NAACP Legal Defense Fund requests federal investigation into Hoover mall shooting

(AL.com)

Officials with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund have asked federal officials to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Thanksgiving night police shooting death of 21-year-old Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover.

Sherrilyn A. Ifill, President and Director Counsel for the LDF, on Thursday sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Jay Town requesting his office investigate the circumstances around the alleged fight and shooting that left Bradford dead at the hands of police and 18-year-old Brian Wilson and a 12-year-old Molly Davis, injured.

In the letter, Ifill criticized the Hoover Police Department for claiming Bradford was the gunman before a full investigation was completed.

“By baselessly and wrongly blaming Mr. Bradford for the shootings before conducting a competent investigation, the HPD has caused tremendous pain to Mr. Bradford’s family and to the local community, resulting in days of protests and a deepening mistrust that will only make an investigation into this matter by local authorities more difficult,” Ifill said in the letter. Read more