URBANA — A Springfield man has been charged with first-degree murder for a December shooting which left a Bloomington man dead in Champaign.

Jamal A. Carter, 27, was arrested when he was in the back seat of a vehicle stopped in Springfield on Thursday.

Officers conducted a search of the vehicle and found two 9 mm pistols in the back seat, said Assistant State’s Attorney Tobias Ortega, one of which Carter would later admit to owning.

On Jan. 29, Carter had spoken to police about a Dec. 10, 2024, shooting that took the life of Alvin J. Parker, 42, of Bloomington inside a residence on Dobbins Drive in Champaign.

Mr. Parker was found to have been shot twice in the head, twice in the back, and once in the left shoulder and left upper arm. Officers found multiple 9 mm bullet casings in the residence.

Carter told police he had been at the house earlier that day but left to go to work in Bloomington before the shooting occurred and only heard later that day that “something serious had happened,” Ortega said.

Carter said he wasn’t aware Mr. Parker had been shot and killed at his uncle’s house until police told him.

Witnesses placed Carter at the scene directly after the shooting.

Police also spoke to Carter’s employer in Bloomington and learned that he was not at work on Dec. 10.

The employer also said Carter had been given a 30-day leave for the death of a family member.

Carter told police at multiple points throughout interviews that he was not present and unaware of the shooting but did eventually admit to shooting Mr. Parker after a verbal altercation, Ortega said.

Carter has been charged with two counts of first degree murder and one count of felon possession of a firearm.

If he is convicted, he would face a sentence of 45 to 85 years in prison for each count of murder.

A hearing on whether Carter will be detained until trial was delayed until today, but Champaign County Judge Brett Olmstead ordered he be detained at least until that hearing.