Father and son charged in the killing of black Georgia jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, after footage sparked outrage
A Georgia father and son were charged with murder and aggravated assault Thursday evening in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery after a newly released video appearing to show the moments before his death intensified pressure on authorities to make the arrests.
The charges against the men — Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34 — come more than two months after Arbery was killed. Two local district attorneys recused themselves from the case before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was brought in. The agency made the arrests the day after its investigation began.
The video shows two men approach a young black man jogging on the street. After a brief interaction, gunshots can be heard and the jogger stumbles to the ground. The footage ignited outrage across the political spectrum, with former vice president Joe Biden comparing it to a lynching and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) calling the shooting “absolutely horrific.”
President Trump, speaking at an event in the Oval Office on Thursday, said he expects to get a “full report” on the incident and called the death “a very sad thing.”
Police have not confirmed the authenticity of the footage, but Arbery’s family’s attorney says it depicts the young man’s killing.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the case in partnership with District Attorney Tom Durden, has scheduled a news conference Friday morning to discuss the arrests.
According to a police report, Gregory McMichael, a retired police detective, saw Arbery jogging and believed he looked like a suspect in break-ins in the neighbourhood. A local news report found only one burglary was reported to police between Jan. 1 and Feb. 23.
McMichael called his son and they armed themselves with a handgun and shotgun, respectively, according to the police report. They chased Arbery in a truck, according to the report, and McMichael told police that he shouted to Arbery, “Stop, stop, we want to talk to you,” before, according to their statements, they pulled up beside him in their truck.
Reached by phone Thursday afternoon before he was arrested, Gregory McMichael said, “There are many, many facts out there that have not come to light.”
“This is all based on the video and newspaper story. All the stuff that led up to that still hasn’t been released,” he said.
Gregory McMichael refused to comment further because the case is under investigation and also declined to comment on behalf of his son, Travis. He referred to his attorney, Alan Tucker, who did not return an email requesting comment on the case.
The case has been assigned to a carousel of prosecutors, beginning with Jackie Johnson in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, who recused herself from the case in February because Greg McMichael was previously an investigator in her office. The case then went to George E. Barnhill, district attorney for Georgia’s Waycross Judicial Circuit, who also recused himself, after Arbery’s mother complained that Barnhill’s son used to work with McMichael in the Brunswick District Attorney’s Office, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
In the letter recusing himself, Barnhill named William Bryan as the man who shot the video that appears to show Arbery’s killing. Bryan was not mentioned in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s announcement of the McMichaels’ arrests.
On Tuesday, Durden — the latest district attorney to take on the case — said in a statement that the case should be presented to a grand jury for consideration of criminal charges.
Arbery’s family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, noted in a statement that grand juries in Georgia are temporarily suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. A statewide moratorium on judicial proceedings was extended this week until June 12, meaning it could be another month before the case is heard.
Meanwhile, protests have erupted in the town. The NAACP held one Wednesday and is planning a 10 a.m. demonstration at the courthouse in Brunswick on Friday.
Also Friday, Jason Vaughn, Arbery’s former football coach, is organizing a social media-based memorial where participants will post videos about their 2.23-mile runs in honor of the slain jogger. He died Feb. 23.
The killing has resurrected ever-raw wounds of violence against unarmed black Americans, which became more visible with the prevalence of cellphone cameras.
Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, spoke passionately about the incident during a virtual campaign roundtable focused on African American issues Thursday, telling participants that watching Arbery “shot down in cold blood” was like seeing him “lynched before our very eyes.”
He called the fatal shooting the latest example of the “rising pandemic of hate” in America. Biden has said it was the protests involving white supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017 — and Trump’s lack of a full-throated condemnation of them — that spurred him to run for president.
During the Obama administration, shootings of unarmed black teenagers Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown drew massive protests, sparking the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and bringing wider attention to issues of race and justice.
Trump, who argued there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville protests in 2017, said in the Oval Office on Thursday, “My heart goes out to the parents and the loved one of the young gentleman.”
Kemp, the governor, sought to assure Georgia residents that the state is taking the case seriously.
“Earlier this week, I watched a video depicting Mr. Arbery’s last moments alive,” he said in a statement Thursday. “It is absolutely horrific, and Georgians deserve answers.”
Georgia Democrat Lucy McBath, whose run for Congress was inspired by the death of her son, Jordan Davis — an unarmed black teenager gunned down at a gas station over his loud music — called Arbery’s killing a “murder.”
“Outrageous and unconscionable. This is murder. Full stop. We cannot continue allowing this to happen in America. I hurt for this young man’s family. We must demand justice,” she tweeted.
Other members of the state’s congressional delegation also responded to the video.
“What I saw on the video is disturbing and wrong and looks like a criminal act. It must be thoroughly investigated, and I can’t imagine why it has taken this long to come to light,” said Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R), who is running for Senate.
His opponent, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R), tweeted: “I am deeply concerned by the death of Ahmaud Arbery, and I join Georgians across the state in calling for swift action and immediate answers. My prayers are with the Arbery family for their devastating loss.”
Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the only black Republican U.S. senator, said it’s time for America to face some “hard truths.”
“My heart breaks for his family, and justice must be served,” Scott said in a series of tweets on the subject.