Meeting with community leaders from the Elizabeth City, North Carolina area, Gov. Roy Cooper said he supports a federal investigation into the shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.

Brown was shot and killed by Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office deputies as they tried to serve a warrant on April 21, according to the sheriff's office. He was unarmed when he was killed, according to the district attorney.

No deputies were charged in the killing. The sheriff said the three deputies who opened fire on Brown would be disciplined and retrained.

Cooper, along with state Attorney General Josh Stein and the Legislative Black Caucus, met with local leaders on Wednesday, the governor's office said. The meeting included representatives from the Pasquotank NAACP and the North Carolina NAACP.

What You Need To Know

  • The governor, state attorney general and legislators met with civil rights groups and community leaders from Elizabeth City Wednesday to talk about the killing of Andrew Brown Jr.

  • Sheriff's deputies shot and killed Brown on April 21 as he tried to drive away from them

  • The district attorney refused to appoint a special prosecutor on the case and decided not to charge the deputies involved

  • The governor said he supported the federal investigation into the killing and changes to state law on police shootings

"The Governor continued to express his belief that federal officials should continue to investigate this shooting, and that special prosecutors should handle cases of police shootings," according to a statement from Cooper's office.

Cooper and the attorney general called for a special counsel to be appointed in the Andrew Brown case, but that decision is up to the local prosecutor. District Attorney Andrew Womble refused to appoint a special prosecutor and said the shooting was justified.

The FBI has opened up an investigation into the shooting. The NAACP and local activists are also asking the Department of Justice to open pattern-or-practice investigations into the sheriff's office and the district attorney's office, which would look at potential systemic problems within both offices.

RELATED: AG says Andrew Brown killing 'justified,' won’t file charges against deputies

North Carolina NAACP President Rev. Anthony Spearman said he will travel to Washington D.C. Thursday to meet with the Attorney General to ask for new federal investigations, according to the governor's office.

"I believe the North Carolina Legislature, the Black Caucus, they heard us. The governor heard us. The attorney general heard us," Pasquotank County NAACP President Keith Rivers told Spectrum News 1.

Speaking to the media last month, Womble said Brown used his car as a deadly weapon as he tried to escape deputies. The district attorney played clips from body camera footage that showed Brown trying to drive across an open lot before he was shot in the back of the head.

The footage from the body cameras has not been made public, but many news organizations in the state captured the video as Womble showed it on a screen in the Pasquotank County Public Safety Center.

RELATED: Watch: Prosecutor shows body camera video of deputies killing Andrew Brown

Brown's family has called the killing "an execution."

The video shows deputies wearing SWAT-like uniforms and carrying assault rifles swarm Brown's car as he's parked outside his house. He tries to drive away as deputies shout at him to get out of the car, and one deputy put his arm on the car as Brown tried to escape. Then the deputies open fire as he drives away across the lot.

Protesters have been marching nightly in Elizabeth City calling for justice and transparency. The Brown family has been allowed to see about 20 minutes of the body camera and dash camera video from the shooting, but a judge refused to release the video to the public.

Democrats in Raleigh have been calling for a change to state law to make it easier for body camera video to be released.

"The Governor also expressed his support of a change in state law to increase public access to incident footage, including body camera footage," the governor's office said.