Loeffler calls for ‘swift and immediate’ probe of shooting of unarmed black jogger

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) said Wednesday that she was “deeply concerned” about the case of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man allegedly shot dead by two residents of the neighborhood where he was jogging.

“I join Georgians across the state in calling for swift action and immediate answers in the wake of this tragedy,” Loeffler said in a statement.

“With the Georgia Bureau of Investigation now committed to assisting local law enforcement, I anticipate a thorough and rigorous investigation will be conducted, and that it will deliver much-needed clarity and justice in this case. My prayers are with the Arbery family for their devastating loss.”

Arbery was jogging in Brunswick, Ga., on Feb. 23 when he was allegedly shot and killed after Gregory McMichael and his son Travis allegedly followed him in their truck, according to authorities. The two later told police they believed him to be a burglar.

The Brunswick district attorney’s office recused itself from the case as Gregory McMichael is a longtime investigator for the prosecutor’s office. After a second jurisdiction also recused itself over potential conflicts of interest, Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tom Durden announced Tuesday that he would present the case to a grand jury.

A video that apparently shows the men pursuing and shooting Arbery has renewed calls for their prosecution, with the Georgia NAACP decrying the “slothfulness and inaction” of the two DA’s offices.

“The fact that Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael have not been arrested and held without bond in the senseless killing of Ahmaud Arbery is despicable and displays the ills of systematic racism and privilege granted to white people in America when Black bodies are at the epicenter,” Derrick Johnson, the national president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement Tuesday.

“This incident is reminiscent of a horrific era where police officers and white protesters routinely brutalized African-Americans,” he added.

Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church who is running for Loeffler’s seat on the Democratic side, also issued a statement, tweeting “How this investigation is handled speaks to the basic covenant of America, that equal protection under the law applies to us all.”

My heart goes out to the mother and family of Ahmaud Arbery as they deal with this tragedy. How this investigation is handled speaks to the basic covenant of America, that equal protection under the law applies to us all.https://t.co/HY97Bn8kOR

— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) May 6, 2020

The Hill has reached out to Loeffler’s Senate colleague, David Perdue (R), as well as Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), who is challenging her for her Senate seat and leads her in most recent polling, for comment.