Posted on | April 19, 2026 | No Comments
Jalen Carpenter, a/k/a EbkCap82
“Gee, Stacy, is it really fair to post a picture of the deceased performer brandishing illegal firearms?” Perhaps, but good luck finding any pictures of Jalen Carpenter in which he is not brandishing firearms.
The image above is from the video for EbkCap82’s song “Zombieland 2,” in case you’d like to go enjoy that spectacle of substance abuse and threatened violence. Carpenter’s specialty was what is known as “drill” music, which is basically gang warfare with a beat — the rapper and his companions displaying stacks of cash, waving around Glocks with extended magazines, smoking weed, boasting of their felonies and threatening to murder rival gangsters. You know — urban culture.
So, there was a 911 call about domestic violence that led to an Illinois State Police pursuit on I-57 on the south side of Chicago. By the time troopers caught up with Jalen Carpenter, he was strolling down a sidewalk about two miles away from the Obama Presidential Library:
A man was killed in an Illinois State Police shooting in Woodlawn Wednesday night.
State police said troopers responded to a call for a domestic battery in the 6500 block of South Champlain Ave. just before 11 p.m. Police said the incident started on Interstate 57, and troopers chased the vehicle involved to the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood. When they arrived, they said they found an armed man at the scene.
Police said a struggle ensued and shots were fired at the armed man. He was struck and taken to a local hospital, where he died. On Thursday morning, CBS News Chicago spoke to his father, Stan Carpenter, who identified him as 24-year-old Jalen Carpenter.
But CBS News Chicago was shown surveillance video of the shooting provided by a source. In that video, you can see Carpenter holding a gun and restrained by an officer, when that officer’s partner shoots and kills him.
“He had so many bullets we couldn’t even see the body,” his father said.
The surveillance video shown to CBS News Chicago shows a man in white, who we are told was Carpenter, walking casually and alone down the street moments before the shooting. He appeared to be holding his phone.
An Illinois State Police vehicle then pulls up. Two officers get out, one carrying a flashlight, before a struggle begins.
There is no sound on the video, so you cannot hear if they are having a conversation. As Carpenter turns around, restrained by one of the officers, you can see him holding a gun, though it does not appear that he fired it.
The second officer gets closer, and moments after, they fire their weapons. Witnesses said the gun was fired four or five times.
“He has police officers in his family,” Stan Carpenter said. “We have police in our family and, you know, they killed my son.”
Stan Carpenter returned to the scene of the shooting on Thursday, saying he wants a full investigation into his son’s death.
“He took his last breath in the cold street and died alone,” he said. “I wanna see body cameras. I want—I want—I want to see the evidence.”
Stan Carpenter said his son was a father to a son who is almost 2 years old.
“I’m just, I’m hurt right now. My family is hurt behind this. He was a good kid, worked for Amazon, you know, made some mistakes in his life, and you know, he was, he was doing good, man,” he said.
Jalen Carpenter’s mother said he was the eldest of five children.
CBS News Chicago has reached out to Illinois State Police for more clarity, trying to find out why they engaged Carpenter and why they felt it was necessary to shoot and kill him. Illinois State Police would not tell us anything, saying it’s an active investigation.
At the time of the shooting, Carpenter was out on electronic monitoring for an alleged aggravated assault with a firearm in February. The case had not gone to trial, but court records show he was ordered to turn over his FOID card and weapon.
Police said a gun was recovered at the scene. No officers were injured.
ISP Division of Internal Investigation Special Agents are investigating the shooting. Illinois State Police said they will be turning their evidence over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
To start with, what part of “drop the weapon” do I need to explain here? When you are approached by police, it’s probably a mistake to be “holding a gun,” but as previously mentioned, Jalen Carpenter was always “holding a gun.” It was his way of life — urban culture.
Secondly, just two months ago, Carpenter was arrested for aggravated assault with a firearm and released “on electronic monitoring,” but was violating the terms of his release by carrying a weapon — which, based on the type of firearms he displayed in his videos, was probably a Glock with a “switch” and a 50-round drum magazine, meaning that he was in effect carrying a machine gun. He was a menace to society and, while we don’t know the details of the domestic violence call that led to him being pursued by state police, perhaps you understand my skepticism toward his father’s claim, “He was a good kid.” Maybe by Chicago standards?
In a recent list of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods, Woodlawn ranked only fifth, and maybe it will drop another place or two now that Jalen Carpenter a/k/a EbkCap82 is no longer on the streets.
