Family of Middletown man killed in shooting remembers his life as a son and talented football player

A kind son and cousin who loved playing football. The family of Xzavier Reyes spoke Sunday as they remembered his life. Reyes was shot and killed in Middletown last week and police have already arrested and charged a 24-year-old with murder.

“There’s been so much trauma and tragedy and just the taking of life so young,” Shiann Jenkins, a cousin of Reyes, said.

It’s been a tough several days for Jenkins processing the death of her cousin.

“He was honestly one of a kind,” she said.

Jenkins and her family took time on Sunday to remember his life.

Police say Reyes was shot and killed on Cooley Avenue last Wednesday, Middletown’s first homicide since November 2024. Officers arrested 24-year-old Nygell Smikle who’s facing a number of charges including murder.

For Jenkins, Reyes was like a brother who she could always count on for support.

“He always had a level of faith in me that I honestly never had in myself,” she said.

The family spent time with others who knew him doing activities aimed at promoting inner peace and keeping Reyes’s memory alive.

“I believe social support is a natural elixir. I think social support is important to healing,” Kerry Kincy, founder of CNTR, said.

Reyes graduated from Middletown High School in 2019 and was a prominent running back on their football team, rushing for 18 touchdowns his senior year. His cousin says his talent on the field matched his passion for football.

“That’s you know how he met a majority of his lifelong friends and just he valued those friendships so much,” Jenkins said.

Friendships she and the rest of Reyes’s family are now holding close, knowing he would do the same for them.

“Just the way that he loved genuinely, and he would give anything for the people that he loved,” she said.

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