PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — A Prince William County Circuit Court Judge convicted a man in a 2022 robbery that turned into a deadly shooting after pleading guilty to the crimes.
Jalil Michael Turner pleaded guilty to one count of robbery causing a death, one count of attempted aggravated murder during a robber, and one count of distribution of a Schedule I or II controlled substance.
Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 25, 2024.
These charges stem from a chain of events that began on Aug. 24, 2022. Detectives from Prince William County, Manassas City, and members of the FBI had been working together to eliminate the trafficking of fentanyl and firearms from the city. In an effort to do so, the task force set up a drug bust to get to the root of the problem.
On Aug. 24, 2022 a purchase was set up with Turner for 500 fentanyl pills. Then a week later on Sept. 1, another purchase was set up. This is when things took a turn for the worse.
Turner pulled up with two other people, Shane Dareon Pollard and Jaiden Malik Carter. Instead of selling the detective more drugs, the three attempted to rob him at gunpoint, the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said. When they tried to flee the scene, they were met by other law enforcement.
Rather than surrender, Turner began shooting at the task force and rescue teams. Following protocol, officers returned fire, resulting in the death of Turner’s friend Jaiden Carter and leaving Shane Pollard injured.
Due to the nature of this case, it was handed over to the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) for a non biased investigation. This particular group is made up of investigators outside of Prince William County.
"Tackling the trafficking of drugs, especially fentanyl, in Prince William County is an important and dangerous task – this case is an example of how quickly things can go badly…” said Attorney Amy Ashworth.
