Somerset County Acting Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart announced that on Friday, April 29, defendant Qwa’lir Carter, 18, of North Plainfield, was sentenced to twenty years in New Jersey State Prison following his conviction for aggravated manslaughter and related weapons charges.
According to Acting Prosecutor Taggart, the charges stemmed from Carter’s fatal shooting of a juvenile victim in North Plainfield Borough on August 6, 2019, which occurred a few blocks away from the Borough’s National Night Out event.
Acting Prosecutor Taggart said that the Defendant’s arrest and charges followed an investigation conducted by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the North Plainfield Police Department.
The investigation revealed that the defendant and the victim knew each other and traveled to a location within North Plainfield to engage in a fistfight.
According to the investigation, as the fight began, the defendant drew a handgun, pointed it at the victim and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired.
The defendant cleared the handgun malfunction, pointed the gun at the victim and pulled the trigger again, shooting and killing the victim.
According to Acting Prosecutor Taggart, Carter was fifteen years old at the time of the incident, but in December 2019, the State successfully moved to waive defendant Carter to adult court.
Acting Prosecutor Taggart stated that Carter pled guilty on March 4, at which time he admitted to shooting the sixteen-year-old victim during the altercation.