No Charges for Mount Vernon Policeman Involved in Fatal Shooting

UPDATE: The investigation into this shooting determined the second officer did not fire his weapon, according to Fairfax County Police Public Information Office Director Mary Ann Jennings.

No charges will be filed against an officer who shot and killed a 21-year-old man July 8 near a 7-Eleven store in Mount Vernon.

The man who was killed that night, Nicholas Allen Kaelber of Woodbridge, was shot at about 11:20 p.m., near the intersection of Frye Road and Madge Lane, about 300 feet from the convenience store that he and a friend had just visited.

In the news release sent to the media Friday, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh told Fairfax County Police Chief Colonel David M. Rohrer that in his legal opinion PFC Edward Carpenter, the officer who fired his weapon in this incident, did so justifiably in fact and law.

No charges will be filed against Carpenter. Carpenter has worked for the police department for seven years and is currently assigned to the Mount Vernon District Station.

Although a press release from FCPD in July mentions two officers being put on routine administrative leave after the incident that night, Friday's news release does not mention a second officer.

Police said in a news release in July that two men were acting suspiciously. Kaelber and a friend were stopped because they were reportedly wearing stocking masks on their heads, according to his parents' account.

The officers approached both males and one fled on foot, police said in a news release in July. The two officers briefly pursued Kaelber and attempted to detain him. During the struggle, Kaelber produced a handgun and fired shots toward the officers. One officer returned fire, striking the suspect. Kaelber died that night at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital.

Kaelber's parents have said they think their son was wrongfully targeted, in this account on CNN iReport. The report notes that police told his parents that police that night approached Kaelber and his friend because they were wearing stocking masks on their heads. Kaelber's parents said their son routinely wore a baseball cap backwards to hide his prematurely bald head.