Pastors rally, seek transparency in Elizabeth City shooting

<p>ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. &mdash; Pastors and denominational leaders rallied in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on Saturday to call for greater transparency in the investigation into the death of a Black man who was fatally shot in his car by sheriff’s deputies.</p>
<p>More than 100 people marched to the Pasquotank County Courthouse, where they posted on its doors a series of demands related to the killing of Andrew Brown Jr., the News &amp; Observer <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article251248949.html">reported</a>. </p>
<p>Brown’s shooting on April 21 has drawn national attention to the small, majority Black city in the state’s rural northeastern corner. The confrontation occurred while deputies were serving a drug-related search warrant at Brown’s home. Brown was shot five times, including in the back of the head, according to an independent autopsy commissioned by his family. </p>
<p>“A warrant is not a license to kill,” said the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, one of the leaders of the march and president of a group called Repairers of the Breach. </p>
<p>The demands of rally participants include the public release of the full videos from the officers’ body cameras and the appointment of a special prosecutor. </p>
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<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-laws-shootings-government-and-politics-abf24fcccbd537522e920bb7c6e1dfd3">North Carolina law</a> gives local courts authority over the release of body camera video, and family members have so far only been allowed to view a 20-second clip from a single camera. A judge has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nc-state-wire-norfolk-north-carolina-elizabeth-city-shootings-eb2d5d537bc3cfaaa8e2be543c282b3b">ruled </a> that they will get to view more footage, though only still a fraction of the full amount. </p>