Joseph Gilbert Stevens, 34, of Jamaica, pleaded guilty on July 2 to manslaughter in the first degree for fatally shooting Richard Carter, 49, of Valley Stream, as he left a service for a local drug kingpin who operated a stash house a mile away from the cathedral.
According to the charges, on Friday, April 10, at approximately 2:12 p.m., Stevens arrived on a Citi Bike at the Shekina Youth Chapel, which is located at the intersection of Merrick Boulevard and Sayres Avenue at Archie Spigner Park in South Jamaica. The chapel is part of the Greater A.M.E. Cathedral of New York campus.
According to the charges, Stevens went inside to the funeral of John “Stubby” Price, approached the casket and then left. At approximately 2:17 p.m., Stevens ran toward Carter as he walked toward the chapel on Sayres Avenue and shot him four times in the torso. Carter collapsed onto the roadway at the rear of a waiting hearse. Stevens rode off on the Citi Bike northbound on 170th Street toward 111th Avenue. EMS rushed Carter to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. Stevens was apprehended by the NYPD the next day.
Carter was a childhood friend of John Price, who was detained on Rikers Island following his December 2024 arrest after a two-year investigation dubbed “Operation the Price in Right.” Price and his drug trafficking crew allegedly sold crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin cut with fentanyl, and fentanyl at various locations in Jamaica, often to undercover officers. The primary activity took place at a stash house in the vicinity of 109th Avenue and 157th Street, directly adjacent to P.S. 48 – The David N. Dinkins School for Community Service, about a mile east of Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral.
Price suffered a medical episode at his cell in the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island on March 29, 2026. He was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 12 hours later.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant continued to remand Stevens without bail and set his sentencing for Aug. 14, when he is expected to face 24 years in prison to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.
“A sorrowful day turned even more tragic when this defendant made the cruel decision to shoot a mourner outside a funeral,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “He has pleaded guilty and will now be sentenced to a lengthy term in prison for his actions. Our thoughts are with Richard Carter’s loved ones as they continue to mourn his life.”