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2 charged in death of Ahmaud Arbery following social media outcry

Posted at 8:47 AM, May 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-08 09:06:17-04

Gregory and Travis McMichael have been arrested in connection to the death of Ahmaud Arbery following video of Arbery’s death spread on social media.

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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday night that the McMichaels were taken into custody and will be booked into the Glynn County Jail.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Arbery was in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick, GA when both Gregory and Travis McMichael confronted Arbery with two firearms on February 23. During the encounter, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery, prosecutors said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations said that an investigation was launched on Tuesday following a video that was released of Abrery’s death.

Arbery’s death prompted a social media hashtag #JusticeForAhmaud. Arbery’s death prompted discussions nationally on the role racial bias plays in the criminal justice system.

“It is clear that law enforcement authorities must immediately arrest the McMichaels for this crime,” the NAACP said on Wednesday in a joint statement. “The failure to hold these two individuals accountable for the killing of Mr. Arbery would mean that white citizens may hunt down an unarmed, non-violent Black man in broad daylight and kill him with impunity. Nothing in Georgia law licenses this conduct. The McMichaels must stand trial for this killing.”