Mount Vernon detective among 18 indicted in Long Island gang takedown
A New York police detective was among 18 people indicted for crimes linked to murders, armed robberies and shootings from 2021-2025 in a major gang takedown on Long Island.
Mount Vernon Police Det. Kyren Braunskill was accused of providing illegal firearms to members of the Riverhead-based 48 Gang from 2021-2022 while working for the NYPD as a 911 operator, according to the 57-count indictment announced Friday by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
Indicted detective was recently promoted
Prosecutors said Braunskill, 34, committed some of the alleged crimes days before joining the Mount Vernon Police Department in December 2022.
Video shows he was just promoted last week.
"A pre-employment background investigation was conducted in accordance with department procedures, and no findings were returned," the department said in a statement to CBS News New York.
Braunskill's attorney said his client pleaded not guilty and is fighting the charges, which Tierney said are considered not bail eligible.
The detective is on supervised release with GPS conditions and due back in court in April.
Gang members and associates charged
Tierney said the indictment of members and associates of the 48 Gang covers "eight armed robberies, seven shootings, including two murders, and the possession of 13 illegal weapons."
He called it the third significant takedown targeting Suffolk County gang violence in 2026.
It includes charges in the murders of 47-year-old James Ayers in Riverhead in 2023 and 18-year-old Marcel Arrington in Mastic Beach in 2021.
"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. "The message is clear, if you are committing gang and gun violence in Suffolk County, we are coming after you."
The crimes outlined also include a violent armed robbery at a deli in Flanders in 2024 and robberies at a pair of 7-Elevens in 2023, which were caught on video.
Johan Euceda, an employee at the Central Islip 7-Eleven, said he woke up to a missed call from his co-worker, the victim seen in surveillance video, and rushed over to the police scene.
"He said he couldn't do anything. There was three people, they had guns on him and he was just really scared," Euceda said. "I didn't think they were gonna catch him at all because I didn't know how serious it was at the time and to know now, it does give me good peace."
Video of the Flanders robbery shows a suspect holding a gun to an employee's head.
