August 13, 2026 THE BRONX, NY An ordinary Tuesday evening in Kingsbridge Heights shattered into chaos in an instant, leaving one teenage boy dead, another wounded by flying lead, and a quiet Bronx neighborhood grasping for answers.
At around 5:23 p.m. on August 11, officers from the NYPD’s 50th Precinct rushed to an apartment building at 2825 Claflin Ave. after a frantic 911 call reported gunfire inside a residential unit.
What responding officers walked into was a nightmare scenario.
A Tragic Discovery
Inside the apartment, police discovered 15-year-old Riley Billingslea lying motionless with a horrific gunshot wound to the head. Emergency Medical Services arrived within minutes, but there was nothing they could do—Billingslea was pronounced dead right at the scene.
The violence, however, didn't stop with one victim.
Detectives quickly tracked down a second victim, a 13-year-old boy, who had managed to make it back to his nearby home despite suffering a graze wound to his torso. He was rushed to Saint Barnabas Hospital, where doctors expect him to survive. Investigators suspect his injury was caused by a stray bullet ricocheting through the room during the gunfire.
A Dispute Turned Deadly
While the investigation remains active and fluid, police sources indicate that the deadly shooting is currently being probed as an argument that boiled over inside the apartment. Investigators believe a third teenager was present during the altercation.
As of now, no arrests have been made, and detectives are working around the clock to piece together the exact sequence of events that led to the fatal trigger pull.
A Disturbing Trend in the Bronx
This heartbreaking incident marks the second time in less than a week that a teenager has lost their life to gunfire inside a Bronx apartment.
