A father and son in the US state of Georgia have been arrested and charged with the murder of a black UK jogger Ahmaud Arbery. Gregory McMichael, aged 64, and Travis McMichael, aged 34, were detained last week and are now being held without bond, meaning they cannot be released on bail.
However, this comes 2 months after the shooting, 2 months in which neither of the individuals were charged with any wrongdoing over the shooting of the unarmed jogger who just happened to be running down the street at the time.
Mr Arbery was carrying out his daily exercise during quarantine in the coastal city of Brunswick on the afternoon of 23 February. Gregory McMichael told police he saw Mr Arbery and believed he resembled the suspect in a series of local break-ins.
The father and son picked up their weapons, a handgun and a shotgun, and pursued Mr Arbery in their pickup truck. Gregory McMichael told police he and his son said "stop, stop, we want to talk to you" and claims Mr Arbery then attacked his son.
The incident was caught on video by another man who lives in the area. The video shows Mr Arbery jogging and then approaching the stationary pick-up from behind. He then tries to bypass the truck and is seen struggling with a man carrying a shotgun - believed to be Travis McMichael. A shot is then heard.
Mr Arbery’s mother was originally told by police that her son had indeed been involved in a local robbery, however there was no evidence of this, and Mr Arbery had neither a weapon nor any stolen goods in his possession when police attended the scene.
The victim’s father said that his son exercised in the area daily and that "I don't know why they racially profile him and done him like that … because all he did is work out and ran and just took care of his body, because he had dreams."
The Arbery family lawyer, S. Lee Merritt has called the shooting a “modern-day lynching”.
In a call to the police before the shooting took place McMichael Snr. can be heard saying:
“Hello, er, I’m out here in Satilla Shores” … “There’s a black male running down the street” and finally “Goddam it, c’mon, Travis.”
Questions are now being asked how such an incident of misplaced vigilantism could take place and why the police and authorities not only did not charge the killers but also blamed the victim for robberies.
The latest incident comes in a long-line of high-profile incidents of black individuals being murdered both by vigilantes and by police officers, including the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin by a member of the public, who was later acquitted, as well as the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014 to name but a few.
These killings have led to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement which advocates for the black community and against racism and police brutality, and the Ferguson Uprising which saw mass disturbances and protests in the city of Ferguson, Missouri.
We await the outcome of the forthcoming trial.
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