Andrew Brown Jr.'s family filed a $30 million lawsuit against the sheriff's deputies involved in his fatal shooting

• The family of Andrew Brown Jr. has filed a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit.
• Brown, 42, was killed in April by sheriff's deputies as he attempted to drive away from them.
• Brown's family says he posed no threat to deputies and tried to escape out of fear.

The family of Andrew Brown Jr., who was killed by sheriff's deputies in rural North Carolina, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday seeking $30 million.

Pasquotank County, North Carolina sheriff's deputies shot Brown dead on April 21 while executing warrants related to felony drug charges.

District Attorney Andrew Womble announced in May that no charges would be filed against the deputies because their actions were justified.

The federal lawsuit claims that Brown posed no threat to deputies, and was frightened by them as they came at his car while shouting profanities and pointing assault rifles at him. In an attempt to escape, Brown put the car in reverse and backed away, the family's attorney wrote in the lawsuit.

"Brown sustained multiple gun shots wounds to his right arm and a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head as he drove away from law enforcement," the lawsuit reads.

In addition to wrongful death and excessive force, the lawsuit alleges that deputies violated their own use-of-force-policy on the day they killed Brown.

A spokesperson for the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office didn't immediately return Insider's request for comment on the lawsuit.

The full body camera footage from Brown's killing has not been released to the public, though the district attorney showed a portion of it during a press conference in May.

The footage showed armed deputies dressed in black jumping out of a law enforcement vehicle, running at Brown's car with guns drawn, and demanding that Brown exit his car. Brown's car began to move slowly in reverse, the footage showed, as deputies surrounded it and demanded he stop before firing into the vehicle.

Brown's death, which came one day after ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd, sparked protests in the small community of Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

City officials told Insider that they faced backlash after the killing - including racist hate mail - even though the raid that led to Brown's death was carried out by a county agency, and without the knowledge of local police.