Suspect in stable condition after he was shot by police in Absecon

An Absecon man was in stable condition Wednesday after police shot him the day before outside a Dollar General Store on New Road in the Atlantic County city.

Police ordered Jalial Whitted, 37, to leave the store around 9:35 a.m. Tuesday when officers with the Absecon and Pleasantville police departments responded to a report of a man armed with a gun inside the business.

Outside the Dollar General, Whitted allegedly refused police commands and reached for a weapon that was inside one of his pockets, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Police shot Whitted at approximately 9:40 a.m. as they tried to apprehend him.

A loaded firearm was taken from Whitted at the scene, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

A later view of the store’s surveillance video showed that Whitted produced a firearm inside the business, causing the employees to flee; he allegedly discharged at least one round of ammunition while still in Dollar General, according to a statement from the prosecutor.

The names of police officers involved were not released, and the prosecutor’s statement did not specify whether more than one officer fired their weapons at Whitted or whether he was shot more than once. Prosecutors also did not share details about Whitted’s injuries or the firearm that police allegedly seized from him.

Whitted was taken into custody, given medical care, and admitted to AtlantiCare Medical Center, City Campus Trauma Center, the Prosecutor’s Office said. He was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon by certain persons not to have weapons and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

In a video clip posted to Twitter by the Press of Atlantic City, the suspect’s mother Kim Whitted, who lives nearby the store, said she had been given little information.

“Nobody came to talk to me about anything,” she said.

Steve Young, a local activist, said in an interview that Whitted, who is the father of two young children, was visiting his mother before the incident. Young said he was trying to help arrange with the prosecutor for the mother to visit her son.

“She wants to see he’s okay,” Young said.

The activist also said Whitted’s mother wants to get her son help.

“He has some mental health issues and so forth. She tried to get some help from different agencies, probation officers, but they kept locking him up for different things and really weren’t giving him the help he needs,” Young said.

He added they also want to see videos of the shooting.

“This has been almost [two years] to date since the George Floyd situation,” Young said. “That would bring more clarification to what happened as well.”