The victim is heard screaming out on the recording when he’s struck by Reilly’s bullet from inside his car, prosecutors say.
Reilly’s high-profile New York City attorney Thomas Kenniff, however, says the incident happened at night and that his client felt threatened when the dasher asked to charge his phone inside the official’s house.
“I think his actions were reasonable under the circumstances. It’s very easy to show snippets on social media that show fragments of an encounter that lasted minutes and draw conclusions. That’s fine. The only conclusions we’re worried about are what a finder of fact may draw,” says Kenniff.
Prosecutors say the victim is originally from West Africa and is living in the U.S. on a visa. They say he has worked for DoorDash since February without incident and that his phone went dead during the delivery. The dasher had been to three houses before Reilly’s while trying to find the correct address and had emergency surgery to remove a damaged section of his lower intestine due to the shooting, according to prosecutors.
Reilly is due back in Orange County Court next month and is facing up to 25 years in prison on the top charge of attempted murder if he’s found guilty. Authorities say the Chester official is a federal firearms dealer and was found in possession of 28 firearms, but didn’t have a New York State pistol permit. He is facing eight counts of criminal possession of a weapon as a result.
The firearms were previously seized under an emergency court order and state police say the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, who issued Reilly’s federal license, is investigating.
Chester officials called on Reilly to step down last month and told News 12 that he has since returned to work remotely. They say due to state law, the elected official cannot otherwise be removed from office unless he is convicted of a felony.
