Parents of Galleria shooting victim say attorney general is covering up son's 'murder'

The parents of the 21-year-old Hueytown man killed by a Hoover police officer at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night claimed today that the attorney general is covering up their son’s murder by clearing the police officer of any criminal charges.

“This don’t make no sense,” Emantic Bradford Sr. said today. “My son was murdered. This was a homicide. … You whitewashed this case. You covered it up.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall today released a report that said the officer who shot and killed Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. acted reasonably given the circumstances surrounding the shootings at the mall on Nov. 22.

The officer saw Bradford, with gun drawn, going toward the direction of a shooting that had just occurred seconds earlier, the report said. The officer believed Bradford was the initial shooter and was going to shoot more people, so he shot Bradford to eliminate the threat, according to the 24-page report. See the full report here.

'STILL COOL TO KILL A BLACK MAN'

Bradford said he predicted this would happen. “”We in Alabama. It’s still cool to kill a black man.”

April Pipkin, the mother of Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr., questioned how anyone could say her son’s death was justified.

“You shot my child three times, and y’all call that justice?” she said. “As a mother who carried that child in her stomach, I want to know how you would feel if this was your child.”

Ben Crump, the attorney representing Bradford’s family, said surveillance video shows E.J. Bradford didn’t do anything wrong at the mall. He was not involved in the initial confrontation and when his friend was shot, he initially ran and then pulled a gun for which he had a permit and went back toward the shooting to protect his friend, Crump said.

“You have a right to protect yourself and defend your family and friends,” he said. “He was not trying to hurt anybody.”

The police shooting of Bradford is particularly egregious because police officers gave him no verbal warnings or commands before he was shot, Crump said. The police officer who shot Bradford told investigators he didn’t have time to issue any warning to Bradford before shooting him because of the imminent danger to others.

Instead, “they shot first and asked questions later,” Crump said.

It’s typical of cases across the country where police officers shoot and kill black suspects instead of trying to disarm them, while white gunmen in active shooter situations somehow make it out alive, Crump said.

And to top it off, a Hoover police officer can be seen in video footage doing a fist pump after Bradford’s shooting, he said.

NO GRAND JURY

Crump said Marshall should have at least taken the case to a grand jury and let a jury decide if the shooting was justified or not. But Marshall stepped in and took the prosecution of this case away from the first black elected district attorney in Jefferson County so he could cover up for a white police officer, Crump said.

Marshall said he took over prosecution of the case because Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr had indicated the public could perceive a conflict of interest because Carr had a personal relationship with some of the people protesting the Galleria shooting and because the police officer was the charging officer or a witness in about 20 cases being handled by Carr’s office.

Marshall’s office also said the Code of Alabama dictates that conduct is justifiable and not criminal when performed by a public servant in a reasonable exercise of their official power or duties.

This officer, identified only as Officer 1, acted reasonably to protect the life of others and consistent with his training and nationally accepted standards for “active shooter” scenarios, according to the attorney general’s report.

Crump and Emantic Bradford Sr. said Marshall didn’t have the decency to share his findings with Bradford’s family prior to releasing the report to the media. Bradford Sr. called Marshall a coward for failing to meet with them.

Crump said the family will soon file a civil wrongful death lawsuit. “We’re going to do everything in our power to get them justice … They will have their day in court.”

Bradford said people can’t just expect his family to accept the decision by the attorney general. “It ain’t over with. I’m going to have my justice for my child, and you’re going to deal with it.”

Crump said people can expect peaceful protests. There will be no peace in Hoover until there is justice for Bradford, he said.

Hoover officials said they plan to issue a statement in response to the attorney general’s report on Wednesday.

See more stories regarding the Thanksgiving night Riverchase Galleria shootings.