Prosecutors say the officer conspired with Riverhead gang members to sell and possess illegal guns before joining Mount Vernon police.
RIVERHEAD, NY — A Mount Vernon police detective was arrested this week as part of a sweeping Suffolk County gang case that accuses 18 people of crimes tied to killings, robberies, shootings and illegal guns across Long Island from 2021 through 2025.
Prosecutors say Detective Kyren Braunskill, 34, was not accused of carrying out the headline acts of violence in the indictment but of helping supply weapons to alleged members of the Riverhead-based “48 Gang” during 2021 and 2022. The arrest drew attention because Braunskill had just been promoted to detective in Mount Vernon days earlier. The case also raised immediate questions about police hiring and background checks, even as Suffolk County officials stressed that the conduct charged against Braunskill largely predates his time as a sworn Mount Vernon officer.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced the 57-count indictment Friday and said the charges followed a multi-year investigation by the district attorney’s Gang Violence Task Force and a group of local, county and federal agencies. Authorities said the 18 defendants were members or associates of the “48 Gang,” a street group centered in and around Riverhead. Investigators said the gang’s name came from local sites linked to its activity, including Oakland Drive, the Doctors Path Apartments and the River Pointe Apartments on East Main Street. Tierney said the indictment charges two murders, eight armed robberies, five other shootings and the possession of 13 illegal weapons. “We not only charge the shooters, but we charge those who order the violence, those who fund the violence, those who acquire the weapons,” Tierney said as he described the broader case.
According to prosecutors, Braunskill conspired with multiple alleged gang members from January 2021 through December 2022 to sell and possess illegal firearms. During much of that period, authorities said, he worked as a 911 operator for the New York City Police Department. Prosecutors said his alleged conduct continued into December 2022, the same month he joined the Mount Vernon Police Department as a police officer. Tierney said Friday that the allegations in the indictment go “up into through December of 2022” and therefore came before Braunskill’s appointment as an officer in Mount Vernon. The indictment also alleges that during that same month Braunskill tried to arrange the sale of multiple illegal firearms to an alleged gang member, worked with an alleged gang member in an attempted forged-check deposit scheme, and sought help from a high-ranking gang member to carry out a shooting on his behalf. Braunskill’s lawyer said he pleaded not guilty and is fighting the charges.
The case against Braunskill is folded into a much larger conspiracy case that prosecutors say shows how the Riverhead group used guns and violence to control turf and make money. Authorities said the gang operated mainly in parts of Riverhead and that some members also had ties to nationally recognized gangs, including Bloodhound Brims and Mak Balla Family. Prosecutors said Riverhead identity and local alliances mattered more to this group than outside labels, and that members shared firearms and used them in shootings and robberies across Suffolk and Nassau counties. Braunskill is one of 16 defendants charged in a long-term conspiracy to possess weapons, according to prosecutors. Eight defendants are also charged in a murder conspiracy, and 11 are charged in a robbery conspiracy. Investigators said law enforcement recovered 12 illegal weapons from defendants during the course of the probe, and prosecutors tied those weapons to several crimes laid out in the indictment.
Among the episodes described by prosecutors was a June 23, 2021, shooting at an Aquebogue home after what investigators called a verbal dispute. Authorities said three defendants drove to the residence around 10:13 p.m. and fired multiple shots into the house while a 74-year-old woman and a 76-year-old man were inside. No one was injured, but bullets struck the bedroom door and a living room couch, according to prosecutors. The indictment also describes the October 2021 killing of Marcel Arrington, an 18-year-old from Mastic Beach. Prosecutors said two defendants arranged to meet Arrington on Bayview Avenue under the guise of buying marijuana, then tried to rob him at gunpoint. During the robbery, one of the defendants allegedly shot Arrington in the chest, killing him before taking the marijuana and fleeing. Investigators said shell casings from that homicide matched one of the guns used in the Aquebogue shooting, linking separate acts of violence through the same weapon.
Prosecutors also pointed to a Sept. 26, 2022, shooting in Bellport, where they said three defendants drove to Taylor Avenue with multiple firearms and opened fire at rival gang members gathered outside a residence around 7 p.m. No one was hit, according to the indictment. A later homicide described by prosecutors took place Jan. 6, 2023, in Riverhead, where authorities said an alleged high-ranking gang member, Nickomas Allen, got into a fight with James Ayers, 47, in the parking lot of 821 East Main St. After the fight, prosecutors allege, Allen went into an apartment, returned with a gun, followed Ayers west on Main Street and shot him in the head near 747 East Main St. Ayers died days later at South Shore University Hospital. By laying out those events in detail, prosecutors sought to show a pattern of violence that stretched across years and neighborhoods and involved more than isolated street disputes.
The indictment also accuses members of the group of committing a string of armed robberies that investigators say helped finance criminal activity. Prosecutors said four defendants robbed two 7-Eleven stores at gunpoint in less than an hour during the early morning of Sept. 26, 2023. At about 3:22 a.m., they said, several defendants entered a store on Caleb’s Path in Central Islip wearing dark clothes and masks, threatened a 69-year-old cashier and stole about $600. Roughly 50 minutes later, prosecutors said, members of the same group hit another 7-Eleven in North Bellmore, where they threatened a 67-year-old cashier and took about $1,000. CBS New York reported that video from the robberies helped illustrate the scope of the case, and a store employee told the station he was relieved to learn arrests had finally been made. Prosecutors also cited a violent robbery at a deli in Flanders in 2024 as part of the gang’s alleged pattern of crimes.
In Mount Vernon, the arrest created political and institutional fallout almost immediately because Braunskill had been sworn in as a detective only a week earlier. At that ceremony, he was praised by local leaders and described in glowing terms, making the sudden arrest even more jarring. The Mount Vernon Police Department said in a statement that it had conducted a pre-employment background investigation “in accordance with department procedures” and that “no findings were returned.” The department said that based on the information available at the time, it moved forward with his hiring. City officials later said Braunskill had been placed on suspended duty. That response did not settle deeper questions about whether earlier employment records or outside law enforcement information might have raised concerns before he was hired, but public statements from the city did not identify any such findings.
For Suffolk County officials, the case was also part of a wider message about gang enforcement in 2026. Tierney called the indictment the third major takedown targeting gang violence in Suffolk County this year. Riverhead Police Chief Ed Frost said the investigation showed that “the violent acts of a few will not be allowed to destroy the lives of many,” while Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said law enforcement would keep pursuing those responsible “whether it takes months or years.” Those statements were aimed at communities in eastern Long Island that have dealt with repeated gun cases, gang disputes and retaliatory violence over the past several years. Prosecutors said this indictment was built through a five-month grand jury presentation layered onto a longer-running investigation, and they framed the case as both a local gang prosecution and a warning to anyone accused of supplying guns to violent crews.
As of now, Braunskill remains charged but not convicted, and the broader 48 Gang case is still at an early procedural stage. His attorney has said he pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors said the charges against him are not bail eligible, and local TV reports said he was released under GPS monitoring or with an ankle monitor. The next key milestone is his return to court in April, while the larger prosecution against the other defendants is expected to move forward in Suffolk County as investigators and prosecutors continue sorting weapons evidence, conspiracy allegations and homicide counts tied to the case.
Author note: Last updated March 29, 2026.