Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown, a black man whom police shot and killed during a drug warrant arrest on Wednesday, said an autopsy concluded he was hit five times before he succumbed to his wounds.
The legal team hired an independent pathologist to conduct an autopsy, which found that Brown was shot five times, including twice on the arm and once in the back of the head, the team said at a Tuesday press briefing. The round that struck Brown’s skull was purportedly the one that killed him, and the other two shots were not mapped out by the lawyers.
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Four of the five rounds of gunfire initially passed through Brown’s windshield, and he was supposedly struck with the “kill shot” as he attempted to flee the scene.
“The law enforcement in this country cannot be judge, jury, and executioner,” Harry Daniels, a member of the legal team, said during the news conference. “Andrew did not get his due process. He was innocent. I don’t care what the search warrant — he was innocent. He maintained the presumption of innocence.”
Brown, 42, was pronounced dead Wednesday in North Carolina during the execution of a drug warrant after he was pinned by a confidential informant for purportedly selling crack, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine. Agents involved in the sting described Brown as “a source of supply” of large quantities of narcotics in the Elizabeth City area, according to a warrant.
Details regarding the shooting from police authorities continue to remain scarce, though Brown had a 180-page rap sheet that dates back to May 1988, Fox News reported.
Lawyers for the Brown family said Monday that the shooting was akin to an “execution” after they were permitted to view 20 seconds of body camera footage that outlined his death. The video has not been released to the public, though city officials and media outlets have begun court requests to release the footage, which is required under North Carolina law.
The incident lasted no more than 30 seconds, top brass with the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office said.
“This was an execution,” Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, an attorney for the family, said during a press conference. “Andrew Brown was in his driveway. The sheriff truck blocked him in his driveway, so he could not exit his driveway. Andrew had his hands on his steering wheel. He was not reaching for anything. He was not touching anything. He wasn’t throwing anything around. He had his hands firmly on the steering wheel.”
Officials in Elizabeth City on Monday declared a state of emergency before the family was set to view the body camera footage. Officials made the move due to a potential “period of civil unrest,” and the order will allow the area “to take whatever steps necessary” to preserve “life and property.”
Several protests were observed on the same day, and some marched to the home of County Attorney Michael Cox and demanded that he resign from his post.
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The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
