NAACP wants federal investigation in Elizabeth City to go beyond Andrew Brown's death

Brown, 42, was shot April 21 by deputies trying to arrest him on drug charges and to serve a warrant to search his home and car. Authorities said he had a history of resisting arrest, so several deputies went to his home.

Three deputies fired shots at Brown's car as he tried to drive away, and he was killed by a shot to the back of his head.

Womble called the shooting justified, saying that Brown put the deputies' lives in danger as he drove off while deputies surrounded his car.

"What happened this week with District Attorney Womble is nothing less than scandalous," Rev. William Barber, the former state NAACP president, said at a Friday afternoon news conference. "A warrant is not a license to kill."

The FBI already has opened a civil rights investigation into Brown's death, but NAACP officials are sending a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking that the probe go deeper to look at allegations of excessive force, biased policing and other practices in Pasquotank County, as well as the other counties where Womble serves as district attorney.

"There's too much corruption in Elizabeth City," state NAACP President Rev. T. Anthony Spearman said. "Sorry, Womble, we don't see what you see, and this time, yours will not be the final word."

Womble didn't respond to WRAL News' requests for comment on Friday.

A number of local residents signed on to the NAACP letter.

"If Andrew Brown was in the wrong, prove it. Show it," said Dorothy Langston, one of those who put her signature on the letter. "They could have used other tactics. They didn't have to shoot him."

The activists and attorneys for Brown's family have pressed for the release of all video recorded the morning of Brown's shooting from deputies' body-worn and dashboard cameras.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Foster has allowed the family to see only about 19 minutes of the more than two hours of video, and he said he wouldn't publicly release any of the video until the investigations into the shooting were finished, if at all.

A coalition of 20 media organizations, including Capitol Broadcasting Co., the parent of WRAL News, petitioned Friday for all of the video to be released, but a hearing date for that motion hasn't been set.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten said the three deputies, who have been on paid leave since the shooting, will be disciplined and have to undergo more training. But all three will keep their jobs, he said.

"How long will it take before those who are called to uphold justice finally uphold justice?" Spearman said.

"We are non-violent, but we are not peaceful," Barber said. "We are concerned. We are disturbed. If this becomes the pattern and the law of the land ... then who is safe?"