Jury indicts three men in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery

A prosecutor announced on Wednesday that three men have been indicted on murder charges in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in coastal Georgia.

Prosecutor Joyette Holmes said a Glynn County grand jury has indicted Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr on charges including malice and felony murder in the death of Arbery, a Black man.

Arbery was slain February 23 when Greg and Travis McMichael, a white father and son, armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man running in their neighbourhood. Greg McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was a burglar and that Arbery attacked his son before being shot.

Bryan lives in the same subdivision, just outside the port city of Brunswick. Bryan said he saw the McMichaels driving by and joined the chase, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified earlier this month.

It was not until May 7, two days after Bryan’s mobile phone video leaked online and stirred a national outcry, that the McMichaels were arrested. Bryan was arrested later, on May 22, and an arrest warrant said he tried “to confine and detain” Arbery without legal authority by “utilizing his vehicle on multiple occasions” before Arbery was shot.

In addition to malice murder and felony murder charges, the McMichaels and Bryan each are charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.