Alabama Mall Shooting
On the night of November 22, 2018, Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. 21-year-old was fatally shot in front of a panicked crowd at the Riverchase Galleria Mall in Hoover, Alabama as officers responded to reports of gunshots on Thanksgiving night. Bradford was wrongfully shot three times from behind, in his back, the back of his head and the back of his neck by a police officer in Alabama. However Bradford was not the shooter, witnesses say he was legally carrying a handgun and was directing shoppers to safety and they also say that he was waving witnesses away from the gunshots. Lastly, they say the police officer gave Bradford no verbal commands before opening fire and they claim he posed no threat to the officer who shot him. Authorities at first identified him as the gunman & a day later they reported it had been a misidentification. The Police said he was holding a gun which is why they mistook him as a threat. On the other hand, Bradford Jr.'s family argue their son was killed because he was black. Bradford Sr. is a police officer himself and says Hoover police made several mistakes that night. He also says, "my son always respected the police and if you would have given a command when you came around that corner, say freeze, drop your weapon, he would have complied with your order". Bradford Jr.'s family said releasing the body camera video and surveillance footage will allow them to heal and help solve the case. For now, while the case is still under investigation, the police officer involved in the shooting is on administrative leave.
Footage from a witness after Bradford Jr. was shot
I heard about this on the news a few days ago, and it's unfathomable. America is divided, it's hard for me to understand why the victim had a gun in the first place. What is the culture like in Hoover, Alabama where a man is thinking, "we're going Christmas shopping let me grab my gun." It's a completely different world than what I personally live in. Then for the officer to shoot him because he saw the gun - was that justified? I honestly think it kind of was.
ReplyDeleteSure, race is always a factor, but if I were a cop in that situation and I rounded the corner to see a white man with a gun, I'd probably shoot.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie, I think that it is a tragedy that the wrong man fell victim in this situation, but at the same time the man was holding a gun when the police were looking for a gunman. I truly believe that this man was trying to help the situation and trying to help people. Looking through the perspective of a police man, the mall is crowded and there are so many people everywhere and the panic is probably in the police officer's mind too.
ReplyDeleteIn many cases black men are unarmed and are shoot and in a case that I did brief research on the young man, Trayvon Martin was unarmed and got shoot, and I think that's a true problem as the only motive one can truly find in that case was the he was black, were as in this case this man was armed in a situation of panic and fear.
What happened in Alabama is a terrible tragedy that shouldn't happen to anyone. At the same time, I agree with Katie. Modern society does have a tendency to racialize certain things. We will never know had the man been white if they would have shot him, but I do think it is a tad excessive to say that he was shot just because he was black. It also puts the idea of armed officers protecting against shooters into question. You often people say "the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."However if the police can't decipher between the two in a chaotic situation, what good is that.
ReplyDeleteThis case is simply infuriating. It displays a perpetuation of racism within the police system. More importantly, this shows that agencies have not changed their protocols or training in order to prevent these types of incidents. Our media has a tendency to "racialize" certain issues. But, by bring up that point one ignores an incredibly large factor in this case. One can only hope that police departments and government agencies thoroughly examine these cases in pursuit of redefining their laws.
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