AG Rules Hoover Officer Justified In Shooting EJ Bradford

HOOVER, AL - Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall ruled Tuesday that the Thanksgiving night shooting death of Emantic "EJ" Bradford by a Hoover police officer was justified. Marshall released a statement and video regarding the incident, which has received national attention and sparked a series of protests throughout Hoover for weeks after the shooting.

The attorney general met with members of the Bradford family and their lawyers at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Birmingham Tuesday morning.

Marshall's statement said, "After an extensive investigation and review, the Attorney General has determined that Officer 1 did not commit a crime under Alabama law when he shot and killed E.J. Bradford and thus the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct preclude presentation of this case to a grand jury. This report details how and why the Attorney General reached this conclusion."

Marshall said the facts of the case "demonstrate that Officer 1 reasonably exercised his official powers, duties, or functions when he shot E.J. Bradford."

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The investigation determined that the officer and his partner were working on-duty in the Galleria when they heard gunfire from 75 feet away. The two officers encountered Bradford within three seconds and Bradford, the report states, “held a firearm in a ready position.” The two officers charged forward.

"Several persons were in Bradford’s path," the report states. "Immediately before him, Brian Wilson lay on the ground, bleeding from his gunshot wounds, and 18-year-old (“AC”) stood over
Wilson. Beyond them, Erron Brown (the initial shooter) and his companions were running into
JC Penney, while several innocent bystanders were scrambling for cover."

The investigation found that the officer identified Bradford as "an immediate deadly threat to innocent civilians and thus shot Bradford to eliminate the threat.

The video evidence, according to the report, suggests the following chain of events, which spans approximately five seconds:

Erron Brown shoots Brian Wilson, then along with his companions, runs into JC Penney. E.J. Bradford initially runs in the opposite direction (away from JC Penney), creating a gap between himself and the gunshots. As he creates this gap, Bradford draws his weapon and chambers a round. Bradford then charges back toward JC Penney, gun drawn. Officer 1 shoots Bradford as Bradford is running toward Brian Wilson (the gunshot victim), AC (who is assisting Wilson), Erron Brown (the initial shooter), and several innocent bystanders.

Marshall's office released the following video:

The officer, whose name has not been released, issued a statement to the AG's office, saying:

"At approximately 2100-2130, I was located on the second floor in front of Spencer’s.

My partner and I were observing the crowd for any violations of the law and/or
disruptions to the orderly conduct of shopping. I heard two gunshots and a female’s
scream behind me. I turned toward the noise, drawing my firearm. I was in
reasonable fear for the lives of the shoppers, my partner, and myself. I instinctively
started moving towards the area where the gunshots were heard while looking for
immediate threats. I then observed a crowd of shoppers near FootAction running
away from where I heard gunshots.

"I observed two males who were not running away, but, instead, were standing near the railing in front of FootAction. One male appeared to be injured, clutching his stomach, while the other male appeared to be helping him. Next, I observed an armed suspect quickly moving towards the two males standing near the railing. The suspect was advancing on the two males and had a black handgun in his right hand. I fired my duty weapon at the armed suspect to stop him. The suspect fell near the other two males[,] and I observed the suspect’s firearm slide across the floor.

"I ordered the two males by the railing to lay down to determine whether they were
a threat to safety. I asked the uninjured male if he was armed, whether he was injured,
and if the suspect was the only shooter. I understood an affirmative response to my
last question. No additional weapons were found, and ultimately, I did not observe
any further threats to the safety of others.”

The officer said he was unable to provide verbal commands to Bradford before firing his weapon due to the quickness of the event and the immediate threat Bradford posed to Brian Wilson and AC.

The Bradford family attorney, Ben Crump, said he was not satisfied with the ruling. "It is outrageous and beyond comprehension that the Alabama Attorney General has concluded that it was reasonable for a trained law enforcement officer to fatally shoot an innocent civilian, one whose only action was an attempt to help protect the public and whose only 'crime' was being black," Crump said.

"Are we to accept that it is reasonable for our law enforcement officers to respond by acting on their inherent biases?" Crump asked. "In this case, it looks very much like the officer’s reasoning was 'black man plus gun equals: shoot.' The Attorney General says no more than 2 seconds elapsed between the time officers engaged EJ Bradford and the time he was gunned down by a police officer, who admitted he provided no verbal warning. Are we also to accept that the officer had no duty to determine what was actually happening, that instead it was fine for him to fire fatal shots with no more than 2 seconds to consider whether it was warranted – especially when there was a second officer who did not shoot?"

Crump said he also believes that the videos used as evidence were edited and biased. "Until the full video has been released to the public, everyone is subject to the editing bias that the Attorney General’s Office chose to apply in preparing its report," Crump said. "The decision to evade a grand jury mimics the dark patterns of injustice woven throughout Alabama’s sad history of race relations. From the beginning, this case has been riddled with dubious actions by officials. In December, the Attorney General took this case away from Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, the first black person to hold that position, undermining the trust of our community and further proving why we demand transparency from those in power."

Crump said the full, unedited video must be released immediately. "With this report, the Attorney General is doing everything he can to exonerate the officer’s inexcusable actions, trying to justify the officer’s failure to follow proper procedures – and, more importantly, to ignore the civil rights of an innocent, law-abiding man who happened to be black."

Since Bradford's death, multiple protests have been held in Hoover - including the Galleria, outside Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato's home, Sam's Club, Walmart, Buffalo Wild Wings and on Interstate 459, where protests briefly shut down traffic at the Interstate 65 interchange.

Bradford and his friend Brian Wilson were involved in an altercation at the Riverchase Galleria Thanksgiving night, and the altercation led to shots being fired. When a Hoover police officer arrived at the scene, he reportedly shot Bradford, who was holding a gun. Initial reports said Bradford was the shooter, but that was determined through the investigation to be false.

Photo by Michael Seale/Patch