BROOK PARK, Ohio — Sarah Carter will tell you herself that her kids are the key to her heart.
“My children saved me, my children are literally my world,” said Carter. “The thought of losing one of them would bring me to tears.”
Sadly, that thought has become a tragic reality for Carter just over two weeks ago.
Carter said just over two weeks ago her ex-boyfriend Martin Porter kicked in the side door of her Brook Park home.
She said that Porter shot her in the leg and then went into the former couple’s 10-month-old baby’s room and shot the infant twice, little Alice did not survive. Police said Porter shot and killed himself during the incident.
“He [Porter] knows that is one of my biggest fears in life is one of my children dying,” said Carter. “I honestly believe he did that to make me live with the pain of one of my children being dead.”
Carter said Porter harassed her for months after they broke up early last year.
In a release, Brook Park Police confirmed Carter contacted them about issues with Porter four separate times, from August 2021 to January 8.
The released said on January 8, police issued an arrest warrant against Porter for harassment and when investigators went to Porter’s home he wasn’t there.
Porter broke into Carter’s home later that same evening of January 8.
“We were trying to get a protection order but all the terms you have to meet in order to get one, I technically did not fall under any of them,” said Carter.
Carter said her attorney told her that she did not qualify for a protection order because Porter never threatened to harm her.
Melissa Graves with the Journey Center for Safety and Healing said there are several options for people to be granted a protection order.
“Phone records, text messages, voicemails, anything that shows stalking behavior, consistent calls or threats, anything they have documented,” said Graves.
The Journey Center for Safety and Healing offers domestic violence assistance, including information about protection orders. Carter added that she’s not sure if a protection order would’ve really protected her anyway.
“I feel like a protection order would not have stopped him that day,” said Carter. “The look in his eyes him trying to do that, I don't think a protection order would’ve stopped that.”
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