Man who filmed Arbery shooting will also be investigated
ATLANTA—The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Friday it will continue investigating the death of Ahmaud Arbery, including the man who filmed the incident in a video.
Director Vic Reynolds said that video, which has spread widely on social media, was a key piece of evidence in the case in which two white men are seen chasing Arbery down on a residential street in southern Georgia.
He said it took 36 hours from the time the bureau began assisting in the probe to arrest the father a nd s on, Gregory a nd Travis McMichael, who are accused of shooting Arbery, who was black. There were “some things that needed to be done” in the investigation that had been led by Atlantic
Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tom Durden since April 14, he said.
“We are going togo wherever the evidence takes us,” Reynolds said Friday during a news conference. “In a perfect world, we would have preferred to have been asked to become involved in February, of course.”
An attorney for Ar be ry' s family has called for William “Roddie” Bryan, the man who filmed the incident, to be arrested. Reynolds said investigators are looking into that.
The GB I announced Wednesday it would begin aiding the investigation at Durden's request. By Thursday evening, the McMichaels were in custody of the Glynn County Police and charged with murder and aggravated assault.
Arbery was killed in February about 2 miles from his home in a neighborhood outside
Brunswick, Georgia. Gregory McMichael told police they saw him running and believed he was a burglary suspect, so he and his son armed themselves, got in a truck and followed him. They told police Arbery attacked them after one of them got out of the truck with a shotgun.
Arbery's family and their attorneys say Arbery was out for a jog when he was killed. They believe he was the victim of racial profilingand have called the killing a lynching.
“Once again, a black man was lynched in Georgia. It was an unfortunate incident because we see this too often,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a press conference Friday. “That is a sad statement in where we are in this nation.”
Here's the latest news on the killing of Ahmaud Arbery:
Rally, dedication run honor Arbery
Friday morning, a crowd gathered outside the Glynn County Courthouse in southern Georgia to honor Arbery.
Meanwhile, Arbery's family, friends and supporters are holding a dedication distance run Friday f or what would have been Arbery's 26th birthday.
“Our community here in Brunswick, GA, lost an avid runner on 2/23/2020, while out on a run Ahmaud Arbery's life was taken away f rom us, by a group of men who false ly suspected him of wrongdoing ,” the Facebook group“I Run With Maud” said the event description .“Please show your support as a runner, jogger, or walker and dedicate a 2.23 mile workout to Ah maud Arbery.”