Andrew Brown Jr. died after being shot by sheriff's deputies in Elizabeth City, NC, on Wednesday.- The Brown family's attorney said he was unarmed, and they want bodycam footage released immediately.
- Pasquotank Sheriff Tommy S. Wooten II said a judge needs to approve the footage's release first.
Relatives of Andrew Brown Jr., the Black man who was killed after being shot at by
Brown, a 42-year-old father of seven, was fleeing sheriff's deputies in his car Wednesday morning when the officers fired at him multiple times, a neighbor who witnessed the shooting told the Associated Press.
Demetria Williams said Brown skidded out of his yard before eventually hitting a tree.
"When they opened the door he was already dead. He was slumped over," Williams told the AP.
At a Thursday press conference, Harry Daniels, an attorney representing the Brown family, said that three officers shot at Brown, and all three have been placed on administrative leave. He said witnesses have said that Brown was unarmed when he was shot.
Insider has contacted the Pasquotank County Sheriff for comment.
The Brown family demands bodycam footage
The family is also demanding the immediate release of bodycam footage of the shooting. Daniels told USA Today that he plans to file a motion for the footage to be released.
"The sheriff's department has failed to create the transparency and the trust that is needed in order to have accountability in order to move justice forward," Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank chapter of the NAACP, said at the Thursday press conference.
Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy S. Wooten II said in a recorded statement on Thursday that he had asked the State Bureau of Investigation to handle the inquiry, and that the bureau has the bodycam footage.
Wooten added that in North Carolina, the release of such footage requires the approval of a judge.
District Attorney Andrew Womble said in a separate statement that exceptions are made for the victim's family to view footage, and he's working with their attorney to set that up.
'Local version of the SWAT team' was involved
Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg also gave new details on the fatal confrontation in the Thursday recorded statement.
Fogg said that the "local version of the SWAT team" was involved in Brown's arrest, saying there was a "high risk of danger" because Brown was a "convicted felon with a history of resisting arrest."
The AP and USA Today reported, citing court records, that Brown had a history of drug charges and a misdemeanor drug possession conviction.
Wooten and Fogg also spelled out the conditions that would have allowed their deputies to shoot at Brown.
"The issue will likely come down to whether our deputies had reason to believe Mr. Brown's actions put them at risk for serious injury or death. We will not offer an opinion on this because we do not have all the facts," Fogg said.
"What I will say is that if evidence shows that any of my deputies violated the law or policies they will be held accountable because that's what the citizens expect me to do, and it's the right thing to do," Wooten said.
Browns' death set off back-to-back nights of protests in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, which have been peaceful. More protests are expected Friday, according to WAVY.