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TODAYS TOP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Monday, November 26, 2018 3A
KIM CHANDLER I Associated Press
Protestors carry a sign reading Justice for E.J. during a protest at the Riverchase Galleria
in Hoover, Ala., Saturday, Nov. 24.
Questions stir emotions
after Ala. mall shooting
BY KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press
HOOVER, Ala. — The
father of a black man killed
by a police officer during a
shooting at an Alabama mall
said his son had a permit to
carry a gun for self-defense,
adding it was hurtful police
initially portrayed his son as
the shooter.
Emantic “EJ” Bradford
Jr., 21, was fatally shot by
the officer responding to the
Thanksgiving night shooting
that wounded an 18-year-old
man and a 12-year-old girl
bystander. Hoover police
initially said they thought
Bradford, who was carry
ing a handgun, was respon
sible but later retracted
that statement. They subse
quently said it was unlikely
that Bradford had done the
shooting.
Bradford’s father, Eman
tic Bradford Sr., speaking
Saturday night with The
Associated Press, said the
family wants to know if
there is police body camera
footage from the shooting.
Police have not confirmed
to AP whether such footage
exists.
Hoover Police Captain
Gregg Rector said inves
tigators now believe that
more than two people were
involved in the initial fight
ahead of the shooting, and
that “at least one gunman”
is still at large who could
be responsible. Police said
while Bradford Jr. “may
have been involved in some
aspect of the altercation, he
likely did not fire the rounds
that wounded the 18-year-
old victim.” Rector said
police regret that their ini
tial statement about Brad
ford was not accurate and
added the shooting remains
under investigation.
About 200 demonstrators
marched Saturday evening
through the Riverchase
Galleria mall in suburban
Birmingham and held a
moment of silence for Brad
ford at the spot where he
was killed.
The slain man’s step
mother, Cynthia Bradford,
described her stepson, who
went by E.J., as a respect
ful young man whose father
worked at a jail for the Bir
mingham Police Depart
ment. She also said of the
initial police account: “We
knew that was false.”
The unanswered ques
tions surrounding the shoot
ing have stirred emotions in
the suburb of the majority-
black city of Birmingham.
Demonstrators on Sat
urday included several
relatives, and they chanted
“E.J” and “no justice, no
peace” as they marched
past Christmas shoppers at
the mall.
Family members
described their horror of
finding out from social
media that Bradford was
dead. Video circulated on
social media of Bradford
lying in a pool of blood on
the mall floor.
Bradford’s father called
his son, “a good kid, a very
good kid.”
Bradford Sr. said his
son had a permit to carry
a weapon in self-defense.
He said he doesn’t know
exactly what happened at
the mall but added: “They
were so quick to rush to
judgment. .. I knew my
son didn’t do that. People
rushed to judgment. They
shouldn’t have done that.”
Carlos Chaverst, an activ
ist in Birmingham who
organized Saturday’s pro
test, said that when authori
ties acknowledged that the
person killed was not the
actual shooter, “that sent us
in an uproar.”
He said more protests
will be held in the future to
hold officials accountable.
“When we found out
about this incident, there
were questions from the
jump. People were upset
because a man was shot and
killed by police in our own
backyard,” he said.
The incident began
Thanksgiving night with
a fight and shooting at the
Riverchase Galleria, a mall
crowded with Black Friday
bargain hunters, according
to authorities. An 18-year-
old man was shot twice
and a 12-year-old female
bystander was shot in the
back. Hoover police said
Friday morning that the girl
was in stable condition.
The Alabama Law
Enforcement Agency
is investigating the inci
dent since it is an officer-
involved shooting. The
Hoover Police Department
is conducting its own inter
nal investigation.
The officer who shot
Bradford was placed on
administrative leave while
authorities investigate
the shooting. The officer’s
name was not released pub
licly. The officer was not
hurt.
Video posted on social
media by shoppers showed
a chaotic scene as shoppers
fled. A witness, Lexi Joiner,
told Alcorn she was shop
ping with her mother when
the gunfire started. Joiner
said she heard six or seven
shots and was ordered,
along with some other shop
pers, into a supply closet for
cover.
“It was terrifying,” Joiner
said.
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Russia seizes 3
Ukrainian vessels
UKRAINIAN NAVY PRESS SERVICE I Associated Press
Two Ukrainian forces navy ships are seen near Crimea,
Sunday, Nov. 25. The Ukrainian navy says a Russian coast
guard vessel rammed a Ukrainian navy tugboat near Crimea,
damaging the ship’s engines and hull.
BY MATTHEW BODNER
Associated Press
MOSCOW — Russia’s
coast guard opened fire on
and seized three of Ukraine’s
vessels Sunday, wounding
two crew members, after a
tense standoff in the Black
Sea near the Crimean Pen
insula, the Ukrainian navy
said.
Russia blamed Ukraine
for provoking the incident,
which sharply escalated
tensions that have been
growing between the two
countries since Moscow
annexed Crimea from
Ukraine in 2014, and it has
worked steadily to bolster its
zone of control around the
peninsula.
Earlier in the day, Rus
sia and Ukraine traded
accusations over a separate
incident involving the same
vessels, prompting Moscow
to block passage through the
narrow Kerch Strait, which
separates the peninsula from
the Russian mainland.
The Ukrainian navy said
two of its gunboats were
struck and Russian crews
boarded and seized them
and an accompanying
tugboat.
Russia’s Federal Security
Service, known as the FSB
and which oversees the coast
guard, said there was “irre
futable evidence that Kiev
prepared and orchestrated
provocations .. in the Black
Sea. These materials will
soon be made public.”
The FSB confirmed early
Monday that it fired on the
vessels to force them to stop,
and then seized them.
The European Union and
NATO called for restraint
from both sides and for Mos
cow to restore access to the
strait, which Ukraine uses
to move ships to and from
ports on either side of the
peninsula.
Ukrainian authorities
said they had given advance
notice to the Russians that
the vessels would be mov
ing through the strait, which
connects the Black Sea to the
Sea of Azov.
Russia said the three
Ukrainian vessels made
an unauthorized passage
through Russian territo
rial waters, while Ukraine
alleged that one of its boats
was rammed by a Russian
coast guard vessel.
The tugboat, which was
rammed, was traveling with
the two Ukrainian gunboats
from Odessa on the Black
Sea to Mariupol, an eastern
Ukraine port, via the Kerch
Strait.
“Russian coast guard ves
sels .. carried out openly
aggressive actions against
Ukrainian navy ships,” the
Ukrainian statement said,
with the tugboat suffering
damage to its engine, hull,
side railing and a lifeboat.
The Kerch Strait is the
only passage into the Sea of
Azov. The strait is spanned
by the recently completed
Kerch Bridge, connecting
Crimea to Russia. Transit
under the bridge has been
blocked by a tanker ship, and
dozens of cargo ships await
ing passage are stuck.
Russia has not given any
indication of how long it
will block the strait, but a
long-term closure to would
amount to an economic
blockade of Ukrainian cities
on the Azov coast. Russia’s
Black Sea Fleet greatly out
matches the Ukrainian navy.
Ukrainian ports on the
Sea of Azov include strategi
cally vital centers such as
Mariupol, the closest gov
ernment-controlled city to
Donetsk and Luhansk, the
breakaway regions of east
ern Ukraine controlled by
Russia-backed separatists.
Thousands of people in those
regions have been killed in
fighting between Ukrainian
troops and the separatists
since 2014.
The FSB told Russian
news agencies after the first
incident that the Ukrainian
ships held their course and
violated Russian territorial
waters.
“Their goal is clear — to
create a conflict situation in
the region,” the FSB state
ment said. It did not mention
that a Ukrainian tugboat was
rammed.
Although a 2003 treaty des
ignates the Kerch Strait and
Sea of Azov as shared territo
rial waters, Russia has been
asserting greater control
over the passage since 2015.
The Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry said earlier that
Russia’s actions violated the
U.N. Charter and interna
tional law, and pledged to
“promptly inform our part
ners about Russia’s aggres
sive actions.”
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