Andrew Brown Jr.

Andrew Brown Jr., 42, a father of seven, was shot and killed by Pasquotank County, North Carolina sheriff's deputies on April 21, 2021, while sitting in his car as they attempted to serve felony drug arrest and search warrants at his home in Elizabeth City. Three of the seven deputies present fired 14 shots as Brown's car pulled away; he was killed by a shot to the back of the head. He was unarmed, and no weapon was found in his vehicle. District Attorney Andrew Womble announced on May 18, 2021 — the day after a jury convicted Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd — that the shooting was "justified" because Brown's car had made contact with a deputy, and declined to bring any charges. Brown's family, reviewing the same body camera footage, said he never posed a threat and was "executed" while trying to drive away. No one has ever been charged in Brown's death.

Elizabeth City, NC · Pasquotank County

• 2021: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The warrant service, the shooting, and Brown's death from a shot to the back of the head, per the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's inquiry and District Attorney Andrew Womble's public presentation of body camera footage.
• Deputies fired a total of 14 shots from two handguns and a rifle; three of the seven deputies present fired, while four did not.
• No weapon was found in Brown's vehicle.
• District Attorney Womble announced on May 18, 2021 that the shooting was justified because Brown's vehicle made contact with a deputy as he attempted to drive away, and that no charges would be filed against any of the deputies.
• Brown's family, after viewing body camera and dashcam footage, disputed Womble's account, saying deputies fired from a sidewalk at a car that was moving away from them and posed no threat.
• Brown's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in July 2021; the killing also prompted the NAACP to request a Department of Justice pattern-or-practice investigation into the Pasquotank Sheriff's Office and Womble's office.

• Whether Brown's vehicle in fact struck a deputy in a manner presenting a deadly threat, as Womble concluded, or whether the car was simply moving away with no one in its path, as the family's review of the same footage maintained, was never tested at any criminal trial.
• Why four of the seven deputies present chose not to fire, if the threat was as immediate as Womble's justification implied, has not been addressed in any official public accounting.
• The full, unredacted body camera footage was only released to the public in edited form with faces obscured, per a court order, limiting independent public review of the moments immediately following the shooting.

• NPR — “Prosecutor Says Deputies Were Justified In The Fatal Shooting Of Andrew Brown Jr.”
• ABC News — “No charges for deputies in Andrew Brown Jr. shooting, district attorney says”
• The Washington Post — “Federal probe into Andrew Brown Jr.'s shooting by deputies complicated by N.C. prosecutor's decision not to bring charges”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs