In Alabama, a police officer shot and killed a man on Thanksgiving night after they mistook him for a mall shooter. The real shooter is apparently still at large.
Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. was fatally shot by a Hoover police officer after a fight broke out in a mall outside of Birmingham, Ala. Two people were shot and injured in the fight, and police shot and killed Bradford, claiming the believed he was the shooter.
— Hoover Police Dept (@HooverPD) November 24, 2018
Police now admit the real gunman is still on the run, and they haven’t provided any description of the shooter. In their initial statement, the police department claims two officers clearly saw Bradford “brandishing a gun,” and shot him on the spot.
“EJ was a devoted son and brother, who dedicated his life to serving his country and always doing the right thing,” his family told media in a statement.
Bradford’s family has retained a civil rights lawyer, Benjamin L. Crump, who also represented Trayvon Martin’s family after teenaged Martin was shot to death by a man in Florida in 2012. Protestors gathered outside the Riverchase Galleria Mall Saturday to call for the arrest of the police officer who killed Bradford.
Now the police department is conducting its own “internal investigation” into Bradford’s death, as Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) and the Jefferson County District Attorney are taking over the investigation of the mall shooting that injured two teens.
