Neighbor says Brown was in car when many shots fired. Protesters return for second night.

A neighbor and lifelong friend of Andrew Brown Jr. said he fled from Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies in his car before more than a dozen shots were fired at the vehicle, killing him.

The shooting death of a Black man by law enforcement Wednesday — coming just 24 hours after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd — brought national attention and two nights of protests to Elizabeth City, a northeastern North Carolina town about 165 miles from Raleigh.

Demetria Williams, who lives a few houses down from the slain man, said Thursday that she heard shots Wednesday morning and came running. When she reached Brown’s house, she saw deputies remove his dead body from the driver’s seat of the vehicle and attempt CPR.

She counted 14 shell casings on the ground, she said, and noted the rear windshield of the vehicle had been shot out.

“I got down there and they were shooting at the car,” Williams said. “He didn’t get far because the sheriff deputies were in the driveway. He was getting away. He wasn’t a threat.”

Protesters in Elizabeth City

Williams had joined roughly 200 others in protest in Elizabeth City on Wednesday night, marching through the small college town. About 300 protesters returned to protest Thursday evening.

“We want the sheriff to come out and talk to us,” said Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank County NAACP, speaking over a loudspeaker. “We’re here today to seek and demand justice.”

“I’m so tired of watching my brothers and sisters die at the hand of police,” Rivers added.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten said Wednesday that deputies were carrying out a search warrant when the shooting happened. He said the State Bureau of Investigation would be reviewing the shooting.

Officials provided few details about the incident, which happened about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Elizabeth City. They did not say what the warrant was for, nor how many shots were fired at Brown.

On Thursday, Harry Daniels of Atlanta, lead attorney for the Brown family, said three deputies had fired guns and that all three are on administrative leave.

“We don’t know what happened,” Daniels said. “And the reason we don’t know what happened is because nobody is telling us what happened and showing us the body camera footage that would be the objective evidence to show what happened.”

On Wednesday night, the City Council in Elizabeth City held an emergency meeting that became emotional as council members voiced their concerns and fears.

“There are a lot of people hurting in our city,” Councilman Gabriel Adkins said at the meeting. “We have a lot of hurt people.”

Town officials repeatedly emphasized that it was the Pasquotank Sheriff’s Department and not the Elizabeth City Police Department involved in the shooting.

‘They shot my grandson like he was a bear’

A few miles outside of town Thursday, Lydia Brown remembered the last visit with her grandson — on her 92nd birthday.

“He was a good grandson,” she said. “Everybody loved him. He had this smile because he had deep dimples. I cared so much for him because his father is deceased and he looks so much like his father. Like looking at my own son.”

She said Brown had 10 children and was trying to reestablish a life fit for them. He had lived only two months in the house where he died, and having his own house was a condition for getting custody.

“I just worry about this,” she said. “Why did it have to be a gun involved for a warrant? He didn’t do anything so bad. ... They shot my grandson like he was a bear.”

‘A real, for real, nice guy’

Williams, the neighbor, said her friend Brown had been trying to regain custody of some of his children. Though he had spent time behind bars for drug offenses, she said he did not carry a gun.

“He was a real, for real, nice guy,” she said. “I’m not just saying that.”

On Thursday, fresh tire tracks cut deep across Brown’s yard, and the wall of his white brick house appeared splattered with mud.

Neighbors said Brown’s car came to rest across Roanoke Avenue, hitting a crepe myrtle in a yard roughly 100 feet away. Pieces of the car’s headlights remained in the scarred tree.

Williams said deputies entered Brown’s house by force after he had been shot. She said she did not know whether deputies tried to communicate with Brown before shooting at the car because she came after the first shot.

Elizabeth City Councilman Darius Horton, who wore a Black Lives Matter shirt to Wednesday night’s meeting, said officials need to be transparent about what happened.

“We don’t have the information, but it needs to be put out in the forefront. The body cameras, that needs to be released immediately,” he said.

Sheriff Wooten said the deputies involved had body-worn cameras. He said he did not have a timeline for when the footage would be released.

“We will be transparent, and we will take the proper action based on the findings of [the SBI] investigation,” he said.

The SBI issued a statement Thursday that said, “Our special agents are working this investigation as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. We understand the need for transparency and will release what information we can when we’re able to release it.”

The SBI said requests for the release of body-cam video should go to the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office or the District Attorney’s Office.

Thursday evening’s protesters, like those the night before, peacefully marched through downtown Elizabeth City and chanted.

“Where’s Wooten?” they asked, referring to the sheriff.

Then, “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” and “What’s his name? Andrew Brown!”

Protesters took a knee on Ehringhaus Street in the middle of town. They then marched to the spot where Brown was shot and killed.

Asked about the protests, Rivers, the NAACP leader, said, “As John Lewis said, it will be good trouble.”

McClatchy journalist Hayley Fowler contributed to this report.