
(North Carolina) — Andrew Brown Jr., the 42-year-old Black man shot and killed by North Carolina sheriff’s deputies, sustained five gunshot wounds — including one that went into the back of his head, his family says.
Relatives for Brown commissioned an independent autopsy of his body and released its findings Tuesday outside the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Department.
Brown’s son, Khalil Ferebee, says the autopsy proves his father was “executed.”
“Yesterday, I said he was ‘executed.’ This autopsy report shows me that was correct,” he told reporters.
On Monday, the family says they were allowed to review a 20-second clip from one responding officer’s body-worn cameras, claiming the footage showed Brown being shot at while his hands were on the steering wheel in his car.
Brown sustained four gunshot wounds to his right arm and the fatal shot hit him from behind the head near the base of the skull and penetrated his brain.
In the wake of the mass protests that have rocked North Carolina following Brown’s death, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called for a special prosecutor to investigate the fatal shooting.
Seven Pasquotank County deputies who were at the scene of the April 21 shooting have since been placed on administrative leave. Their names have not been released.
ABC News obtained a copy of the search warrant, which stated sheriff’s investigators wanted to search Brown’s property for crack cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. An additional affidavit reports that a confidential informant to police recorded audio and video of themselves purchasing crack cocaine and methamphetamine from Brown on several occasions.
Brown’s family and their attorneys claimed investigators did not locate weapons nor drugs in Brown’s vehicle or home.
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