Murder Suspect Charged With Killing Equestrian to be Arraigned Wednesday

A man who authorities said shot a well-known equestrian and Mattituck horse farm owner 11 times through a window will be arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverside.

On Tuesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota announced the indictment of murder suspect Brett Knight, 45, arrested for the September 24 murder in Setauket of equestrian Ross Reisner. 

County Judge Richard Ambro will unseal the indictment.

According to Spota, Knight fired 11 times through a window of Reisner's home on Upper Sheep Pasture Road, killing him. One of the bullets grazed the forearm of Reisner's partner of 26 years, Kevin Murray. Knight was their former tenant, moving into the couple’s basement apartment in 2009, Spota said. 

Knight was picked up by Suffolk County police homicide detectives, the U.S. Marshals and the Sevier County sheriff's office in Seymour, Tennessee and extradited on October 10.

District Attorney Spota said two handguns were recovered from the defendant’s bedroom.

Reisner was a beloved member of Long Island's equestrian community who recently established Maple Lane Farm in Mattituck.

According to a statement from the Marshals, a nationwide manhunt launched after Reisner's shooting, targeting Knight, who officials believe had bought a motorcycle and fled the area.

Murray also had recently filed a harassment complaint about Knight in Suffolk courts.