By Jeff Wyatt and James Franklin
ABC 33/40
A suspect in the Thanksgiving night Galleria Mall shooting has been arrested by US Marshals near Atlanta.
20-year-old Erron Brown surrendered peacefully to US Marshals Thursday morning at a relative’s house in south Fulton County, Georgia. He was taken to the Fulton County Jail where he will be processed before extradition procedures begin to have him returned to Alabama. Brown faces a charge of attempted murder, and more charges are expected.
The mall shooting left an 18-year-old and 12-year-old injured Thanksgiving night.
Frank Lumpka, US Marshal, says the Atlanta area task force was contacted by the Gulf Coast Regional Task Force Wednesday night after getting a warrant for Brown.
Once Brown is extradited from Georgia, he will be booked into the Jefferson County Jail on $150,000 bond.
Emantic Bradford Jr. was fatally shot at the mall by a uniformed Hoover police officer responding to reports of the mall shooting. Police say Bradford brandished a gun, and initially identified him as the suspected shooter. They later retracted their allegation.
Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr released the following statement on the investigation:
“Today, Erron Brown was arrested for Attempted Murder for the shooting of Brian Wilson that took place at the Galleria Mall on Thanksgiving night. While charges are being brought against Mr. Brown, ALEA’s investigation is not complete and remains ongoing and we will continue to review all evidence submitted to our officer related to this case. We are confident ALEA is working to complete the investigation in a timely manner. However, in light of the fact that so many people were present in the mall that evening, witness interviews are still ongoing. We encourage anyone with information regarding the events that took place in the Galleria to comes forward and speak with investigators about anything they saw or heard. ALEA can be reached at (334) 462-9163. We plan to share as much information about the investigation as we can as soon as we are legally permitted to do so.”
Earlier Thursday, Hoover Councilman Derrick Murphy requested ALEA allow the city of Hoover to share what information they have regarding the shooting. If ALEA does not grant Hoover’s request, Hoover Police may decide to do it on their own.
ALEA later released the following statement, “It is highly likely that prematurely releasing information, including video evidence, would have hampered the investigation’s progress thus far, even to the point of deterring key witnesses.”
This is a developing story – stay with ABC 33/40 for updates.
