Karson Banks

By Jillian Pikora From Daily Voice

A Hempstead man who spent the last five years on the run has been arrested and arraigned for a fatal 2020 shooting outside a Terrace Avenue apartment building, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Ramel Ferguson, 29, was indicted in November 2020 after 31-year-old Karson Banks was shot and killed in a parked car outside 103 Terrace Avenue in Hempstead, according to the release.

Ferguson was arraigned on Tuesday, Nov. 18, before Judge Robert Schwartz on Felony Murder in the Second Degree, Felony Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, and two counts of Felony Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, the DA said. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded. He is due back in court on Monday, Dec. 8.

The DA said Ferguson allegedly ambushed Banks “in broad daylight,” approaching the passenger side of a 2007 Nissan Murano at approximately 11:21 a.m. on Oct. 5, 2020, and firing four shots at close range. Banks was struck on the right side of his body, lower back, side, right arm, and left upper arm.

Hempstead police responded to a 911 call and found Banks in the vehicle’s front passenger seat. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators recovered surveillance video capturing the shooting, according to the release.

Ferguson fled the scene in a vehicle and later fled the state, remaining on the run for five years before turning himself in as law enforcement closed in, the DA said.

He was arrested on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, by the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Stefanie Palma of the Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt and Executive Assistant District Attorney Kevin Higgins. Ferguson was represented at arraignment by Steven LaMagna, Esq.