Update 3:15 p.m.: Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten released the names of the seven deputies involved in the death of Andrew Brown Thursday.
They are Steven Judd, Michael Swindell, Kenneth Bishop, Joel Lunsford, Daniel Meads, Robert Morgan and Aaron Lewellyn. Only the three deputies who reportedly fired at Brown — Meads, Morgan and Lewellyn — remain on administrative leave.
“More investigation is necessary into the three deputies who did fire their weapons, and they will remain on administrative leave pending completion of the internal investigation and/or the criminal investigation being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation," Wooten said in a press release.
A media petition to release body camera footage of the killing of Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City last week was denied at a hearing at the Pasquotank County Courthouse Wednesday.
On April 21 at 8:30 a.m., Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies killed Brown while serving a search and arrest warrant. An independent autopsy shows he died from a gunshot wound in the back of his head.
Twenty media organizations, including The Daily Tar Heel, The New York Times, The Associated Press and The Daily Advance, petitioned for the release of the body camera footage from officers at the scene.
The petition was denied. Judge Jeff Foster, a superior court judge from Greenville, delivered the decision.
Foster said at the hearing that the media is not a party for release under state law. Foster said even if the media was, the footage still would have not been released. The court ruled that release of the footage would have revealed “information regarding a person of a highly sensitive personal nature,” that ”may harm the reputation or jeopardize the safety of a person,” Foster said.
