North Carolina city declares state of emergency amid ‘civil unrest’ as cops prepare to release bodycam video of death of Andrew Brown Jr. ‘who was shot in the back’ by deputies serving a search warrant’

This was an execution’: Andrew Brown Jr’s family claim cops only let them watch 20 seconds of bodycam footage from his fatal shooting – Still ‘This was an execution’ the have said

Brown ‘was complying with officers when they shot him in the back of the head,’ they family’s attorneys said after their brief review o a heavily redacted bodycam footage

Brown Jr, 42, was shot and killed in his car last Wednesday in Elizabeth City

His family were finally allowed to watch body cam from the incident Monday But speaking outside the Sheriff’s office civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters they had been allowed to see just 20 seconds of the incident

Brown was shot in the back of his head, with his hands on the car steering wheel, when up to eight officers opened fire, attorneys for the family said

They allege Brown complied with officer commands throughout the clip

After watching the footage,the victim’s son Khalil Brown said: ‘My dad got executed just trying to save his life. It is messed up how this happened. He got executed’

Commenting on the clip’s length Crump said: ‘They are trying to hide something’

Who among seven deputies serving a search and arrest warrant, shot and killed a North Carolina father-of-ten in his driveway last week?
The family of Andrew Brown Jr. [photo, left], say his killing at the hands of North Carolina cops was an ‘execution’ after they were allowed to watch just 20 seconds of the fatal shooting on Monday. 
Brown Jr., 42, was killed in his car last Wednesday morning in Elizabeth City, as he was fleeing law enfgorcement, rather instead of surrendering to officers who were serving a drug-related search warrant.
Police described Brown as someone who was well known to police, with a criminal history dating back to the 1990s, including past drug convictions.     
Amid rising tension, civil rights activists joined the family in the clamor for full disclosure
On Friday, the state’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement calling for the swift release of the footage.
‘Initial reports of the shooting in Elizabeth City and death of Andrew Brown, Jr. this week are tragic and extremely concerning,’ Cooper tweeted. 
‘The body camera footage should be made public as quickly as possible and the SBI should investigate thoroughly to ensure accountability.’ 
On Friday, newly-released dispatch audio revealed Brown had been shot in the back while driving away from sheriff’s deputies: ‘Be advised EMS has one male, 42 years of age, gunshot to the back,’ the dispatcher says in the recording obtained by Broadcastify

Monday, Brown’s family accompanied by their attorneys were finally allowed to watch what turned out to be an edited version of the police body cam from the incident. Ahead the viewing, the mayor declared a state of emergency as police prepared to release the bodycam footage of the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.  
Speaking outside the Sheriff’s office after the viewing, civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters they had been allowed to see just 20 seconds of the shooting. 
Attorneys for the family said Brown Jr. was shot in the back of his head and had his hands on the car steering wheel as he was shot at by up to eight officers. 
They said the clip they saw began as shots were already being fired, adding that Brown complied with officer commands throughout. 

After watching the footage Brown’s son Khalil told reporters: ‘My dad got executed just trying to save his life. It is messed up how this happened. He got executed.’    
Commenting on the length of the video shown to the family Crump said: ‘They are trying to hide something.’
Court documents released Monday show deputies obtained the search warrant that brought them to Brown after investigators recorded him selling small amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine to an informant. 
Seven deputies have been placed on leave amid indications, including emergency scanner traffic and an eyewitness account, that Brown was shot in the back as he tried to drive away.  
The city’s mayor had earlier declared a state of emergency over the shooting. 
County officials indicated that showing family the clip had been delayed because they were working on blurring some faces in the recording. 

The family’s attorneys said the portion of the footage they were shown was shorn of the context of preceding events. Describing the footage in more detail Monday afternoon, attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said Brown had been in his driveway when he was blocked in by officers who were in a marked police vehicle. We ‘lost count’ on how many shots were fired atthe victim. Deputies ‘rode up to his car while shooting’, Cherry-Lassiter said.
When Brown ‘finally tries to get away to get out of danger’ he backs out away from officers who allegedly, were shouting obscenities at him, adding, ‘At no time was he threatening officers.’ 
When Brown’s car crashed into a tree, Cherry-Lassiter said the officers continued shooting at him, leaving his vehicle ‘riddled with bullets’. 

The family noted that despite multiple officers being at the scene on April 21, they were allowed to see just one clip from officer who was furthest from the scene. 
Gunfire had already started in the clip they were shown, they said, and there was no indication of the events leading up to moments before the shooting.  Cherry-Lassiter, who watched the video multiple times and took notes, said some deputies were wearing tactical uniforms and some in plainclothes.
‘They’re shooting and saying let me see your hands at the same time,’ she said. 
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said: ‘It’s clear to us there is something bad on that bodycam video. Transparency is essential.’ Crump confirmed a press conference Tuesday at 11am to discuss autopsy results. 

Crump had said Monday: ‘Now, you all may have noticed that they released a warrant saying all kinds of things about Andrew Brown, but they want to redact the face of the … officers that killed Andrew Brown.
He added that law officials blurring deputies’ faces are ‘going to protect them and not show their face and not say their names … because what they want to do is assassinate the character’ of Brown.
Elizabeth City police were not involved in the shooting. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II has said that multiple deputies fired shots.
Brown’s death spurred an outcry from community members who demanded law enforcement accountability and the immediate release of deputies’ body camera footage. 
Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten had said Thursday that ‘only a judge can release the video.’
‘That’s why I’ve asked the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to confirm for me that the releasing of the video will not undermine their investigation,’ Wooten said, adding that he hopes to file a motion for its release Monday. 

Wooten has said deputies from his department including a tactical team were attempting to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants when Brown was shot. 
He said multiple deputies fired shots but he disclosed few other details. The arrest warrant released Monday was obtained by the Pasquotank County sheriff´s office and signed by a local judge to allow the search of Brown’s Elizabeth City home. 
It said that an investigator in nearby Dare County was told by the informant that the person had been purchasing crack cocaine and other drugs for over a year from Brown. The informant described purchasing drugs at the house that was the target of the search.
The warrant said that in March, local narcotics officers used the informant to conduct controlled purchases of methamphetamine and cocaine from Brown on two separate occasions. 
It says both drug transactions were recorded using audio and video equipment.
The search warrant said investigators believed Brown was storing drugs in the home or two vehicles. The document, which indicated the search wasn’t completed, didn’t list anything found. However, the arrest warrants, which were released last week, charged him with possession with intent to sell and deliver 3 grams of each of the drugs. 

Leaders of the Elizabeth City government had also demanded the release of the footage, and a coalition of media filed a petition in court to make it public.  
On Saturday, Brown’s family was joined by the local clergy and civil rights leaders including the Rev. William Barber II in Elizabeth City as they put further pressure on officials to make the videos public.
Rev. Barber said at the news conference attended by several of Brown’s children and other family members: ‘America, here is the issue: a warrant is not a license to kill, even if a suspect supposedly drives away.
‘A warrant is not permission to shoot someone.’
‘We’re sick and tired of all these deaths happening that don’t have to happen,’ Barber added. ‘Release the tapes!’
Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank County branch of the NAACP also spoke at the conference to call for Sheriff Tommy Wooten II’s resignation.  

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II said he will ask a judge to allow the release of bodycam footage of Wednesday’s shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr next week.
In a video statement released later on Saturday, Sheriff Wooten debunked what he called ‘false claims’ that his office had the power to release the footage and said he plans to ask a local judge as early as Monday to make the videos public. 
Asked for comment on Wooten’s remarks, SBI spokeswoman Anjanette Grube referred back to a statement earlier in the week that said ‘it is not the SBI’s decision as to when and how body camera video is released.’   
The statement directed questions about the footage back to the sheriff and local prosecutor.
Under North Carolina law, a judge must generally sign off on the release of law enforcement body camera footage.

On Friday, the state’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement calling for the swift release of the footage.
‘Initial reports of the shooting in Elizabeth City and death of Andrew Brown, Jr. this week are tragic and extremely concerning,’ Cooper tweeted. 
‘The body camera footage should be made public as quickly as possible and the SBI should investigate thoroughly to ensure accountability.’ 
Police described Brown as someone who was well known to police, with a criminal history dating back to the 1990s, including past drug convictions.     
On Friday, newly-released dispatch audio revealed Brown had been shot in the back while driving away from sheriff’s deputies: ‘Be advised EMS has one male, 42 years of age, gunshot to the back,’ the dispatcher says in the recording obtained by Broadcastify

They added: ‘We do have a viable pulse at this time.’ Later on, another transmission shared that Brown, a father of 10, had suffered ‘gunshot wounds.’  
Neighbors Demetria Williams, who witnessed part of the shooting, said she never saw Brown carry a gun, and that deputies fired into his car as he was trying to get away from them.
He crashed his car moments later, with Williams saying she saw Brown ‘slumped’ in his vehicle as he died of his gunshot wounds. 
Wooten on Friday had announced on WAVY-TV that footage from multiple body cameras would be released ‘in the next couple days’ after protesters took to the streets for two nights in a row demanding that officers release the footage. 
Protesters gathered across North Carolina Friday night as police in Raleigh declared one protest an ‘unlawful assembly’ at 8pm after a group allegedly threw trash cans into the street, WRAL reported.
‘We appreciate protestors resuming peaceful demonstrations and ask that they continue to do so until the end of the protest,’ Raleigh police tweeted. 

On Saturday, Brown’s family was joined by the local clergy and civil rights leaders including the Rev. William Barber II in Elizabeth City as they put further pressure on officials to make the videos public.
Rev. Barber said at the news conference attended by several of Brown’s children and other family members: ‘America, here is the issue: a warrant is not a license to kill, even if a suspect supposedly drives away.
‘A warrant is not permission to shoot someone.’
‘We’re sick and tired of all these deaths happening that don’t have to happen,’ Barber added. ‘Release the tapes!’
Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank County branch of the NAACP also spoke at the conference to call for Sheriff Tommy Wooten II’s resignation.