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This article was written by WTOP’s news partner, InsideNoVa.com, and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
Prince William County’s top prosecutor says the actions of four police officers involved in a deadly Sept. 1 shooting in Dale City was “justified and reasonable.”
A confidential informant and an undercover Manassas city detective arranged to purchase 1,000 pills of fentanyl and one firearm from a suspect for $6,000 on Sept. 1 in the area of 14700 Fox Glove Court, a townhouse community off Cloverdale Road, according to a search warrant.
The search warrant says that three suspects arrived in a vehicle and two of them, identified as 19-year-old Jaiden Malik Carter, 19, of Dale City, and Jalil Michael Turner, 18, got into the undercover detective’s car for the purchase. The filing says that 30-year-old Shane Dareon Pollard of Woodbridge remained in the driver’s seat of the suspect vehicle.
During the purchase, the warrant says that video inside the undercover vehicle shows Turner pulled out a gun and demanded money from the detective.
After stealing the money, the warrant says Carter and Turner got back in their vehicle. The vehicle attempted to flee the area as members of the Northern Virginia Safe Streets Taskforce converged on the scene.
“A brief command of “stop!” was issued by law enforcement before gunshots were almost immediately fired from the suspect’s vehicle leading to an exchange of gunfire with detectives which ultimately struck Carter and Pollard,” Prince William County police said in a Friday news release.
Carter died two days later at a nearby hospital. Pollard suffered minor injuries and was released from the hospital.
While treating Carter at the scene, police found “an illegally modified firearm with an extended magazine with the capability of being fully automatic … in his possession which was later determined to be stolen,” the release said.
Police also recovered another gun from the backseat where Turner was sitting. He was not injured in the shooting.
Police said analysis has not been able to determine or confirm whose rounds struck Carter and Pollard. Additional analysis is still being conducted, the release said.
Two Prince William and two Manassas police detectives were involved in the exchange of gunfire, according to authorities. No agency involved in the shooting will be part of the criminal investigation.
Police have declined to say if there is any body-worn camera footage from the shooting.
Arlington County Police, handling the investigation through a regional Critical Incident Response Team agreement, have charged Turner and Pollard in connection with the shooting. Turner is charged with robbery resulting in a death and use of a firearm in a felony.
Pollard is charged with robbery resulting in death and will also be served outstanding warrants in connection with an unrelated October carjacking, according to police.
“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,” Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth said in the release. “Accordingly, I find that the use of deadly force was both justified and reasonable under the circumstances of this tragic encounter.”
The county’s Use of Deadly Force Review Board will conduct a final review of the incident and determine if the shooting was within policy and will suggest any recommendations as needed based on their findings, the release said.
