Neighbors, friends and family gathered Tuesday evening in the Bronx to remember Riley Billingslea, a 15-year-old boy found shot to death last week inside an apartment on Claflin Avenue in Kingsbridge Heights. Police say a 13-year-old was also grazed by gunfire in the same incident.
No arrests have been made, and investigators have not released details about a motive or suspect. Billingslea’s family says they are still waiting for answers about what happened inside the fifth-floor apartment where he was found.
Dozens gathered outside the building for the vigil, offering prayers and support to a family struggling to make sense of the loss. Friend Kelvin Garcia described Billingslea as someone whose absence has left a deep void in the community, calling him a genuinely good person whose death has been devastating to accept.
Relatives remembered Billingslea as bright, respectful and driven, with hopes of one day becoming an engineer. His mother, Ketrice Riley, said her son’s death has caused pain not just to their family but to the wider community, and that whoever is responsible took something irreplaceable from all of them.
Billingslea’s grandmother, Elaine Rogers, made a direct appeal at the vigil, asking whoever was involved to come forward — especially if the shooting was accidental — and urging anyone sheltering the person responsible to let them face the consequences. She said her greatest anger is that no one called for help while her grandson lay in that apartment, and that a timely call might have saved his life.
The family is asking anyone with information about the shooting to come forward.
Anyone with information is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or in Spanish at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted online or via direct message to @NYPDTips on Twitter/X. All calls are kept confidential.