All three men involved in killing of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery charged with murder
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25-year-old Arbury was shot dead on February 23 while running in a residential area of Brunswick, Georgia, which has a long history of segregation.
All the three men, who were arrested for killing Ahmoud Arbery, a young black jogger, have been charged with murder by a grand jury on Wednesday.
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25-year-old Arbury was shot dead on February 23 while running in a residential area of Brunswick, Georgia, which has a long history of segregation.
There were no arrests for over two months until the video of him being killed resurfaced online and went viral. In the video, Retired police officer Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were visible and were arrested on May 7. William Bryan, the guy who filmed the video was arrested two weeks later.
The charges were formally indicted on Wednesday by a grand jury, a group of citizens appointed to weigh how valid a charge is ahead of a trial.
Nine counts, including murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment were laid against the three men.
They "caused his death by unlawfully chasing him... in pickup trucks and shooting him with a shotgun," the document said.
"This confirms what Ahmaud's father has been saying for months -- that this was a lynching," Ben Crump, a lawyer for Arbery's family, said in a statement Wednesday.
"This is a significant step on the road to justice and while nothing will bring back Ahmaud Arbery's life, it is important that a Grand jury recognized his life had value and was wrongly and ruthlessly ended," he said, calling for a "successful prosecution" and proportionate sentences.
Arbery's name was chanted by the anti-racism protestors in the United States. The 25-year-old joined the list with George Floyd in terms of being a victim in systemic racism against African Americans. The killing of George Floyd on May 35, kicked off massive protests across the United States.
(Inputs from AFP)