DOJ weighs hate crime in Arbery death
Justice Dept. also looking into how case was handled
SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Justice Department said Monday that federal prosecutors are weighing possible hate crime charges in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man gunned down after being pursued by two armed white men in a Georgia subdivision.
Arbery was fatally shot Feb. 23 by a father and son who told police they chased him because they believed he was a burglar. They were arrested last week on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault after video of the shooting appeared online.
Attorneys for Arbery’s parents and others, including Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have asked for a federal investigation. Georgia has no hate crime law allowing charges at the state level.
“We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate,” Kerri Kupec of the Justice Department said in a statement.
Previously, a Justice Department spokesman said the FBI is assisting and the department would assist if a federal crime is uncovered.
Kupec’s statement Monday also said the Justice Department is considering Carr’s request for federal authorities to investigate how local authorities handled the case. She said Carr has been asked to “forward to federal authorities any information that he has.”
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis, 34, are jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault in Arbery’s slaying. Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer who worked 20 years as an investigator for the local district attorney’s office.
The father and son told police they thought Arbery, 25, matched the appearance of a burglary suspect who they said had been recorded on a surveillance camera some time before, according to the Glynn County police report filed after the shooting.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was jogging in the neighborhood.
A man identifying himself as the person who recorded the cellphone video of the shooting said he has received death threats. William “Roddie” Bryan is identified as a witness in the police report taken after Arbery’s shooting.