April Pipkins is still at a loss for words over the events that led up to her son’s fatal shooting Thanksgiving night — and as outrage grows, she wants people to know that Emantic Bradford Jr. was a loving man. The 21-year-old was killed by a police officer in a case of mistaken identity during a shooting at Alabama’s largest enclosed mall Thursday night.Officers initially thought Bradford fired the rounds at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover that left an 18-year-old and a 12-year-old hospitalized, Hoover police spokesman Capt. Gregg Rector said in a statement.”I will never be able to see my son’s face again or to look into his eyes or to hear him say, ‘Mom, I love you,'” Pipkins said of her son, adding that he may not be able to have an open-casket funeral because he was shot in the face. Bradford had no criminal record, said civil rights attorney Ben Crump who the family hired. Crump said Bradford was actually trying to help victims to safety when he was shot. After the shooting, police provided the young man with no medical assistance, the attorney said.Bradford was also the caretaker for his father, who is battling cancer, worked full time and helped his mother financially. He had a concealed weapon permit for the gun he was carrying that day, Crump said. The Hoover police officer, who was working mall security when he shot Bradford, is on administrative leave during an investigation, police previously said.
Source: CNN
Funeral for Justice 