Mark Carson in a photo handout distributed by the NYPD.
The accused killer of Mark Carson made multiple statements to police following the May 18 fatal shooting in which he admitted to killing the 32-year-old gay man.
“He thought he was tough and I shot him,” Elliot Morales told police moments after he shot Carson at Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street in the West Village. “It’s the last thing he’ll remember.”
Morales’ indictment charges him with second-degree murder as a hate crime, five counts of criminal possession of a weapon, menacing a police officer, and menacing. It was released on June 18, accompanied by a voluntary disclosure form that details some of the roughly 20 statements he made.
Statements disclosed in June 18 indictment
After police apprehended him near West Third and MacDougal Streets, Morales repeatedly expressed concern that he had shot a police officer. He also said he shot Carson.
“I killed him, he was trying to act tough so I shot him,” Morales said. “Guy thought he was tough in front of his bitch so I shot him. Diagnosis is dead doctor.”
According to the criminal complaint filed when Morales was arrested, the 33-year-old first said to Carson and a friend, “Look at you faggots, you look like gay wrestlers.”
Minutes later, Morales asked Carson, “Are you with him?,” and when Carson answered, “Yes,” Morales shot Carson in the head with a pistol.
In longer statements given later on May 18 that were in the voluntary disclosure form, Morales described a troubled home life and upbringing.
“My family life is fucked up which is why I drink,” he said. “I am not gay, I don't have a problem with gay people, I have lots of gays in my life. I don’t use drugs or take any medication. I rarely come to the city or hang out in the Village.”
Morales told police his sister “is a crackhead” and that he never knew his father. His mother is a diabetic with high blood pressure and “other issues,” he said.
An impromptu memorial sprung up at the site of Mark Carson’s murder on Eighth Street just off Sixth Avenue. | DONNA ACETO
“I always hurt her and make bad decisions in life and make her cry,” Morales said. “She will die after this. Did someone die? Did a child die? My mom will die. Life is funny. Some people are pre-determined to be good and some are bad. We are who we are already. I always make bad decisions. I always do things the hard way. Some people go around road blocks, some go through. I always go through.”
Other items in the voluntary disclosure form suggest that police have at least four witnesses who identified Morales and that he may have given a videotaped statement.
The Carson killing is the second violent felony that Morales has been charged with. In 1998, Morales and two other men, John Kehinde, then 17, and Daniel Olivencia, then 18, beat, bound, and robbed three young women in an East Village apartment.
Morales wielded a machete in that attack. Morales and Olivencia choked the women, with Morales saying, “I’m going to put her to sleep,” according to court records in the case. They also hit the women with a metal pipe.
Charged with attempted murder, multiple robbery and burglary counts, and assault, Morales pleaded guilty to robbery in 1999 and was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison. He served 10 years.
“This young man’s tragic death serves as a reminder of the discrimination that many of our family members, coworkers, and friends still face,” Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, said in a written statement. “This defendant is charged with targeting and gunning down Mark Carson on the streets of Greenwich Village because of his sexual orientation. Mr. Carson was murdered as he walked through a neighborhood that has long been a center of the gay rights movement and home to many LGBT New Yorkers, as well as a destination for LGBT visitors from around the globe.”
