Tyreke Borel was 17 when he was shot dead during Brooklyn’s J’Ouvert celebrations in the pre-dawn hours of September 5, 2016. A native of Trinidad who had moved to New York four years earlier and was studying to be a car mechanic, he had left home after a conversation with his mother, who urged him to stay safe. At about 3:50 a.m. Tyreke was sitting alone on a park bench near Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue when gunfire erupted; a bullet struck his chest. He was taken to Kings County Hospital and pronounced dead. A 72-year-old woman was also shot in the arm and listed in stable condition, and police say Tyreke was not believed to be the intended target.

Tyreke was one of two people killed in separate shootings near the parade route that night. An arrest and later conviction related to the nearby killing of 22-year-old Tiarah Poyau are noted, but Tyreke’s murder produced no public arrests, and by early 2017 investigators had not identified suspects. His mother reported frustration over a lack of updates from the precinct. If anyone was in that area around 3:50 a.m. and saw something that could help, please come forward.