USA TODAY International Edition
FBI investigates NC police shooting
Andrew Brown Jr. shot 5 times, autopsy shows
ELIZABETH CITY, N. C. – Sheriff ’ s deputies shot a Black man five times, including a fatal shot to the back of his head, according to an independent autopsy commissioned by the man’s family.
Andrew Brown Jr. was shot four times in his right arm and once in the head as deputies in rural Pasquotank County in eastern North Carolina were serving a warrant last week, Wayne Kendall, an attorney for Brown’s family, said at a news conference Tuesday.
The FBI is launching a federal civil rights investigation into the case, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has called for a special prosecutor as pressure built on authorities to release body camera video of last week’s shooting. A judge scheduled a hearing Wednesday to consider formal requests to make the video public.
Brown’s family reviewed a partial clip of the footage Monday and described
his death as an execution.
“Yesterday, I said he was executed. This autopsy report showed me I was correct,” Khalil Ferebee, one of Brown’s seven children, said outside the Pasquotank County Sheriff ’ s Office. “It’s obvious he was trying to get away. It’s obvious. And they’re going to shoot him in the back of the head?”
Kendall said the four gunshot wounds to Brown’s arm were “not fatal.” The autopsy report is consistent with what the family saw on the partial video, he added.
Chantel Cherry- Lassiter, another lawyer representing the family, said the 20- second clip showed Brown with his hands on the wheel and not a threat to deputies, who fired as he backed his vehicle out and tried to drive away. Brown then crashed into a tree and died within minutes of the gunshot wound to the head, Kendall said.
Brown’s death sparked calls for accountability as activists demanded release of the full footage. Deputies were serving drug- related search and arrest warrants on Brown when several fired shots, Sheriff Tommy Wooten has said. Seven deputies are on leave pending an investigation by state authorities.
The sheriff ’ s office and the county prosecutor have released few details.
Although a judge will consider whether to release video of the shooting, it’s unclear how soon the judge could rule.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump railed against the lack of access to body camera footage. “We believe they’re trying to hide the truth,” said Crump, who is representing the family. “If they were making transparency a priority, we would all have seen that video by now.”
Family lawyers said the video shown to the family was heavily edited and began after the shooting had begun.
“They’re shooting and saying ‘ Let me see your hands’ at the same time,” Cherry- Lassiter said, adding: “Let’s be clear. This was an execution.”
Family lawyer Harry Daniels said Brown was driving away “because he was scared for his life.”
“He left, tried to save his life and they continued to shoot and put a bullet in the back of his head,” Daniels said.
State law allows for family members and lawyers to view body camera footage in similar cases, but public release of video requires a judge’s approval.
A warrant for Brown released Monday said investigators used information from an informant, including recordings of drug buys. Court documents said an informant told an investigator the person had been buying drugs from Brown for more than a year. Narcotics officers also conducted controlled purchases from Brown twice, according to the warrant.
Crump said the information in the warrants was released to cast Brown in a negative light. On Tuesday, he tweeted a clip of what he called “the militarized police force rushing to kill Andrew Brown,” showing a truck with the word “Sheriff ” painted on the side and packed with armed personnel.
Protests sparked by the shooting have generally been peaceful, but Monday, Mayor Bettie Parker declared a state of emergency ahead a possible release of the video. Students at Elizabeth City State University, a historically Black school, were told to gather their belongings and leave their dorms by noon Tuesday in the wake of the emergency declaration.
Students learned Sunday that they had to vacate campus and were told final exams scheduled for next week must be taken online. “It’s a bit of a shock, to be honest,” freshman Noah Jacobson said.
“Let’s be clear. This was an execution.”
Chantel Cherry- Lassiter Lawyer for the Brown family