Pasquotank County

Andrew Womble — the former District Attorney in Pasquotank County who did not press charges against the sheriff's deputies who killed Andrew Brown in Elizabeth City in 2021 — has won the election for Superior Court Judge in North Carolina’s 1st District. Pasquotank Sheriff Tommy Wooten was also re-elected.

Brown was killed on April 21 of last year by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies while they were serving drug-related warrants at his Elizabeth City home.

Kirk Rivers, who led marches after Andrew Brown Jr.'s death, was elected mayor.

As the anniversary of Andrew Brown Jr.’s death in Elizabeth City nears, many who called for justice say that until now, they have seen little in the way of transparency or reform.

A year after Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office deputies shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr. while trying to arrest him on charges that he was selling illegal drugs, the small, coastal community at the center of it remains divided.

On April 21, 2021, deputies with the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office shot and killed 42-year old Andrew Brown Jr., an unarmed Black man. WUNC's Laura Pellicer interviewed Elizabeth City Mayor Bettie Parker about the community's push for changes in policing.

Brown’s family and others are still waiting for key developments in the case — including the results of an ongoing FBI probe, a family lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages, and a media petition for the public release of body camera footage.

The official autopsy of the unarmed Black man who was fatally shot in April by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina says he died from a penetrating gunshot wound to the head. Andrew Brown Jr. also was shot in the right arm and suffered lacerations.

A North Carolina prosecutor says he won’t release bodycam video in the fatal shooting of a Black man by sheriff’s deputies. Body camera video played on a projector by District Attorney Andrew Womble was broadcast by multiple news outlets, however.