CONCORD, N.C. — Months after Brandon Combs was shot by a Concord Police officer during a call for an alleged car theft, the autopsy report has confirmed Combs’ death as a homicide due to gunshot wounds.
Investigators said an officer found Brandon Combs trying to steal a car at the Nissan dealership along Concord Parkway in February. Authorities said the officer, later identified as Timothy Larson, and Combs got into a fight before the shooting.
In late June, Channel 9 spoke with Combs’ mother. She says that there was no fight beforehand, and she’s calling for charges to be filed against Larson.
Concord police said in June that Larson was terminated and no longer works for the department. Concord police cited a “violation of company policies or procedures.” According to Larson’s notice of dismissal, Larson made untruthful statements during his interview with the SBI.
On Monday, an attorney for Combs’ family released a medical examiner investigation report from Cabarrus County and an autopsy report from the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office. The reports say Combs died after being shot five times by Larson after a foot chase.
The autopsy report shows that three bullets entered Combs’ chest, and two more entered through the back of his left shoulder.
Video of the shooting still hasn’t been released publicly. However, civil rights attorney Harry Daniels told The Charlotte Observer that it was one of the worst police-shooting videos he has ever seen, and that Combs’ death hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves because police presented the shooting as an “open-and-shut case.”
“We didn’t know anything until we saw [the video.] We watched it in utter disbelief,” Daniels said. “The most disturbing thing is not the unjustified use of deadly force, but that [Larson] paused and then used deadly force again. The first five shots were bad enough. The last shot was overkill, man. It was overkill. I can’t make sense of it.”
Attorneys said the SBI finished their investigation and handed it over to the DA to decide if charges will be filed.
Channel 9 has also petitioned the court to get a copy of the body camera video, because state law doesn’t allow for police departments to release video otherwise.
Full statement from the Concord Police Department:
“At the Concord Police Department, it is our top priority to protect the rights, health and safety of all members of the community and we make it our mission to embrace transparency and accountability. We voluntarily choose to involve the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) following any officer-involved shooting in order to ensure an impartial investigation. We continue to cooperate with the SBI, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Combs’ family attorneys. We understand how difficult this time is for the Combs family and we want to ensure they receive the answers they need to heal following the death of their loved one. Which is why to preserve the integrity of the independent review by the SBI and the Cabarrus County District Attorney’s Office, as stated in the factual media release from February 13, we will not be commenting further on the case until the District Attorney’s Office completes their review.”
(WATCH BELOW: Officer who shot, killed man at car dealership fired from department, Concord police say)
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