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Dec. 3, 2018 / 6:50 PM GMT
By Janelle Griffith
The man fatally shot by police responding to a shooting at an Alabama mall on Thanksgiving night was struck three times from behind, an attorney for his family said Monday.
Lawyer Benjamin Crump released the findings of an independent autopsy at a news conference in Birmingham, Alabama, that indicate Emantic “E.J.” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. was shot in the head, neck and back.
“We believe based on this forensic evidence that this officer should be charged with a crime,” Crump said. “There’s nothing that justifies him shooting E.J. as he’s moving away from him. You’re not a threat when you’re running away.”
One of the bullets entered the back of Bradford‘s head and another near the back of his hip, according to the autopsy.
Bradford, 21, also had a laceration on his right eyebrow that might indicate he fell face forward.
“You shot him from the back,” said Emantic Bradford Sr., a former corrections officer. “Three times my son was shot. He did not pose a threat to you. You could have taken him down without even having” fired a shot.
Bradford was killed by an officer responding to gunfire at the crowded Riverchase Galleria just before 10 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving night.
Hoover police said an argument between several young men led to gunfire.
The suspect in the shooting, Erron Brown, 20, was captured by the U.S. Marshals Service in Georgia on Thursday.