The ex-convict who was arrested for shooting his parole officer at the downtown Brooklyn parole office on Thursday was trying to kill the officer. Police say that after Robert Morales, 50, fired into Samuel Salters' shoulder, tried to pull the trigger of his Ruger 9mm again—aiming at Salters' face—but the gun jammed. Morales seem to confirm that version of events, because he told reporters, as he was being taken to court, "Unfortunately he ain't dead. That was the plan... He's an a-hole. He deserved it."
According to the Daily News, "Morales made a 16-minute videotaped confession... [and] said he intended to shoot Samuel Salters in the face, but missed and hit him in the shoulder with his only shot. At one point, a source said, the unrepentant Morales interrupted his confession to look a detective in the eye. 'This is a slam dunk for you guys,' he declared." Morales' friends say that he had given away many of his belongings and even left a suicide note, "Yo Chuck. I’m truly sorry I couldn’t do this another way. But it is what it is. Done deal." The friend, Chuck DeJesus said, "He wanted to kill this dude, and he wanted to die. He kept saying all week, 'I'm tired. I can't take this anymore.
Still, Morales, who served 25 years for his role in a 1977 arson that left a child dead, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. DeJesus said that Morales believed Salters was undermining his efforts; the Post reports, "Salters insisted Morales check in with him twice a month -- double the previous officer's requirement -- and forbade him from leaving his Brooklyn home earlier than 7 a.m., which made Morales late to his Bronx job. He also made him wait up to five hours in his office before meeting with him, DeJesus said." Per the news, Salters, 49, underwent surgery at Bellevue and had two heart attacks; he is currently in stable condition.
However, the Times says Salters was "described as straightforward and businesslike by one parole officer at the Brooklyn office." The shooting has also prompted the parole officers' union to demand metal detectors, with a union head complaining they have been fighting for a decade to get them, "We are the only law-enforcement officers without metal detectors. Middle schools have metal detectors."
