Andrew Brown, Jr.'s Death 'Justified' In Officer Shooting: DA

ELIZABETH CITY, NC — No officers will be criminally charged in the police shooting of Andrew Brown, Jr., that "while tragic, was justified," Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble said Tuesday.

Womble's assessment of the April 21 shooting death of Brown, 42, comes less than a month after the unarmed Elizabeth City man was killed by a gunshot to the back of his head from Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office deputies as they attempted to serve an arrest and search warrant on drug charges.

Attorneys for Brown's family called Womble's refusal to bring charges "an insult and a slap in the face," and called for federal intervention.

According to early eyewitness accounts, Brown was shot while trying to get away from officers — an allegation that sparked weeks of protests in Elizabeth City as well as demands for transparency. Details of the moments that led to the shooting remain under shroud, however, after a North Carolina Superior Court judge denied a request to publically release officer body camera footage of the fatal shooting. Brown's family was shown a heavily redacted 20-second clip of the incident.

The FBI Charlotte field office announced late last month that it is opening a federal civil rights investigation into the case.

In a more-than-hour-long news conference Tuesday, District Attorney Womble justified his decision to not press charges against officers, presenting a chronological assessment of the events that unfolded along side clips of body camera footage and still images selectively pulled from the video.

The narrative disputed earlier public statements and characterizations of the footage made by attorneys representing Brown's family after they were shown a small snippet of video.

SEE ALSO: Brown Jr.'s Attorney Calls Deadly Encounter An 'Ambush'

Four deputies of the six-member Pasquotank County Special Operation and Tactics Team that arrived at Brown's home with the warrant were wearing body cameras, according to Womble, who said he did not intend to release the footage.

Leading up to the shooting, deputies on the tactical team were briefed about Brown's criminal past and that he had attempted to barricade doorways during previous attempts to conduct search warrants, Womble said. On the morning of the shooting, deputies spotted Brown, who then drove to his home, where he remained in the driver's seat until the deputies arrived.

The six deputies surrounded the vehicle, shouting commands for Brown to exit the vehicle.

A deputy attempted to open the driver's side door as another deputy approached from the front passenger side, Womble said. Brown, who was holding a cell phone as deputies approached, threw the phone down and began backing the vehicle away from them.

As the vehicle moved, a deputy was struck on his left side and his arm landed on the hood of the vehicle, Womble said. Brown backed the vehicle away from deputies until his path was blocked by his home, then put the car in drive. As deputies shouted commands, Brown drove forward in the direction of a deputy. It was at that moment the first of more than a dozen shots were fired.

According to a North Carolina Justice Academy forensic analyst, the first shot entered the front windshield of Brown's car, Womble said. As Brown drove past deputies, he was shot in the shoulder, as several more rounds entered the rear passenger side door and window.

Brown's vehicle then drove across a vacant lot, at which time deputies fired five additional rounds into the rear of it. At the time, his vehicle was headed toward and "narrowly missed striking" an unmarked white van occupied by a police officer, Womble said. Brown's vehicle continued on until it hit a tree. Deputies then pulled Brown out of the vehicle and "life-saving efforts were immediately begun," Womble said.

The duration of the exchange from the time deputies left their vehicle until they pulled him from his was 44 seconds, according to the district attorney. In that time, deputies fired 14 rounds at Brown, including five rounds from an AR-15 rifle.

"The facts of this case clearly illustrate that officers who used deadly force on Andrew Brown, Jr., did so reasonably and only when a violent felon used a deadly weapon to place their lives in danger," Womble said. "The law enforcement officers were duty-bound to stand their ground and carry through with their performance of their duties and take Andrew Brown into custody. They could not simply let him go as has been suggested."

The search warrant was never executed in Brown's home, Womble said.

Citing a preliminary but not yet final autopsy report, Womble said Brown was shot twice: a non-lethal shot to the shoulder and a fatal shot to the back of the head. He had multiple abrasions on his right arm, right leg and back. Womble also said an autopsy conducted the day after the shooting revealed a plastic bag of crystal meth the size of a 50-cent piece "and too large to swallow" was found in Brown's mouth — a detail that had not previously been divulged by authorities or in a private autopsy conducted by the family.

The private autopsy conducted last month by Brown's family indicated he was shot five times — four non-lethal gunshot wounds on his right arm and a fatal shot in the back of the head.

In offering an explanation as to why the baggie of crystal meth wasn't discovered before the autopsy, Womble said, "Mr Brown was clearly deceased on the scene," and that "Because of his condition on the scene, there was minimal life-saving efforts."

SEE ALSO: Andrew Brown Laid To Rest As Demands For Police Video Continue

Attorneys for the Brown family fired back following Womble's news conference, calling for the DOJ to intervene immediately.

"Andrew Brown Jr., his grieving family, and this community deserve answers," the attorneys said in a statement. "And they received anything but that from D.A. Womble's attempt to whitewash this unjustified killing. To say this shooting was justified, despite the known facts, is both an insult and a slap in the face to Andrew's family, the Elizabeth City community, and to rational people everywhere.

"Not only was the car moving away from officers, but four of them did not fire their weapons — clearly they did not feel that their lives were endangered. And the bottom line is that Andrew was killed by a shot to the back of the head," the attorneys said.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said as an impartial fact-finding agency, it had no role in determining whether or not charges should be filed.

"During the course of this investigation, the NC SBI interviewed numerous witnesses, conducted crime scene analysis, collected and reviewed video footage, and engaged in other investigative activities in an attempt to conduct as thorough and complete an investigation as possible in a timely manner," the agency statement said. "After providing the facts to the District Attorney, it was his duty to apply the law to those facts to make the ultimate decision about whether criminal charges were appropriate."

Any decisions to release footage from the event would need to be made by court order according to state law, SBI added. "As stated earlier, the NC SBI supports transparency to the greatest extent possible allowed by the law, as we think this serves the interests of the citizens of North Carolina," it said.

Absent a court order, however, the public should not expect to see the entire police camera footage anytime soon. "I do not think they should be released in their entirety," Womble said.