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Protesters marched Saturday in a mall in Alabama, where police killed a black man, whom they later acknowledged that it was not the trigger, during the shootout Thanksgiving that hurt two people. (November 24)
AP

This undated image provided by Emantic Bradford Sr. shows Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr., 21, posing for a picture at his father's house near Birmingham, Alaska, in his senior year of high school.(Photo: Emantic Bradford Sr, AP)

An Alabama city and its police department publicly expressed their condolences to the family of a black man fatally injured by an officer in the chaotic moments that followed the shooting that took place in a mall crowded, the Thanksgiving night.

But a statement issued by officials in Hoover, 15 km south of Birmingham, also placed some of the responsibility on Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., who was killed by an officer working in private security services in the vast Riverchase Galleria, with two floors.

According to the statement, 21-year-old Bradford was shot dead during Hoover Police's attempt to secure the scene after the initial shooting, which injured an 18-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl. The manhunt for at least one gunman continued on Monday, police said.

"We can say with certainty that Mr. Bradford waved a firearm in the seconds following the shots, which immediately heightened the sense of threat to approaching officers responding to the chaotic scene. ", the statement said.

The police then said that "brandi" meant Bradford was holding a firearm.

"We are deeply and sincerely sympathetic to the mourning family of Mr. Bradford and to all those affected by this incident," the statement said. "We all want answers and we think that with patience and concentration, the truth will be firmly established."

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In the hours following the shooting, Hoover police had congratulated the "heroic" officer for killing a suspect. A few hours later, the police took over the story saying that Bradford was not the first gunman.

Bradford's father, Emantic Bradford Sr., said on Monday that the police still had not contacted the family to apologize or explain what had happened. He stated that his son had been despised by the police who had initially suggested that he was the shooter – and by agents on the scene who had allowed passers-by to take pictures and record a video after the shot.

Bradford's family hired human rights lawyer Benjamin Crump to bring justice to their son.

Crump said Bradford would calm the altercation and had a license for his gun. Crump said the officer "saw a black man with a gun and he decided that he (Bradford) had to be a criminal."

Crump and his family asked the police to release a body camera and another video of the shooting, claiming the video would tell "all the story".

Hoover police said they forwarded a video and other evidence to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, which then forwarded it to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which conducts the investigation. ALEA has not announced when or if the videos would be released.

The city and the police department pledged to be transparent throughout the investigation and announced that they would provide weekly updates. Authorities have "some information" on the first shooter and urge the public to provide ALEA with any information that could speed up his arrest, the statement said.

The statement also sent condolences to the family of the first two victims, both hospitalized in stable condition after the shot.

"These are just a few of the many lives that were immediately touched by such a useless event on what should have been a peaceful Thanksgiving night," the statement said on Monday.

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