Alabama AG: No Charges Against Officer Who Shot Wrong Person in Mall

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Alabama’s Office of the Attorney General released a report Tuesday noting that no charges will be filed against the officer who shot and killed Emantic “E.J.” Bradford on Thanksgiving Day 2018.

Breitbart News reported that the incident occurred in the city of Hoover, at Alabama’s Riverchase Galleria. Shots rang out and officers responded, killing an individual who was holding a handgun. Numerous outlets reported that the officers had shot the gunman, but police later clarified that the gunman was still on the loose.

The actual shooting suspect, 20-year-old Erron Martez Dequan Brown, was captured on November 29, 2018.

On February 5, 2019, the state’s Office of the Attorney General released a report explaining that the officer who shot Bradford will not face charges because the officer who opened fire “reasonably exercised his official powers, duties, or functions when he shot E.J. Bradford.” That officer–referred to as Officer 1–saw Bradford running with a handgun and shot four times, striking Bradford three times.

The AG’s report explains the chaotic scene faced by Officer 1 and his partner after the initial shots rang out:

Within three seconds, they encountered E.J. Bradford, who held a firearm in a ready position, then charged forward. Several persons were in Bradford’s path. Immediately before him, Brian Wilson lay on the ground, bleeding from his gunshot wounds, and 18-year-old (“AC”) stood over Wilson. Beyond them, Erron Brown (the initial shooter) and his companions were running into JC Penney, while several innocent bystanders were scrambling for cover. Officer 1 identified E.J. Bradford as an immediate deadly threat to innocent civilians and thus shot Bradford to eliminate the threat.

The AG’s report points to tactics adopted after the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School attack. Whereas officers would encircle an area and clear it bit by bit prior to Columbine, today’s training entails going right for the shooter to remove the threat.

The AG report:

After Columbine, the United States Department of Justice (“USDOJ”) and other agencies created an active shooter program known as Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, or “ALERRT.” Id. Under ALERRT, law enforcement officials are now trained to “rush straight to the gunfire” and “end the threat.”

The AG report concludes, “Because Officer 1 did not commit a crime under Alabama law, Rule 3.8(1)(a) of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct dictates that the Attorney General “shall refrain” from seeking criminal charges against Officer 1.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

 

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