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Jason Arnie Owens

Age : 37

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/24/2022

Location : Amos Carvelli Funeral Home, 201 Edison Street

City : Nutter Fort

County : Harrison

State : West Virginia

Agency : U.S. Marshals Service Mountain State Fugitive Task Force

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during attempted arrest at father’s funeral

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/24/2022, members of the U.S. Marshals-led Mountain State Fugitive Task Force shot and killed 37-year-old Jason Arnie Owens outside Amos Carvelli Funeral Home in Nutter Fort immediately after Owens served as a pallbearer at his father Junior Arnie Owens’s funeral. Officers had gone to the funeral specifically to arrest Owens on an outstanding fugitive warrant.
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The warrant was for a parole violation. Owens had been released from prison on parole in April 2021 and subsequently absconded from parole. Family members said the immediate violation involved Owens failing to check in with parole authorities and that Owens had told his mother he intended to turn himself in after his father’s funeral.
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Owens had originally been imprisoned following a 2018 incident in which he fled from a Harrison County sheriff’s deputy and then fought with the deputy during his arrest. He received a sentence of three to 13 years and was released on parole in April 2021. The warrant officers were executing at the funeral, however, was based on the subsequent parole violation.
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According to the later 98-page West Virginia State Police investigative report, law enforcement knew Owens would be attending his father’s funeral and believed he might be armed. Officers decided not to approach him while he was near his vehicle. Instead, they watched Owens participate in the funeral and waited until he had helped carry his father’s casket outside and load it into the hearse before moving in to arrest him.
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Witnesses described officers arriving rapidly in unmarked vehicles and wearing plain clothes. Owens had just finished carrying his father’s casket and was embracing a relative when officers approached. Family friend Cassandra Whitecotton said an officer jumped from an SUV wearing shorts and a T-shirt and that officers did not announce themselves before yelling Owens’s name. Owens’s aunt Evelyn O’Dell similarly said she was hugging Owens when someone yelled his name and gunfire immediately followed.
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The initial U.S. Marshals Service account alleged that Owens produced a firearm during the attempted arrest, causing officers to shoot him. Family members and several witnesses immediately challenged that account, saying they did not see Owens draw a weapon and questioning whether he was given any meaningful opportunity to surrender before officers opened fire.
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The later West Virginia State Police investigation provided a more detailed account. According to the police report, Owens resisted as two officers attempted to take him into custody and reached toward a handgun carried in a brown holster on his waist. Police alleged that officers ordered him to stop reaching for the weapon and fired when he continued. At least 10 spent cartridge casings were documented, and Owens sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and side. Investigators reported finding a black handgun near his body.
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Witness evidence was not entirely consistent with the officers’ description. One witness told investigators that Owens never attempted to flee, fight or make sudden movements and said the handgun remained visible in its holster and Owens never grabbed it. Owens’s son Justin similarly told investigators that his father had a weapon in a holster but had put his hands behind his back and was surrendering. Other witnesses supported the officers’ account that Owens was reaching toward the weapon and that officers commanded him to stop.
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Investigators also searched Owens’s vehicle and reported recovering a .22 Magnum revolver, a .22 Magnum rifle, ammunition and loaded magazines. Those weapons were inside the vehicle and were separate from the handgun investigators reported finding beside Owens after the shooting.
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The shooting immediately generated protests and demands for answers from Owens’s family and other funeral attendees. Witnesses disputed the Marshals Service’s statement that officers immediately rendered first aid. Family friend Denzil Pratt said Owens was still breathing after he fell but officers did not initially provide assistance. Other mourners described being threatened with gunfire when they attempted to approach Owens after he was shot.
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West Virginia State Police conducted the shooting investigation and interviewed at least 20 witnesses. Investigators ultimately concluded that the officers acted appropriately. The case was forwarded to Grant County Prosecutor John Ours, who served as special prosecutor. In April 2023, Ours determined that the shooting was legally justified, declined to bring criminal charges against the officers and did not present the case to a grand jury.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
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The two Mountain State Fugitive Task Force officers who fired and killed Owens were not identified in the publicly released investigative reporting.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wdtv.com/2022/08/25/controversy-over-officer-involved-shooting-nutter-fort-grows/
https://www.wdtv.com/2022/09/23/few-answers-given-since-officer-involved-shooting-nutter-fort-one-month-ago/
https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/update-authorities-fugitive-shot-dead-at-funeral-in-nutter-fort-west-virginia-when-authorities-attempt/article_c7e37216-23d7-11ed-b620-df9ca37d2821.html
https://www.wdtv.com/2022/08/30/family-friends-look-justice-jason/
https://www.wdtv.com/2023/02/24/questions-remain-six-months-after-nutter-fort-funeral-shooting/
https://www.wdtv.com/2023/04/13/5-investigates-fatal-funeral-home-shooting/
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/fugitive-shot-killed-fathers-funeral-nutter-fort-west-virginia/