SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Georgia authorities arrested a father and son Thursday and charged them with murder in the February shooting death of a black man that they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood.
The charges came more than two months after Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was killed on a residential street just outside the port city of Brunswick, Ga. National anger over the case swelled this week after a cellphone video surfaced that appeared to show the shooting.
Gregory McMichael, 64, previously told police that he and his son chased after Arbery because they suspected him of being a burglar.
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she believes her son, a former football player, was just jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood before he was killed on a Sunday afternoon.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the slain man's father, Marcus Arbery, said it was "outrageous" that it took so long for arrests to be made.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests the day after it began its own investigation at the request of an outside prosecutor. The agency said in a news release that Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son, Travis McMichael, who are white, had both been jailed on charges of murder and aggravated assault.
The bureau's news release said the McMichaels "confronted Arbery with two firearms. During the encounter, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery." No other details were immediately released.
Gregory McMichael told police he suspected the runner was the same man filmed by a security camera committing a break-in. He and his son grabbed guns and began a pursuit in the truck.
The video shows a black man running at a jogging pace on the left side of a road. A truck is parked in the road ahead of him. One of the white men is inside the pickup's bed. The other is standing beside the open driver's side door.
The runner crosses the road to pass the pickup on the passenger side, then crosses back in front of the truck. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the runner grappling with a man in the street over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. A second shot can be heard, and the runner can be seen punching the man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The runner staggers a few feet and falls face down.
Brunswick defense attorney Alan Tucker identified himself Thursday as the person who shared the video with a radio station.
The outcry over the killing reached the White House, where President Donald Trump offered condolences Thursday to Arbery's family.
"It's a very sad thing," Trump said, "but I will be given a full report this evening."
A Section on 05/08/2020