Brown's aunt, Lillie Brown Clark, said she watched the news conference on television, thinking he might have good news for the family since they didn't hear from him prior to the announcement.
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But she was wrong.
Counter to what the family had hoped, District Attorney Andrew Womble said the deputies were justified in their actions in shooting and killing the 42-year-old.
Andrew Brown's family attorneys say body cam video shows killing in Elizabeth City was 'unjustified'
"I have no words right now. I have no breath," Brown Clark said. "I've spoken to my mother who, of course, watched the press conference. We could have sobbed in each other's arms if we had been in the same room. This DA has no objectivity. It's like he has tunnel vision and determination that he's going to defend the deputies rather than work on behalf of the family and the community."
Watch the full interview
Full interview with Andrew Brown Jr.'s aunt after DA announces ruling
The district attorney said his relationship with the family and their attorneys right now is not good and communication has broken down. But Harry Daniels, the lead attorney for the family, disputes that.
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Brown Clark said she believes Womble is trying to protect the deputies' actions.
"He is just so inadequate and describing the situation as if Andrew was being investigated because of the situation. Andrew is dead. We're trying to see what the deputies did," she said. "We don't want our family drug over the coals without a trial. It's like it doesn't have anything to do with the way they killed him. If you was a drug dealer allegedly selling cocaine, that has nothing to do with the way they killed him."