JONES'S MOTHER SPEAKS OUT The mother of the Hyattsville man fatally shot by a Prince George's police officer last month denounced this morning the version of events as told by a Virginia prosecutor and called on the U.S. Attorney General and the Justice Department to resolve the issue. "There's no plausible scenario to justify the [act] committed by Carlton Jones nor can there be tolerance for a police department whose officers repeatedly and horrifically violate the civil rights of citizens," said Dr. Mable Jones, mother of Prince Jones Jr. Prince Jones, 25, was shot and killed Sept. 1 by Prince George's Cpl. Carlton B. Jones an undercover narcotics detective, who trailed Prince Jones 15 miles and through three jurisdictions before the fatal shots were fired. According to police, Carlton Jones, no relation to Prince Jones, thought he was following a suspected drug dealer who had rammed his vehicle on two occasions over the summer. Last week Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. announced he would not file criminal charges against Carlton Jones, a six-year police veteran. Two days later, Prince George's police said that the undercover detective thought he was instead following Derrell Gilchrist of Largo. But Mable Jones said she doubts this, as Gilchrist, who sports jaw-length dreadlocks, a beard and is nearly a foot shorter and many pounds heavier than her son, would not have been mistaken for Prince Jones. "If my son came face to face with Carlton Jones, why then, after he shot him according to Mr. Horan's statement did he give the dispatcher the name of a drug dealer known to him which was obviously not my son," asked Mable Jones. Mable Jones urged the Attorney General Janet Reno to "do the right thing and prosecute this officer under the criminal civil rights statute." The attorneys for Mable Jones said this morning that they believe Gilchrist is a "scapegoat" and another "spin on a very public controversy." Ted J. William, one of the two lawyers representing Prince Jones' family, said he plans to file a civil suit against the Prince George's Police Department and the detective within a month. "There's still a lot unanswered questions and this is the next step," he said. "Justice will occur and the truth will be known."
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