Judge rules against releasing shooting videos

Judge Jeffery Foster on Wednesday ruled that publicly releasing body camera footage of North Carolina deputies shooting Andrew Brown Jr. could hurt the ongoing investigation into the shooting. Foster said members of Brown’s family, who so far have only seen a 20-second clip of the shooting, could view footage from body cameras and a dashboard camera. Family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, who viewed the 20-second clip, said when deputies began shooting, Brown backed up his car to flee. District Attorney Andrew Womble viewed the body camera videos and said the car made contact with the officers twice before they fired.

What’s next in this case? On Tuesday, the FBI announced a civil rights investigation into Brown’s death. (The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation opened a probe soon after the shooting happened on April 21.) Also on Tuesday, Brown’s family released autopsy results showing he was shot five times, including in the back of the head. The state has not released its autopsy results.

Dig deeper: Listen to Anna Johansen Brown’s report on The World And Everything in It podcast about the response after a 2020 police shooting in Kenosha, Wis.