HOOVER, AL. (THECOUNT) — Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr, was killed by police at Riverchase Galleria mall in Hoover, Alabama, after an altercation between multiple people on Thanksgiving Day. And now his mother and father are speaking out claiming authorities shot their son without cause.
The incident, which occurred at the Riverchase Galleria shopping center in Hoover, Alabama, began with a physical altercation between an 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old man, police said.
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The confrontation occurred inside the mall, located at, 2000 Galleria Cir, in Birmingham, AL.
According to investigators, Bradford, 21, “may have been involved in some aspect of the altercation,” which led to an 18-year-old man and 12-year-old girl being struck by gunfire, but authorities concluded, he did not fire any shots.
One of two officers who responded to the altercation shot Bradford, who was said to be “brandishing a handgun,” at the time of the fatal officer-involved shooting.
Bradford’s mother, April Pipkins, told the media that no one should be treated how she has been by Hoover police after being forced to learn about the accidental shooting while viewing a local news broadcast.
“That is no way to learn of your child’s death,” Pipkins said. “How would you want to be treated? Nobody should have to go through this, to see their son on TV, on social media.”
Initially, police said they believed Bradford fired the shots that injured both people, but later they determined that he had not fired any shots.
Police are searching for the aforementioned suspect, who is still at-large, and likely responsible for the initial shooting.
“I’m outraged as a mother because I carried him for nine months,” Pipkins told reporters. “As a mother, no one understands how I feel. It’s like someone ripped my heart out, said a tearful Pipkins”
Bradford was later found to be licensed to carry a sidearm and was said to be acting as a possible Good Samaritan during the incident. Alabama is also an “open carry” state, so a permit is not required to openly carry a firearm, as long as it was holstered.
Bradford was honorably discharged from the Army due to an injury, according to his parents, who clutched a photo of him in uniform during an interview with ABC News Saturday. An Army spokesman said only that he “never completed individual training” and was not considered to have served. Bradford had returned home to Alabama to work full-time. source
The 18-year-old victim remains in a hospital in serious condition, while the 12-year-old girl, an innocent bystander, was stable.
The officer involved has been temporarily suspended while the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the investigation of the incident, police said.
Anyone with possible information on the incident should contact police at 911 immediately.
Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. The largest suburb near Birmingham, the city had a population of 84,848 as of the 2015 US Census estimate, according to Wikipedia.