In the waning hours of a November night in Shreveport, Louisiana, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet, leaving a teenage boy dying and a community searching for answers. Seventeen-year-old Janontea Carter, a male, was in the Martin Luther King Jr. neighborhood on November 30, 2014, when he was struck by bullets. Responders rushed him to a nearby hospital, but his injuries proved too severe, and he was pronounced dead.
The initial investigation pointed to a dispute that escalated into deadly violence, a senseless act that cut short a young life.
For more than a year, the case remained a painful, unresolved chapter for Carter's family and the city. Then, in December 2015, a breakthrough came. The Shreveport Police Department, in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force, located and apprehended 20-year-old De'Aries L. Wilson. He was taken into custody in the 7100 block of West 70th Street and formally charged with the second-degree murder of Janontea Carter. Investigators believed Wilson was the one who fired the fatal shots that ended the teenager's life.
Following his arrest, De'Aries L. Wilson was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center. The legal process began to unfold, moving from his initial arrest to the methodical proceedings of the criminal justice system. While the immediate shock of the crime had passed, the pursuit of justice for Janontea Carter continued. The case eventually went to trial, where a jury was presented with the evidence gathered by law enforcement. After hearing the arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, the jury found De'Aries L. Wilson guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. For his role in the death of Janontea Carter, Wilson was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison, bringing a measure of closure to a long and painful ordeal for the victim's loved ones.
