In what came as a shock on Friday night, the Hoover Police Department announced in a statement that the gun-wielding 21-year-old who was shot and killed by an officer at the Riverchase Galleria on Thursday night was not the original shooter who injured an 18-year-old male following an altercation.
In a press conference immediately following the incident on the night of Thanksgiving, which also resulted in a 12-year-old being hospitalized with a gunshot wound, officials said the shooter had been killed. However, this no longer appears to be the case.
After witness interviews and forensic analysis by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, police say the now-deceased 21-year-old, Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, may have still been involved in some fashion in the altercation, however, “he likely did not fire the rounds that injured the 18-year-old victim.”
The Hoover Police Department, while apologizing for the initial incorrect information, warned that there is “at least one gunman still at-large.”
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) has now taken over the case and the hunt for the shooter(s). Hoover PD will still conduct their own internal investigation pertaining to the officer-involved shooting.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting may contact ALEA or (to stay anonymous) call Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama at 205-254-7777.
— Hoover Police Dept (@HooverPD) November 24, 2018
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
