Attempted murder arrest catches shooting victim's mom off guard
Apr. 11—Dorothy Parks is happy Niagara Falls police and the Niagara County District Attorney's Office were able to make an arrest in the March 3 shooting of her son, Thomas Carter.
What she's not happy about is learning about an indictment in the case from the local media instead of hearing about it straight from Falls police.
"I'm grateful that they caught him, but this whole thing was just not right," she said. "I feel like they should have told me something."
Parks said she contacted Falls police detectives multiple times in recent weeks, including most recently this past Thursday, to inquire about the status of her son's case.
She said she was surprised to learn last week, following the release of the information to the local media, that an indictment had been unsealed charging a suspect in the case, Jalik George, 27, of the Falls, with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
"I just thought it was kind of strange that they didn't call me to tell me they caught the boy," she said in a conversation with a reporter on Monday. "I have not heard anything from them."
On Tuesday, a reporter contacted the Niagara Falls detective bureau and spoke briefly with a man who answered the phone who initially said Parks did not contact the office and then said she had contacted the office but did not agree to come in to discuss the case with detectives. The person who answered the phone did not answer when asked by a reporter to identify himself. The unidentified man also did not respond when asked why Parks needed to come into the office to discuss her son's case. The identified man said it was not his case and indicated that he would find someone else to discuss the matter. At that point, the call ended. Multiple return phone calls placed by the reporter were not answered.
Later on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the bureau told a different reporter from the newspaper that, in shooting cases like the one involving Carter, detectives deal directly with victims, not family members. The representative also indicated that the victim, Carter, has not been cooperative with investigators.
Parks said immediately following her son's shooting, she provided detectives with a photo and other information related to the case. She also said she has proof of her multiple calls to the bureau.
On Tuesday, she questioned why someone from the bureau would say she needed to "come in" to speak with detectives and why someone else from the office would tell the press detectives had never spoken to her before.
"How can anybody tell me they want me to come in if they don't want to talk to me?" she said. "What the hell did they want to come in for? The only thing I wanted to know is what was going on with my son's case, things a mother would want to know."
Parks is also taking exception to reports indicating that her son was shot following an interaction or altercation of some kind with his shooter. While detectives say evidence from the incident shows the two men interacted prior to the shooting, Parks said her son did not know the person who shot him and that he was shot in the back while he was walking to his truck to get a cigarette.
Carter's mother said detectives also have jewelry and a cell phone belonging to her son and she would like an explanation of what they are doing with his personal belongings and why his belongings have still not been returned.
"They are just giving me the runaround," she said.
