Grand jury indicts 3 men arrested for murder of Ahmaud Arbery
A Georgia grand jury indicted the three men arrested and charged in connection with the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announced on Wednesday that a grand jury voted to indict Gregory and Travis McMichael along with William Bryan for the felony murder and aggravated assault that resulted in Arbery death.
The indictment comes almost four months to the day Arbery was shot while on on his daily jog.
Holmes said the grand jury decision did not take long.
"The presentation took an hour and a half and the true bill came back in 10 minutes," Holmes said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
They each face nine charges, including malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal contempt to commit a felony.
"The family of Ahmaud Arbery is determined to see these men prosecuted, convicted and appropriately sentenced for the brutal hate crime that took Ahmaud’s life over four months ago," said Lee Merritt, the lead attorney for the Arbery family.
On Feb. 23, Gregory McMichael spotted Arbery and assumed he was the person who committed "several break-ins" in their Satilla Shores neighborhood, according to a police report.
Gregory McMichael, a retired investigator with the Brunswick District Attorney's Office who previously served as a Glynn County police officer, alerted his son and both grabbed their guns -- a shotgun and .357 magnum, respectively -- and jumped into a white pick-up truck.
Bryan was called and he recorded the chase after Arbery.
The cellphone video showed Arbery getting ambushed by the McMichaels.
Travis McMichael, armed with a shotgun, tussled with Arbery and fired three gunshots. Arbery was hit in his chest and died on the pavement.
"This confirms what Ahmaud’s father has been saying for months -- that this was a lynching," said Ben Crump, an attorney for the Arbery family. "This is a significant step on the road to justice and while nothing will bring back Ahmaud’s life, it is important that a Grand jury recognized his life had value and was wrongly and ruthlessly ended."
The video leaked onto social media on May 5, igniting outrage and leading to the three arrests.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations led the investigation and within 36 hours arrested the McMichaels. Bryan was taken into custody on May 21.
