Alabama police blame black victim for pulling gun amid shooting
HOOVER, Ala. — Police in Alabama offered sympathy Monday to the family of a black man fatally shot by an officer responding to gunfire at a shopping mall, but said the man’s decision to pull out a weapon “heightened the sense of threat” to police in an already chaotic scene.
Hoover Police initially described its officer as “heroic” for bringing down Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr., 21, after two people were wounded at the Riverchase Galleria mall outside Birmingham Thanksgiving night. They then retracted the statement, saying he was likely not the gunman responsible for the initial shooting who remains at large.
Bradford’s father said his son had a permit to carry the handgun.