State Attorney General Takes Over Galleria Shooting Case
State Attorney General Steve Marshall announced today his office is taking over the prosecution in the Thanksgiving shootings at the Galleria that left one man fatally shot by a Hoover policeman and two others wounded.
Marshall says he made that decision after Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said there were potential conflicts between him and key parties in the cases.
Emantic Bradford Jr. was killed by a Hoover police officer who has not been named and is on administrative leave. Brian Wilson, a friend of Bradford’s, was wounded. Molly Davis, a 12-year-old girl in the mall with her family, also was wounded.
Protesters have marched regularly in Hoover since the shootings, calling for justice for Bradford. Six people have been arrested in connection with the protests.
The decision to take over the case was based on several facts, Marshall says. The officer who shot Bradford is either the charging officer or a witness in about 20 cases pending in the District Attorney’s Office. Also, Marshall says Carr acknowledged personal relationships with some of the protestors who are calling for the officer who shot Bradford to be criminally prosecuted.
“I have weighed these factors and others mentioned during our conversation and agree that, when taken as a whole, these factors warrant recusal,” Marshall says.
Carr did not recuse his office from the case, and says he recognizes the attorney general’s authority to intervene.
“As I stated to General Marshall, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office stands ready and capable to proceed with this case, based on the facts and evidence once provided, and the law as it currently exists,” Carr says in a prepared statement.
Despite the attorney general’s intervention, Carr says his office will continue to seek and ensure justice for all citizens in Jefferson County.
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