SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot to death after being chased by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia in February. (Photo: Family photo)
'Justice Demands That Arrests Be Made' After Video of Ahmaud Arbery's Killing Goes Viral
"The reason that there has not been an indictment, in my opinion, is because these men were white, these men have strong law enforcement ties," said a lawyer for the victim's family.
May 06, 2020
After graphic footage showing the fatal shooting two months ago of an unarmed black man named Ahmaud Arbery surfaced on social media late Tuesday, a Georgia prosecutor said he would present the case to a grand jury as soon as possible for consideration of charges against the two men behind the alleged murder.
Prosecutors previously declined to file charges against Gregory McMichael, a former police officer and investigator in the Glynn County, Georgia district attorney's office, and his son Travis, who appear to chase and shoot at Arbery in the video.
Arbery, who was 25, was jogging through a residential neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia on February 23 when Gregory McMichael saw him. McMichael told police, assumed Arbery was a suspect in a string of recent break-ins. Gregory and Travis began chasing Arbery through the neighborhood in their pickup truck, armed with a .357 Magnum revolver and a shotgun.
In the video, taken by a witness in another vehicle, Arbery is seen jogging near the McMichaels' truck when a gunshot is fired. He is then seen struggling with a man who's holding a shotgun while another man holds a firearm in the bed of the truck. Several shots are fired before Arbery falls to the ground.
S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Arbery's family, told the New York Times Tuesday that the video shows a "murder."
"The reason that there has not been an indictment, in my opinion, is because these men were white, these men have strong law enforcement ties," Merritt told MSNBC Tuesday.
Civil rights advocates on social media called Arbery's killing a "lynching" and expressed outrage that prosecutors had not already pressed charges against the McMichaels. Attorney Rebecca Kavanagh emphasized that the call by a prosecutor to bring the case before a grand jury came only after the video was publicized.
On Tuesday, Tom Durden, prosecutor for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, made the recommendation for a grand jury hearing. A hearing would take place in mid-June at the earliest as grand juries are now prohibited from meeting in Georgia due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Durden was assigned to investigate the case after two other prosecutors recused themselves due to Gregory McMichael's long career in the Glynn County D.A.'s office.
Before asking to be removed from the case, prosecutor George Barnhill wrote after his investigation that there was "insufficient probable cause to issue arrest warrants at this time" and that Gregory and Travis McMichael were legally carrying their weapons.
Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) demanded the U.S. Justice Department investigate Arbery's murder.
"We demand an immediate investigation by federal officials into Ahmaud's death given local law enforcement's failure to act," said SPLC president Margaret Huang. "The killing of Black and brown people must stop, and it begins with each of us demanding accountability and justice."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
After graphic footage showing the fatal shooting two months ago of an unarmed black man named Ahmaud Arbery surfaced on social media late Tuesday, a Georgia prosecutor said he would present the case to a grand jury as soon as possible for consideration of charges against the two men behind the alleged murder.
Prosecutors previously declined to file charges against Gregory McMichael, a former police officer and investigator in the Glynn County, Georgia district attorney's office, and his son Travis, who appear to chase and shoot at Arbery in the video.
Arbery, who was 25, was jogging through a residential neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia on February 23 when Gregory McMichael saw him. McMichael told police, assumed Arbery was a suspect in a string of recent break-ins. Gregory and Travis began chasing Arbery through the neighborhood in their pickup truck, armed with a .357 Magnum revolver and a shotgun.
In the video, taken by a witness in another vehicle, Arbery is seen jogging near the McMichaels' truck when a gunshot is fired. He is then seen struggling with a man who's holding a shotgun while another man holds a firearm in the bed of the truck. Several shots are fired before Arbery falls to the ground.
S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Arbery's family, told the New York Times Tuesday that the video shows a "murder."
"The reason that there has not been an indictment, in my opinion, is because these men were white, these men have strong law enforcement ties," Merritt told MSNBC Tuesday.
Civil rights advocates on social media called Arbery's killing a "lynching" and expressed outrage that prosecutors had not already pressed charges against the McMichaels. Attorney Rebecca Kavanagh emphasized that the call by a prosecutor to bring the case before a grand jury came only after the video was publicized.
On Tuesday, Tom Durden, prosecutor for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, made the recommendation for a grand jury hearing. A hearing would take place in mid-June at the earliest as grand juries are now prohibited from meeting in Georgia due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Durden was assigned to investigate the case after two other prosecutors recused themselves due to Gregory McMichael's long career in the Glynn County D.A.'s office.
Before asking to be removed from the case, prosecutor George Barnhill wrote after his investigation that there was "insufficient probable cause to issue arrest warrants at this time" and that Gregory and Travis McMichael were legally carrying their weapons.
Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) demanded the U.S. Justice Department investigate Arbery's murder.
"We demand an immediate investigation by federal officials into Ahmaud's death given local law enforcement's failure to act," said SPLC president Margaret Huang. "The killing of Black and brown people must stop, and it begins with each of us demanding accountability and justice."
After graphic footage showing the fatal shooting two months ago of an unarmed black man named Ahmaud Arbery surfaced on social media late Tuesday, a Georgia prosecutor said he would present the case to a grand jury as soon as possible for consideration of charges against the two men behind the alleged murder.
Prosecutors previously declined to file charges against Gregory McMichael, a former police officer and investigator in the Glynn County, Georgia district attorney's office, and his son Travis, who appear to chase and shoot at Arbery in the video.
Arbery, who was 25, was jogging through a residential neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia on February 23 when Gregory McMichael saw him. McMichael told police, assumed Arbery was a suspect in a string of recent break-ins. Gregory and Travis began chasing Arbery through the neighborhood in their pickup truck, armed with a .357 Magnum revolver and a shotgun.
In the video, taken by a witness in another vehicle, Arbery is seen jogging near the McMichaels' truck when a gunshot is fired. He is then seen struggling with a man who's holding a shotgun while another man holds a firearm in the bed of the truck. Several shots are fired before Arbery falls to the ground.
S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Arbery's family, told the New York Times Tuesday that the video shows a "murder."
"The reason that there has not been an indictment, in my opinion, is because these men were white, these men have strong law enforcement ties," Merritt told MSNBC Tuesday.
Civil rights advocates on social media called Arbery's killing a "lynching" and expressed outrage that prosecutors had not already pressed charges against the McMichaels. Attorney Rebecca Kavanagh emphasized that the call by a prosecutor to bring the case before a grand jury came only after the video was publicized.
On Tuesday, Tom Durden, prosecutor for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, made the recommendation for a grand jury hearing. A hearing would take place in mid-June at the earliest as grand juries are now prohibited from meeting in Georgia due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Durden was assigned to investigate the case after two other prosecutors recused themselves due to Gregory McMichael's long career in the Glynn County D.A.'s office.
Before asking to be removed from the case, prosecutor George Barnhill wrote after his investigation that there was "insufficient probable cause to issue arrest warrants at this time" and that Gregory and Travis McMichael were legally carrying their weapons.
Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) demanded the U.S. Justice Department investigate Arbery's murder.
"We demand an immediate investigation by federal officials into Ahmaud's death given local law enforcement's failure to act," said SPLC president Margaret Huang. "The killing of Black and brown people must stop, and it begins with each of us demanding accountability and justice."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.