RALEIGH, N.C. — Church and civil rights activists held seven rallies across North Carolina late Tuesday afternoon, calling for “spiritual warfare” as they seek justice and answers in Andrew Brown Jr.’s fatal shooting.
In Raleigh, the clergy pressed for a special prosecutor to handle the case in Elizabeth City, noting that Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble is too close to deputies who shot Brown, working out of the same building and collaborating daily.
They also continued to push for the full body-camera videos to be released to the public, arguing that the snippets shown so far contradict Womble on Brown’s death being “justified.”
“I come today as a Black man,” said the Rev. Dr. Louis Threatt. “A Black man in his 40s. I come as a veteran, a pastor, a father, a husband and as a concerned citizen. A concerned citizen who knows some things. I am Andrew Brown. If it happened to him, it can happen to me.”
Brown, 42, died on April 21 when Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies fired at his fleeing car, hitting him in the back of the head.
Womble declined to charge any deputies involved, calling the shooting “justified.” At the time, deputies were serving warrants in a drug investigation, and they told agents with the State Bureau of Investigation that they feared Brown would run them down.
Brown’s death has prompted more than a month of peaceful protests in Elizabeth City, drawing hundreds into the streets to call for an end to brutal and racist police tactics.
Clergy also rallied Tuesday in Elizabeth City, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Asheville. A mass rally is scheduled for June 12 in Elizabeth City.
Speakers said they are determined to keep the case alive and will not let up their demands now that the district attorney has decided against charges. Faisal Khan, founder of the Carolina Peace Center, described the case as a “cover-up.”
The Rev. William Barber II and Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, will press U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for a federal investigation into both the sheriff’s and district attorney’s office.
“It is our laws that help maintain the silence,” said Jennifer Copeland, director of the NC Council of Churches. “The law allows us to keep from seeing the truth. ... The law allows the district attorney to tell the story. That’s a lot of power for someone who works on the same side as law enforcement.”
