Prosecutor: Rifle Little Ferry priest aimed at boy was unloaded; incident preceded talk of football

By John Seasly
Record
October 3, 2015

http://www.northjersey.com/news/prosecutor-rifle-little-ferry-priest-aimed-at-boy-was-unloaded-incident-preceded-talk-of-football-1.1424841

Rev. Kevin Carter

It started as good-natured ribbing between fans of rival NFL teams — one a priest, the other an 8-year-old boy. It ended, a key law enforcement official said, with a horrifying image of the priest aiming a rifle at the child, apparently making believe he would shoot the boy for his fealty to the Dallas Cowboys.

The incident — in which the Rev. Kevin Carter, a Little Ferry pastor, allegedly aimed an unloaded antique-style rifle at the boy in a dramatic, if joking, gesture of team loyalty — led to his arrest Friday on child endangerment and assault charges.

And it sent a new shock wave over St. Margaret of Cortona Church, whose parishioners — and the church itself — are survivors of Superstorm Sandy.

As parishioners Saturday tried to make sense of the incident, the Bergen County prosecutor and a lawyer for Carter staked out uncompromising positions about whether Carter posed any threat to the boy’s safety, and about whether the charges were reasonable or necessary at all.

Carter, free on bail, is expected to say Mass today and deliver a statement during services at 8 and 10 a.m. and noon. His lawyer on Saturday provided the text of that message:

“There were a number of people present on the day of good-natured jesting, between me, a Giants fan as is well known, and a Cowboy fan,” the statement reads in part. “Unfortunately, it seems, that one person misinterpreted the good-natured exchange.”

The pastor said in the statement that he was “shocked and stunned” by the charges and said they were without merit.

Prosecutor John Molinelli said Saturday that the boy, wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey, arrived for Mass with his family on Sept. 13 and was greeted by the pastor. Carter, 54, was talking with the boy about the Giants-Cowboys game to take place that night, and he told the boy that he was an avid Giants fan, the prosecutor said.

Minutes later, Carter called the boy into one of the rectory rooms, had him stand against a wall, and then pointed an unloaded, Civil War-style musket at him and said, “I’m going to shoot you,” Molinelli said in an interview Saturday.

“Even if it was a joke, you don’t play that kind of a joke on an 8-year-old,” Molinelli said.

‘Hard for me to believe’

“It’s hard for me to believe it happened,” parishioner Cheryl Vorisek said Saturday. “I’m just trying to understand it.”

She said Carter is known among parishioners as an avid Giants fan and a Civil War history buff.

“Even in his homilies, the Giants and history always come into play,” she said.

Vorisek said she was shocked by the allegations but that they do not change her opinion of Carter as a caring man.

Police arrested Carter on Friday and charged him with endangering the welfare of a child, a third-degree crime, and aggravated assault, a fourth-degree crime. Third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years and a fine of up to $15,000.

His bail was set at $15,000 with the option to pay 10 percent, which Carter posted, according to his attorney, Harold Cassidy. Conditions of the bail were that he have no contact with the child and that he surrender all firearms.

Molinelli said the charges filed against Carter are appropriate, and that he should not be given special treatment because he is a priest.

“The young victim was frightened from the incident and we need to treat Carter as any other person under the same circumstances,” Molinelli said in an email.

Cassidy, however, said the charges have no merit and that the priest “expects to be fully vindicated.”

In a search of the rectory, police located the musket as well as ammunition and gunpowder. Carter had the appropriate licensing for the gun, Molinelli said.

A parishioner notified the Archdiocese of Newark about the incident on Sept. 25. The archdiocese contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office last Monday.

Molinelli, asked why the archdiocese didn’t contact him immediately, said he believed church officials acted swiftly enough.

The archdiocese could not be reached for comment.

Sandy recovery role

Carter has served as a priest in several Bergen County parishes and joined St. Margaret early in 2013 on the heels of Sandy. He presided over the parish’s recovery from the storm and the extensive repair of the flood-damaged building. During the storm, water reached as high as the pew seats and damaged the floor, part of the walls and the organ.

In August 2013, at a rededication of the church, Carter said, “There’s been so much negativity. This is the church at its best.”

In January, Carter was installed as chaplain for the Little Ferry Police Department.

He was ordained in Newark in 1986. His assignments have included St. Elizabeth R.C. Church in Wyckoff, St. John’s in Hillsdale, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oakland, St. Luke’s in Ho-Ho-Kus and St. Nicholas in Jersey City.

Parishioner Frances Careri, 48, described Carter as a laid-back, “low-key” pastor who sometimes tells jokes in his homilies. Pointing a gun at a child would be completely out of character, she said.

“He must have snapped that day,” Careri said. “It’s very odd that this happened.”