HOOVER, Ala. | Authorities arrested a suspect in a Thanksgiving shooting that caused panic at Alabama’s largest shopping mall Thursday, but protesters said they plan to continue holding demonstrations over the police killing of another black man who was initially believed to be the shooter.
Erron Martez Dequan Brown, 20, of Bessemer was captured at a relative’s home south of Atlanta, authorities said. He was jailed awaiting a hearing to be sent back to Alabama.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Brown was charged in the shooting of Brian Xavier Wilson, 18, of Birmingham, who was wounded at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover on Thanksgiving night.
Authorities have not announced charges in the shooting of another person who was wounded, a 12-year-old girl, and a spokeswoman for the agency did not respond to an email seeking details.
Protesters said Brown’s arrest didn’t resolve what they referred to as the “murder” of Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr., 21, by police, and they are determined to continue demonstrations over his shooting death.
“We’re asking members of the public to not spend another dime in Hoover until they take black lives seriously,” Carlos Chaverst Jr., who has helped organize protests, said at a news conference.
In a statement issued by their lawyer, Bradford’s relatives said they were gratified by Brown’s arrest and said it further underscored Bradford’s “unjust” death.
Police have said a Hoover police officer who was working security at the mall during the start of Black Friday shopping heard shots and responded within seconds. The officer, who has yet to be publicly identified, saw Bradford with a gun and shot him, police said.
Authorities at first identified Bradford as the shooter who wounded two people. They later retracted that allegation and searched for the real gunman.
Bradford’s relatives have said he had a permit to carry a gun legally, and their attorney Ben Crump has quoted witnesses as saying Bradford was trying to help when he was gunned down.
“He was a good guy with a gun,” Crump said.
