FILE - In this Nov. 27, 2018, file frame from video, April Pipkins holds a photograph of her deceased son, Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala. A police officer will not face charges for killing Bradford Jr, a man he mistook for the gunman in an Alabama mall shooting on Thanksgiving night. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, that he concluded the officer did not break the law and won’t be charged in the death. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves, File)
HOOVER, Ala. – Federal officials are investigating an Alabama mall shooting in which a police officer killed a black man he mistook for the gunman.
News outlets report that U.S. Attorney Jay Town issued a statement Friday that the Department of Justice has been reviewing and is continuing to investigate the shooting death of 21-year-old Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Tuesday that the officer will not face charges. The state's investigation determined that the police officer in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover was justified in shooting Bradford because Bradford carried a weapon and appeared to pose a threat.
That decision has prompted outrage among activists. The Alabama NAACP says Marshall's decision essentially tells Alabama's black residents their lives don't matter.
The officer mistook Bradford for the person who fired shots moments earlier on Thanksgiving night.
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