Story at a glance
- Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was jogging in Brunswick, Ga., when he was chased down by a white father and son who told police they ordered him to stop because they believed he was a burglary suspect.
- The video shows a struggle between Arbery and Travis McMichael over a shotgun.
- Three shots are fired, and Arbery falls in the middle of the road.
Video has surfaced showing a February incident in which a black man who was jogging in a neighborhood in Brunswick, Ga., was chased and gunned down by a white father and son who told police they went after the man because they believed he was a burglary suspect.
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was jogging on Feb. 23 when Gregory McMichael, a former police officer, and his son Travis McMichael chased after him after seeing him run by, and ordered him to stop because they believed Arbery was a suspect in a series of recent break-ins in the area.
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After chasing Arbery down, McMichael told police his son Travis and Arbery struggled over his Travis’s shotgun, which led to shots being fired and Arbery’s death, according to a Glynn County Police report.
The video that surfaced online Tuesday, months after the shooting occurred, is filmed from an unidentified person in a vehicle, and shows a man who appears to be Arbery jogging towards a white truck parked on the road, where two men stand: one in the bed of the truck and the other to its side.
As the jogger approaches, he goes around the truck to the right side, and just as he’s passing the front of the vehicle, he makes a left and begins struggling with the man for the shotgun as a shot is heard.
The two disappear off the left side of the screen, as the man who appears to be Arbery throws a punch and a second shot is fired while the two men are fighting out of the frame.
As the men come back into view both are still grabbing the shotgun, and Arbery throws a right-handed punch as a third gunshot is heard. Arbery then stumbles and falls in the middle of the road.
McMichael, who was the only witness in the police report, told investigators Arbery “violently” attacked his son, and the two fought over the gun before Travis shot him twice. At the time, no charges were filed against the two, according to CBS News.
McMichael is a former law enforcement officer who used to work for the local district attorney, and due to conflicts of interest, the case is now on its third prosecutor, who said Tuesday he will ask a grand jury to review the case to decide if criminal charges are warranted, CBS reports. But, due to the coronavirus pandemic, courts are currently prohibited from empaneling grand juries, so there is likely to be a delay.
A statement released by S. Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper, said a “false narrative” had been created that the video disproved.
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“Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherance of their unlawful attempted stop. This is murder,” Merritt said.
“The series of events captured in this video confirm what all the evidence indicated prior to its release— Ahmaud Arbery was pursued by three white men that targeted him solely because of his race and murdered him without justification. This is murder.” pic.twitter.com/v4TAs0RjO7
— S. Lee Merritt, Esq. (@MeritLaw) May 5, 2020
Former Vice President Joe Biden and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams weighed in on the matter, calling for a formal investigation into the incident.
“The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood,” Democratic presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted Tuesday. “My heart goes out to his family, who deserve justice and deserve it now. It is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder.”
“Our systems of law enforcement and justice must be held to the highest standards: full investigation, appropriate charges and an unbiased prosecution,” Abrams tweeted.
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