Andrew Brown Jr., Unarmed Black Man Shot by Police, Died From ‘Penetrating Gunshot Wound of the Head’: CNN

Andrew Brown Jr., a 42-year-old unarmed black man who was shot dead by police in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, died of a “piercing gunshot wound to the head,” according to his death certificate, according to CNN. Brown was killed by police the day after a jury found guilty in the police murder of George Floyd.

A copy of Andrew Brown’s death certificate received from CNN states that Brown died of a “piercing gunshot wound to the head” and died within “minutes” of the gunshot.

The certificate classifies Brown’s death as murder. pic.twitter.com/wvZ45tVICJ

– Victor Blackwell CNN (@ VictorBlackwell) April 26, 2021

Police trying to deliver an arrest warrant to Brown reportedly discharged at least ten shots as he drove away from his home.

North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper last week asked police to allow the family to watch the video, but it is only now that the city has given permission for them to watch it, and only after police edited the video.

As of 1:40 p.m. on CNN’s updated coverage, Brown’s family were still not allowed to see the video.

Elizabeth City officials declared a state of emergency on Monday morning before the video was viewed.

Earlier reports said Brown had been shot in the back.

Raleigh, North Carolina’s News & Observer, posted a long play on Sunday that looked at the shooting from the point of view of a neighbor of Brown, Michael Gordon.

“One of the shots fired by MPs pierced Gordon’s house,” the newspaper reported. “There was a small hole above the numbers by his front door that a bullet penetrated.”

The bullet “smashed the glass of a clock on the other side of the wall. The bullet went from there through a picture frame on the opposite wall above a chair that Gordon’s wife often sits on in the living room. From there the ball continued through the kitchen. “

“It hit my crockpot,” said Gordon matter-of-factly, pointing to it Thursday, “and landed on the floor.”

…

“That’s the right height of my damn head,” he said, looking at the broken glass of his watch.

“Ordinarily,” the newspaper adds, “Gordon would have been home on Wednesday morning at the time of the shooting, and a day later he was still thanking God that he had not been home – that neither was his wife; or that the grandchildren were not visiting. “