Firefighter Andrew Hill in a 2018 photo on his Facebook page. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A 24-year-old Red Bank man has admitted guilt in the 2018 stabbing death of volunteer borough firefighter Andrew Hill, the Asbury Park Press reported Tuesday.
Hill, a 26-year-old second lieutenant at the Westside Hose Company, died in the early hours of May 27, shortly after being stabbed just blocks away from the Leighton Avenue firehouse where he found his purpose in life.
Hill’s turnout gear was arrayed outside the Westside Hose Company as a funeral cortege bearing his casket went past. Below, mourners held a vigil at the scene of the killing. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Demar S. Reevey, of West Bergen Place, admitted to stabbing Hill once May 27 at the corner of Tilton Avenue and Bank Street, causing his death.
The May 6 plea in Monmouth County Superior Court to the charge of aggravated manslaughter had not been previously reported. Reevey faces 13 years in prison, the Press reported.
No motive was mentioned at the plea hearing, the Press reported, which noted that in prosecutors had previously alleged was motivated by a feud over Reevey’s girlfriend.
From the Press:
Authorities had alleged that Reevey left his job at the Robinson Ale House in Red Bank to confront Hill with a knife, after warning another person that the next time he saw Hill, he was going to kill him. Reevey’s public defender, Allison Friedman, has said Reevey and Hill were friends, and that Reevey did not mean to hurt him.
In addition to serving with the Westside Hose Company, Hill was also a member of the volunteer First Aid and Rescue Squad and the Sea Bright fire department. He worked at Bayshore Community Hospital as a security officer.
