Ahmaud Arbery killing: Father and son charged with murder

The two men involved in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old African-American killed while reportedly jogging outside Brunswick in Georgia, have now been charged with murder.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis 34, were on Thursday evening arrested on charges of murder and aggravated assault. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says the two have now been detained at the Glynn County jail.

The GBI will also hold a news conference on Friday morning to relay information from investigations so far.

It is not known when the father and son will appear before a judge. There were even initial doubts that the pair would be charged immediately since Georgia’s courts are currently unable to impanel a grand jury because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But an eyewitness video of the fatal shooting of Arbery, that was leaked on to social media seemed to have forced a prosecutor to ask a grand jury if charges could be brought against the shooters.

Earlier in the week, Georgia prosecutor, Tom Durden, released a statement saying he will present a case to a grand jury in Glynn County to consider charges against the McMichaels.

Parts of Gregory McMichael’s statement to the police seems to tally with the video that was leaked online this week.

Arbery was killed on February 23 while reportedly jogging. The older McMichael had told officers that they had chased Arbery after he thought Arbery looked like a suspect who had been connected to a number of burglaries in the Brunswick area.

When the father and son caught up with Arbery, the deceased struggled with Travis over the shotgun the younger McMichael was holding. Two shots were fired at Arbery during the scuffle before he fell down on the road.

In an interview with CNN, Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper, said she was told by police in February that her son had been killed in a struggle over a gun with the son of the homeowner whose house Arbery had burglarized.

Georgia governor Brian Kemp has promised full support for the investigation because “Georgians deserve answers”.