Correction: Mall Shooting-Alabama story

Correction: Mall Shooting-Alabama story


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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — In a story Jan. 17 about a fatal police shooting on Thanksgiving night, The Associated Press reported erroneously that testimony showed a man killed by police in an Alabama shopping mall was standing over a shooting victim. The statement was made by a defense attorney, not a witness.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Lawyer: Man shot by Alabama police held gun over victim

A defense lawyer said video shows that a man who was fatally shot by police who mistook him for a suspect in an Alabama shopping mall last year was standing over a shooting victim with a gun moments before he was killed

By JAY REEVES

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A man killed by police who mistook him for a suspect in an Alabama shopping mall on Thanksgiving night was standing over a shooting victim with a gun drawn moments before he was fatally wounded, a defense attorney said Thursday.

Details of the video surrounding the police shooting of Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., 21, came out during a hearing for Erron Brown, 20, who is charged with attempted murder in the gunfire that preceded the killing.

With a state police investigator, Pete DaCosta, on the stand, Brown's attorney, Charles Salvagio, suggested that surveillance video showed Bradford standing with a gun after Brian Wilson was shot and wounded at a mall in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham. The shooting came at the start of holiday shopping.

Within moments, police shot and killed Bradford, whose death sparked days of protests.

Outside court, the state attorney general's office said DaCosta did not agree to Salvagio's description of what the video showed.

Roosevelt Poole, a friend of Brown, testified that two groups of men met up at the mall near a shoe store after Bradford sent him a Facebook message asking about their location.

As the groups came together, Poole said, Bradford shook his hand. About the same time, a smiling Wilson punched or slapped Brown in the face.

Eric Parker, who was with Poole and Brown, testified he saw Bradford move forward about the same time and appear to be pulling out a gun as shots rang out. People scattered after the gunfire, and Parker said he heard more shots as he fled — possibly the sound of police shooting Bradford.

Police shot Bradford three times on the back side of his body, a medical review released by his family found. Attorneys for his parents have portrayed Bradford as a "good guy with a gun" who was trying to protect others when police killed him.

But the attorney for Brown, Salvagio, argued that his client fired in self-defense after a confrontation sparked in part by Bradford.

"If they put on the evidence we hear today, the grand jury isn't going to indict (Brown)," Salvagio told Judge William A. Bell Jr.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Arrington argued that prosecutors had enough evidence for a grand jury to consider indicting Brown in Wilson's shooting, and the judge agreed.

The judge also agreed with a defense request to lower Brown's bail from $125,000 to $60,000.

Brown was arrested at a relative's home near Atlanta days after the shooting. He has remained in jail since.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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