Authorities have released few details about what led to the shooting on April 21, when Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot by Pasquotank County deputies who were trying to execute a warrant. An independent autopsy commissioned by Brown’s family and their attorneys said Brown suffered five gunshot wounds — four to the right arm and one to the back of his head.
State law requires a court order for the release of body camera footage. A North Carolina judge ruled last Wednesday that Brown’s family would be allowed to see body camera footage of the shooting, but the videos would not be made public for 30 days.
Earlier in the week, Brown’s family was able to view a short snippet of footage, about 20 seconds long, which a family attorney said depicted an “execution.”
Only two family members, including Brown’s son, Khalil Ferebee, were able to see the footage along with legal representatives, Harry Daniels, one of the family’s attorneys told CNN on Sunday.
The family and the district attorney have given different accounts of what occurred, with the latter saying in a court hearing last week that deputies fired when the car Brown was driving made contact with law enforcement. But the family and their attorneys said Brown was driving away to save his life.
The shooting is under investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The FBI has also opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting, according to the bureau’s Charlotte field office.
“I want y’all to hear the pain in this community. The pain, the yelling that y’all hear, the agony that y’all hear — this is pain,” family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said in a news conference last Tuesday. “And a lot of time pain is interpreted as rebellion or whatever people want to interpret it as. Call it what it is. It’s painful for this family. It’s painful for this community.”
Brown’s funeral service today follows those of at least two other Black people killed in encounters with law enforcement in recent weeks: Daunte Wright and Ma’Khia Bryant.
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