By Nicole Falco
Edward Donovan Nickerson Reese, who split time between his mother's home in Queens and his father and step-mother's house on Flower Road, was shot once in the face and once in the torso, police said. The shooting occurred at about 1:30 a.m. after an argument erupted between two groups.
"We feel that the incident grew out of long standing animosity between one group of individuals and another group that included the victim, his brother and friends," said Det. Lt. Dennis Farrell of the Nassau County Homicide Squad. "We know that the two groups confronted each other in front of 47 Flower Road. There was a physical altercation. At some point the murder suspect took out a gun and fired three shots, two of which struck the victim."
Nickerson Reese was transported to Mercy Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 3:25 a.m., apparently from the torso wound, Farrell said.
Marvin McKenzie, 20, of 131-78 226th Street, was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree murder with depraved indifference for firing a gun into a crowd, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
A press conference was held Wednesday morning at police headquarters. At the press conference, Farrell elaborated on the situation. Farrell said the confrontation resulted from a feud between one of Nickerson Reese's brothers and a neighbor. McKenzie is an acquaintance of the unidentified neighbor, Farrell explained. He also made it a point to say the incident was not drug- or gang-related.
Roger Jorgensen, who lives at 47 Flower Road, said that he and his wife, Nancy Teufel, were awoken by the incident. "I saw what was happening [from my bedroom window], but you couldn't tell; it was dark," he said. "We had front row seats, sort of, to what was happening. We heard people arguing, then we heard three shots fired, then the police cars came and the ambulance."
Police responded to the scene quickly after receiving numerous 911 calls from neighbors who either witnessed or heard the incident, Jorgensen said. Neighbors also reported seeing three men fleeing the scene in an unknown vehicle.
Jorgensen, who moved to Valley Stream from Brooklyn eight years ago, said investigators spent much of the rest of that night combing his front yard for evidence and looking over his house for bullet holes. The incident, however, has not changed his view of the community. "There's no trouble here at all," Jorgensen said. "It's a nice neighborhood with good schools."
Marc Tenzer, who lives nearby and is co-president of the Mill Brook Civic Association, said, "We know that this is an unfortunate, isolated incident and that we live in a beautiful community. I've lived here for 23 years and I don't remember a shooting ever occurring in the neighborhood."
A promising future
The victim had a promising future, according to his father Gregory Reese. Nickerson Reese had plans to enroll in a technical school in Virginia to study to become an auto mechanic. While a student at South High School, he had taken classes in automotive technology through a high school district program offered at Central High School.
"Edward started living with us when he was in the seventh-grade," his father said. "At first the transition was very difficult for him, but with all the support he had from me as well as my wife and his mother, he turned his life around and was working harder and getting better grades."
Since high school, Nickerson Reese had been working as an aide at a Queens' nursing home. "He loved it," Gregory Reese said of his son's job. "He just recently bought a [red Nissan Maxima]. He was real proud of that, being able to purchase his vehicle on his own with the money that he earned the past year."
According to his father, Nickerson Reese was loving and family oriented, especially for such a young man. "He was the type of guy that would inherit any burdens of yours," he said. "That was his way."
Nickerson Reese is also survived by his mother, Debra Nickerson of Far Rockaway, his step-mother, Beloved Reese of Valley Stream, and siblings Maurice, Sophia, Thomas and Tiana. A funeral service is scheduled for Friday at 11:30 a.m. at J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home, 179-24 Linden Blvd., Jamaica.
Mike Schnitzel contributed to this story. Comments about it? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
