District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office on Thursday secured a murder indictment against a former New York City police officer accused of fatally shooting a man outside a Treme apartment building in March.
Gerardo Bugallo-Beret was charged with the second-degree murder of Tyrone Reese in the indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Bugallo-Beret, 29, faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if found guilty of the murder charge.
Bugallo-Beret was arrested after waiting for police inside a vehicle in the parking lot where the fatal shooting occurred, outside the Saint Ann Square Apartments in the 1900 block of St. Ann Street. Reese, 29, was killed by multiple gunshots at approximately 8:13 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2019.
Bugallo-Beret, a resident of the apartment building, told investigators he shot Reese in self-defense after the victim had made verbal threats. Reese was unarmed when killed.
Bugallo-Beret served as an NYPD officer from July 2014-May 2016, leaving the force shortly after being charged with misdemeanor assault after a reported fight with a bouncer at a Greenwich Village bar. He has no previous arrest record in Orleans Parish.
Criminal District Judge Camille Buras left unchanged the defendant's $700,000 bond amount after the indictment was read.
Assistant District Attorney Inga Petrovich presented the case to the grand jury.