By David K. Li -
NBC News
Family members of Andrew Brown Jr. reported Tuesday that the 42-year-old black man died after being
shot five times
by police officers trying to arrest him last week in North Carolina, one of them in the back of the head.
An autopsy commissioned by the family showed the
fatal wound to the nape area
and four others to the right arm, and led them to wonder why Pasquotank County officials used deadly force when serving an arrest warrant. for a drug offense last Wednesday.
The headshot
was
fired
from an "intermediate" distance
and penetrated Brown's skull and brain, according to Brent Hall, a forensic pathologist from Boone, North Carolina, who performed the postmortem analysis.
The wound ran from "bottom to top, left to right and back to front," he added.
[The death of a black man at the hands of a police officer in North Carolina sparks protests]
"He received a fatal wound to the back of the head from Brown while trying to evade firing by officers. We believe it was nothing more than
a direct execution
," the family's attorney, Wayne Kendall, told reporters during a conference by press.
Hall's report confirmed the results of a state death certificate that showed
Brown was shot five times
;
one on the head, one on the right shoulder, two on the upper right arm, and one more around the right elbow.
Police video reveals Andrew Brown had his hands on the wheel when he was shot, family say
April 27, 202101: 41
The report agreed that the cause of Brown's death was a "penetrating gunshot wound to the head."
Brown's son, Khalil Ferebee, said the results show that
his father posed no threat
to officers at the scene, making deadly force unnecessary.
[They demand answers for the death of Andrew Brown at the hands of the police in North Carolina]
"
Those arm shots weren't enough?
" He said.
"It's obvious that he was trying to escape and are they going to shoot him in the back of the head? That's not right. That's not right at all," he added.
The North Carolina Medical Examiner's Office, which handles autopsies on suspicious deaths in Pasquotank County, has not responded to messages sent today for comment.
Brown's family and attorneys said Monday they were only allowed to view
20 seconds of the body camera footage of the
event.
They claimed in any event that the video showed that he was not a threat to the officers who arrested him.
Police recordings, such as body camera videos, are not automatically classified as public records in North Carolina, as they are in other states.
A judge must approve formal requests for the images to be released.
NBC News has not seen the recording.
[A video reveals that a Hispanic man died similar to George Floyd in San Diego]
Elizabeth City Administrator Montré Freeman said Tuesday that he
understands
the family's
frustration
at seeing so little of the material so far.
"When you have a body camera,
the most transparent thing is to show everything
, and unfortunately that did not happen yesterday, and I would like to have an answer," he added.
Although the police video is not a public document, the family's attorney, Bakari Sellers, said the sheriff has the discretion to show Brown's loved ones more images in private than are released to the public.
"The law does not require a judge's order to
show the family the entire video
," Sellers said Tuesday, "it was a discretionary decision made by the county to show them 20 seconds on the assumption that it was relevant to them."
[Six deaths at the hands of the police in one day: what happened in the 24 hours after the verdict in the George Floyd case]
Brown's family showed their anger Monday that they were shown so few images on the same day a search warrant affidavit was released accusing Brown of selling cocaine, crack, methamphetamine and heroin.
"My father
was executed just for trying to save his own life
," Ferebee said on Monday shortly after viewing the video of his father's death.
"That is not right," he added.
They demand answers for the death of Andrew Brown at the hands of the police in North Carolina
April 25, 202100: 22
Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten asked for patience Monday, saying independent investigators
have to examine all the evidence
.
"This tragic incident was quick and ended in less than 30 seconds and the body cameras are shaky and sometimes difficult to decipher," Wooten said.
[The trial against the other three ex-officers involved in George Floyd's death will be in August]
"They
only tell part of the story
. Outside investigators from both the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and four other sheriff's offices are questioning witnesses and gathering more information," he concluded.