Man killed by officer at mall was not the shooter, police say

HOOVER, ALA. — Police in Alabama on Saturday were searching for a gunman they believe was responsible for shooting two teenagers at a shopping mall on Thanksgiving night.

The incident began with a fight and shooting in suburban Birmingham at the Riverchase Galleria, a mall crowded with Black Friday bargain hunters. An 18-yearold was shot twice and a 12-year-old bystander was shot in the back.

An officer responding to the scene then shot and killed 21-year-old Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr. of Hueytown. Police said Bradford was fleeing the scene and was brandishing a weapon.

Police initially told reporters they thought Bradford had shot the teen after a fight but retracted that statement Friday night.

“New evidence now suggests that while Mr. 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 Captain Gregg Rector said in a statement.

Police said they “regret that our initial media release was not totally accurate.”

Also on Saturday, about 200 people marched through the mall to protest the shooting death of a man police erroneously believed was the gunman who shot and wounded two people.

The protesters gathered at the spot at the Riverchase Galleria mall in suburban Birmingham where Bradford was shot and killed by a police officer. The protesters held a moment of silence for Bradford at the spot where he was killed. Bradford’s stepmother Cynthia described him as a respectful young man and said he was the son of a Birmingham police officer.

Rector said investigators now believe that more than two people were involved in the initial fight ahead of the shooting, and that “at least one gunman” is still at large who could be responsible for the shooting of an 18-year-old male and 12-yearold female.

Video posted on social media by shoppers showed a chaotic scene as shoppers fled the mall, which closed for the remainder of Thursday night.

“It was terrifying,” a witness, Lexi Joiner, told Alabama.com.