Two white Americans, a father and a son have been arrested in Georgia over the ambushing and killing of African American jogger, Ahmaud Arbery.
Father and son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael, who said they suspected Ahmaud Arbery was a burglar, were charged with murder and aggravated assault, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
“The McMichaels were taken into custody and will be booked into the Glynn County Jail,” the statement added.
Father and son, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael killers of Armaud Arbery
The killing of Arbery, 25, who was out exercising on a sunny day in February near his home in Brunswick, Georgia, sparked outrage across the U.S. after video footage of the incident was anonymously leaked and widely shared online.
The video appears to show Arbery jogging down a street when he comes across the McMichaels, who are both white, brandishing guns and blocking the road with their truck.
Arbery swerves to the right of the truck and then an immediate altercation begins, which seems to be between him and Travis McMichael for control of McMichael’s shotgun.
During the altercation Arbery is shot multiple times and killed.
For many in the U.S., the fatal incident involving the death of an unarmed black man recalls the case of Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, was killed by a local man in Florida while returning home from a convenience store.
His death sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, which campaigns against racism and violence toward black people and in favour of criminal justice reform in the U.S.
