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Dominic Jeter

Age : 23

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/31/2022

Location : Concord Mills Mall, 8111 Concord Mills Boulevard

City : Concord Mills

County : Cabarrus

State : North Carolina

Agency : Concord Police Department

Officer(s) :Jeremy Howarth; Maria Westphal

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during foot pursuit inside shopping mall

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/31/2022, Concord Police Department Officers Jeremy Howarth and Maria Westphal shot 23-year-old Dominic Jeter during a foot pursuit inside Concord Mills Mall after police responded to a report that credit cards had been stolen. Jeter was critically wounded and died several days later. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation investigated the shooting, body-camera footage was subsequently released, and in January 2023 the Cabarrus County District Attorney's Office declined to charge either officer.
At approximately 12:30 p.m., someone at Concord Mills called 911 and reported that three men had stolen credit cards. The caller provided descriptions of the three men. Howarth and Westphal located three people matching those descriptions outside the mall and approached them. The three ran from the officers toward the mall, and the officers pursued them on foot.
Body-camera footage released later provides considerably more information than the original accounts. The footage shows the officers confronting the three men outside the mall and ordering them to stop. The officers did not appear to have their guns drawn at that point. Jeter and another man continued running into the mall and eventually entered an unfinished store or construction area.
Inside the construction area, the encounter escalated. Body-camera footage shows Jeter with a handgun and shows him pointing it toward Westphal. Howarth and Westphal repeatedly ordered him to drop the gun. One officer positioned himself behind available cover while Jeter was partially concealed behind construction equipment.
The recording then captures a gunshot, followed by the officers firing. WSOC's frame-by-frame review found that the first bullet ricocheted off the floor near Westphal before police opened fire. The Cabarrus County District Attorney's subsequent review concluded that Jeter fired first, approximately 22 seconds after drawing the handgun, and that Howarth and Westphal then returned fire.
Police gunfire struck Jeter. Officers then summoned emergency medical personnel and provided aid. Jeter was transported in critical condition to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. No officer was struck by the gunfire.
Jeter survived initially but died from his wounds over the following weekend. Concord Police Chief Gary Gacek publicly announced his death on 09/06/2022 after receiving confirmation from the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner's Office.
The shooting caused Concord Mills to be locked down and closed for the remainder of the day while police searched the mall and investigators processed the scene. The other two men police had pursued were taken into custody outside the mall.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation assumed responsibility for the independent investigation of the police shooting. Concord Police separately reviewed Howarth and Westphal's use of deadly force. Both officers were initially placed on administrative duty under department policy.
The later release of body-camera footage is particularly important because it permits more of the critical encounter to be evaluated independently of the initial police narrative. The video shows Jeter holding and pointing the handgun, records repeated commands to drop it, and captures the first shot and subsequent police gunfire. WSOC's review reported that a bullet can be seen striking or ricocheting from the floor near Westphal immediately before the officers fire.
By the time the body-camera footage became public in December 2022, Howarth and Westphal had both returned to duty.
On 01/10/2023, the Cabarrus County District Attorney's Office announced that neither officer would face criminal charges. Prosecutors concluded from the body-camera recordings and SBI investigation that Jeter fired first and that Howarth and Westphal reasonably believed they faced an imminent threat when they fired. The DA therefore determined that their use of deadly force was legally justified.
No subsequent civil wrongful-death lawsuit, settlement, disciplinary action against Howarth or Westphal, or later evidence materially contradicting the body-camera record was located during this update.

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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Maria Westphal had been a Concord Police Department officer for approximately two years when she shot Jeter. She was placed on administrative duty after the shooting, subsequently returned to work, and was cleared of criminal liability following the SBI and district attorney reviews.
Jeremy Howarth was an unusually new officer at the time of the killing. He had been with the Concord Police Department for only approximately two months when he and Westphal shot Jeter. He was placed on administrative duty after the shooting and later returned to work before the district attorney formally declined criminal charges.
No separate reliably documented prior fatal police shooting or substantiated serious misconduct finding involving Howarth or Westphal was located.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/concord-mills-closes-amid-heavy-police-presence-outside-mall/YQUHZQN2LZF67FKSFZKOTCHLTU/
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article265140716.html
https://www.wbtv.com/2022/09/06/suspect-injured-during-officer-involved-shooting-concord-mills-dies-police-confirm/
https://www.wccbcharlotte.com/2022/08/31/police-concord-mills-mall-closed-following-officer-involved-shooting/
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2022/08/31/police-shooting-closes-concord-mills-mall
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2022/09/06/man-dies-6-days-after-exchanging-gunfire-with-police-at-concord-mills-mall
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/exclusive-body-camera-video-released-man-shot-killed-by-police-concord-mills/GDBSJTQTHZHA3DFLZKCEYGE77I/
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/no-criminal-charges-be-filed-against-officers-deadly-concord-mills-shooting-da-says/FXQJN5WFSRBE5CABYJZVHWIPEU/
https://www.wbtv.com/2023/01/11/officers-involved-fatal-concord-mills-mall-shooting-will-not-face-charges-das-office-confirms/