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Black Man Killed by A Cop in Alabama Mall Shooting. Update:Family sues Alabama AG & police..

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...bama-mall-shooting-renew-call-release-n963661

Family of man killed by police in Alabama mall shooting renew call for release of video

"I will tell you this, if it showed E.J. Bradford doing anything wrong, that video would have been released already," said Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the family.


The family of a man killed by police in an Alabama mall on Thanksgiving night renewed calls on Monday for the release of any video footage from the shooting and asked the state attorney general to meet with them.

The parents of Emantic "E.J." Bradford, Jr. pleaded for "transparency" in the investigation in the killing of their son by a police officer responding to gunfire inside the Riverchase Galleria mall more than two months ago. The probe is being led by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Police initially described Bradford as the gunman but later said they were mistaken.

"All I’m asking for is the truth," April Pipkins, Bradford's mother, said Monday. "I want to know what happened."

Erron Brown, 20, was charged in November with attempted murder in the shooting that preceded the killing.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the victim's family, said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who will handle any prosecution to come, "has put forth that the video doesn’t tell the whole story."

"This is astonishing to us when we think about the number of people in our community who they have arrested, charged and convicted with a video," Crump told reporters. "So why is it different now that E.J. Bradford is lying dead on the ground and we know that the police officer shot him as he was running away?"

Crump has said he has seen a brief portion of video from about the time Bradford was shot and it was consistent with the findings of an independent autopsy, which showed the 21-year-old was struck three times from behind — in the head, neck and back.

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office, which took over the investigation from the local district attorney, told NBC News on Monday it had no comment.

Crump compared this police-involved shooting to the case involving Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old African American who was fatally shot by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. McDonald's killing was captured on a dashboard camera that was not released for a year by authorities. Van Dyke, who shot McDonald 16 times, was sentenced this month to nearly seven years in prison. Three fellow police officers who were accused of attempting to cover up his crime were acquitted.

"In Laquan McDonald, they held the video for a year, when it was clear as day, the first hour anybody saw that video, you knew what the truth was," Crump said Monday. "But they were trying to cover up for the police officers."

He questioned whether the same was happening in Alabama.

"That’s what this community and these parents are questioning," the lawyer said. "The lack of transparency makes us believe that they’re being nefarious and they’re trying to cover up something."

Crump and Bradford's family also pleaded on Monday for police to release the identity of the officer who shot and killed Bradford.

"This the largest mall in the state of Alabama," Crump said, adding that he refuses to believe that there are not "multiple angles" of video footage available.

"I will tell you this, if it showed E.J. Bradford doing anything wrong, that video would have been released already," Crump said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ed-for-killing-black-man-during-mall-shooting

Alabama officer won't be charged for killing black man during mall shooting

The officer had said he shot and killed Emantic ‘EJ’ Bradford, Jr because he thought Bradford was the gunman in a mall shooting

An Alabama police officer will not face charges for killing a man he mistook for the gunman in a mall shooting, the state attorney general announced on Tuesday.

The announcement drew outrage from the dead man’s family, who said the officer jumped to conclusions when he saw a young black man with a gun. The officer shot 21-year-old Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr while responding to an earlier shooting on Thanksgiving night at a mall in Hoover, Alabama.

The Alabama attorney general, Steve Marshall, said his investigation concluded “the officer did not commit a crime” and that he would not present the case to a grand jury. Marshall said he considered the matter closed.

The officer-involved shooting sparked weeks of protests. The decision by Marshall reignited calls for demonstrations.

A 26-page report released by Marshall’s office said the officer mistakenly believed Bradford fired the earlier shots. But the report also said the Hoover officer, whose name has not been released, was justified in shooting him because of the threat he posed.

The report said the officer saw Bradford running toward the scene with a gun and believed he was trying to kill the wounded shooting victim or harm others. The victim was actually Bradford’s friend, with whom he had been at the mall.

“A reasonable person could have assumed that the only person with a gun who was running toward the victim of a shooting that occurred just three seconds earlier fired the shots,” the report found.

The report also stated that Bradford, who had a gun drawn, “posed an immediate deadly threat to persons in the area”.

Marshall released two 10-second clips from surveillance cameras. The video shows an officer shooting Bradford from behind as Bradford is running. An autopsy found that Bradford was shot three times: once in back of the head, once in his neck and once in his lower back, according to the report.

The report said the officer told investigators he did not turn on his body camera from standby mode because there was “no time”.

The report also said it was “unclear” if verbal commands were issued for Bradford to stop running. The officer told investigators he did not issue verbal commands, although two witnesses said they heard them, the report stated.

Bradford’s family reacted with anger.

“The attorney general, he’s in bed with Hoover. Bottom line. He covered it up. He sanitized it just so the officer could get off with murdering my son,” Emantic Bradford Sr told reporters.

Ben Crump, an attorney representing the family, said his clients “will have their day in court”.

“The police shot, we believe, because they feared a black man with a gun,” Crump said.

Crump said the video shows Bradford “did nothing wrong” and that the young man drew his gun to protect his friends.

“He was really the hero in all of this,” Bradford’s mother, April Pipkins, told reporters.

Dillon Nettles, a policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said in a statement Marshall’s “characterization of EJ Bradford as a ‘threat’ that needed ‘eliminating’ reveals how little regard [he] has for the life of this black man.

“Regardless of what the attorney general of Alabama said in his report, EJ Bradford’s life mattered. Black lives matter. We won’t stay quiet while law enforcement continues to inflict lethal violence against black people and attempt to justify it.”

Nettles added that the ACLU was “reviewing the report and will determine appropriate next steps”.
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looks like he didnt even know the cops were there. did he even know they shot him?
 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ej-bra...cer-not-charged-parents-speak-out-its-murder/

Parents of Alabama man mistakenly killed by cop react to no charges: "It's murder"

CBS News

A police officer who mistakenly shot and killed EJ Bradford Jr., a black man, at an Alabama mall will not be charged. Protesters burned American flags Tuesday night outside City Hall in Hoover. "Black Lives Don't Matter" was painted on the flags.

The victim's father, Emantic Bradford Sr. and mother, April Pipkins, told CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal they want justice for the death of their son.

"To see and know that they're justifying shooting my son three times … how is that justifiable?" Pipkins asked.

Newly released surveillance video from the Alabama mall shows the moment shoppers scatter at the sound of gun shots Thanksgiving night. Bradford is then seen running toward the gunfire, holding a licensed handgun of his own. A moment later, a responding Hoover police officer shoots and kills Bradford Jr., believing he was responsible for the mall shooting.

Bradford's family said he was trying to protect those around him.

"You've watched the video?" Villarreal asked.

"I watched it. I didn't -- didn't like it because it's murder. My son was going back to help his friend," Bradford Sr. said.

A 24-page report released by Alabama's attorney general concludes the unnamed officer who shot Bradford "reasonably exercised" his official duties during the three-second encounter.

The Bradford family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, plans to file a civil suit against the city of Hoover.

"The police officer in less than two seconds made a judgment call that he saw a black man, he saw a gun, he concluded that he's … a criminal. And he shot [him] in the back," Crump said.

The city of Hoover never released the officer's name or information, but they plan to address the report Wednesday. The FBI found no evidence to open up a civil rights investigation into Bradford's death. Still, his parents are calling for all of the video collected by investigators to be released. They plan to march to the attorney general's office Wednesday in Montgomery to demand answers.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-officer-fatal-mall-shooting-21-year-old-won-t-n967311

Bradford's father called the attorney general "a coward" for the report's finding.

“My son was murdered. And you think I’m going to let it go?,” Emantic Sr. told reporters Tuesday. “That was a homicide … You killed my son. You are a coward. You’re a coward too, Steve Marshall.”

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the Bradford family, said officers stated in the attorney general's report that they did not give Bradford any verbal warning.

“We don’t have any evidence whatsoever that E.J. ever knew the police officers were there whatsoever," Crump said Tuesday. "E.J. went to his grave not knowing who shot him three times in his back."

An eyewitness quoted in the report stated that she heard an officer say, “Drop your weapon, drop your weapon, sir, put your weapon on the ground,” and also say, “He is still not doing anything.”

An independent autopsy showed Bradford was struck three times from behind — in the head, neck and the back.

Crump said that race played a role in Bradford's death and that a civil lawsuit claiming wrongful death will be filed.

"All across America, you see this symbiotic relationship between prosecutors and law enforcement that when they kill unarmed people of color or they kill people of color who are posing no threats, and they shot first and ask questions later," Crump said.
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https://www.cbs42.com/top-stories/birmingham-justice-league-lights-american-flag-on-fire/1757804204

Hoover protesters light American flag on fire

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- During a press conference in response to the Attorney General's announcement that the Hoover Officer is justified in fatally shooting Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. Thanksgiving night, Hoover protesters lit the American flag on fire.

This press conference took place outside of Hoover City Hall at around 5:30 p.m. In addition to the Justice League and Hoover city protestors, attorney for EJ Bradford's family, Ben Crump, spoke. Bradford's mother also spoke calling the Attorney General's decision unjust.

The Justice League has been protesting the City of Hoover since the fatal shooting happened on Thanksgiving night.

After the press conference came to a close, Carlos Chaverst, a member of the Birmingham Justice League, began spray painting on two American flags laid out on the ground. The flags read "Black Lives Don't Matter."

That is when Chaverst and other protesters picked up the flags to be read and proceeded to light them on fire.

"What happened to Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., his life burned," Chaverst said. "And now this American flag is going to burn to represent what it's like to be Black in America."
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https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-c...officer-fatal-mall-shooting/story?id=60882939

Alabama mayor backs police officer in fatal mall shooting of 'EJ' Bradford

Mayor says police officials are "relieved" officer was justified in shooting.

The mayor of Hoover, Alabama, said Wednesday that the city will support and defend a police officer who killed a legally-armed African-American man in a shopping mall in November, a shooting that the state attorney general ruled was justified.

Mayor Frank Brocato said during a news conference that officials at the Hoover Police Department are "relieved" that state Attorney General Steve Marshall cleared the officer who shot 21-year-old Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. during a chaotic scene at the Riverchase Galleria Mall on Thanksgiving night.

Bradford was shot multiple times by police after another man opened fire in the mall, wounding an 18-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl. Attorney's for Bradford's family claim their own investigation showed Bradford, who had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, drew his gun to protect himself and others and ended up getting shot three times in the back by the police officer.

Early in the investigation, Hoover police mistakenly believed Bradford was the gunman who initially opened fire in the mall. Brocato and Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis apologized to Bradford's family for initially identifying Bradford as the gunman who opened fire.

About a week after Bradford's death, police arrested Erron Brown, 20, and identified him as the alleged gunman who opened fire in the mall. Brown was charged with attempted murder.

Bradford's parents have said they now plan to seek justice for their son by filing a civil suit against the police department and the city of Hoover.

"We will defend our city and we will defend our police officer," Brocato said.

The name of the officer who shot Bradford has not been made public and Brocato said there are no plans to identify him.

"The officer has some rights as well," Brocato said. "Just as any private citizen that is investigated and found not to have committed a crime, their name is not released. And that's the same procedure we'll follow with this officer."

He said the officer "will go through the process of returning to work," pending a police department internal investigation.

"They had to wait for the attorney general's report to be able to take information that was gathered there to help them complete their investigation," Brocato said of the internal police department probe.

Marshall issued an online report on Tuesday saying the facts of the case did not merit going to a grand jury to seek an indictment against the officer who killed Bradford.

He said an exhaustive probe by the State Bureau of Investigation showed the officer, who he identified only as "Officer 1," was justified in shooting Bradford.

"After an extensive investigation and review, the Attorney General has determined Officer 1 did not commit a crime under Alabama law when he shot and killed EJ Bradford and thus the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct preclude presentation of this case to a grand jury," Marshall's report states.

As part of the probe, the state Bureau of Investigation interviewed dozens of witnesses and examined hundreds of pieces of evidence, including security video, police bodycam footage and numerous cellphone videos taken by shoppers, according to the report.

Marshall made public the mall security video that showed shoppers running for cover when the initial shooting occurred and Bradford running away from police when he was shot.

The officer who shot Bradford was on-duty at the mall with his partner and heard the gunfire erupt some 75 feet away from them, according to Marshall's report. The two officers, according to the report, raced toward the gunfire and spotted Bradford who "held a firearm in a ready position," according to Marshall's report.

"The facts of this case demonstrate that Officer 1 reasonably exercised his official powers, duties, or functions when he shot" Bradford, according to the report.

During a news conference Tuesday, Bradford's mother, April Pipkins, voiced outrage over Marshall's decision and sent a message to the officer who killed her son, saying, EJ Bradford "did not deserve what you did to him."

"You shoot my first born son three times, three kill shots and you call this justice. How dare you. If this happened to your child, would you still call it justice? Because I don't see any justice in this,” Pipkins said.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Bradford's family, called Marshall's decision "outrageous and beyond comprehension."

"Are we to accept that it is reasonable for our law enforcement officers to respond by acting on their inherent biases? In this case, it looks very much like the officer's reasoning was 'black man plus gun equals: shoot,'" Crump said in a statement.

During a news conference Tuesday, Crump said Marshall's report "is bias 100 percent to exonerate the police of murder."

On Tuesday night, protesters angered by Marshall's decision gathered in front of the Hoover City Hall and burned two American flags spray painted with the words "Black Lives Don't Matter."

Activists supporting the family said they plan to hold other demonstrations in coming days and possibly organize a boycott against the city of Hoover.

"Black lives matter. We won't stay quiet while law enforcement continues to inflict lethal violence against Black people and attempt to justify it," Dillon Nettles, policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said in a statement. "Police officers need to be held accountable when they shoot and kill innocent people."
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Only in AmeriKKKa...
 
https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/ej-bradford-shooting-under-federal-review-us-attorney-says.html

EJ Bradford shooting under federal review, US Attorney says

As civil rights activists call for a full-scale U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the fatal shooting of Emantic Fitzgerald “EJ” Bradford Jr. by a Hoover police officer inside the Riverchase Galleria, federal officials in Birmingham said they have been involved since the beginning.

“This matter has been, and continues to be, under review by various civil rights components within the Department of Justice since these events occurred,” U.S. Attorney Jay Town told AL.com Friday. “The recent release of a 10-week investigation by the State of Alabama is now a part of that review by those components. Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall earlier this week released his report following a more than two-month State Bureau of Investigation into Bradford’s death. Marshall had the option to charge the unnamed officer, clear him or take the case to a grand jury for indictment consideration.

The 24-page report clearing the officer detailed what investigators believe happened the night Bradford was killed. The AG’s Office came to this conclusion: “After an extensive investigation and review, the Attorney General has determined Officer 1 did not commit a crime under Alabama law when he shot and killed E.J. Bradford and thus the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct preclude presentation of this case to a grand jury,” Marshall’s report states.

The ruling prompted outrage among activists.

Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, on Thursday said the group is asking for a DOJ investigation into Bradford’s shooting and the shooting of “so many other young black men in particular.”

“When you have an epidemic, you allocate resources to try and eradicate the problem,’’ Simelton said. “We have an epidemic of young black males being shot to death.”

Frank Matthews, president of the Outcast Voters League and chief adviser for the Birmingham Justice League, scheduled a protest for noon Saturday outside the Hugo Black federal courthouse.

“We’re protesting the decision made by Attorney General Marshall," Matthews said Thursday. "This will start a whole national push as we will criss-cross across the country talking about this decision that was made not to give the case of Emantic Bradford to the grand jury as well as other instances of police violence, brutality … all over the country that have been justified.”

Activists and civil rights groups also question Marshall’s move to assume jurisdiction over the Galleria shooting cases from Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr. In December, Marshall announced his office was assuming prosecutorial jurisdiction after the admission by Carr in a letter to Marshall of the presence of potential conflicts between himself and key parties in the case. Carr’s potential conflicts appeared to be his relationships with several of the organizers of ongoing protests over Bradford’s death.

The day after the Nov. 7 election, Carlos Chaverst Jr. posted on Facebook two photos of himself with Carr. Chaverst in 2017 had launched a petition for the governor to keep Carr as district attorney, netting more than 1,500 signatures.

Carr on Friday released his first public statement’s following Marshall’s ruling on the death.

“If the evidence in a case is clear that the shooting was legally justified, then a prosecutor would be ethically prohibited from presenting the case to a grand jury,’’ Carr wrote. “However, it is my belief that every officer-involved shooting, if after a full analysis of the evidence collected there remains any question to the legality of the shooting, then the presentation of the case to a grand jury would be appropriate.”

“Because my office was not presented with the evidence in this case,’’ he said, “I will not comment on the attorney general’s decision.”

“Mr. Bradford’s death is a tragedy,’’ Carr added, “and my heart goes out to his family and our community as we continue to grieve his loss.”
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https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/03/ej-bradford-family-sues-alabama-ag-hoover-police.html

E.J. Bradford’s family sues Alabama AG, Hoover police

More than a month after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the Hoover police officer who fatally shot Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. wouldn’t face charges, the Bradford family sued the AG and Hoover Police Department.

The lawsuit was filed in the Birmingham division of Jefferson County on Monday by Bradford’s parents and their attorney Benjamin Crump, the ACLU of Alabama, and the Alabama NAACP. According to the lawsuit, the family is demanding release of all police body camera and surveillance footage of the incident, and of documents including the officers’ names.

Bradford was fatally shot by a Hoover police officer after shots rang out in the Riverchase Galleria mall on Thanksgiving night. Brian Wilson, 18, and a 12-year-old bystander were injured in the incident, and police who responded shot 21-year-old Bradford. The day after the shooting, police said Bradford was likely not the person who fired the shots that injured the other two.

Representatives from Marshall’s office met with the Bradford family and their attorney in February and told them the Hoover officer was justified in the shooting and he would not be criminally charged. Marshall also shared a report with information from the more than two-month investigation.

Hoover police have not released the officer’s name and his attorney told AL.com neither he nor the officer will be releasing any statement about the shooting.

Marshall’s options were to clear the officer, charge the officer, or send the case to a grand jury for indictment consideration. The investigation was led by the State Bureau of Investigation and involved witness reports, cell phone videos taken by shoppers, mall surveillance video, body cam video, text messages, and social media posts.

According to the lawsuit, Marshall responded to the public records request saying he would not turn over the information requested. A press release by the ACLU said Marshall “asserted, among other reasons, that disclosing any information would ‘negatively impact…the personal safety of law enforcement officials.’”

The lawsuit said Hoover police also declined to make those records public.

The lawsuit claims: “After the officer shot Mr. Bradford, he and one or more other officers approached Mr. Bradford’s body. At or near Mr. Bradford’s body, two or more officers then made a fist-bump gesture. On information and belief, they did not attempt to render first aid to Mr. Bradford before making this celebratory gesture.”

The complaint also states, “In the wake of the police killing of E.J. Bradford, which has amplified the fear and mistrust that many black and brown Alabamians feel toward the police, such transparency and accountability is especially important.”

Crump said in a press release, “It’s ludicrous and insulting that the state of Alabama thinks we should simply take their word about what happened, without letting us see the full and unedited video footage and without releasing the officer’s name…In a state with the racial history of Alabama, why would anyone believe their account of a white officer shooting a Black man, especially when they’re trying to hide some of the evidence?”

ACLU of Alabama Executive Director Randall Marshall said Bradford’s family and the people of Alabama “deserve transparency and accountability.” He said in the same release, “It’s repugnant that Attorney General Marshall is hiding behind unfounded claims that transparency would endanger law enforcement when refusing to disclose the footage and documents we requested.”

Alabama NAACP President Benard Simelton said the group is “very disappointed” the Attorney General Marshall handled the case instead of Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr.

The groups jointly filed a Public Records Request for information on “implicit bias policies and training, use-of-force policies and training, and guidelines for active shooter situations.” The ACLU press release said Hoover police has agreed to release that information.

Specifically, the lawsuit asks for the court to deem the information requested as subject to public records laws, order that information available to the plaintiffs, waive all fees associated with the requests, and award the plaintiffs’ legal fees.

The state has not responded to the lawsuit, according to court filings, and no court hearings have been set.
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