NYPD Officer Gerard Carter was just 28 years old when he was ambushed in his patrol car 25 years ago. Now his killer is coming up for parole, and his widow is pleading with the parole board to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
"To allow someone out who killed three times is astronomically crazy to us," said Jozette Carter-Williams. "You have a murderer who murdered three times and now he is up for 25 to life…what it should be is life without the possibility of parole if you kill a police officer."
Officer Carter was in a marked police van on Staten Island in 1998 when 18-year-old Shatiek Johnson executed him in a shooting at point blank range.
Johnson was out on parole when he killed Carter. He had served 18 months for manslaughter in the beating death of a homeless man when he was 15 years old.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Carter was a beloved cop in the borough, patrolling the Stapleton Houses where his own family members lived. It's also where he coached softball, touching the life of so many kids.
Now Johnson is up for parole after serving 25 years in prison
"He had his chance, he was released and he went back to his violent ways, this can't be 'Let's give him a hearing and see how he's doing in jail,'" said Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch.
News
Friday's heating was the first in-person appeal since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson is scheduled to appear before the board later in March.
