Update: Prince William County police released further details about the shooting that ultimately killed Jaiden Carter, including the identities of the other men involved and the fact that officers at the scene recovered two handguns.

According to the police statement, Carter was with two other men on the night of Sept. 1, both of whom have now been criminally charged: Jalil Michael Turner, 18, of no fixed address, and Shane Dareon Pollard, 30, of Woodbridge. Pollard remains hospitalized, and is being charged with robbery resulting in a death. Turner has been charged with robbery resulting in a death and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. He is being held in jail without bond.

The news marks a shift in the original police narrative of events, which originally suggested that a third 18-year-old — Turner — was present at the scene but uninvolved. Now, police investigators have implicated Turner and suggested that he and Pollard’s actions created the situation that “ultimately resulted in the death of Carter.”

Police also added details to the sequence of events that took place immediately before they opened fire. The confrontation between officers and the three men began after an undercover Manassas City detective requested to purchase “a large quantity of suspected Fentanyl pills and at least one firearm,” according to the release.

At one point, the police description of events says Turner and Carter got in the detective’s car, and Carter directed the detective to open the trunk of the car, where the payment for the pills and handgun was. Turner and Carter subsequently took the money and returned to the car with Pollard.

“All three men attempted to flee in the vehicle just as additional detectives were converging on the location to make the arrest,” the police description continues.

Police said they recovered two handguns at the scene, including one that was “illegally modified to be fully automatic with an extended magazine.”

The police statement stopped short of providing further details about the shooting itself, including the critical question of whether Carter was wounded and ultimately killed by an officer’s bullet.

A lawyer representing Carter’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Original:

A 19-year-old Prince William County resident died on Sunday, after being shot at by police last week. His family is grieving — and criticizing police for firing too quickly.

Officers involved in an interagency narcotics task force shot at Jaiden Malik Carter and an unnamed 30-year-old man on September 1 in Dale City, according to a police report.

Carter and the other man were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the upper body. The second man is still hospitalized, but his injuries are not life threatening, according to police. A third 18-year-old male bystander was described as being at the scene but was not hurt. No police officers were injured, though the report says there was “an exchange of gunfire.”

According to the police narrative of events, it was not immediately clear whether Carter was wounded by a bullet shot by a police officer.

“My baby, my nephew did not deserve to die this way!!! No one does!!! He was given no chance to surrender,” Carter’s aunt, April Warren, posted on Facebook.

“The family is devastated and heartbroken over what has happened to Mr. Carter as he was another victim of unnecessary police brutality,” said Joshua Wilson, an attorney representing Carter’s family. Family members directed all questions to Wilson.

Police say the shooting occurred during an undercover investigation into fentanyl distribution, which included officers from the Prince William County Police Department, City of Manassas Police Department, and federal agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Four officers shot their guns in the confrontation: two detectives with the Prince William police and two with the Manassas police.

The four officers are on administrative leave from their respective departments, and an investigation by a regional body, the Critical Incident Response Team, is ongoing. The Arlington County Police Department is leading the probe.

Jonathan Perok, a spokesperson for the Prince William County Police Department, could not answer questions about the total number of officers on scene, whether officers recovered a gun following the shooting, and whether any of the law enforcement present were wearing body cameras.

“To preserve the integrity of that independent investigation, we’re allowing their investigators to progress and will release more information when we can,” Perok wrote in an email to DCist/WAMU. “The questions you’re asking are part of that investigation and will be addressed in time.”

Warren uploaded footage from a nearby home security camera showing a zoomed-out view of the shooting to Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram. It shows a chaotic scene in a parking lot, where one car is blocked from exiting by two others. Police officers appear to jump out of two blocking cars and a third parked in the lot. They yell “Stop!” and “Get on the ground!” as the first car reverses quickly, crashing into three other parked cars as it does so.

“Hands up! I will shoot you!” police officers shout as they advance towards the crashed car. Towards the end of the video, one of the officers says the driver is “semi-conscious.”

It is difficult to tell from the video, which is taken from a significant distance and whose audio is somewhat distorted, when any shots were fired or any identifying details of the officers or the people in the car.

“September 1st in [the] evening the police shot my nephew in the head without even giving him a chance, not following protocol! We demand #JUSTICEFORJAIDEN,” reads the video’s caption.

Wilson, the family’s attorney, said he had reviewed the video. He noted he did not hear police identify themselves as they jump out of their cars, and further did not hear the officers issue any specific commands to Carter and the other person in the car to drop a gun, a fact Wilson felt raises questions about whether the pair had a gun in the first place.

“Mr. Carter is absolutely a victim,” Wilson continued. “Law enforcement made the decision to shoot into that vehicle. And one of the bullets struck Mr. Carter in the head.”

Perok, the police spokesperson, did not confirm that the video Warren posted showed the shooting in question. He said the ongoing criminal investigation was looking into whether a police officer’s bullet ultimately killed Carter.

On social media, Warren has also called for community members to attend a protest and vigil for Carter’s life on September 10 in Cloverdale Park.

“I know Jaiden, I know his heart, this was my nephew who checked up on me while I was sick for over a week from CoVID [sic] and he made sure he checked on his auntie april,” she wrote. “He always made sure he was talking to his siblings everyday! He had a good heart and the police took his life!!!! I love you Jaiden!!! Eres nuestro angel!!”

This story has been updated with additional details from the police investigation.