Video shows NC cop shoot unarmed suspect, call in report, then fire again, lawyers say

In February, Concord Police said one of its officers fatally shot Brandon Combs following a “physical confrontation” at a car dealership where he was trying to steal a truck.

Now, lawyers for Combs’ mother say that based on police video they watched last week, there was no struggle between the 29-year-old Gastonia resident and police Officer Timothy Larson before the officer opened fire on Feb. 13.

Larson’s body-camera footage — which the lawyers say they first saw Thursday under a court order but which has not yet been released to the public — shows a short chase on foot in the car lot between the officer and suspect that ended when the unarmed Combs climbed into the driver’s seat of Larson’s police SUV, the lawyers allege in a statement.

When Larson, 27, arrived on the passenger side of his vehicle, he shot Combs five times through the windshield, the statement claims.

Larson then stopped momentarily to call in the shooting to his department. When the call ended, Larson shot the mortally wounded Combs again, civil rights attorney Harry Daniels told The Charlotte Observer on Monday.

Larson could not be reached for comment Tuesday. His attorney, Chris McCartan of Concord, did not immediately respond to a phone message left at his office.

According to documents received from an Observer public records request to the City of Concord, Larson was fired May 20. He had been on the job for about two years when the shooting occurred.

In Larson’s termination letter, Police Chief Gary Gacek cited his former officer for insubordination for refusing to answer questions following the shooting or for giving misleading or untrue answers in other instances to his superiors and the State Bureau of Investigation, which handled the shooting investigation. It’s unclear from the letter if the events surrounding the shooting were discussed.

Daniels, the Atlanta-based attorney who represented the family of Andre Brown following his 2021 shooting death by deputies in Elizabeth City, says the Combs footage is one of the worst police-shooting videos he has ever seen.

Combs’ death has not received the attention it deserves because the police department omitted relevant facts from its statement and presented the shooting as an “open-and-shut case,” he said.

In fact, according to Daniels, Combs’ mother, Virginia Tayara, did not know there was anything unusual about her son’s death until the SBI told her that he had been shot while in a police vehicle,

“We didn’t know anything until we saw (the video). We watched it in utter disbelief,” Daniels said.

“The most disturbing thing is not the unjustified use of deadly force, but that (Larson) paused and then used deadly force again. The first five shots were bad enough. The last shot was overkill, man. It was overkill. I can’t make sense of it.”

During a news conference outside of Concord City Hall on Tuesday, Daniels and the other attorneys representing Combs’ family called on Cabarrus County District Attorney Roxann Vaneekhoven to take the rare step in North Carolina of charging Larson with a crime or taking the case before a grand jury for a possible indictment.

They also want the longtime prosecutor to meet with Tayara, and for police to release the video. Under N.C. law, only a judge can make a video public.

“I just want the officer held accountable, and I want the City of Concord held accountable in the way they do police business,” a tearful Tayara said.

The SBI sent its finding to Vaneekhoven earlier this month for review, SBI spokeswoman Anjanette Grube told the Observer.

Vaneekhoven and her office did not return an Observer phone call seeking information about the case.

Attorneys for the family said Vaneekhoven told them in a Monday email that her office will need “several weeks” to complete the review of the SBI file and decide whether criminal charges against Larson are warranted.

“Do you represent the citizens of Cabarrus County or the police officers of Cabarrus County?” Daniels said of Vaneekhoven. “We’re about to find out.”

In a statement included with the release of Larson’s personnel file, Concord Police said they continue to cooperate with all sides of the investigation, including the family’s lawyers.

“We understand how difficult this time is for the Combs family, and we want to ensure they receive the answers they need to heal following the death of their loved one.”

The statement said police would decline further comment until Vaneekhoven’s office completes it review.

Police use of deadly force

In North Carolina and every other state, police officers are justified in using deadly force if they have a reasonable belief that they, their fellow officers or the public is in imminent risk of death or serious injuries.

The law is written around a landmark Supreme Court case, Graham v. Connor, which originated in Charlotte.

Every year, police fatally shoot about 1,000 people, a number that has remained largely unchanged despite widespread police reforms following the deaths of George Floyd and others, according to the Washington Post, which has tracked officer shootings for the past five years.

Both Combs and Larson are white.

Prosecutions of cops for on-duty shootings are rare; convictions even more so.

In Charlotte, the trial following the first officer arrest for an on-duty shooting in more than 30 years ended in a hung jury in 2015 with a majority of the members voting to acquit. The charges against the officer were later dropped.

In the case of Combs, the police statement following the shooting said the standoff occurred at 5 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 13, at the Modern Nissan dealership on Concord Parkway South. There, according to Daniels, Combs was caught in the act of trying to steal a Nissan pickup. According to the video, Combs was still inside the truck when Larson arrived.

“The officer provided the suspect with multiple verbal commands to stop what he was doing. The suspect refused,” Maj. Robert Ledwell said in the police statement following the shooting. “A physical confrontation ensured. Soon thereafter, the officer discharged (his) department-issued handgun, striking the suspect.”

Combs died later that day at Atrium Health Cabarrus.

The chase between Larson and Combs — from the pickup to Larson’s vehicle — which Daniels says is caught on the officer’s camera, was not mentioned in the police statement, nor is the fact that Combs died inside a police vehicle.

“At no point did we ever see Brandon Combs pose a threat to that officer,” attorney Chance Lynch of Roanoke Rapids, said at the Tuesday press conference.

“The fact that the Concord Police Department would issue a statement that completely contradicts what happened — that’s concerning. That tells me that dishonesty is afoot in Concord.”

Under the department’s use of force policy, officers are banned from shooting into vehicles unless they or others are being targeted by “deadly physical force” other than a vehicle, or “the moving vehicle poses an imminent and ongoing threat of substantial physical harm to the officer or another person from which there is no reasonable means to escape.”

According to Daniels, neither condition was a factor in the death of Combs. The video shows the SUV wasn’t moving; Combs was not armed; and Larson was standing to the side of the vehicle and not directly in its path, the lawyer claims.

According to his own comments on the video, Larson acknowledged he was not in imminent danger, according to Daniels.

Asked by another officer why he shot Combs, Larson replied, “He was trying to take my car,” Daniels said.