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The mother and father of the man shot dead by police Friday in an Alabama mall are calling for "equal justice" after stating that the authorities had shot at someone who was simply a good Samaritan.
Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., 21, was killed by police at the Riverchase Galleria Mall in Hoover, Alabama, on Thanksgiving Day after an altercation between several people outside a Footaction store.
Police said that he "may have been involved in an aspect of the altercation", which led to the striking of an 18-year-old man and a girl of 12 years, but he did not fire any shots. One of the two officers who took part in the fight fired at Bradford, who allegedly "brandished a handgun".
Through tears, her mother, April Pipkins, said no one should be treated the same way as the Hoover police.
Initially, the police claimed to believe that Bradford had fired the shots that had injured both people, but later indicated that he had fired no shots and that another man, still on the run, was probably responsible.
"I'm outraged as a mother because I've been wearing it for nine months," Pipkins told ABC News. "As a mother, no one understands how I feel, it's as if someone had ripped off my heart."
ABC News
The family said they were not contacted by the Hoover Police Department about the accidental shootout and learned only details through the media.
"This is not a way to learn about the death of your child," Pipkins said. "How would you like to be treated? Nobody should have to suffer this, to see his son on TV, on social media."
Ben Crump, a family lawyer, told ABC News that he wanted the authorities to release the video of the shooting, pointing out that Bradford was exonerated from Bradford and was showing the mistake made by the police.
"The police treat him as a killer when they have the video out there," Crump said. "They wanted to justify the murder and that's why they were so quick to murder his character.
"When the police saw it, all they saw was the worst, when the young man tried to improve the situation," he added.
Crump said Bradford stood above the 18-year-old, trying to defuse the situation when "they shot first, they asked questions later, because he was a black man".
"The video is unbiased, it is totally objective," said the lawyer. "It tells the whole story."
James Spann / WBMA
ABC News
Crump said Bradford was carrying a handgun, but was allowed to do so. Alabama is an "open-door" state, that is, it did not require a permit to carry the handgun openly while it was in its holster.
Bradford was released honorably from the army following an injury, according to his parents, who seized a photo of him in uniform during an interview with ABC News on Saturday. An army spokesman only stated that he "had never attended any individual training" and was not considered to have served. Bradford had returned home to work full time in Alabama.
The 18-year-old remains in a serious condition at the hospital, while the 12-year-old girl, an innocent witness, was stable.
The protesters gathered at the mall on Saturday, some carrying a black and red banner on which is written: "Justice for EJ". Crump said the family was considering prosecution following the shooting.
ABC News
"Equal justice, we plan to do it by law, because of what they've had to endure," Crump said, referring to Bradford's parents.
"You can not bring my child back, you can not clean it up," Bradford's father, Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Sr., told ABC News.
He called for the police officer who killed Bradford to be punished, saying, "They must be locked up."
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