FBI opens civil rights investigation into the murder of Andrew Brown Jr. in North Carolina

The autopsy showed that Andrew Brown Jr. was shot 5 times, one of them in the back of your head

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed Tuesday that a black man who died after police shot him during an arrest in North Carolina last week.

The announcement comes a day after attorneys for Brown’s family, who were allowed to view a video of 20 seconds of his arrest, they said that the man of 42 years was shot in the back head while his hands were on the wheel.

Brown was shot five times in total, four of them in the right arm, according to an autopsy performed at the request of his family.

The finding reinforces the claim that Brown was “executed adored, ”his family said. “It was a fatal shot to the back of the neck” that cost Brown his life, Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, said Tuesday when his office released the results.

Brown was killed by sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City during an attempt to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants last Wednesday. Seven of the officers involved in the arrest were placed on paid leave, said the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office.

“The FBI Field Office in Charlotte has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr., involved by the police. ” said an FBI spokesman. “Agents will work closely with the United States Attorney’s Office United for the Eastern District of North Carolina and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to determine if federal laws were violated. ”

The spokesperson declined to comment further and said the investigation was ongoing.

Brown was assassinated on Wednesday, a day after a jury will find the former police officer of Minneapolis Derek Chauvin guilty of the murder of George Floyd.

Floyd’s death in custody revitalized the movement that opposes police brutality against African Americans.

The Department of Justice is conducting a civil rights investigation into Floyd’s murder, plus an investigation of pattern or practice at the Minneapolis Police Department.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that the Justice Department would conduct a similar investigation at the Louisville Metro Police Department in Kentucky, which has been criticized for Breonna’s death Taylor . Taylor was killed in her apartment last year after police entered with a warrant of no hit and shoot bullets.

The lawyers of Andrew Brown Jr.’s family condemned his murder and called for more images of the arrest that led to his death to be released. Pasquotank County authorities have said they have requested that a judge allow the video to be released.

CNN got a video from a surveillance camera that shows what happened moments before the shooting in which he died Brown.

Demonstrations demanding justice for Charles Brown Jr. and his family continued Tuesday for the seventh consecutive day, despite the curfew imposed in Elizabeth City from 8 pm today.

With information from CNBC and CNN