Gregory McMichael, left, and his son Travis McMichael have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. Glynn County Detention Center via AP/AP altyazı gizle
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Glynn County Detention Center via AP/AP
Georgia state authorities said Friday that more arrests are possible in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was killed in February while jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Glynn County, Ga.
The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Vic Reynolds, also shed light on his department’s swift decision to arrest two white men, a father and son, in connection with Arbery’s killing, two days after taking over the investigation from local authorities.
On Thursday, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were charged with murder and aggravated assault. The McMichaels are being held in the Glynn County Jail, according to a GBI press release.
When asked about the possible arrest about other individuals, Reynolds replied, “Don’t know yet. We’re going to go wherever the evidence takes us.”
Cell phone video posted online earlier this week, which appeared to capture Arbery’s Feb. 23 murder, sparked national outcry and calls for arrests.
“We’re investigating everyone involved in the case, including the individual who shot the video,” Reynolds said.
The Thursday evening arrests of the McMichaels, who have said they were acting in self-defense, caps off several days of rapid developments in the Arbery case. It had stalled for more than two months with no charges filed. Two district attorneys had recused themselves from the case.
On May 5, after the video was released, Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tom Durden requested GBI investigate the Arbery death. The local police department also asked for assistance from state authorities.
Reynolds said during the press conference that agents poured over the investigative file compiled by the local authorities most of the day on Wednesday. By Thursday at approximately 5 p.m., Reynolds said his agents “had established sufficient probable cause to seek arrest warrants” against the McMichaels.
When asked what his department saw in the case file that local authorities might have missed, Reynolds said, “I can’t answer what another agency did or didn’t see.”
“But I can tell you that based on our involvement in this case, considering the fact that we hit the ground running Wednesday morning, within 36 hours we had secured warrants for two individuals for felony murder. I think that speaks volumes for itself. and that the probable cause was clear to our agents pretty quickly.”
Following the McMichael’s arrest Thursday, family attorney Benjamin Crump tweeted, “it took 74 days but Ahmaud Arbery’s killers have finally been arrested!”
It took 74 days but Ahmaud Arbery’s killers have finally been arrested! This murderous father and son duo took the law into their own hands. Thank you to everyone who has supported us through this pursuit of justice! #RunWithMaud #AhmaudArbery #IrunwithMaud
— Benjamin Crump, Esq. (@AttorneyCrump) Mayıs 8, 2020
