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Judge orders release of evidence in Alabama mall shooting

A judge says prosecutors must turn over evidence about a confrontation that sparked a fatal police shooting in an Alabama shopping mall on Thanksgiving night

This Monday, Dec. 3, 2018 booking photograph provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Birmingham, Ala., shows Erron Brown, who is charged with attempted murder in a shooting at a shopping mall on Thanksgiving. Police in Hoover, Ala., shot and killed another black man, Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., mistaking him for the shooter after the shots rang out. (AP Photo/Jefferson County Sheriff's Office)
This Monday, Dec. 3, 2018 booking photograph provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Birmingham, Ala., shows Erron Brown, who is charged with attempted murder in a shooting at a shopping mall on Thanksgiving. Police in Hoover, Ala., shot and killed another black man, Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., mistaking him for the shooter after the shots rang out. (AP Photo/Jefferson County Sheriff's Office)Read moreJefferson County Sheriff's Office / AP
    by The Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Prosecutors must turn over evidence about a confrontation that sparked a fatal police shooting in an Alabama shopping mall on Thanksgiving night, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Jefferson County District Judge William A. Bell Jr. issued a brief order granting a request by Erron Brown, 20, for evidence in the attempted murder case against him. He is charged with shooting a teenager at the mall.

The order doesn't mention police videos, and it doesn't mean evidence is being made public immediately. But Brown's lawyer, Charles Salvagio, said it encompasses all videos from the incident, and that could include the moment when police shot and killed another man at a suburban mall.

The order comes as protesters and relatives of the man killed by police, 21-year-old Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., continue asking to see any video of the confrontation.

Citing a continuing investigation, authorities have refused to release video publicly or show it to Bradford's family.

Police first blamed Bradford for a shooting that left two people wounded at a suburban mall. They then backtracked and arrested Brown after a manhunt.

Brown's lawyer said he is not guilty. Bond is set at $125,000 for Brown, who was arrested last week near Atlanta.

Salvagio also said Wednesday that his client wasn't the instigator in the initial confrontation that sparked the police shooting of Bradford.

During a news conference Wednesday, Salvagio wouldn't provide details about the incident. But he said the people involved all knew each other, and that the violence resulted from an "ongoing thing."

Brown's mother, Ebony Brown, says she's standing by her son and predicts his name will be cleared.

Bradford died of three gunshot wounds to the back of his head, neck and torso, according to a forensic report commissioned by his family. Authorities have said an unnamed officer shot him after seeing Bradford with a gun, which relatives say he had a permit to carry legally.

Demonstrations have been held almost daily since Bradford's death. On Tuesday night, protesters briefly shut down a portion of Interstate 459 in Hoover near the Riverchase Galleria, the mall where Bradford was killed.

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This story has been corrected; some references to Bradford were misspelled.