Three are charged in killing of Arbery
Three white men have been indicted on murder charges in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man fatally shot while running in a suburban neighborhood near Brunswick, on the state’s coast.
Prosecutor Joyette Holmes announced Wednesday that a grand jury has indicted Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. on charges including malice and felony murder in Arbery’s death.
“This is another positive step, another great step for finding justice for Ahmaud, for finding justice for this family and the community beyond,” Holmes said at a news conference outside the Glynn County courthouse in Brunswick that was streamed online.
Arbery’s death often has been invoked during protests against racial injustice that have broken out across the nation since George Floyd’s death last month under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee. Arbery’s death also fueled a renewed push for a state hate crimes law in Georgia, which state lawmakers passed Tuesday.
Youth center staffers held in teen’s death
Three staff members of a Michigan youth center have been charged in the death of a black teenager who died while being restrained after throwing a sandwich, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Gettings announced Wednesday.
Cornelius Fredericks, 16, died May 1, two days after he lost consciousness while being restrained by staff at Lakeside Academy. The Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Fredericks’ manner and cause of death was a homicide.
Michael Mosley of Battle Creek, Zachary Solis of Lansing and Heather McLogan of Kalamazoo are charged with involuntary manslaughter and seconddegree child abuse.
Mosley and Solis are also accused of restraining Fredericks in a “grossly negligent manner,” Gettings said. McLogan is accused of gross negligence for allegedly failing to seek medical care for the teen in a timely manner.
Guard is activated after night of violence
Gov. Tony Evers activated the National Guard on Wednesday to protect state properties after violence the night before that included the toppling of two statues outside the state Capitol, one of which commemorated an abolitionist Civil War hero.
Protesters also attacked a state senator, threw a Molotov cocktail into a government building, and tried to break into the Capitol on Tuesday night, only to be repelled by pepper spray from police inside. The violence broke out as 200 to 300 peoples protested the arrest of a black man who shouted at restaurant customers through a megaphone while carrying a baseball bat.
Evers, who toured the damage and said the violence was in “stark contrast” to earlier peaceful protests, said he was activating the National Guard “to make sure people can exercise their First Amendment rights while ensuring the safety of members of the public and state buildings and infrastructure.”
“If your goal was to advance social justice and policing reforms in the state of Wisconsin and making sure systemic racism is a thing of the past, you failed,“Evers said of the protesters.