ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — All eyes are on Elizabeth City, and the community isn’t happy about what they’re seeing.
As bits and piece of information in the deputy shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. trickle out, residents’ calls for transparency only continue to get louder.
Just a couple blocks away from the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office, Muddy Waters Coffeehouse has watched the action unfold in the days following Brown's death.
“I feel like being at the store is like a front row to the apocalypse of the city,” said employee Beth Gray. “You’re seeing everything. It’s like being in the Twilight Zone.”
Peaceful protests, rallies or press conferences have all played out in front of the sheriff’s office as the community members watched up close and afar.
“Somebody died. Like, how did that happen? How did we get there? What needs to happen to ensure that justice happens for him, his family?” said Gray.
Outside the coffee shop, Halifax County Deputy Sheriff Lt. Carroll is part of the out of town crew assisting Elizabeth City during this time of strife.
Tuesday morning, he told News 3 he was frustrated the wind kept blowing a "Justice for Andrew Brown" shirt to the ground, so he went inside Muddy Waters to get paper clips to secure it to the pole it was draped over.
News 3 spoke to residents who all said they’re looking for someone to be held accountable.
“From my perspective, it’s shameful that this happened here,” said Thomas Clements. "I hope that the attention will be focused and justice will be served for the family and for everybody involved in this.”
Suzanne and Dilnna Lewis say the 20 seconds of body camera video the family said it was allowed to view is not the transparency they expect from their city.
“It doesn’t tell me the story. Like, nothing leads up to this 20 seconds; nothing is shown after the 20 seconds. It needs to be more,” said Dilnna Lewis.
More than one person said they want more to be done in Elizabeth City and around the country to address deadly law enforcement shootings.
“I know we have a problem in this country. I’m hopeful that this will bring a lot of conversations and a lot of attention to it and maybe things will get better,” said Clements.
