Poll of the Day > Plainclothes officers shoots and kills man at his father's funeral...

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The family of a man who was shot and killed by law enforcement after he helped carry his fathers coffin is demanding answers.

Jason Arnie Owens, 37, was a pallbearer at his fathers funeral on 24 August, when he was shot dead in front of 40 mourners by two plainclothes officers outside a funeral home in West Virginia, the Associated Press reported.

Family members claim the officers opened fire before Mr Owens realised what was happening.

The officers arrived at the scene to enforce a fugitive warrant and called the victims name but did not give him a chance to surrender, loved ones alleged.

The US Marshall Service did not reveal why a warrant had been issued against Mr Owens but told the news organisation he had a gun at the moment of the arrest, a claim disputed by witnesses.

They yelled Jasons name. They just said Jason and then started firing, Cassandra Whitecotton, a family friend, said. There was no identifications they were US Marshals anything. They did not render this man any aid at all. Never once they touched him to render any aid whatsoever.

Mr Owens funeral on Friday follows a rally last week outside the Harrison County Courthouse, where protesters demanded answers about his killing.

Authorities have refused to clarify details citing an ongoing investigation and told the AP in a statement that responding officers had rendered first aid to Mr Owens.

Bodycam footage from marshals, if existing, is unlikely to be released as the states law does not require authorities to do so during an investigation.

We want to know why you would do this in front of his family, Mandy Swiger, his cousin said. And what gives you the right to do that to an unarmed man?

Tracy Hahn, a security consultant and retired police officer, said in those circumstances, Marshals usually wait for funeral services to finish before making any arrests.

If theyve been searching for someone and they finally figure out where they are, theyre going to get them, Ms Hahn told the AP.
There must be some extenuating circumstance that they felt the urgency to arrest him then instead of waiting if there was some risk factor, an escape risk or something like that.
In 2018, Mr Owens was sentenced to three to 13 years in prison for allegedly attempting to strangle a Harrison County sheriffs deputy and fleeing the correction facility where he was housed. He was released on parole in April 2021 but committed a violation for not checking in just once, Ms Swiger said.

And thats why he promised his mom after the funeral he would turn himself in, she told the AP.

Meanwhile, the family is said to have been left traumatised.
Just seconds before he was fatally shot, Mr Owens had been hugging his aunt. His 18-year-old son, who was also present at the funeral, was left covered in Mr Owens blood.

There appears to be no law enforcement body camera footage of the police shooting of an alleged fugitive at his fathers funeral.

WV News reached out to West Virginia State Police, which is investigating the shooting, through an open records law request. WV News requested access to and a copy of all body camera video from all officers who were on scene and/or participating in the attempt to capture West Virginia Divisions of Corrections and Rehabilitation parole fugitive Jason Arnie Owens the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.

State Police responded Wednesday, saying in an email that a search has been conducted and the West Virginia State Police is not in possession of any records of your request.

Follow-up calls Wednesday and Thursday to Acting U.S. Marshal Terry Moore, Harrison Sheriff Robert Matheny and Bridgeport Police Chief Mark Rogers indicated there was no body camera footage of the shooting, just footage afterward of a deputy rendering aid.

Moore qualified his comment by deferring to West Virginia State Police for any definitive answer. State Police have declined to discuss the investigation, which they began the day of the shooting at the request of local authorities, who had officers involved in the unit seeking to arrest Owens. State Police Sgt. Ronnie Gaskins, supervisor of the Bridgeport Detachment, previously said a trooper or troopers would be called in from a different area of the state to investigate.

Owens was shot dead by a member or members of a U.S. Marshals-led Mountain State Fugitive Task Force, according to law enforcement.

A Marshals Service statement, released Aug. 24, said that at approximately 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24, members of the U.S. Marshals-led Mountain State Fugitive Task Force and other law enforcement agencies were involved in an officer-involved shooting during a fugitive investigation that resulted in a fatality in Nutter Fort, West Virginia. Preliminary information indicates that during the arrest attempt, the subject produced a firearm. As a result, law enforcement officers discharged their firearms striking the individual. Officers immediately rendered first aid until emergency medical services arrived; however, the man succumbed to his injuries. No law enforcement officers or other persons were injured during the incident.

Evelyn ODell, the aunt of Owens, said she was at the funeral and described what happened very differently.

She and other family, friends and supporters protested Aug. 29 in front of the Harrison County Courthouse.

We was really close. Hes more than just my nephew to me. He was my big me, and I was his little me, ODell said.

They shot him at his dads funeral, said ODell, referring to the funeral of Junior Arnie Owens, 59, of Clarksburg, who passed away unexpectedly Aug. 20, the Saturday prior to the shooting.

He just took his dad out; he was a pallbearer. He had just laid his dad in the back of a hearse, and he was walking around, and I was hugging him. Next thing I know, somebody yelled Jason. I still had my hand on my shoulder, my one hand from hugging him, when the first bullet hit him. He never pulled a gun or nothing, and were trying to get justice for him because they cold-blooded killed him. He never pulled a gun. He did not pull a gun, ODell said.

The Marshals Service has declined to say why authorities were trying to arrest Jason Owens, who was prohibited from owning or even possessing firearms due to a prior felony conviction.

Owens apparently still was on parole in a case in which he was sentenced in December 2018 to 3-13 years in prison for fleeing with reckless indifference, strangulation and second-offense battery on a governmental representative.

In that case, law enforcement had alleged that Owens fled recklessly in a vehicle and strangled and assaulted Brian Deem, then a deputy for the Harrison County Sheriffs Office and now a sergeant.

Harrison Circuit Judge James A. Matish imposed the maximum sentence during a Dec. 12, 2018, hearing. This was very serious, Matish told Owens. You could have easily strangled Deputy Deem to the point of a murder, and thats all the more reason to impose (the maximum sentence).

Owens had pleaded guilty in that case to fleeing with reckless indifference, strangulation and second-offense battery on a governmental representative. Three other counts were dismissed.

On Oct. 25, 2018, Owens admitted fleeing recklessly in a vehicle April 12, 2018, from law enforcement and then, when he tried to get away on foot, grappling with Deem after Deem grabbed his shirt and they slid down a hill.

At the plea hearing about four years ago, Owens said he held Deem down by the neck while the deputy was trying to hit him. But he added that he then explained he was high and scared and subsequently allowed Deem to handcuff him. Owens also acknowledged a prior battery on a Lumberport police officer dating back about a dozen years.

Owens initially was charged in the 2018 case with strangling, reckless fleeing, disarming a law enforcement officer and third-offense driving on a license suspended or revoked for driving under the influence. In September 2018, he was indicted on those four charges, plus the second-offense battery on a governmental representative count and one count of fleeing by means other than a vehicle.

Deem alleged he initiated a traffic stop about 6 p.m. April 12, 2018, on a sport utility vehicle that was traveling behind Harrison Deputy Jon Flanagans vehicle. Flanagan also initiated a traffic stop by activating his emergency lights and sirens and using his arm to signal for the driver to pull over, according to the complaint. At that time, the driver of the vehicle Owens passed Flanagans cruiser on the right side by driving off the roadway, the complaint alleged. Owens then began traveling in the wrong lane and passing other vehicles in designated no-passing zones, law enforcement alleged.

At one point, Owens almost struck an oncoming vehicle head on, according to law enforcement. He allegedly fled down U.S. 19, turned west on Crooked Run Road, north on Gregorys Run Road, west on U.S. 20, south onto Ten Mile Road and west onto Rinehart Road, law enforcement alleged.

The pursuit lasted about 25 miles. After the intersection of Caldwell Run Road, the vehicle was traveling without a rear left tire, causing gouges in the roadway, Deem alleged. When the vehicle came to a stop, Owens opened the drivers side door and fled on foot over a hill, Deem alleged.

Deem pursued him, while Flanagan pursued a female passenger exiting the vehicle, according to law enforcement. Owens was advised to stop fleeing on foot multiple times and refused to do so, according to law enforcement. Deem drew his gun and attempted to apprehend Owens, according to the complaint.

Owens then intentionally and forcefully knocked the gun from Deems hands to disarm him, the complaint alleged. Owens began resisting arrest and placed Deem into a chokehold and attempted to strangle him, the complaint alleged. Flanagan secured the firearm, and Owens was taken into custody, according to law enforcement.

During the 2018 sentencing hearing, defense attorney Jerry Blair had cited Owens work history and had described him as a hardworking, decent country person who slipped into substance abuse during a life crisis.

That's pretty fucked up.

The pigs came to finish the job.

Truly despicable.

Yeah it's why Trump's last speech on doubling police budgets and giving them "more legal protection" scares me.

Cops are a fucking gang and get to do literally whatever they want with only a slap on the wrist so long as they accept the other cops who also want to do horrible shit with no consequences.

That's pretty fucked up.

well it wouldn't be the first time there was a gun when others .say there wasn't.