Family of Andrew Brown Jr. call shooting 'unjustified' after viewing additional body camera video
The family of a Black man who was fatally shot by sheriff's deputies in North Carolina viewed more than 18 minutes of body camera video of the encounter on Tuesday.
Andrew Brown Jr. was behind the wheel of his car and outside his house in Elizabeth City when he was shot on April 21. Deputies working on a regional drug task force were serving a drug-related search warrant at the time.
A prosecutor has said Brown’s car made “contact” with law enforcement officers before the shooting began. But Brown’s family and their attorneys have said Brown was driving away and died from an unjustified “execution."
On Tuesday, Brown's family and attorneys said the new video showed he was trying to get away, posed no threat and had his hands visible when they unloaded too many rounds to count.
"There were so many shots that we found difficulty in counting the number of shots that his vehicle received. At some point, there was a final shot [and] that it appeared Mr. Brown had lost control," said attorney Chance Lynch.
"There was a shot fired. When the shot was fired, he put the car in reverse, putting it several feet, if not yards, away from the police that were there. He turned his wheel to the left, away from away from law enforcement. At no point did we ever see any police behind his vehicle. At no point did we ever see Mr. Brown make contact with law enforcement," he added.
Brown was shot in the back of the head and killed.
"What we saw today was unconstitutional, and it was not justifiable," said Lynch.
"My father did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to get killed. There's no way this could be justified," said Brown's son Jha'rod Ferebee.
Lynch said family members counted about six bullet holes in the side of Brown's car in the body camera video.
"The windows were shattered. We were able to see one shot in the front of the windshield, and we were able to see at least six at the back windshield," said Lynch.
He said that deputies pulled Brown's body out of the car and "laid him face-first, flat on the ground."
"You could see the bullet wound that went in the back of his head, and then they began to search his home," said Lynch.
"What was described is a massacre. You should be outraged that, in 2021, a man can be killed, gunned down by a firing squad," said attorney Harry Daniels.
Brown's family attorneys have previously asked that District Attorney Andrew Womble recuse himself from the case, saying that he is too close to the officers involved and cannot be impartial.
The Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office scheduled the Tuesday viewing following a judge's ruling last Thursday that said the family could view relevant portions of the recordings within 10 days.
Brown's son and one attorney previously had been allowed to view only a 20-second clip of the shooting.
Sheriff Tommy Wooten released a statement on Facebook shortly after Brown's family spoke, saying that the sheriff's office followed the court's order by showing the video, and that officials would like the videos be released in their entirety. Four body-worn cameras and one dashboard camera recorded more than two hours of video total of the incident.
"We continue to express our condolences to the Brown family and let our deputies know that we love and support them, as this was a day that no one wanted," said Wooten in a pre-recorded statement.
Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Foster has said that he would not publicly release the recordings, because doing so could jeopardize the ongoing investigation into Brown’s death or threaten the safety of people they show.
Foster said the video must remain out of public view for at least 30 days, but he would consider releasing it after that point if investigations are complete.
Brown’s shooting has drawn national attention to the small, majority Black city in the state’s rural northeastern corner. And many city residents — as well as nationally prominent civil rights leaders and attorneys — are demanding the public release of the complete recordings.
