Killing of Andrew Brown Jr.

On April 21, 2021, Andrew Brown Jr., a 42-year-old Black man, was killed by a gunshot to the back of the head during an encounter with Pasquotank County Sheriff's deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Deputies, including a tactical team, were serving search and arrest warrants related to alleged possession with intent to sell approximately three grams of cocaine when the shooting occurred. Seven deputies were placed on administrative leave following the incident. A private autopsy commissioned by Brown's family, conducted by pathologist Brent Hall, found Brown had been shot five times, including once in the back of the head and four times in his right arm. Brown's official death certificate listed the death as a homicide caused by a gunshot to the head.

Accounts of the shooting differed. After viewing a 20-second body camera clip, family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said Brown's hands were on the steering wheel and his car was stationary when shots were first fired, and that he was shot at again after crashing into a tree; she characterized the killing as an "execution." District Attorney Andrew Womble stated that Brown reversed and then drove his car forward, making contact with law enforcement officers on both occasions, and that shots were fired only after this contact; he called the family's account "patently false." A second family attorney, Chance Lynch, who later reviewed about 18 minutes of footage, said he did not see Brown's car initiate contact with deputies.

On May 5, 2021, Brown's family attorneys asked Womble to recuse himself, citing his office's location inside the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Department and Womble's working relationship with the sheriff and involved deputies. On May 18, 2021, Womble announced that the deputies who used deadly force acted reasonably and would not face criminal charges, and released about one minute of body camera footage. A judge, Jeffery Foster, had earlier blocked public release of the full roughly two hours of body camera footage for at least 30 days while allowing Brown's family to view redacted footage.

The FBI opened a civil rights investigation into Brown's death on April 27, 2021, working with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Three deputies who fired their weapons—Daniel Meads, Robert Morgan, and Aaron Lewellyn—remained on administrative leave pending investigation; four other deputies who did not fire were cleared to return to duty.

The killing prompted weeks of protests in Elizabeth City, including a state of emergency declared by Mayor Bettie Parker and an incident in which a woman drove a car into protesters, leading to her arrest on felony assault charges. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called for release of the body camera footage, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden was aware of the situation. In July 2021, Brown's family filed a $30 million federal lawsuit against the sheriff's department; in June 2022, the family was awarded a $3 million settlement, approved by the Pasquotank County Board of Commissioners.