A sheriff’s deputy who was involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, is resigning, the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Friday.

The statement from Sheriff Tommy S. Wooten II provides no reason for Aaron Lewellyn’s departure. The deputy is using accrued leave time before his official resignation on June 30.

Lewellyn was one of three deputies placed on extended leave following the April 21 shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. while the deputies tried to serve drug-related warrants at his home. The two others, Daniel Meads and Robert Morgan, returned to work this week.

District Attorney Andrew Womble said last month that the shooting was justified because Brown struck a deputy with his car and nearly ran him over while ignoring commands to show his hands and get out of the vehicle.

Wooten, the sheriff, said the deputies would keep their jobs but would be disciplined and retrained.

Attorneys for the Brown family who watched body camera footage have said repeatedly that Brown was trying to drive away from deputies and posed no threat.

Wooten’s office also has expressed concerns about the deputies’ safety. At least one deputy and another county official reported unknown vehicles or people outside their homes, the sheriff’s office said.

Some websites have posted details about the deputies that makes their home addresses known. Early on, the sheriff had advised the deputies “to take precautions or consider staying somewhere else for their safety.”

 

Photo via Travis Long/The News & Observer and the Associated Press.

 

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