Protesters Rally After Black Man Is Killed By NC Deputies With Search Warrant Read More Here: Https://​www​.new​sob​serv​er​.com/​n​e​w​s​/​s​t​a​t​e​/​n​o​r​t​h​-​c​a​r​o​l​i​n​a​/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​2​5​0​8​4​3​0​9​4​.​h​t​m​l​#​s​t​o​r​y​l​i​n​k​=​cpy

THESE SHOOTINGS ARE NOT ISOLATED CASES, THERE IS A SYSTEM STRATEGY AFOOT BY WHITE SUPREMACISTS IN POLICE DEPARTMENTS TO SHOW WHO IS BOSS.

A Black man was shot and killed in North Carolina on Wednesday by sheriff’s deputies car­ry­ing out a search war­rant, offi­cials said, an inci­dent that drew nation­al atten­tion and dozens of pro­test­ers to the streets of Elizabeth City.
Nearly 200 peo­ple gath­ered Wednesday night in Elizabeth City to protest the death and call for justice.
Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten iden­ti­fied the man as Andrew Brown Jr. News sta­tion WAVY report­ed that fam­i­ly mem­bers said Brown was 40 years old, but pub­lic records show he was 42.
The shoot­ing hap­pened at about 8:30 a.m. in Elizabeth City. Officials pro­vid­ed few details about the shoot­ing, say­ing the State Bureau of Investigation has tak­en over. Officials did not say what the war­rant was for, nor how many shots were fired at Brown. The deputy, who has not been iden­ti­fied, has been placed on admin­is­tra­tive leave, pend­ing the out­come of the SBI’s review, Wooten said.

As ten­sions rose through the city, Wooten said local law enforce­ment agen­cies and the State Highway Patrol came to Elizabeth City on Wednesday “to ensure the safe­ty and pro­tec­tion of the cit­i­zens in our com­mu­ni­ty.” The City Council in Elizabeth City, rough­ly 165 miles north­east of Raleigh, held an emer­gency meet­ing Wednesday evening 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.“I’m afraid. You know, I mean let’s be real. We talk about trans­paren­cy, I’m gonna be trans­par­ent,” Adkins said. “I’m afraid as a Black man walk­ing around this city, dri­ving my car down the road, try­ing to make sure that I’m dri­ving the speed lim­it, try­ing to make sure that I wear my seat belt, try­ing to make sure that do every­thing right.”

Officials repeat­ed­ly empha­sized that it was the Pasquotank Sheriff’s Department and not the Elizabeth City Police Department involved in the shoot­ing. Six deputies and offi­cers stood in front of the door to City Hall, block­ing pub­lic entry. Outside, a group of about 30 pro­test­ers swelled to near­ly 200 while the meet­ing was going on. Protesters took turns with a megaphone.“I grew up with Andrew Brown!” said Deshawn Morris. “I knew him! I knew his fam­i­ly! That man didn’t get his due process today. That could be you tomorrow!
About 7 p.m., coun­cil mem­bers emerged to screams and jeers, strug­gling to be heard. Councilman Darius Horton wore a Black Lives Matter shirt and assured the crowd the inves­ti­ga­tion will con­tin­ue. “If we didn’t have this emer­gency meet­ing, they wouldn’t have had this oppor­tu­ni­ty,” Councilman Michael Brooks said of the pro­test­ers. “If they would stay focused and let the SBI fin­ish the inves­ti­ga­tion. They have to vent right now. Otherwise, we’ll be fine.”During the meet­ing, Adkins remind­ed peo­ple to stay calm and trust the State Bureau of Investigation to “do its job.
Horton said at the meet­ing that 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.

The Pasquotank deputies involved had body-worn cam­eras, Sheriff Wooten said.“We will be trans­par­ent, and we will take the prop­er action based on the find­ings of [the SBI] inves­ti­ga­tion,” he said. He said he did not have a time­line for when the body-worn cam­era footage would be released. The crowd chant­ed “Say his name! Andrew Brown!” and “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” as they marched through down­town after 7 p.m. “We’re deal­ing with issues in our com­mu­ni­ties,” said Rev. Timothy Stallings Sr., lead­ing a prayer. “Personal issues! Stress issues! Life-filled issues! We need our law enforce­ment not to shoot us but to come help us out.” Some of those gath­ered were friends of Brown. “I’ve been know­ing him 30 years, and he wasn’t a vio­lent per­son,” said Daniel Bowser. “He didn’t mess with guns, he didn’t tote no guns. “I don’t care what they put out there, he didn’t deserve to die.” Martha McCullen, an aunt of Brown, told The Associated Press that she raised him after his par­ents died. “The police didn’t have to shoot my baby,” McCullen told The AP. “Andrew Brown was a good per­son. He was about to get his kids back. He was a good father. Now his kids won’t nev­er see him again.”

As the sun went down, about 100 pro­test­ers remained, crowd­ing onto busy Ehringhaus Street, tak­ing knees simul­ta­ne­ous­ly as they blocked traf­fic. They asked for Sheriff Wooten for a pub­lic account­ing of what is known and what will be inves­ti­gat­ed, promis­ing to stay peace­ful and return Thursday. “We are ask­ing for trans­paren­cy, to not have to lis­ten to rumors,” said Keith Rivers, pres­i­dent of the Pasquotank branch of the NAACP. He also said the sher­iff should be reach­ing out to Black lead­ers. “If it was a white man who was shot, would he address the white com­mu­ni­ty?” Elizabeth City offi­cials did not impose a cur­few on Wednesday but said they would con­sid­er one if need­ed. Brown’s death comes less than 24 hours after for­mer Minneapolis police offi­cer Derek Chauvin was con­vict­ed of mur­der in the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. Floyd died after Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine min­utes last May.

His death sparked nation­wide protests call­ing for increased police account­abil­i­ty and changes in the way offi­cers inter­act with Black peo­ple. State Rep. Howard Hunter, whose 5^th District seat encom­pass­es Pasquotank County, spoke out Wednesday after­noon. “Understandably so, con­stituents are on the edge and very much dis­trust­ful of police in gen­er­al; and in light of the fact that very lit­tle infor­ma­tion has been released at this time; unfor­tu­nate­ly they may have doubts in the verac­i­ty of infor­ma­tion when released.”

Situated in far north­east­ern North Carolina near the Virginia bor­der, Elizabeth City is home to about 18,000 peo­ple, near­ly half of rur­al Pasquotank County’s total pop­u­la­tion. Half of the city’s res­i­dents are Black, com­pared to about 13% statewide, accord­ing to Census Bureau data. Elizabeth City State University, a his­tor­i­cal­ly Black col­lege, can­celed class­es after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. School offi­cials encour­aged stu­dents and staff to con­tact the coun­sel­ing cen­ter if they are in need of emo­tion­al sup­port. District Attorney Andrew Womble, whose juris­dic­tion spans sev­er­al North Carolina coun­ties, includ­ing Pasquotank, promised a thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion. “What we are look­ing for at this time will be accu­rate answers and not fast answers,” Womble said.