Andrew Brown: Autopsy reveals he was shot 5 times, once in back of his head as family claims he was 'executed'
ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA: As North Carolina mourns the loss of Andrew Brown, a Black man fatally shot by cops on April 21, many have demanded police release bodycam footage of the shooting. People want to know why Brown, who was lovingly called Drew by his neighbors and was known as a non-violent father of ten, was killed. He was reportedly fleeing the scene when North Carolina cops shot a barrage of bullets at him and his car allegedly swerved down the street before it crashed against a tree. An independent autopsy report however has revealed just how many times Brown was shot before found dead, slumped on his driver's seat.
The family of 42-year-old Brown came forward on Tuesday, April 27 with results from the independent autopsy. They revealed that the autopsy showed Brown was shot five times, with one of them right in the back of his head. Announcing the outcome of the postmortem exam they commissioned, Brown's family took the podium on Tuesday, April 27, just outside the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Department in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. They claimed the autopsy confirms Brown was "executed."
RELATED ARTICLES
"Yesterday, I said he was 'executed.' This autopsy report shows me that was correct," said Brown's son, Khalil Ferebee. This comes after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement on April 27 calling for special prosecutors to investigate the shooting, just a day after Brown's family members were shown an alleged 20-second clip from the shooting. The bodycamera footage shows an unarmed Brown being shot to death with his hands on the steering wheel of his car, just outside his Elizabeth City house.
Dr Brent Dwayne Hall performed the independent autopsy, Brown's family said. He used to be the former medical examiner for five North Carolina counties. Wayne Kendall who is representing the family also used autopsy graphics to point out the areas Brown was shot at. He showed there the four shots sustained in Brown's right arm were glancing shots that did not kill him.
Kendall said it was the fifth shot that was fired as Brown attempted to drive away, that killed him. The bullet hit Brown at the base of the back of his skill and allegedly lodged in his brain. "He was able to back up, turn the vehicle around, spin off across a vacant lot. And at that time he was hit in the back of the head and that is the fatal bullet wound," Kendall said.
Harry Daniels, another attorney for the family, claimed authorities told him that three deputies had opened fire at Brown, with one of them also reloading. Another of the family's attorneys, Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, claimed Brown was seen sitting in his vehicle, his hands on the steering wheel, while he was being shot at. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten had said on Monday, April 26 that attorneys have already filed a motion requesting the footage be available for public to see.
"This tragic incident was quick and over in less than 30 seconds," Wooten said in a video statement, adding that the footage from officer body cameras is shaky and sometimes hard to decipher. "They only tell part of the story," Wooten said, and relatives of Brown also complained that they, neither attorneys, were shown the entire video from the confrontation - including what prompted the shooting.
Brown was killed in police fire around 8:30 am on April 21, as he tried to flee arrest while sheriff deputies were serving a search warrant in the 400 block of Perry Street, off Roanoke Avenue. Seven Pasquotank County deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave and three resigned; their names have not been disclosed yet. The FBI announced that it was opening a federal civil rights investigation.