Ahmaud Arbery’s final moments before being ambushed and killed while jogging were reportedly caught in a gruesome video that has gone viral.
Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot and killed near his Brunswick, Georgia, home by a white father and son February 23, numerous sources reported Wednesday.
The killing that was reportedly caught on video by a bystander shows a black man jogging before being ambushed by two men. One man and the runner grapple in the street before a shot is heard, and the runner is punching at the man. After a third shot at point-blank range, the runner moves a few feet before falling face down.
Chilling video has emerged of a 25-year-old African-American man being chased down & killed in a Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood; Ahmaud Arbery was out jogging, his family says.
Warning: viewer discretion is advised. @OmarVillafranca has more on the growing calls for justice pic.twitter.com/6DyPKDbiRN
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 5, 2020
According to a police report, the two men were Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34. The elder McMichael was a former investigator in the Brunswick district attorney’s office and only recently retired. He also worked for the Glynn County Police Department, prompting district attorneys in Brunswick and Waycross Counties to recuse themselves from the case due to conflicts of interest, ABC News reported.
When police arrived following the incident, Gregory McMichael said there were “several break-ins” in the neighborhood and he allegedly caught the suspect “hauling ass” down the street, according to the police report. (RELATED: White Cop Pleads Guilty After Shooting Unarmed Black Man)
McMichael said he went inside his house to get his son, and they both grabbed their guns, a .357 magnum and a shotgun. The father also told police he saw the same suspect put his hand down his pants “the other day,” leading him to believe that “the male was armed,” according to ABC News.
Both men got into their pickup truck and tried to cut the suspect off as he fled, the police report said. In the video, Arbery is seen running around the vehicle. Travis McMichael said he shouted “Stop, stop, we want to talk to you” as the men approached the suspect.
Arbery was pronounced dead on the scene, and he was unarmed, according to the police report.
Gregory McMichael & his son Travis McMichael gunned down Ahmaud Arbery, 25, on his daily jog in Brunswick, GA. His mother Wanda Jones said “He was hunted down like an animal and killed.” Call the Glynn County Police Dept & demand their arrest: (912)-554-7800 #JusticeForAhmaud pic.twitter.com/WhtklDySTu
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) May 6, 2020
A Georgia prosecutor has called for a grand jury investigation into Arbery’s death.
“After careful review of the evidence presented,” Tom Durden, District Attorney of Georgia’s Atlantic Judicial Court, said in a statement according to Time. “I am confident the case should be presented to the grand jury of Glynn County for consideration of criminal charges.”
No one has been arrested or charged in relation to Arbery’s death. Due to the conflicts of interest, it also appears action by law enforcement may have been delayed. The coronavirus pandemic has also delayed grand juries from meeting through June 12.
