WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�Family and friends are reacting with shock and disbelief that another young Black man�Prince C. Jones Jr., 25�was shot and killed Sept. 2 by a Prince George�s County, Md. police officer.

"We have accepted the fact that God is perfect and that His wisdom is infinite. We will not question the mind of God," his mother Dr. Mabel Jones, a radiologist who lives in Philadelphia, said in a statement Sept. 7. "We know, notwithstanding the bottomless pit of sorrow that we have been so abruptly thrust into, that Prince C. Jones Jr.�s purpose has been accomplished."

Mr. Jones, a Howard University student and personal fitness trainer, was shot six times in the back, apparently by P.G. County undercover police Cpl. Carlton B. Jones (no relation), less than one week and less than 10 miles from the massive "Redeem The Dream" March against police abuse at the Lincoln Memorial Aug. 26.

"The loss of Prince Jones is particularly difficult for his family and the community he touched," attorneys Ted J. Williams and Gregory L. Lattimer said in a statement Sept. 8. "He was a well respected loving man from an endearing and supporting family, who had a beautiful 10-month-old daughter who will never know the greatness of her father."

More than 3,000 Howard University students rallied on campus Sept. 8 , and Howard University President Patrick Swygert promised that similar rallies would be held on college campuses around the country.

"We assert that the death of this man under these circumstances is unconscionable and deplorable and all police authorities involved must take swift and immediate action to ensure that justice is served," the attorneys said.

Justice Department officials said that they are moving toward a broad civil rights investigation of the entire Prince George�s County police department, in addition to separate FBI investigations into the Jones killing by the agency�s Washington Field Office, and a year-old investigation by the FBI�s Baltimore Field Office into 12 other shootings�five of them fatal�since April 1999.

"Our office, the Washington Field Office, did open a civil rights investigation into this matter on Tuesday, Sept. 5," FBI Special Agent Susan Lloyd told The Final Call. "It was a self-initiated investigation, as a result of the news accounts that we saw of the incident. We are investigating whether there was a violation of the victim�s civil rights, if there was excessive force used �under color of law,� which means by a member of a law enforcement agency."

The FBI inquiry is independent of separate investigations by the P.G. County police department, and a criminal investigation by the Fairfax County, Virginia police department, where the late-night shooting occurred, and where the Maryland officer had no legal authority.

"All cases that the bureau investigates are taken seriously," FBI Special Agent Peter A. Gullotta Jr., of the Baltimore Field Office told The Final Call. "We are the only federal agency that deals with civil rights cases, and these cases are very high priority. When we see that there are facts out there, we don�t need a victim�s family to come to us, or an organization coming to us saying that we need to look at a matter; we open up these cases on our own accord. We are extremely sensitive to these matters. We�re going to continue to conduct these investigations thoroughly, and present them" to the U.S. Attorney�s office.

The incident began late Friday night, Sept. 1, in Hyattsville, Md., where both the undercover detective and his supervisor were conducting surveillance on Mr. Jones. Police were operating on a tip that Mr. Jones� vehicle may have been involved in the theft of a gun from a police car, according to published reports attributed to John A. "Rodney" Bartlett Jr., president of the Prince George�s Fraternal Order of Police, who talked with the officer, an undercover narcotics detective who was driving an unmarked sports-utility vehicle..

The officer and his supervisor followed Mr. Jones through the District of Columbia, and into Virginia without losing sight of him, according to a county police spokesman. After the officers followed Mr. Jones into Fairfax County, the victim pulled into a driveway not far from the home of his fiancee, Candace Jackson, and the couple�s 10-month old daughter, Nina. The detective�s supervisor, however, became separated from the surveillance.

Apparently the plainclothes police officer drove past the victim in his unmarked car, stopped, and turned around. As the police officer approached Mr. Jones again, he apparently backed his own sports utility vehicle into the car driven by the officer, ramming the driver�s side of the vehicle ,and then attempted to drive away.

One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told a reporter that her husband heard 12 gunshots. Another neighbor reported that she was awakened by the sound of squealing tires, heard shots, then more squealing tires.

According to the official Prince George�s County police weapons policy, "Firearms may only be discharged ... from or at moving vehicles when the occupants of the other vehicle are using or threatening deadly force by a means other than the vehicle." No weapon was found on the victim, or in his vehicle.

"We are deeply disturbed and concerned that the police chief in Prince George�s County has failed to take responsibility for this murder by one of its officers," attorneys Williams and Lattimer said. "It is alarming and insensitive that (Police) Chief John S. Farrell would defend the officer when all involved have acknowledged that Prince George�s County police policies specifically prohibit the shooting from one vehicle to another if the other vehicle involved is only ramming said vehicle."

Mr. Jones was struck five times in the back as he was driving away, down a hill, and once in the forearm, also from the back, according to a private autopsy performed for the family of the victim. The bullets entered Mr. Jones� back at a 45-degree downward angle, the attorneys for the Jones family said.

The officer who shot Mr. Jones has been on the police force for six years, and has been placed on leave with pay, pending the outcome of the Virginia criminal investigation. According to court records, however, the officer is the defendant in another federal police brutality suit. In a $3 million complaint, John R. Johnson alleges that Det. Jones targeted, harassed, and arrested him in April 1997. The charges for which Mr. Johnson was arrested by the officer were later dismissed. Det. Jones has been unavailable for comment.

"When I heard that (Mr. Jones was under surveillance because he might have stolen a police gun), it immediately sounded absurd to me," said David Muhammad, a former classmate of Mr. Jones, who met him in Nation of Islam-sponsored "Proper Education of Black Students (PEBS)" classes on the Howard campus.

"Because brother would never be involved in criminal activity. He was going to school, he was working, he had his fiancee and his little girl. He had no reason to be involved, nor did he have a history of being involved in any activity like that. It is suggested that the police lost the initial (car), and the police were following the wrong (car). I think it was obvious, especially since they did not find any weapons in his vehicle. It really is absurd that he would be involved in any activity that would lead them to follow him. It�s probably one of the most clear-cut cases of reckless endangerment you could find," Mr. Muhammad said.

Public attention to the issue of police brutality and abuse was heightened by 100,000 people attending the 37th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, according to Redeem The Dream March organizers. "The purpose of the march was to protest cases like this one, the premeditated murder of another Black man," organizer Mark Thompson told The Final Call.

"If it had not been for the march, this kind of shooting would not have gotten the attention it did. But we know the police track down people and kill them," Mr. Thompson said.