Black man killed by police in Alabama was shot from behind, autopsy shows

The black man who was fatally shot by a police officer at an Alabama mall on Thanksgiving night was shot three times from behind, according to an independent autopsy.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney representing the family of Emantic “E.J.” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., said Monday at a news conference in Birmingham, Ala., that the forensic examination showed Bradford was shot in the head, neck and back, NBC News reported.

{mosads}“We believe based on this forensic evidence that this officer should be charged with a crime,” Crump, who previously represented Trayvon Martin’s family in their case against George Zimmerman, said at the conference. 

“There’s nothing that justifies him shooting E.J. as he’s moving away from him. You’re not a threat when you’re running away,” he continued.

The autopsy reportedly indicated that Bradford, 21, had a laceration on his face that could indicate he fell forward.

“My son was murdered by this officer and that was cowardice,” Bradford’s father, Emantic Bradford Sr., also said at the news conference, according to the outlet.

“You shot a 21-year-old person running away from gunfire. Never posed you a threat, never had nothing in his hand,” Bradford Sr., a former corrections officer, continued. “Why did you shoot him? You can’t explain that to me, ’cause that ain’t training. That’s cowardice.”

The city of Hoover called on Crump and Bradford Jr.’s family to submit the findings from their independent autopsy to Alabama Law Enforcement Agency so that the “new information becomes a part of the official investigation,” according to a statement seen by NBC News. 

Hoover police have said they will not release any evidence from the incident until the investigation is complete.

Bradford was fatally shot on Thanksgiving night by a police officer who was responding to reports of gunfire at Hoover’s Riverchase Galleria, near Birmingham.

Hoover police initially said Bradford Jr., who was legally carrying a handgun at the time, fired the shots, but investigators have since said they believe that the gunman responsible for injuring a 18-year-old male and a 12-year-old female is still at large.

Witnesses, according to The New York Times, said Bradford Jr. was directing panicked shoppers to safety when he was fatally shot by the police.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Georgia captured Erron Brown as a suspect in the shooting on Thursday.