Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Jayvion Marquise Barthel
Age : 20
Gender : Male
Race : Black
Date : 08/25/2023
Location : West Euclid Avenue and South Woodland Boulevard
City : DeLand
County : Volusia
State : Florida
Agency : DeLand Police Department; Volusia Sheriff’s Office
Officer(s) :William Leven; Justin Allen
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police during investigation
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 08/25/2023, at approximately 1:30 p.m., DeLand Police Department investigators were working on an unrelated burglary investigation when they saw a white Dodge Charger that police believed was connected to an alleged aggravated assault with a firearm eight days earlier. Police stopped the Charger at West Euclid Avenue and South Woodland Boulevard. Three people were inside, including 20-year-old Jayvion Marquise Barthel, who was seated in the rear.
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The vehicle had been identified during an investigation of an 08/17/2023 incident in which police alleged that two people were approached by a person who pointed a firearm at them and repeatedly pulled the trigger, but the weapon malfunctioned. At the time Barthel was killed, police acknowledged that investigators had not yet determined who had attempted to shoot the two people during that earlier incident.
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A Volusia Sheriff’s Office detective heard radio traffic concerning DeLand police stopping the Charger and went to the location to assist as backup. During the stop, police alleged that Barthel pointed a handgun toward the DeLand police sergeant. Both the DeLand sergeant and the Volusia sheriff’s detective then fired into the vehicle.
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Barthel was struck multiple times by police gunfire. Officers attempted to provide medical aid, but he died at the scene. The other two people in the Charger were not struck and were detained following the shooting.
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Police reported recovering a firearm from the rear floorboard where Barthel had been sitting. Sheriff Mike Chitwood stated immediately after the shooting that investigators had not yet determined whether Barthel had fired the weapon.
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The Florida Department of Law Enforcement assumed responsibility for investigating the fatal shooting. Both shooting officers were placed on administrative leave following Barthel’s death.
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Barthel’s family later challenged the circumstances of his death in federal court. In 2025, Rosa Wise, representing Barthel’s estate, and Brionna Bobb filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit naming William Leven, Justin Allen, Volusia Sheriff Michael Chitwood and DeLand Police Chief Jason Umberger as defendants. The complaint alleges that Barthel was shot at least six times and also raises allegations concerning the medical response after the shooting. Those are plaintiffs’ allegations and have not been established as judicial findings.
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On 04/16/2026, U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron dismissed the original complaint without prejudice as an impermissible shotgun pleading and permitted the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint. The dismissal was procedural and was not a ruling that the plaintiffs’ factual allegations concerning the shooting were true or false.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The later federal litigation identifies William Leven and Justin Allen as the individual law-enforcement defendants directly connected to Barthel’s fatal shooting, resolving the officer identities that were withheld from the initial 2023 news releases. Contemporary police accounts had identified the shooters only as a DeLand Police Department sergeant and a Volusia Sheriff’s Office detective.
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The 2026 federal case remains particularly important to this record because it provides names that the original law-enforcement releases did not. The litigation names Leven and Allen individually, alongside agency heads Chitwood and Umberger, and expressly concerns the police gunfire that killed Barthel.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/shooting-investigation-underway-in-deland-police-say
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/08/25/deland-police-warn-drivers-to-avoid-intersection-amid-shooting-investigation/
https://www.news-journalonline.com/videos/news/2023/08/29/video-officer-involved-shooting-deland-released/8380578001/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=GYExKLTWFsM&feature=emb_title
https://www.volusiasheriff.gov/news/volusia-county-sheriff/deland-pd-vso-joint-news-release-armed-subject-fatally-shot-during-traffic-stop-of-wanted-vehicle.stml
https://www.wftv.com/news/local/police-identify-man-who-died-after-officer-involved-shooting-deland/2ZLG2T5PVFDWNGGDMIQTWXZLFM/
