Andrew Brown Jr’s family demands bodycam footage be released unblurred

The family of Andrew Brown Jr, who was fatally shot by police in North Carolina, is demanding the police video release body cam of the killing unblurred.

Andrew Brown Jr’s Family Has Only Seen A Short Clip

The family has seen a 20 second blurred version of the video and they say it’s not enough.

“We do not feel we got transparency. We only saw a snippet of the video,” Ben Crump, an attorney for the family, said after viewing what he called a snippet of the available video of a shooting he called an “execution of their loved one.”

Pasquotank County Attorney R. Michael Cox released a statement shortly after the family attorneys’ press conference.

He says the blurring of faces “when necessary to protect an active internal investigation” is a statute under North Carolina law, according to WAVY. The names of the deputies have not been released.

The shooting

Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City on Wednesday (April 21), when they attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant, the sheriff’s office said.

Seven deputies were reportedly placed on administrative leave and three resigned. The three who left their jobs were not directly involved in the shooting, says Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten.

There are few details about the shooting. In dispatch audio from that day, first responders can be heard saying a man had gunshot wounds to the back.

Brown Jr’s death certificate obtained by CNN, says his death was a result of “penetrating gunshot wound of the head” and died within “minutes” of being shot. The certificate categorizes his death as a homicide, saying Brown was “shot by others.”

Since the shooting, peaceful protests throughout the city have called for officials to release the full body camera video for transparency and accountability.

Earlier on Monday Elizabeth City had declared a state of emergency as it prepared for the public release of the video.

In all, Andrew Brown Jr’s family wants transparency.

“There was no time in the 20 seconds that we saw where he was threatening the officers in any kind of way,” Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, an attorney, said at a press conference after watching the video, the Associated Press reported.