ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - The family of Andrew Brown is holding a press conference Saturday afternoon, calling for transparency after he was shot by a Pasquotank County sheriff's deputy on April 21.
The press conference is being held at Mt. Lebanon A.M.E. Zion Church at 320 Culpepper Street in Elizabeth City. Rev. Dr. William Barber II, President of Repairers of the Breach, will be standing in solidarity with the family.
The family is represented by the Law Office of Harry M. Daniels LLC, located in Atlanta, and Attorney L. Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, located in Elizabeth City.
Brown, a 42-year-old father of 7, was shot and killed after a search warrant was conducted in the 400 block of Perry Street at around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten and Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg said the warrant was for felony drug charges.
Daniels' office says eyewitness accounts say Brown was unarmed and fleeing when he was shot.
The community has been demanding the release of body camera footage of the shooting.
Seven deputies are on administrative leavefollowing the incident. Sheriff Wooten told News 3 Friday that three deputies resigned, but those deputies weren't involved in the incident.
Wooten said District Attorney Andrew Womble isn't sure the body camera footage of the shooting should be released before the investigation is complete and says he plans to look into if anything can be done on his end to release it.
"The [DA] is worried somewhat that releasing it before the investigation is over would hinder the investigation, but yes I can look into that and I plan on looking into that very soon," said Wooten, adding that he has now viewed the footage. Citing the ongoing investigation, he declined to comment further on what the video shows.
During the press conference, Keith Rivers, Pasquotank County NAACP President says they are demanding the resignation of Sheriff Wooten.
An outside agency will also be conducting an internal investigation to determine whether the deputies violated internal policies.
You can watch the press conference above.
