Local police in Alabama who responded to a shooting at a mall may have killed an armed black man who was not responsible for the shooting.
According to WBRC, two or more people were involved in an altercation at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Ala., on Thanksgiving. Shots were fired, injuring a 12-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man. Police stated that Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. was fleeing the scene and wielding a handgun when he was shot and killed by officers, but investigators said new evidence suggests that Bradford Jr. was not the person who fired the shots that injured bystanders.
Hoover Police, who have relinquished command of the investigation, now under the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, sent out an updated press release, saying that they regret that their original information may have been inaccurate and that Bradford Jr., “did not likely” commit the crime that led to his shooting by police.
At least one shooter is still unaccounted for and a weapon was recovered on the scene. Alabama is an open-carry state.
Social justice advocates seized on the news, clamoring for justice for Bradford Jr., including activist Shaun King, who took to Twitter to spread the story to his 1 million followers. A protest of the shooting and Hoover Police’s response was quickly organized for Saturday.
My God.
American police just killed another “good guy with a gun.”
Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., better known as EJ, the son of a police officer, was an active duty officer for the Army, home for Thanksgiving.
Murdered by police yesterday in a mall shooting in Alabama. pic.twitter.com/xHsiOPUD5y
— Shaun King (@shaunking) November 24, 2018
While photos and social media posts cited Bradford Jr.’s service in the Army, CNN reported that Bradford did not complete training and had not served, according to an Army spokesperson.
