Ikeem D. Mitchell is found guilty in the killing of Charles Carter Jr.
Syracuse police confer March 26 at the scene of a fatal shooting on South Townsend Street. Ikeem D. Mitchell was found guilty Wednesday in the killing of Charles Carter Jr. Syracuse, NY - A Syracuse man was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a stranger he passed on a South Side street.
Ikeem D. Mitchell, 19, of McKinley Avenue, was found guilty by an Onondaga County Court jury of intentionally killing Charles Carter Jr.
Carter, 22, of Parkway Drive, was walking in the 1100 block of South Townsend Street near East Taylor Street about 1 p.m. March 26 when Mitchell walked past, turned and opened fire with a handgun.
Mitchell was arrested a short time later a short distance from the crime scene with a handgun and spent shells in his pocket. Authorities said ballistics tests matched the gun and shells to the bullet that killed Carter.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Duncanson contended Carter was the innocent victim of a random shooting. Authorities said Carter and Mitchell did not know each other.
Defense lawyer Michael Spano had suggested Mitchell feared for his life because of ongoing violence between residents of the Pioneer Homes housing development where the shooting occurred and the city's East Side neighborhood.
Mitchell faces a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in state prison when sentenced Oct. 28 by Judge Anthony Aloi.