A Hempstead man on the run for the past five years was arrested and arraigned for an October 2020 murder in a car parked outside of a Terrace Avenue apartment building in Hempstead, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Ramel Ferguson, 29, was indicted in November 2020 and an arrest warrant was issued. He was arraigned on Tuesday, Nov. 18, on charges of murder, attempted murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Ferguson pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on Dec. 8. Donnelly said if he is convicted, he faces up to 40 years to life in prison.
Donnelly said that on Oct. 5, 2020, Furgeson, who was armed with a loaded handgun, allegedly approached 31-year-old Karson Banks in a 2007 Nissan Murano parked in front of 103 Terrace Avenue in Hempstead and fired four shots at Banks at close range, striking him on the right side of his body in the lower back, side, his right arm and left upper arm.
Ferguson fled the scene and later fled the state, the DA said.
Members of the Hempstead Police Department responded to a 911 call for a man shot and found Banks in the vehicle’s front passenger seat, who was pronounced dead at the scene, Donnelly said.
“As law enforcement closed in on him, Ferguson finally gave himself up to police to face prosecution for allegedly taking Karson Banks’ life. No matter how much time has passed, my homicide prosecutors never give up on a case, the DA said.
