On the night of July 26, 1998, NYPD Officer Gerard Carter, 28, was shot while on patrol with a partner in a marked police van at the West Brighton Housing Projects in Staten Island. A young man approached the vehicle and fired through the windshield, striking Carter in the temple. His partner returned fire, and the assailant fled. Carter was rushed to hospital, placed in a medically induced coma, and died of his wounds on July 31, 1998.

A five-year veteran of the force, Carter was survived by his wife, son, mother, and brother; his father had also served on the NYPD and died in the line of duty. Police mounted an intense manhunt that led to a standoff the next day, during which a 17-year-old, Shatiek Johnson, barricaded himself in an apartment closet before being taken into custody. At the time of the shooting Johnson was on parole for a prior manslaughter conviction and was being sought for questioning in another homicide.

Did anyone in West Brighton at the time see the shooting or the person who approached the van?