WILMINGTON — A Wilmington man who was shot by officers after a violent 3.5-hour standoff at his Whitner Drive home last year will serve between 6.4 and 8.75 years in prison after pleading no contest to multiple charges on Wednesday.
According to the New Hanover County District Attorney’s office, police responded to the home of David Laudell Jacobs around 3 a.m. on April 17, 2025, after a caller reported hearing gunshots. When the first officers arrived and attempted to speak with Jacobs, he fired multiple rounds from the second floor of the residence into the floor below. The officers retreated to a safer position as tactical vehicles and S.W.A.T. team members responded.
Neighbors were evacuated while negotiators attempted to persuade Jacobs to surrender. Despite the deployment of gas canisters into the home and a large law enforcement presence outside, Jacobs continued firing several more rounds inside the residence throughout the early morning hours.
At approximately 6:20 a.m., Jacobs exited the front door armed with a rifle. Although he leaned the rifle against a nearby wall, police say he failed to comply with officers’ commands, and thus, officers fired non-lethal rounds in an attempt to gain his compliance. This prompted Jacobs to reach for the rifle.
Officers then shot him multiple times. Authorities claim they immediately began rendering medical aid before EMS personnel were able to safely enter the scene and transport him to a hospital.
A subsequent search of the residence uncovered the rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, as well as cocaine, numerous containers of illegal anabolic steroids, bottles, syringes, vials, plastic bags, and other drug paraphernalia.
At the time of the standoff, Jacobs was already awaiting trial in a separate case involving allegations that he possessed steroid-related substances with the intent to sell or deliver. As part of Wednesday’s plea agreement, he also pleaded no contest to two charges stemming from his 2023 arrest in that case. T
he 2023 investigation began after Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol agents in New York intercepted packages from China addressed to Jacobs that contained illegal steroid-related substances. Federal authorities notified investigators in Wilmington, who arrested Jacobs after he retrieved some of the contraband that had been delivered to a local office supply store.
Jacobs also pleaded no contest to being a habitual felon, a status that enhanced his sentence because of multiple prior felony drug convictions. In addition, he pleaded no contest to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, four counts of possession with intent to sell and deliver a Schedule III controlled substance (two counts from the 2023 case and two counts from the 2025 standoff investigation), manufacturing a Schedule III controlled substance, and possession of cocaine.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Judge Kent Harrell sentenced Jacobs to 77 to 105 months in prison, equivalent to approximately 6.4 to 8.75 years.
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