STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— For decades, the son of late NYPD Officer Gerard Carter struggled with the thought of his father being shot and killed by another man.
This month, that man is up for parole.
“For the past 27 years, my family has lived with the devastating reality that my father is never coming home,” said Louis Carter, 32, in a statement delivered Friday to the New York State Board of Parole.
“But today, you have a choice — to protect the people of this city from a dangerous individual, or to release someone who has already proven their willingness to kill."
The applicant, now 43-year-old Shatiek Johnson, was sentenced on a top count of murder to 25 years to life in prison, which he currently is serving out at Attica Correctional Facility, records show.
“Gerard Carter was more than just a name; he was a father, a son, a brother, and my best friend,” said Carter’s former wife, Jozette Carter-Williams in her own victim impact statement. “Louis was forced to grow up without the man who should have been his guide, his protector, his role model.”
Carter’s funeral, which was attended by thousands of NYPD members and a host of dignitaries, took place days after his death at First Central Baptist Church in Stapleton.
Carter was one of several officers to be killed in a relative short period of time across New York City.
Carter-Williams recalled that during Johnson’s court proceedings, she was “heckled” outside the old Richmond County Courthouse by supporters of the defendant whom she presumed to be his family.
At 15, he was convicted of manslaughter in the beating death of a homeless man over a $10 debt, the Daily News reported at the time.
By 17, he not only was arrested in Carter’s shooting, but also confessed to killing a rival gang leader in what resulted in a manslaughter conviction.
In 2023, ahead of the first parole date, his older brother was his only family member able to be located for comment. In a brief phone exchange he said simply, “I love my brother.”
Carter, who was born in West Brighton and raised in Mariners Harbor, was the son of Officer Gaston “Sonny” Carter, a 24-year veteran of the NYPD.
The younger Carter played football for Port Richmond High School, met Carter-Williams just after high school and was married a year later. Their son, Louis, was 6 when his father was killed.
Outside of his duties with the NYPD, he spent time coaching a youth softball league in Stapleton and the Park Hill section of Clifton, participated in the department’s youth explorers program and helped with community cookouts.
“He would not thrive in today’s society,” surmised Carter’s former wife Carter-Williams, in her victim impact statement last week before parole board members.
“Let us, at the very least, have the security of knowing that the man who stole Gerard from us will never have the chance to take from another family what he took from ours,” she said. “Let our family have the peace we have fought so hard to find.”
When an inmate is up for parole, the board will consider any letters sent on the applicant’s behalf; the applicant’s participation in self-improvement or work-related programs while incarcerated, and the applicant’s own assessment of the crime for which they were convicted, and how they plan to survive in a world that’s passed them by.
State law allows for convicts serving out an indeterminate sentence to try for parole anywhere from every 6 months to every two years once they become eligible.
Carter’s family was accompanied Friday by union officials with the Police Benevolent Association, which has long advocated for lengthier stretches between parole hearings.
“Police Officer Gerard Carter was a hero who never got a second chance at life,” said President Patrick Hendry in a statement after the family was heard by state officials.
“It is absolutely shameful that this three-time killer gets a fresh chance at freedom every few years,” Hendry added.
“The time between parole hearings should be lengthened to minimize the trauma on suffering family members like Louis and Jozette.”