ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Attorneys for the family say a Black man killed by deputies in North Carolina was shot in the back of his head and had his hands on the car steering wheel when they opened fire.
Their comments came Monday after body camera video was shown to Andrew Brown Jr.'s relatives.
Attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter watched a 20-second portion of body camera video with the family and said Brown did not appear to be a threat to officers as he backed his vehicle out and tried to drive away.
"He wasn't reaching for anything, he wasn't touching anything, he wasn't throwing anything around," Cherry-Lassiter told reporters.
Brown died April 21 after being shot by Pasquotank County sheriff's deputies in Elizabeth City. Few details have been released to the public about the incident. Brown's death certificate says the 42-year-old died as the result of a gunshot wound to the head.
Several officers were at the scene at the time of the shooting, and reportedly all of them had a body-worn camera.
When asked whether Brown was shot in the back, attorney Harry Daniels said, “Yes, back of the head.”
In North Carolina, body-worn police footage can only be released to the public with a court order. The sheriff says the county plans on filing a motion in court asking for the footage to be released.
Seven deputies have been put on administrative leave following the shooting, two others have resigned and one retired. The sheriff said not all of the deputies put on leave fired their guns, but they were part of executing the warrant on Brown.
The search warrant included information from Dare County's Narcotics Task Force, according to CNN, regarding "illegal sales of controlled narcotics" by Brown and allowed for a search of his home in nearby Pasquotank County.
