(CNN) The Alabama attorney general is taking over the cases surrounding the police shooting death of Emantic Bradford Jr. at a Hoover mall, saying "fair-minded persons" might question the district attorney's objectivity.

A Hoover police officer working mall security Thanksgiving night killed Bradford following a shooting that left two people injured. Hoover police initially identified Bradford, 21, as the suspect, then recanted and said he brandished a weapon -- only to recant that statement as well.

Witnesses have said Bradford, armed with a permitted weapon, was helping mall patrons when the officer shot him in the back, family attorney Ben Crump has said.

Emantic Bradford Jr. was shot three times in the back, his family says.

In a letter to Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, Attorney General Steve Marshall cited Carr's connections to both the Hoover police officer, who has not been identified publicly, and to protesters who have decried the Bradford shooting, saying the links warrant Carr's recusal.

"While I have no reason to believe that you are actually biased or compromised, I agree that other fair-minded persons might question your neutrality based on the information that you provided in the letter and during our private conversations," the attorney general wrote.

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