Carter was shot and killed by a rival group, Ron Karenga's "Us", and is celebrated by his supporters as a martyr in the Black Power movement in the United States.

In early 1968, Carter formed the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and became a leader in the group.

As later revealed in Senate testimony, the FBI worked with the Los Angeles Police Department to harass and intimidate party members.

During a meeting of the Black Student Union at UCLA's Campbell Hall on January 17, 1969, Bunchy Carter and another BPP member named John Huggins were heard making derogatory comments about Ron Karenga, the head of Organization US.

Former BPP deputy minister of defense Geronimo Pratt, Carter's head of security at the time, later stated that rather than a conspiracy, the UCLA incident was a spontaneous shootout.

Following the UCLA incident, brothers George and Larry Stiner and Donald Hawkins turned themselves in to the police, who had issued warrants for their arrests.

The Stiner brothers both received life sentences and Hawkins served time in California's Youth Authority Detention.

As the acting chair, Webster organized a Central Committee that interviewed and facilitated the hiring of a former Freedom Rider in Mississippi, Dr. Robert Singleton, as the Director of the Center for African American Studies.

As BSU Chair, Webster also served on the committee that brought Angela Davis as the 1st Black Philosopher Professor to UCLA.

On December 9, 1969, Webster and Angela walked together down Central Avenue to bring a halt to the massive shootout between 6 Black Panthers and over 200 police.

In the years following the deaths of Carter and Huggins, the Black Panther party became more suspicious of outsiders and became more focused on defense rather than community improvement.

His son, coincidentally, attended California State University Long Beach (1987–1992), while Ron Karenga was the chairman of the Black Studies Department.