The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of the seven deputies who were on the scene when Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
Brown, 42, was shot on April 21 as deputies served search and arrest warrants at his home on drug charges. Body camera footage shown to the family had the deputies’ faces blurred. The family’s attorneys, who viewed about 20 seconds of it, say it shows deputies firing at Brown as he tried to drive away, and the family has called the shooting an “execution.” An independent autopsy commissioned by the family found that Brown died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Protesters have been demanding that the deputies be identified. On Thursday, Sheriff Tommy Wooten released the names. According to the sheriff, the three deputies who fired their weapons are Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Sheriff II Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn. All three remain on administrative leave pending the internal investigation and the criminal investigation being run by the State Bureau of Investigation. Wooten said the other four deputies on scene never fired and should return to duty. No charges have been announced.
Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, an attorney for the Brown family, says Brown was driving away out of fear for his life and that deputies began firing almost immediately. District Attorney Andrew Womble has offered a different account, saying Brown’s car made contact with law enforcement before deputies fired. A judge has postponed the public release of the body camera video for at least 30 days.
The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has called for a special prosecutor to handle the case.
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