Virginia Deputy Fatally Shot Black Man After Official Mistook Phone For Gun

A Virginia sheriff's deputy shot a Black man outside of his home on Wednesday after mistaking a cordless phone he was using to speak to a 911 dispatcher for a pistol.

In a CNN report, Isaiah Brown's lawyer said a deputy from Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office shot his client ten times last week in a horrific case of miscommunication.

Virginia State Police said Brown was admitted to a local hospital on Wednesday with severe yet non-life-threatening injuries. Brown was unarmed at the time of the attack, according to a police spokesperson.

Authorities said the deputy first encountered Brown when responding to a "disabled motorist" and giving him a ride home from a gas station.

A half-hour later, state police responded to a call of a "domestic incident" at Brown's house, and the same deputy shot him.

Officials released the body camera footage and 911 audio after Brown's family reviewed the pieces of evidence. The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office requested that state police investigate the incident.

"After viewing the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's deputy's bodycam video and listening to the 911 call, it is evident that the tragic shooting of Isaiah Brown was completely avoidable," said Haynes.

Brown can be heard threatening to kill his brother on 911, telling the dispatcher that their mother wouldn't let him go into her room. Brown then requests a gun from his brother, who refuses to give it to him, and Brown tells the officer that he is unarmed.

On the call, sirens can be heard as the dispatcher instructs Brown to raise his hands.

The deputy can be heard repeatedly telling Brown to show his hands and put down a gun, at one point saying, "He's got a gun to his head." The body camera video does not show Brown when the officer arrives on the scene, but the deputy can be heard repeatedly ordering Brown to show his hands and put down a gun.

"Drop the gun now and stop walking towards me," the deputy is heard yelling in the footage. "Stop walking towards me. Stop. Stop."

Multiple gunshots can then be heard in the body camera video as the deputy tries to order Brown to put down his gun and show his hands before offering medical assistance.

Sheriff Roger Harris of Spotsylvania said the deputy was placed on administrative leave and the case was assigned to a special prosecutor.

Haynes underscored that Brown "clearly informed dispatch that he did not have a weapon. He added who added that there's "a lack in communication" between dispatch and the officer contributed to this tragic incident.

As a result of these entirely avoidable mistakes by the deputy and dispatch, Haynes said Isaiah is now struggling for his life.