On Monday, June 23 Homewood police were investigating a suspicious vehicle left outside a soccer field. The following events led to the tragic shooting of eighteen year old Jabari Latrell Peoples.

Peoples was a 2024 graduate of Aliceville High School in Alabama. Peoples also worked as a security guard at DCH Regional Medical Center. 

The incident has received public scrutiny due to conflicting accounts. Also the family of Peoples’ was notified 12 hours after the incident.

According to the police, assistance arrived within two minutes and began rendering medical treatment. Peoples was then taken by Homewood medic to UAB Hospital, where he died.

The family is demanding the immediate release of the body cam footage, police report, and an independent investigation begin.

Leroy Maxwell, who is representing the family stated it is important the video be released as soon as possible. “Why was there a search and seizure? It’s not illegal to be parked in a parking lot,” Maxwell said.

In the statement put out by Homewood police, Peoples resisted and reached for a hangun. Arrangements are being made for the family to see the video.

The family released a public statement on Facebook:

On the night of June 23, 2025, at approximately 9:30 PM, our loved one, Jabari Latrell Peoples, was shot and killed by an officer affiliated with law enforcement in Homewood, Alabama, near Lakeshore Blvd.

At no point were we notified by law enforcement or medical personnel. Instead, our family was contacted by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office at 10:00 AM the following morning — over 12 hours after Jabari was pronounced dead.

By the time we were contacted:

• His body had already been transported.
• An autopsy had been conducted without our knowledge or consent.
• And we were instructed to send a funeral home to retrieve him.

We were denied the right to identify him. We were denied the right to be present. We were denied basic dignity.

Contrary to reports and assumptions being pushed publicly:

Jabari was not armed.

He was not aggressive.

He did not resist.

He complied.

He was approached by an individual in an unmarked vehicle, with no lights, no sirens, and no visible identification. That officer exited the car, tapped on the window, and told the occupants to exit. They followed directions.

Jabari complied — and within seconds, he was taken to the ground and shot.

A witness was present. That person saw everything. There was no weapon. There was no threat.

And once Jabari was shot, the officer took no life-saving action. No CPR. No medical attention. Nothing. He was left to bleed out on the street.

Jabari was a college student. He had a family. He had a future. He was unarmed. He complied. And now he’s gone.

We have not received a full incident report. We have not been given footage. We have not heard one word of explanation from the Homewood Police Department.

But we have heard the lies. We’ve read the headlines — and we’ve watched attempts to twist this narrative.

Let us be clear:

This was not just negligence. It was a violation. Of Jabari’s civil rights. Of our family’s human rights. Of due process. And of decency.

We are demanding:

Immediate public release of the full police report

All available body cam and dash cam footage

Identification of the officer involved

A full, independent investigation

Accountability at every level

We will pursue this case until the truth is fully exposed and justice is served — not only for Jabari, but for every family who’s been forced to bury a loved one without answers.

Say his name: Jabari Latrell Peoples. His life mattered. His death will not be ignored. And his story will not be rewritten.

In a meeting in Aliceville on Wednesday, Peoples’ family’s attorney, Leroy Maxwell, spoke to WVTM 13 and reiterated many of their concerns and questions about the night of the shooting.

“What they’re claiming we know not to be true doesn’t add up,” said Maxwell. “It doesn’t make sense. And we need answers, and we need it now.

Maxwell described Peoples as a hardworking young man who had dreams of potentially getting into law enforcement himself, albeit on a much higher scale, by working for the CIA.

“He believed in abiding by the law,” said Maxwell. “He believed and lived his life doing the right things. He was respectful, especially respectful to law enforcement.”

Maxwell says he fully supports the family’s, as well as the Aliceville mayor’s, request that the bodycam footage from that night be released.