A Park Slope man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Tuesday for a 2022 shooting in Sunset Park that left a 20-year-old man seriously injured.
The victim was shot twice in the chest after 56-year-old John Carter and his accomplices, searching for a different person, mistakenly targeted him while he was sitting in his car watching YouTube videos.
Carter was convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault, first- and second-degree criminal use of a firearm, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon following a jury trial on November 14, 2024. He was given 12 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Adam Perlmutter.
According to trial testimony, Carter and three friends were looking for an individual involved in a dispute at around 3 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2022 when they came across his car on Third Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets.
But the intended target wasn’t inside. The group surrounded the car, and one of the men punched the unsuspecting victim. Carter then joined the assault, pistol-whipping the victim, stealing his phone, and forcing him out of the car. When the victim exited to retrieve his phone, Carter shot him twice in the chest.
The victim was rushed to Methodist Hospital, where he stayed for a week. Doctors removed his gallbladder, and he suffered injuries to other vital organs. The victim still has bullet fragments and shrapnel in his body and is unable to work.
“This defendant shot an unarmed 20-year-old man in the chest, leaving him with serious long-term injuries,” District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “His life will never be the same. We have no tolerance for violence and this sentence sends a clear message that gun violence in Brooklyn will be met with serious consequences.”
Carter and his accomplices — Lamount Barrott, 37, Walter Lindsay, 49, and William Parez, 42 — were arrested following an investigation.
Barrott pleaded guilty to third-degree robbery and second-degree attempted assault and was sentenced to 3.5 to seven years in prison. Lindsay pleaded guilty to third-degree robbery and was sentenced to one to three years in prison. Parez pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and was sentenced to six months in jail.
