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Police in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, declared an unlawful assembly at least four times Wednesday night as a crowd gathered to protest a district attorney’s decision this week regarding the law enforcement fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.
At least eight people were arrested, WITN-TV of Washington, North Carolina, reported. One suspect was apprehended after climbing on top of a police vehicle, the report said.
That protester was charged with injury to personal property and assault on a government official after he said he pushed an officer's hand out of his face, the protester told WITN.
Other arrests followed police warnings to the crowd about blocking vehicular traffic in the area, according to the station.
The fourth "unlawful assembly" declaration by police came at 8:45 p.m. ET, according to a Twitter post by the Elizabeth City Police Department.
ANDREW BROWN JR. SHOOTING: BLM PROTESTERS STAGE ‘ECONOMIC BOYCOTT’ IN ELIZABETH CITY, NC
Two credentialed reporters for the Staunton News-Leader were arrested and later released without charge, the newspaper reported.
An officer told the pair they were being arrested "for standing in the street in a roadway," one of the reporters said, according to the News-Leader. Both had been wearing media vests.
Wednesday’s protest was part of a campaign called "Spendless Wednesdays," in which community members were being asked to not spend money at area businesses on Wednesdays, the day of the week that Brown was fatally shot, WITN reported.
On Tuesday, Pasquotank County District Attorney R. Andrew Womble decided against bringing criminal charges against county sheriff’s deputies who fatally shot Brown while executing a search warrant April 21.
Funeral home personnel unload the casket of Andrew Brown Jr. as it arrives at the Museum of the Albemarle for a public viewing in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. (Reuters)
However, the deputies linked to the case will undergo retraining and face some disciplinary action, Sheriff Tommy Wooten said Tuesday, WAVY-TV of Portsmouth, Virginia, reported.
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Also Tuesday, protesters showed up at the home of Elizabeth City’s former deputy police chief to oppose Womble’s decision – even though the Elizabeth City police force was not involved in the Brown shooting death.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and attorneys for the Brown family had called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Brown shooting but Womble decided against it.
Separately, the FBI has launched a civil rights investigation into the shooting.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this story.
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