ELIZABETH CITY, NC (AP) – A North Carolina lawmaker shot dead a black man while carrying out a warrant Wednesday, authorities said the crowd of dozens of people who gathered at the scene immediately asked to claim liability.
The sheriff’s deputy president in Pasquotank County has been placed on leave pending an investigation by the state Bureau of Investigation, Sheriff Tommy Wooten II said at a news conference. He said the deputy had Andrew Brown Jr. shot around 8:30 a.m. while serving the warrant in Elizabeth City, a municipality of about 18,000 people, 274 km northeast of Raleigh. Local NAACP leader Keith Rivers said Brown is black.
Wooten did not identify the deputy and did not say what the warrant was for. According to court reports, Brown was 42 years old and has a history of drug possession and drug possession convictions.
The deputy had an active body camera at the time of the shooting, said Wooten, who declined to say how many shots the deputy fired or disclosed any other details, citing the pending investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation. WAVY-TV reported that neighbors heard several shots. A car removed from the scene apparently has many bullet holes and a broken windshield at the rear.
Among the approximately 100 people who gathered at the shooting incident was Rivers, president of the Pasquotank County chapter of the NAACP, who criticized the sheriff’s office for taking hours to divulge details.
‘When is it going to stop? “We only got a verdict yesterday,” Rivers said in a telephone interview, referring to the convictions handed down Tuesday in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, over the death of George Floyd. ‘Is it open season now? At some point, it has to stop. We need to start holding those responsible accountable. ”
Brown’s grandmother, Lydia Brown, and his aunt, Clarissa Brown Gibson, told The Associated Press that they learned about his death through a TV news report. Both said they should investigate the shooting thoroughly.
‘I’m very upset. “Andrew was a good man,” said Lydia Brown. The deputy “does not have to shoot him like that.”
Clarissa Brown Gibson said: “We want to know if a warrant was served on him, why is the shooting being shot on a warrant?”
Councilman Gabriel Adkins told his colleagues during an emergency meeting of the city council that businesses in the vicinity of the shooting incident had started piling up in their windows in anticipation of violence.
“I’m scared as a black man,” an emotional Adkins said as a crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside the meeting, which was closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic. He later added: ‘It hurts to be a black man at this time. … We are hurting. ‘
Councilman Darius Horton called for the immediate release of footage from the cameras, the warrant and a quick explanation of what led to the shooting.
“We need transparency. And we need not only transparency, but also accountability, ‘he said. “We need answers. … Let us not hide behind anything. ”
The State Bureau of Investigation will pass on the findings of its investigation to District Attorney Andrew Womble, who conducted a thorough and deliberate investigation.
“What we are currently looking for will be accurate answers and not quick answers,” Womble told the news conference. “We are going to wait for the full and complete investigation … and we will review it and make any provisions that we deem appropriate at that time. It will not be a rush to the judgment. ”
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This story has been edited to remove a false reference to the death of George Floyd.
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Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia.