An exam done by a forensic pathologist hired by the family of Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr. determined that the 21-year-old was shot three times in the back.
Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Bradford’s family, said that the results of the exam are “devastating” to relatives, who believe that Bradford was just trying to help when a gunman opened fire at an Alabama mall on Thanksgiving night.
Bradford’s father, Emantic Bradford Sr., shoved his fingers into the cameras at the emotional news conference, addressing the unnamed officer saying “You’re a coward,” according to the Associated Press.
Bradford Sr. believes that the Hoover Police officer who killed his son should be charged with homicide, “because this is a murder.”
So far, Hoover police have refused to release video footage from the incident, or any other evidence until the state investigation into the shooting death is complete. According to police, state investigators have said that they are concerned the investigation could be jeopardized if any information is released.
Meanwhile, Rev. Jesse Jackson, who attended the news conference at the small church Bradford attended in North Birmingham, sees the refusal as a coverup.
The exam done by the forensic pathologist revealed that Bradford was shot once in the rear of his skull, once in the back of his neck and once in his lower back. It is not clear at which order the shots were inflicted, or if more than one person shot the young man.
“There were three kill shots,” Jackson said.
Immediately after the Thanksgiving night shooting, police wrongly identified Bradford as the suspect in the shooting, and the officer who fired the deadly shots was called a hero for his response.
Later, officers backtracked on their statements, saying that Bradford did have his licensed weapon in his had, but would not say that he was threatening anyone with it. Twenty-year-old Erron Brown was arrested last week as the real suspect in the shooting.
