News Roundup

On Monday, District Attorney Andrew Womble announced his determination that the killing of Andrew Brown Jr. by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies during the service of search and arrest warrants at Brown’s home in Elizabeth City last month was justified by reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary due to Brown’s use of his vehicle as a weapon and means of escape.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news. Brown.  At a lengthy press conference where he took questions, Womble discussed the events surrounding Brown’s death by giving a background on the investigation leading to it.  He said that a detective with the Dare County Sheriff’s Office had received information from a reliable confidential source that Brown was selling drugs and that tip led to controlled buys of cocaine and heroin.  The Dare County Drug Task Force provided surveillance for the service of warrants related to this activity by the Pasquotank Special Operations and Tactics Team. To serve the warrants, Pasquotank deputies surrounded Brown with guns drawn while he was sitting in his car after arriving home.  Womble showed bodycam images of Brown reversing his car away from the deputies, while one was gripping Brown’s door handle, and then driving forward in the direction of a deputy.  Discussing the findings of a North Carolina Justice Academy forensic analyst, Womble said that the first shot fired at Brown entered the front windshield of his vehicle, another entered the passenger window, and several others came through the rear door and windshield.  [...]