On the evening of October 27, 2025, a verbal argument outside a Bellevue Court residence in Lexington Park, Maryland, ended with the shooting death of 38-year-old Carl Joseph Carpenter. Deputies arrived after a report of assault that was updated to shots fired and found Carpenter in a gravel area beside the driveway with gunshot wounds to his head and upper body. He was a married father of five and a military veteran who had reportedly been at the home to pick someone up for work.

A 58-year-old man, David Scott Jones, was at the scene holding a handgun and surrendered to deputies. Investigators say home surveillance footage shows Jones and Carpenter arguing, Jones’s wife Djhonna Mari Jones handing Jones a handgun, and Jones firing through Carpenter’s vehicle window, then firing additional shots into his upper body. A Smith & Wesson 9mm registered to Djhonna Jones was recovered; an unloaded handgun registered to Carpenter, plus a concealed knife, nunchucks and extra ammunition on Jones, were also reported. Records indicated Jones was legally prohibited from possessing firearms because of prior convictions.

David Scott Jones was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and multiple firearms offenses, and was held without bond pending a preliminary hearing. Does anyone have information about Carpenter’s movements that evening or the argument that led to this shooting?