DA will not charge deputies in Andrew Brown Jr. killing

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The district attorney for Pasquotank County will not bring criminal charges against sheriff ’s deputies who shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City — a move likely to increase tension and protest over police violence.

District Attorney Andrew Womble announced the news while discussing the state’s investigation at a news conference in the county’s public safety building Tuesday.

Womble said Brown’s death “while tragic, was justified” because his actions caused three deputies to “reasonably believe it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others.”

Brown died April 21 after being shot by sheriff ’s deputies who came to his house to serve arrest and search warrants related to drug charges.

Law enforcement involvement began in the weeks prior to the shooting when a detective with the Dare County Sheriff’s Office received information from a reliable confidential source that Brown was selling drugs in Dare County, Womble said. The detective contacted Pasquotank County and confirmed Brown’s identity and that he was a known drug dealer, Womble said.

The two felony arrest warrants for the sale of controlled substances and search warrants came as a result of undercover buys from Brown of cocaine and heroin that was laced with fentanyl, Womble said.

The morning of the incident, the deputies were briefed on Brown’s criminal history and interactions with law enforcement, Womble said. He noted Brown’s resisting arrest charges and convictions for assault, assault with a deadly weapon and assault inflicting serious injury dating back to 1995.

Womble said deputies were told that Brown was not known to carry weapons. There were no weapons found in the vehicle.

Brown’s felony record did not play into Womble’s assessment of his threat to officers, but “the fact he was dealing heroin and fentanyl that is killing people on a daily basis was not lost on me,” the district attorney said.

Brown was sitting in his car in his driveway, attempting to flee, when he was shot by deputies who arrived at the scene in full tactical gear.

Womble described a 44-second encounter in which seven deputies blocked Brown in his driveway, trying to serve the warrants. He showed video clips and photos from body camera footage to help explain the incident.

Brown ignored orders to raise his hands and get out of his car, and he struck a deputy with the vehicle while trying to escape, Womble said.

“Deputies immediately perceived a threat,” the district attorney said, adding, “The Constitution simply does not require officers to gamble with their lives.”

The officers used deadly force when “a violent felon used a deadly weapon to place their lives in danger,” Womble said.

He said the officers were threatened when Brown backed away while Deputy Joel Lunsford had his hand on the door of Brown’s vehicle, pulling the deputy off his feet onto the hood.

“I believe they would have been within their rights to shoot at that moment,” Womble said, noting that Lunsford “clearly yells.”

Womble said Lunsford also had to brace himself as he spun to the left to get out of the way.

Womble said the officers were not required to wait for injury and the threat alone justified deadly force.

Multiple shots were fired into the car, but Womble saw no evidence that the number of shots fired was excessive. Fourteen casings were recovered in the driveway and yard and one ricocheted, hitting a neighboring house.

Womble said officers were waiting across the street in unmarked cars near the spot where Brown crashed into a tree. As Brown’s car headed toward one of the unmarked vans, deputies also fired in that direction, Womble said.