Raleigh police: Man killed in exchange of gunfire with police threatened his child’s mother

Investigators recovered what appeared to be drugs and more than $1,700 in cash from the Southeast Raleigh home of a 24-year-old man who died after exchanging gunfire with police last month.

Detectives also reported that Jaqwan Julius Terry, of 3009 Warren Avenue, had fathered a child with the woman who called 911 to report that he was armed with a handgun and threatened her that day, according to a search warrant made public Tuesday at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation has not completed its probe of the shooting that left Terry dead and one officer injured.

But the search warrant shows that detectives who searched the home where Terry lived found about 18 grams, or less than an ounce, of what they described as “a white powder substance in a plastic bag,” according to the search warrant.

The officers also recovered $1,720 in cash, court records show.

The incident began just after 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 9 when emergency dispatchers alerted police about a domestic disturbance at 241 Donald Ross Drive, less than a quarter mile from Terry’s home on Warren Avenue. A woman inside the home told a dispatcher that Terry was outside with a gun.

The woman later told police that Terry had been her boyfriend and that she had told him earlier in the day she did not want to see him anymore. She said Terry later returned to her home, behaved aggressively, displayed the gun and told her he was not going to allow her to leave him. The woman told officers that she feared for her safety, ran inside, locked the door and called 911.

Police have not released the woman’s name, but the search warrant indicated she is the mother of Terry’s child.

Police reported that Terry had left the woman’s home by the time Senior Officer B.K. Burleson. Terry was near enough, though, that the woman pointed him out to Burleson, who asked “if he could have a word with him in an attempt to investigate the report of his earlier threatening behavior toward the resident,” Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown wrote in a report after the shooting.

Terry turned and ran toward the 300 block of Donald Ross Drive. Burleson pursued Terry on foot and called in the pursuit over his radio.

Terry ran one block away and veered off the sidewalk into a wooded area alongside the home at 311 Donald Ross Drive, where he encountered a wooden fence. He was attempting to jump over the fence when Burleson caught up with him and pulled him down to prevent him from entering the backyard of the home, police reported.

The two men struggled. The officer reported seeing a handgun underneath Terry. The officer reported that Terry picked up the gun and pointed it at him while he was attempting to stand up.

The officer “drew his firearm and fired at approximately the same time that Mr. Terry fired at Officer Burleson,” according to Deck-Brown’s report.

Burleson was struck in the leg during the shootout, but he continued firing at Terry, who was still pointing his weapon at him, according to the report.

One of Burleson’s colleagues, Master Officer B.S. Beausoleil, arrived. When he saw Terry still pointing a gun at Burleson, he fired at Terry, “who fell to the ground, still holding the firearm,” according to the report. The report does not mention any other witnesses to the incident.

Terry was struck by gunfire multiple times “at various frontal and side locations,” according to the report.

Burleson was treated at WakeMed and released. Beausoleil was not injured.

The Aug. 29 shooting happened exactly six months after another 24-year-old Southeast Raleigh man, Akiel Denkins, was fatally shot Feb. 29, by police after a brief struggle behind a home at the intersection of Bragg and East streets.

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Raleigh police: Man killed in exchange of gunfire with police threatened his child’s mother."