The nation has been talking about a video that popped up on social media this week. It showed 25 year old Ahmaud Arbery jogging in a neighborhood just outside of Brunswick GA on February 23rd. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, 34-year-old son Travis, told police that they believed he had been robbing homes in the neighborhood so when they saw him running they armed themselves with guns before getting in a truck to pursue him. A neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan joined them in his own vehicle and it's his video of the incident that we've seen.
The video shows Gregory had stopped his truck and gotten out and was standing by the driver door ahead of Ahmaud, with his son standing in the bed of the pickup, while Roddie trailed in Ahmaud. Ahmaud swerved to the passenger side of the truck to avoid them but was shot as he rounded the front of the truck out of view from the camera. Then the 2 men can be seen struggling over a shotgun and 2 more shots are fired. Ahmaud throws a punch as Gregory steps back. Ahmaud then staggers a few feet before collapsing.
The father and son had not been arrested and suspicion was it was because they were white and the deceased was black. Also Gregory is a former police officer who went on to work for the District Attorney's office. To make it worse police say there were no robberies reported from Jan 1, Feb 23rd. However CNN did find a homeowner of an under construction home who said that he had 4 different videos of a man who looked like Ahmaud coming onto his property. He declined to show those videos but did clarify that they don't show him stealing anything, rather simply trespassing.
After much public pressure last night the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that the McMichael's have been arrested. Both were charged with murder and aggravated assault.
There is a planned group jog today through the community to commemorate what would have been Ahmaud's 26th birthday.
If you haven't seen the video, it is disturbing but can be seen on twitter here.