Family of black man killed by cop in Alabama mall shooting hires civil rights attorney

The family of a black man fatally shot by a police officer at an Alabama mall on Thanksgiving night reportedly retained a national civil rights attorney. 

According to a press release obtained by a local ABC station, the family has hired Benjamin Crump to represent them in the shooting death of Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. 

Crump previously Trayvon Martin’s family in their case against George Zimmerman, the station also notes.

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

Police initially said Bradford 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.

“Over the past 20 hours, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigators and crime scene technicians have interviewed numerous individuals and examined several critical evidentiary items,’’ Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said.

“New evidence now suggests that while Mr. Bradford may have been involved in some aspect of the altercation, he likely did not fire the rounds that injured the 18-year-old victim,” he continued. 

According to AL.com, Bradford, who received a general discharge from the US Army in August, was seen fleeing the scene at the night of the shooting while brandishing a handgun before being engaged by the police officer, who was also not in uniform.