82-Year-Old White Furniture Store Owner Shot and Killed by Black Thugs

Hampton Roads
September 25, 2014

For 56 years, Donald Carter sold sofas, dining room tables and other fine furnishings downtown at the corner of East Washington and Franklin streets.

And for 56 years, the Suffolk businessman chatted with customers, friends and strangers while going about the furniture trade.

But not anymore.

Carter, 82, was shot and killed early Monday morning in a parking lot in the 100 block of E. Washington St. – across from Carter’s Quality Furniture and next door to Carter’s Warehouse and Showroom.

It was the city’s first homicide this year.

Late Monday, police said they made two arrests. Charges against Leon Jerome Hayes, 33, and Naomi Nichelle Lambert, 22, include first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Both are from the 400 block of Saint James Ave. in Suffolk.

The shooting was reported at 1:10 a.m., and Carter was found with a gunshot wound to the lower torso.

It was unclear why Carter was outside his stores that late, but family and friends said it was not uncommon to see him at unusual hours.

“He was always one to stay up late and get up late,” said David Carter, the youngest of Donald’s three brothers and owner of Brandon House Furniture in Suffolk. “But I haven’t a clue as to what he was doing there last night.”

Angel Rivera, who lives across the street from where Carter was killed, said he heard a gunshot shortly after 1 a.m. and looked out his window to see a man riding a bike.

“Nobody was around,” he said.

Rivera said he saw the bicyclist spot Carter’s body and then ride to the police substation one block up the street. Within minutes, officers arrived.

Al Godwin, co-owner of Ndulge Eclectic Soul Cuisine, said police collected video from one of his security cameras pointed toward the parking lot.

“We’ve never had any problems over here,” he said.

Godwin said Carter usually drove around in a white Cadillac sedan, but also occasionally used a maroon Buick LeSabre.

Both cars were parked Monday morning in the area – the Cadillac behind Ndulge and the Buick near the scene of the shooting. Police eventually towed the Buick so it could be inspected by a crime scene technician.

According to a Virginian-Pilot profile published in 1998, Carter grew up selling furniture with his father, Thomas Carter Sr., and three brothers.

“My dad always told us we were going into the furniture business,” Carter said in the story. “You started by riding on the furniture truck. I’d go with him to Franklin every Saturday to deliver furniture and collect money. I couldn’t write yet, but I could count money.”

David Carter recalled how their father helped Donald and his other two brothers, Thomas Jr. and Larry, open their own stores. He referred to it as “an early inheritance – three stores to the three boys.”

“My father’s dream was to go into business with his sons, and that was his way of getting them started on their own,” David Carter said.

Donald Carter Jr., Donald’s son, manages his father’s old store on Washington Street, though the elder Carter remained involved.

“His whole life was the store and the furniture business,” said David Carter.

“He was there all the time. … Sometimes he’d sell and sometimes he’d just putter around. He came and went as he pleased.”

Former Mayor Andy Damiani, a longtime downtown business owner, described Carter as “a champion of downtown retailing.”

“I knew him like a brother,” Damiani said. “As a boy, he used to work with his father selling furniture from a truck.”

Neighbors said Carter was friendly, often striking up conversations with people on the street. They said he would regularly sit outside on a bench across from his store near where he was shot.

“He’s always walking and talking to people,” said Godwin, of Ndulge. “That’s who he was. He was a good guy.”

David Carter described his brother as “kind-hearted.”

“He was a soft touch. He gave money away to a lot of people, and sometimes they took advantage of him,” he said. “But that’s who he was.”

Besides his son, Donald Carter is survived by his wife, Edna, and two daughters.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (562-5887).