Police likely killed wrong man responding to US mall shooting

WASHINGTON: A policeman appears to have shot and killed the wrong person in responding to a shooting in an Alabama shopping mall that left two others wounded, police said Saturday, correcting an earlier account of the Black Friday incident.

Police in Hoover, Alabama, originally said 21-year-old Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford pulled a gun and opened fire during a physical altercation in the Riverchase Galleria mall, wounding an 18-year-old man. A 12-year-old girl was also wounded in the incident.

A uniformed Hoover police officer then shot Bradford dead as he ran from the scene brandishing a gun, police said.

“New evidence suggests that while Bradford may have been involved in some aspect of the altercation, he likely did not fire the rounds that injured the 18-year-old victim,” Hoover police said in a statement.

“This information indicates that there is at least one gunman at large, who could be responsible for the shooting of the 18-year-old male and 12year-old female.” he said.

US media published photographs of Bradford, who was black. There have been a series of fatal encounters in recent years between US police and African Americans, who formed the Black Lives Matter Movement in response.

The police officer involved has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. — AFP