Suspect arrested in US mall shooting that saw cops kill different man

WASHINGTON: Police on Thursday arrested a man who allegedly shot two people at a shopping mall in the US state of Alabama – an incident in which an officer killed an earlier suspect.

Erron Martez Dequan Brown, 20 was taken into custody in neighbouring Georgia for attempted murder after allegedly shooting and wounding two people at the shopping center in Hoover, Alabama, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said in a statement.

In the police response to the shooting, an officer shot and killed Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, who was also in the crowded mall, and was armed.

Hoover police said they had intercepted the shooter but later admitting that Bradford, a 21-yearold military veteran, was likely not the one who had shot and wounded the 18- and 12-year- old victims.

Bradford’s family said he had a licence to carry the gun.

His death provoked angry demonstrations in Hoover as protesters decried the latest in a years-long string of high-profile police shootings, especially of white officers killing black men. Bradford was black.

The family hired a civil rights attorney and the police officer was placed on administrative leave until the end of the investigation, which the ALEA said was ongoing as of Thursday.

After his extradition from Georgia to Alabama, Brown is expected to be held under a 150,000 bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, and additional charges could follow. — AFP