On April 21, a 42-year-old Black man named Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot in the head by North Carolina police as they were allegedly carrying out a warrant for Brown's arrest. In the weeks following the tragedy, residents of Elizabeth City, North Carolina have taken to the streets to protest the police shooting, especially after the Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble has claimed that Brown Jr. was threatening the officers involved with his car prior to the shooting.
As previously reported, the sheriff's office has stated that it's legally prohibited from releasing further details, including bodycam footage, without having an order from the court, but the family of Andrew Brown Jr. has continued to do the legwork to properly represent him in court. After conducting a private autopsy that revealed that Brown had been shot by police five times, the family's lawyer, Chance Lynch, has spoken out against the district attorney's allegations in an interview with TMZ.
"I don't know where the elected got his recollection of facts or what video he saw," Lynch tells TMZ. "What we saw, was an unjustified killing, and we never saw Mr. Brown pose a threat to law enforcement at any time while he was there in his vehicle.
Reiterating that the misleading accusations made by District Attorney Andrew Womble can still be easily resolved, Lynch says, "What I've said from the beginning is this: I'm not sure what the elected is saying he saw because [it] clearly doesn't match what we saw. There's one way that we can dispel the myths, and it's one way that we can clear any discrepancies: release the footage."
At the time of writing, the body cam footage from Andrew Brown Jr.'s fatal encounter with police in Elizabeth City, North Carolina has not yet been released, so stay tuned for updates.
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