Alabama police offer a new explanation for shooting the wrong man

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Emantic Bradford / Facebook

Police in Alabama said that a black man mistaken for an active shooter during a shootout in a mall had "reinforced the feeling of threat" by firing his own gun after gunshots rang out.

Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr, 21, had "brandished a gun" as police reacted to Thursday's incident at the mall near Birmingham, they said.

Police first announced that Mr Bradford, a US Army veteran, was the armed man, before going back on Friday.

The suspect remains on the run.

The demonstrators and Mr. Bradford's family have asked the police to be transparent.

The Hoover Police Department said on Monday: "We can say with certainty that Mr. Bradford brandished a firearm in the seconds following the shots, which immediately increased the threat to the police. in approach that reacted to the chaotic scene. "

Mr. Bradford had a license to carry a weapon, according to his family. Under the Alabama Firearms Act, it is not illegal to carry a firearm in public.

The police department expressed its condolences to Mr. Bradford's family, claiming that he had been "shot dead during Hoover's police efforts to secure the scene in the seconds that had followed the altercation and shooting ".

The tragedy unfolded on Thanksgiving Day in the United States when an armed gunman shot and wounded an 18-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl at the Riverchase Mall Galleria Mall, in the United States. suburb of Birmingham, Hoover.

This happened just before the Black Friday sales outside of a shoe retailer and, according to Al.com, might have been overtaken by some coaches.

According to witnesses, many people would have had their own weapons while people fled.

When police arrived at the scene, a uniformed officer saw Mr. Bradford with a gun and shot him, believing it was the armed man.

The police first praised this officer as a "hero". But on Friday night, they said their initial report was "not totally accurate".

The updated police statement said: "New evidence suggests that, although Bradford may have been involved in an aspect of the altercation, he probably did not shoot the cartridges that hurt the victim aged 18 ".

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According to Al.com, Bradford was a friend of the 18-year-old who was shot and seriously wounded.

Mr. Bradford's family cited witnesses who allegedly said he had tried to help by inviting people to safety.

The unidentified officer who killed Mr. Bradford during the shooting was reportedly put on administrative leave.

At a press conference Sunday, the Bradford family said the Hoover police had not contacted them about his death and that they had learned of the existence of the shootout through social media.

Family lawyer Ben Crump said on CNN that an officer "had made the decision in a few milliseconds to shoot" [Mr Bradford] in his face ".

"If you're black and you're a good guy with a gun, the police do not see you as a good guy, they just see you as a criminal and they shoot you and kill you."

Mr. Crump represented the family of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager shot by a neighborhood warden in Florida in 2012.

• US police kill black security "guardian"

On Saturday, about 200 protesters marched through the Alabama Mall to request the broadcast of the camera footage of the officer's body.

Monday's police statement indicated that the camera and other available footage had been handed over to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department as the investigation continued.

The publication or not of these records is now the responsibility of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which directs the investigation.

Authorities said they had some information about the initial shooter and work on the arrest.

The shooting reignited a national debate on racial profiling of black Americans.

Earlier this month, police in suburban Chicago killed an armed security guard, Jemel Roberson, while he was holding an alleged gunman.