Son Says Final Goodbye To Father Moments Before His Own Death

A West Virginia man died mid-embrace when plainclothed police officers fired shots toward him just seconds after his father’s casket was placed into a hearse.

Two officers outside a West Virginia funeral home on August 24, with a fugitive warrant, called out Jason Arnie Owens’ name before shooting.

Witnesses and funeral attendees said Owens, 37, was not armed, despite law enforcement claims to the contrary.

“There was no warning whatsoever,” Cassandra Whitecotton, a family friend, said.

When the officers shot Owens, his blood covered his 18-year-old.

“They yelled Jason’s name. They just said ‘Jason’ and then started firing,” Whitecotton said. “There was no identifications they were U.S. Marshals — anything. They did not render this man any aid at all.

After Owens placed his father’s casket into the hearse, he embraced a relative. Then, seconds later, he died.

Owens received a prison sentence of up to 13 years in 2018 after trying to strangle a sheriff’s deputy and fleeing. Owens was released on parole in April last year.

Whitecotton said the officers arrived in separate cars with one of them nearly striking her.

“It about hit me, so I jumped back up on the curb and kind of looked at him like, ‘What’s your problem?'” she said.

Mandy Swiger, Owens’ cousin, said she and the other funeral attendees were told by the officers to step back from Owens’ body or they would shoot.

“We want to know why you would do this in front of his family,” Swiger said. “And what gives you the right to do that to an unarmed man?”