RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday he believes a special prosecutor "should handle all matters regarding the shooting in Pasquotank County" that resulted in the death of Andrew Brown Jr.
The governor tweeted that doing so "would help assure the community and Mr. Brown's family that a decision on pursuing criminal charges is conducted without bias."
Gov. Cooper issued the following statement urging a special prosecutor following the Pasquotank County shooting: pic.twitter.com/6m5UqxyZ09
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) April 27, 2021
Forty-two-year-old Brown was shot and killed on April 21as Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies were serving a warrant on felony drug charges. Tuesday, the FBI Charlotte Field Office opened a federal civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting.
Since his death, peaceful protests have gone on each day in Elizabeth City, calling for transparency and the release of body camera footage taken during the incident.
On Monday, Brown's family and their attorneys were able to view 20 seconds of the body cam video,and family members said the it was an execution. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said they do not feel like they got transparency. He said they only saw part of the video and claimed that officials wanted to have two of Brown's family members with no legal counsel present at first.
Attorneys are now calling to see all of the footage they say was taken at the scene and released their own independent autopsy report Tuesday, stating Brown suffered a "kill shot to the back of the head."
