Police : Chavis Carter shot himself while handcuffed in patrol car

21-year-old Chavis Carter was shot and killed in the head while handcuffed in the back of the patrol car. Now police have launched an investigation to determine what happened.

Carter was a passenger in a pick-up truck that was stopped by police in Jonesboro, Ark.

An officer reportedly found some marijuana, and ran Carter’s information.  After finding he had a warrant out of Mississippi, police placed him under arrest and put him in a patrol car.

“As protocol, he was handcuffed behind his back, double-locked and searched,” said Jonesboro Police Department Sgt. Lyle Waterworth in an interview with WREG-TV.

Minutes later,  police say they heard a thumping noise, turned around, and found Carter shot in the head.

Police believes Chavis Carter pulled out a hidden hand-gun, and shot himself.

“Any given officer has missed something on a search, you know, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades,” he said. “This instance, it happened to be a gun.”

His mother, Teresa Carter, disagrees. “I can’t see how,  I think they killed him,” she said. “My son wasn’t suicidal.”

Carter said she was also told her son was shot in the right temple, although he was left-handed. “I mean, I just want to know what really happened,” she told WREG-TV. “That’s all I want to know.”

The two officers who were present when Chavis Carter was found shot were placed on administrative leave.