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From NBC News
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.
COMMENT:-
If you read a little further in the article, it seems that there is some ground for believing that the police made no demands and didn't call out any commands before shooting at the "armed person".
If this proves to be the case (and that can only be established once the police release the video) then it appears that the mantra "All it takes is one good man with a gun" should be revised to read "All it takes is one good man with a gun (unless he's 'Black' and then the police will shoot him as soon as they arrive)".
Would anyone like to bet that the police officer's lawyer is NOT going to come out with a statement along the lines of
"While he's heart broken over what happened, my client honestly believed that his life, and those of the people whose sworn duty it was to protect, was endangered by the person my client saw actually holding the gun when my client responded to an 'Active Shooter' call in the ordinary and everyday course of his employment and was only following established police department policies and procedures."?
Alabama police suggest black man killed by officer shouldn't have held his gun
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.
COMMENT:-
If you read a little further in the article, it seems that there is some ground for believing that the police made no demands and didn't call out any commands before shooting at the "armed person".
If this proves to be the case (and that can only be established once the police release the video) then it appears that the mantra "All it takes is one good man with a gun" should be revised to read "All it takes is one good man with a gun (unless he's 'Black' and then the police will shoot him as soon as they arrive)".
Would anyone like to bet that the police officer's lawyer is NOT going to come out with a statement along the lines of
"While he's heart broken over what happened, my client honestly believed that his life, and those of the people whose sworn duty it was to protect, was endangered by the person my client saw actually holding the gun when my client responded to an 'Active Shooter' call in the ordinary and everyday course of his employment and was only following established police department policies and procedures."?