North Carolina Deputy Kills Man on Arrest Warrant
A North Carolina deputy sheriff on Wednesday shot a man while executing a search warrant. (April 21)
AP
Leaders and protesters in a grieving North Carolina community want to know what happened Wednesday morning when a sheriff’s deputy executing a search warrant killed a black man.
District Attorney Andrew Womble has promised “accurate answers, not quick answers” as state investigators investigate why a Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputy Andrew Brown Jr. on Wednesday at approximately 8:30 am in Elizabeth City.
But crowds – dozens at the scene of the shooting and later hundreds protesting in the city streets – are frustrated by the lack of details released so far. An eyewitness said that Brown was shot several times as he drove away.
“The people of Elizabeth City … they want to have the right to know what happened this morning,” Councilman Darius J. Horton said Wednesday night at an emergency meeting of Elizabeth City City Council. A crowd gathered outside the meeting, some holding signs that read ‘Black Lives Matter’.
“There’s a moment of pain in Elizabeth City,” Horton said. Located about 270 miles northeast of Raleigh, the borough is home to about 18,000 people – some of whom, Horton said, felt there would be no police brutality in their communities.
April 21: Security footage shows police shooting and killing a black teen after a stabbing attempt
The investigation process, while necessary, adds “insult to injury,” Horton said. Adding bodycam footage of the shooting should be released immediately.
God knows what happened. God knows who did it, ”WAVY-TV quotes Martha McCullen, Brown’s aunt.
Brown, known by neighbors as “Drew,” was not a violent person, Demetria Williams – a neighbor and witness – told The Associated Press.
“I didn’t believe (officers) really did that because he wasn’t a threat to them. He drove away even though he tried to get away, ”said Williams, who lives on the same street and ran out of the house when she heard the gunshots.
The car slid out of Brown’s yard and eventually hit a tree, Williams said.
Court records show that Brown was 42 and had a history of drug possession and a drug possession conviction.
Racial justice advocates hoped this week’s guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin for George Floyd’s murder would soon lead to greater systemic change. But in recent days, deadly police shootings in California, Ohio and now North Carolina have instead attracted national attention.
Among those who gathered at the scene of the shooting was Keith Rivers, president of the NAACP’s Pasquotank County division.
“When is it going to stop? We just got a verdict yesterday,” Rivers said in a phone interview, referring to the guilty verdict against Chauvin. “Is it open season now? At some point it has to stop. We have to start the people. accountable. “
Brown’s grandmother, Lydia Brown, and his aunt Clarissa Brown Gibson told The Associated Press that they heard about his death through a TV news report. Both said they wanted the shooting to be thoroughly investigated.
“I’m very sad. Andrew was a good person,” said Lydia Brown. The deputy “didn’t have to shoot him like that.”
Alderman Gabriel Adkins emphasized that Brown had been shot by a sheriff’s deputy, not a member of the city’s police force.
Adkins said he feared he could become the next victim of police brutality.
Let’s be real. We talk about transparency? I’m going to be transparent: I’m afraid as a black man I will walk around this city and drive my car on the road, ”he said.
Contributions: The Associated Press