A Georgetown man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for the brutal 2022 murder of Paul McCarter, a 38-year-old member of the local homeless community.
Kevin Shorter, now 26, was sentenced in December after pleading guilty but mentally ill to charges of Murder in the Second Degree and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony.
The incident occurred on the night of September 7, 2022, when Georgetown Police were called to the Royal Farms convenience store on DuPont Boulevard. Witnesses reported that Shorter had attacked McCarter with a metal baseball bat at the store. Despite the victim’s efforts to escape, Shorter continued his assault before fleeing the scene. Emergency crews arrived to find McCarter critically injured, and he was transported to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital and later transferred to Christiana Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on September 13.
According to investigators, Shorter and McCarter were acquainted as members of Georgetown’s homeless community. Shorter, who struggled with ongoing mental health issues, believed McCarter posed a threat to him. This led Shorter to wait for McCarter at the Royal Farms store, where he carried out the attack according to court records. Authorities identified and arrested Shorter, initially charging him with attempted murder. The charges were later upgraded to first-degree murder following McCarter’s death.