State of emergency declared in Elizabeth City, NC after officer-involved shooting

Elizabeth City, North Carolina and the surrounding area of Pasquotank County have declared a state of emergency on Monday, as police bodycam footage of an officer-involved shooting on Wednesday is set to be reviewed.

Andrew Brown Jr. 42 years of age, was shot and killed by law enforcement deputies in the latest of an apparent string of such incidents. According to witnesses, Brown was driving away when he was shot. The deputies were executing a search warrant at the time of the incident.

Since the incident, seven deputies have been placed on leave, pending an investigation. Three others not directly involved in the incident have resigned as well.

Bodycam footage was to be made available to Brown's surviving family members this morning, but the time of the release of the footage has since been moved back to 1:30pm, as faces in the video are being blurred so as not to interfere with the "active internal investigation".

There still exists the possibility that the viewing time may be pushed back further, according to R. Michael Cox, the County Attorney in charge of the proceeding:

"We hope this occurs today, but the actual time will be driven by the completion of the redactions. We are also continuing to seek transparency within the law and continue our efforts to get a court order that would allow the video to be released to the public."

"For them to delay this is unacceptable … don’t prolong it because it only builds the mistrust," commented Ben Crump, the famous civil rights attorney who has taken on the case on behalf of Brown's estate.