Alabama police suggest black man killed by officer shouldn't have held his gun

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Alabama police suggest black man killed by officer shouldn't have held his gun

Nov. 26, 2018 / 11:25 AM GMT-4 / Source: Associated Press
By The Associated Press

HOOVER, Ala. — Police in Alabama promised transparency Monday after a weekend of protests in response to an officer fatally shooting a black man who pulled out his legally permitted weapon following gunfire at a shopping mall.

Hoover Police initially described the officer as "heroic" for bringing down Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. after two people were wounded at the Riverchase Galleria mall outside Birmingham Thanksgiving night. Then they retracted the statement, saying it's "unlikely" Bradford was involved.

Bradford's father said his son was a 21-year-old Army veteran with a permit to carry a weapon. The statement police released early Monday suggested Bradford shouldn't have pulled it out.

"We can say with certainty Mr. Bradford brandished a gun during the seconds following the gunshots, which instantly heightened the sense of threat to approaching police officers responding to the chaotic scene," the statement from the city of Hoover and its police department says.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-police-suggest-black-man-killed-officer-shouldn-t-have-n940036

[House of Roberts]

1. They must think they have all the video,

and can start the disinformation in earnest now.

[pecosbob]

2. Typical

First they accuse the bystander of being involved in the altercation. When that turns out to be false they blame him for his actions. Never any possibility that they were wrong to have shot the person.

[Kaleva]

3. Some info from USACarry. A very pro-gun site.

"When you pull your handgun, you are instantly able to be charged with brandishing a weapon. Different districts and state laws apply and even if the situation ends amicably with all parties going their separate directions, you could still be charged. Moreover, if you’re facing off against someone else who is also legally armed, he or she can interpret that action as justifiable use of force on his behalf."

https://www.usacarry.com/draw-concealed-carry-handgun/

Furthermore(from the same website linked above):

"When drawing your concealed carry handgun, these questions ought to have already been answered:

Is your life being directly threatened?
Can you leave the situation without any loss of life?
Do you know what is directly in front of and behind your opponent?
Is deadly force acceptable in this situation?"

Need more info before forming an opinion as to if the young man knew the answers to the above.

[brush]

11. After reading all of that, who would want a concealed carry permit?

[Kaleva]

12. IMHO, the vast majority of people don't need one.

[pwb]

4. Cops circle the wagons all the time.

They back up their bad cops all the time. Even grand juries let them off scot free. Now they can't even admit mistakes.

[gratuitous]

5. Well, that's that

The Hoover Police have been very accurate and fully transparent at all times in this unfortunate incident. So we're all cool now, right? (Whisper: What about the actual gunman?) NOTHING MORE TO SEE HERE.

How do you tell which lives matter? If the authorities give free rein to the victims' friends and family to express the full range of their sorrow, anger, frustration, thirst for revenge, and other emotions, that person's life mattered. If the authorities urge everyone to remain calm, wait until all the facts are in, and hint that the victim might have been responsible for his own death, that life didn't matter.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Remember Dred Scott is still in effect - defacto

Black people were never considered "citizens" and thus the rights given other "citizens" in the Constitution, do not apply to us.

[sarah FAILIN]

7. I've already posted about this shooting..

I hope I was clearly angry about the shooting in that first post, but they are a little bit right. That mall is a gun free zone with lots of signage. Even though this is an open
carry state, posted signs forbids anyone from carrying even if they have a permit. I've heard there were LOTS of people, maybe 10, that drew their weapons so obviously nobody followed the rule. It is sadly what I figure they will get the cop off with.
The chaos was terrible from what I saw in videos. Very disorganized in how they handled the evacuation. My kid was there shopping the day before and even without the specials, the place was packed.

[tammywammy]

8. I was in an active shooter training at work a few years ago.

First, I'm in Texas and there are a lot of employees with guns in their car (legal except on federal property).

Anywho, the training was done by a local SWAT officer. They stated and I've heard in every active shooter training since, if there's been a shooting and you're holding a gun, you will be treated like a suspect.

When police enter a scene all they see is a weapon.

If this happened like they said, they have a point. Regardless of if you can carry or not, during an
Active shooter situation if you are holding a weapon when the police arrive you will be treated as the shooter.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. There is NO FUCKING WAY this man would be dead if he had been white.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. This pisses me off so fucking much. He was KILLED/MURDERED for being AA.

Period, end of story. Had he been white, he would still be alive.
I guess that fucking shit is NEVER GOING TO END.

[albacore]

13. This....