Police still don’t know which bullets struck and killed 19-year-old Jaden Malik Carter during a hellfire exchange of shots during a police drug sting-turned robbery.
What they do know: Carter had a stolen, illegally modified, nearly fully-automatic gun with an extended magazine on him when he was shot in Dale City on September 1, 2022.
Today, Prince William police released a report on the shooting that killed Carter and injured 30-year-old Shane Dareon Pollard, who also traded bullets with police. Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth said the police shootings were justified and will not press charges.
“In this incident, the danger posed by three suspects in the vehicle was real and posed an imminent threat of death or bodily harm to the officers,” said Ashworth. “Accordingly, I find that the use of deadly force was both justified and reasonable under the circumstances of this tragic encounter.”
On September 1, police from Prince William County and Manassas City, members of a regional gang task force, set up a sting operation on Fox Glove Court in Dale City. Undercover officers agreed to purchase 1,000 Feyntynl pills and possibly one gun from 18-year-old Micheal Turner.
Turner sold 500 pills to an undercover cop in August, according to police. Carter was also present during the August 2022 transaction but remained in the car, police said.
Turner chose Fox Glove Court for the September 1 deal, police said. When undercover police arrived to make the buy, Turner, Carter, and Pollard were already there.
The three men robbed the undercover officer at gunpoint and then tried to flee in their car. Officers surrounded the place and swooped in to arrest the three men and help the undercover detective-turned-robbery victim.
Police used their cars to block the suspect’s car. Then, the three men began shooting at the police and crashed their vehicles into parked cars.
Surveillance video recovered from a nearby home showed shots fired from inside the suspect’s car, through the windshield, toward police. Detectives then returned fire. Pollard, the driver, reversed the vehicle, grazing an unoccupied vehicle before backing into another parked car, which then caused that vehicle to slide into a third unoccupied car.
Detectives obtained a ballistic shield before approaching and surrounding. No additional shots were fired. Emergency crews took Carter and Pollard to a hospital, where Carter later died.
A medical examiner ruled the cause of Carter’s death a homicide. Turner was not injured. An analysis is ongoing to determine whose bullets struck the victims. Two detectives from Prince William police and two from Manassas fired shots.
Other undercover cops were involved. However, their identities are not being disclosed to ensure the members are not jeopardized and to preserve the integrity of other continuing cases. None of the detectives involved have been previously involved in a deadly force encounter or officer-involved shooting, police said.
The detectives involved have been, or are in the process of being, cleared to return to duty by their respective agency.
On September 6, police charged Pollard and Turner in connection to the robbery of the undercover detective. After the shooting, police searched the suspect’s car and found no drugs. Pollard was also wanted for an unrelated carjacking that occurred in October 2021.
Police are waging war with drug dealers peddling Fentynl and Perc 30, a form of Percocet that has proven to be widely available and deadly. Earlier this year, two teenagers in Dale City died within 24 hours of using Perc 30.
