El Dorado News-Times

The social justice arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation entertainm­ent company called on Georgia officials to take quick action in the case of Ahmaud Arbery.

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ATLANTA — The social justice arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation entertainm­ent company on Sunday called on Georgia officials to take quick action in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who authoritie­s say was killed by two white men as he ran through a Georgia neighborho­od.

Musicians Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Alicia Keys, Mario “Yo Gotti” Mims, Robert “Meek Mill” Williams and two attorneys signed Team Roc’s open letter published in The Atlanta JournalCon­stitution and directed at state officials.

The letter said District Attorney Tom Durden should be recused from the case due for a conflict of interest since Gregory McMichael, one of the two men charged with murder, was a former police officer. The letter urges state Attorney General Christophe­r Carr to instead appoint a special prosecutor to help achieve a fair trial. It also says a neighbor should be charged as an armed accomplice.

“We are all Ahmaud Arbery,” rapper Yo Gotti said in a statement. “Everyday activities should not end in death sentences. We must hold people responsibl­e for their actions. Ahmaud Arbery was unarmed and innocent and his killers must be brought to justice.”

Arbery was fatally shot on Feb. 23 in Brunswick but no charges were brought for more than two months. National outrage over the case swelled last week after video surfaced that appeared to show the shooting. Shortly after the video’s leak, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault.

The father and son said they thought Arbery matched the appearance of a burglary suspect who they said had been recorded on a surveillan­ce camera some time before.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her 25-year-old son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighborho­od before he was killed.

“If anybody saw that horrifying video of his killing, it is heartbreak­ing, unbelievab­ly unacceptab­le and inhumane,” singer Alicia Keys said in a statement to The Associated Press. “No human being should be murdered and not receive justice. I have black sons and they should be able to go on a jog or anywhere they want without the risk of being killed.”

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 ?? AP Photo/John Bazemore ?? A woman wears a face covering with the likeness of shooting victim Ahmaud Arbery printed on it during a rally to protest Arbery’s killing on Friday in Brunswick, Georgia. A father and son have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborho­od.
AP Photo/John Bazemore A woman wears a face covering with the likeness of shooting victim Ahmaud Arbery printed on it during a rally to protest Arbery’s killing on Friday in Brunswick, Georgia. A father and son have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborho­od.

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