This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A 21-year-old Alabama man who was shot dead by an officer who mistakenly thought he was responsible for a mall shooting “brandished a gun during the seconds following the gunshots”, police said on Monday.

Protest in Alabama as police admit killing wrong man over mall shooting Read more

This, they said, “instantly heightened the sense of threat to approaching police officers”.

Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr, who was black, was killed at the Riverchase Galleria mall outside Birmingham on Thanksgiving night after two other people were shot and wounded.

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Hoover police initially described the officer who shot Bradford as “heroic”. Then they retracted the statement, saying it was “unlikely” Bradford was involved in the first shooting and that the suspect was still at large.

Bradford’s father, Emantic Bradford Sr, said his son had a permit to carry the weapon. The dead man’s stepmother, Cynthia Bradford, described her stepson as a respectful young man whose father worked at a jail for the Birmingham police department. She also said of the initial police account: “We knew that was false.”

Police are now promising to be “transparent”.

A Monday morning statement said: “We can say with certainty Mr Bradford brandished a gun during the seconds following the gunshots, which instantly heightened the sense of threat to approaching police officers responding to the chaotic scene.”

The statement added: “We extend sympathy to the family of Emantic J Bradford of Hueytown, who was shot and killed during Hoover Police efforts to secure the scene in the seconds following the original altercation and shooting. The loss of human life is a tragedy under any circumstances.”

Bradford’s parents appeared on CNN, saying police still had not spoken to them. They want to see body camera video and they have hired the civil rights attorney Ben Crump to help them.

“We don’t trust the police department because they’ve already lied to them,” Crump said. “They released his picture all over the world saying he was the shooter and the police officer was a hero.”

Crump said several witnesses said the officer shot Bradford “within milliseconds”, without saying a word to him.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a good guy with a gun, if you’re black the police shoot and kill you and ask questions later,” Crump said.

The Monday police statement said: “Body camera video and other available video was immediately turned over to the Jefferson county sheriff’s department as part of the investigation. Now, all evidence has been handed over to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (Alea) to lead the investigation. Release of any video will be done as Alea deems appropriate during the investigation.”

The police also expressed sympathy for the family of the 18-year-old man and the 12-year-old girl who were wounded and said they were “pursuing the initial shooter who still remains at large”.

On Saturday, about 200 people protested about Bradford’s death. Demonstrators including several relatives chanted “EJ” and “no justice, no peace” as they marched past Christmas shoppers at the mall.

Carlos Chaverst, who organized the protest, said that when authorities acknowledged the person killed was not the gunman, “that sent us in an uproar”. He said more protests would be held to hold officials accountable.

“When we found out about this incident, there were questions from the jump,” he said. “People were upset because a man was shot and killed by police in our own backyard.”