The family of an unarmed black man who was shot dead by two white men in Georgia have described his death as a ‘lynching’.
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was killed February 23 after he became embroiled in an altercation with Gregory and Trevor McMichael while out jogging in the city of Brunswick.
The McMichaels – who are father and son – allegedly followed Abery in their pick-up truck, believing that he was a suspect in two recent burglaries that occurred in the area.
Shocking video footage released Tuesday shows the men shooting at Arbery as it appears he tries to flee from them.
The 36-second video was taken by a person in a vehicle that pulls up behind a pickup truck that has stopped in the road.
The recording has sound, but yelling in the video is unintelligible.
It is not clear what happened immediately before or after the confrontation.
The video begins with a man in a white T-shirt jogging down the middle of street toward a pickup.
One man is in the bed of the truck and the other is standing near the driver’s side door.
As the man in the T-shirt approaches, he goes around the pickup on the right side, and just as he’s passing the front of the vehicle, he makes a left and begins tussling with the man with the shotgun.
A shot goes off, and the two disappear off the left side of the screen as the man who was running appears to throw a punch.
The man standing in the back of the truck takes out a handgun but doesn’t fire.
A second shot is heard as the men who are fighting are off-screen. As the men come back into view, both are still grabbing the shotgun.
The man in the T-shirt appears to throw a right-handed punch at the man’s head as a third gunshot is heard.
The man who was shot recoils, as blood appears on his T-shirt below his left ribcage. He stumbles and falls in the middle of the two-lane road.
The man with the shotgun walks away as the other man runs toward them with his gun in his right hand.
Neither of the McMichaels have been arrested or charged over the incident.
WATCH VIDEO: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED:
Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer and a former investigator with the local district attorney’s office who retired last May.
The local prosecutor recused herself from the case because McMichael had worked in her office.
The next prosecutor, a district attorney, also recused himself because his son worked for the district attorney for whom McMichael had worked.
Arbery had committed no offense, the only thing that drew suspicion was that he was black and male and running through these white men’s neighborhood.
Speaking on Wednesday, Arbery’s family attorney Lee Merritt stated during a press conference: ‘These men were not performing any police function or any duty as citizens of Georgia.., these men were vigilantes, they were performing a lynching in the middle of the day.’
‘I saw my son come into the world,’ Wanda Jones said. ‘And seeing him leave the world, it’s not something that I’ll want to see ever.’
She added: ‘He was my baby boy that I had on Mother’s Day of 1994. He was his sister and brother’s keeper… his spirit was good. He was a yes ma’am and no ma’am type of fellow.’
Meanwhile, Arbery’s father, Marcus, stated: ‘It was a hate crime.
‘My young son wasn’t doing nothing – minding his own business, running and working out. And that’s a crime? To work out and run and he ain’t breaking no law? No. Time out.’
Gregory and Trevor McMichael allegedly trailed Arbery in their pick-up truck, believing that he was a suspect in two recent burglaries that occurred in the area. They became involved in an altercation, and Arbery was shot and killed
It captured the attention of the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Joe Biden, who sent out a tweet describing Arbery’s death as ‘murder’.
‘The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood,’ Biden tweeted late Tuesday along with a link to a Georgia district attorney recommendation that a grand jury hear the case.
‘My heart goes out to his family, who deserve justice and deserve it now,’ the presumed Democratic nominee continued in his Twitter post. ‘It is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder.’
Celebrities including LeBron James, Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner have also tweeted about the case.
Tom Durden, a Georgia prosecutor assigned to examine the case, announced Tuesday that he plans to have a grand jury hear the evidence in the shooting.
The grand jury won’t happen for more than a month, as Georgia courts remain largely closed because of the coronavirus until at least June 13.
‘I am of the opinion that the case should be presented to the grand jury of Glynn County for consideration of criminal charges against those involved in the death of Mr. Arbery,’ Durden said in a statement Tuesday.
