On Tuesday, Georgia prosecutors called for a grand jury to look into filing criminal charges in the shooting death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, as a video surfaced showing the young man being murdered in the street by the two armed men. The latter claim that they suspected him of being a burglar in a neighborhood outside of Brunswick.
In the troubling footage, you can see the truck following Arbery before one of the men jumps from the truck and attacks Arbery. As the young man attempts to defend himself, another man in the truck fires a gun. Moments later, Arbery is seen stumbling away before collapsing to the ground.
Tom Durden, an outside prosecutor assigned to examine the case, revealed that he is planning to have a grand jury examine the evidence in the case in the wake of the distrusting video footage. However, due to court closures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, this hearing will not take place until at least June 13th.
“I am of the opinion that the case should be presented to the grand jury of Glynn County for consideration of criminal charges against those involved in the death of Mr. Arbery,” Durden explained in a statement.
According to authorities, Arbery was gunned down after two men saw him running in their neighborhood and got into a truck to follow him, armed with guns. Gregory McMichael claims that he and his adult son believed that the young man matched the description of an assailant who was seen on a security camera committing a recent string of break-ins in the area. McMichael then claims they followed the running man and came to a stop beside him, where his son Travis got into an altercation with Arbery after exiting the truck armed with a shotgun. The elder McMichael told police that Arbery attacked his son and was ultimately shot during a struggle over the gun.
Durden said that no one has ever been arrested or charged in the February 23rd murder and would not elaborate on what charges he was looking to bring up. The killing sparked outrage from the local NAACP. Activists felt that Arbery was killed because he was a black man. The men who alleged that he was a burglar were white.
President of the local NAACP chapter and Brunswick pastor John Perry was pleased to know that charges were being considered in the case. However, he expressed his disappointment that the men responsible for Arbery’s death were still free.
“It’s very problematic,” Perry said. “To shoot and kill and not get arrested, it doesn’t compute.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group, has demanded the U.S. Justice Department investigated along with the family of the deceased.
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