Police have arrested a man suspected of a Thanksgiving Day shooting at an Alabama mall, where law enforcement mistakenly killed a man believed to be the gunman.
The suspect, Erron Martez Dequan Brown, is charged with attempted murder in the Nov. 22 shooting at the Hoover, Ala., mall, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) told The Hill Thursday.
A 12-year-old girl and 18-year-old man were injured in the shooting, and police shot and killed a man they wrongly identified as the gunman.
{mosads}That man, Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., was reportedly seen fleeing the scene of the shooting, brandishing a handgun. A police officer, who was not in uniform, engaged and then shot and killed Bradford.
Police initially believed Bradford fired the shots but have since said “he likely did not fire the rounds that injured the 18-year-old victim.”
An Army veteran, Bradford had a permit to carry a weapon, according to his father.
He reportedly drew his weapon after shots rang out in the mall.
Bradford’s parents hired national civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump last weekend.
Crump said several witnesses have reached out to Bradford’s family, saying that the policeman shot their son “within milliseconds.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a good guy with a gun. If you’re black, the police shoot and kill you and ask questions later,” Crump said.
The ALEA told The Hill that an investigation is ongoing, into the events at the mall, “including the officer-involved shooting from the same evening and location.”
Updated at 5:06 p.m.