Police in Alabama said Monday that a black man killed by a cop who believed he was responsible for a mall shooting “heightened the sense of threat” by pulling out his weapon at the scene.

“We can say with certainty Mr. Bradford brandished a gun during the seconds following the gunshots, which instantly heightened the sense of threat to approaching police officers responding to the chaotic scene,” said a statement from the city of Hoover and its police department.

Hoover police initially said Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, 21, was responsible for wounding a 12-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man following an altercation at the Riverchase Galleria in Birmingham on Thanksgiving night.

About 20 hours later, they retracted the statement, saying it was “unlikely” that Bradford was involved.

“We extend sympathy to the family of Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., of Hueytown, who was shot and killed during Hoover Police efforts to secure the scene in the seconds following the original altercation and shooting,” the statement Monday said. “The loss of human life is a tragedy under any circumstances.”

Bradford, an Army veteran, had a permit to carry a weapon, said his father.

Bradford’s parents told CNN on Monday that the cops still haven’t spoken with them, as they called on police to release body-camera video.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a good guy with a gun,” said Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney hired by the Bradford family. “If you’re black, the police shoot and kill you and ask questions later.”

Hoover police said they turned over all available video to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department as part of the investigation.

They’re still hunting for the initial shooter.

With Post wires

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