Chester highway superintendent goes to trial in DoorDash shooting

The trial of Chester Highway Superintendent John Reilly, accused of shooting a DoorDash driver last May, got underway Monday in Goshen.

In the initial proceedings, defense attorney Thomas Kenniff said Reilly was home with his wife and 12-year-old daughter on the evening of May 2, 2025, when his daughter told him a stranger was at the door. Kenniff said that individual – DoorDash driver Alpha Oumar Barry, then 24, of Conakry, Guinea – was at the front door asking to come inside the Valerie Drive home. Reilly, Kenniff said, felt Barry posed a threat to him and his family.

Prosecutor Nicholas Mangold said Barry, who had recently arrived legally in the U.S. and did not speak English well, became lost in Reilly’s Chester neighborhood and was asking for help charging his phone, not asking to come inside Reilly’s home.

Reilly allegedly told Barry to get off his property, before going outside and firing multiple shots as Barry began to leave in his vehicle. One of those shots, which the defense says were meant to be warning shots, struck Barry and caused severe injuries to his abdomen and stomach.

”The trial began today with the seating of a jury of 12 and opening statements” Kenniff said Monday after trial. “We remain hopeful that after the jury hears all the evidence and sees the full picture of the circumstances confronting Mr. Reilly that evening, they will agree that he acted reasonably, without any intent to harm Mr. Barry.”

Witnesses began testifying on Tuesday, March 17.

A spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, who declined to comment on the trial, also would not speculate as to how long the trial may last. Upon being charged last spring, Reilly pleaded not guilty to a 13-count indictment for second-degree attempted murder, assault with depraved indifference and weapons offenses.