NEW YORK (WABC) – The widow of a New York police officer killed in the line of duty is asking the New York State Commission to put her husband’s killer behind bars.
Officer Gerard Carter was in a marked Staten Island police van in July 1998 when parolee Shatiek Johnson opened fire without warning and killed him.
“It’s astronomically insane for us to release someone who has killed three times,” said Josette Carter-Williams.
She wants the man who killed her husband to stay behind bars and addressed the media on Friday before giving her victim impact statement.
“What it should be is life without the possibility of parole if you kill a police officer,” Carter-Williams said.
Instead, Shatiek Johnson is eligible for parole after serving nearly 25 years in prison.
“He had a chance, he was released, and he returned to violence. It can’t be “let’s listen to him and see how he feels in prison,” PBA president Pat Lynch said.
The family of a father, husband and son are fighting to keep his memory alive in one of the first personal appeals since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The NYPD is the best cop out there, and I’m proud to say Gerard was one of them,” Carter-Williams said.
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