Bradford Family Continues to Push for Release of All Video of Mall Shooting
Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump says law enforcement officials recently showed him and the family a short video of the moments around Emantic Bradford Jr.’s death, but it isn’t enough, according to a statement issued Friday.
Crump says he and the Bradford family saw the video last Friday at the invitation of District Attorney Danny Carr and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Crump says the DA’s office and agency hoped to build trust by showing the video. Yet he says the 30 seconds was not enough.
“We continued to request that all video footage of the mall from that night be publicly released — body cam, surveillance, etc,” Crump says. “We were told, because of the ongoing criminal investigation, that they would not release the video until after they had concluded the criminal investigation.”
Crump says the DA’s office and ALEA agreed to show them the video if they promised to keep it confidential. But he says they can confirm that what they saw was consistent with the findings of an independent autopsy.
The family hired an independent forensic pathologist to conduct an autopsy on Bradford. Crump released the findings on Dec. 3rd during a press conference.
“We know without a shadow of a doubt that #ejbradfordjr was shot three times from behind while running away” – @AttorneyCrump — Janae Pierre (@missjanaepierre) December 3, 2018
Bradford died Thanksgiving night after he was shot by a police officer at the Riverchase Galleria Mall in Hoover. Initially, officials said a fight broke out and gun shots were fired, wounding two people. They said Bradford was seen with a gun and he wounded 18-year-old Brian Wilson. But less than 24 hours later, officials issued another statement saying it was “highly unlikely” that Bradford fired the shots that injured two people. But questions about Bradford’s gun still remain unanswered.
The statement from Crump confirms Bradford had a gun that night, adding the family “has been told previously that Bradford’s gun was never fired.” ALEA is investigating the shooting. An 18-year-old and a 12-year-old were wounded.
— Gigi Douban (@gdouban) December 7, 2018
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