On Wednesday, a federal grand jury indicted three men on hate crime charges in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery was the 25-year-old man who was fatally shot last year in Georgia after the video of the incident went viral on social media.
The indictment from the Department of Justice accuses the three men of targeting Arbery while running on a public street because of his race. Each man, Travis McMichael, 35, William “Roddie” Bryan, 51, and Gregory McMichael, 65, has been charged with attempted kidnapping and interference of rights.
The father and son, Travis and Gregory McMichael have additionally been charged with using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm.
Travis McMichael’s attorney spoke out against the slew of new charges that his client has been indicted on.
“There is absolutely nothing in the indictment that identifies how this is a federal hate crime and it ignores without apology that Georgia law allows a citizen to detain a person who was committing burglaries until police arrive,” attorneys Bob Rubin and Jason Sheffield said in a statement Wednesday.
The indictment alleges that the McMichaels “armed themselves with firearms, got into a truck, and chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood while yelling at Arbery, using their truck to cut off his route, and threatening him with firearms.” Bryan, according to the Department of Justice, “got into a truck and chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood, and used his truck to cut off Arbery’s route.”
In addition to the interference with rights charges, each of the three men was charged with attempted kidnapping for trying to “restrain Arbery, restrict his free movement, corral and detain him against his will, and prevent his escape.”
Gregory McMichael told police at the time of the shooting that he and his son pursued a man he believed was a burglary suspect. The elder McMichael also told police that the two men followed Arbery after grabbing weapons and that neighbor William Bryan joined in the pursuit at some later point.
Arbery was fatally shot after an encounter with Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael. Bryan was in a car behind Arbery shortly before his death and is the person who captured the video of the fatal altercation.
Wanda Jones, Arbery’s mother, has said that she believes her son was on a jog at the time of his death.
“The family of Ahmaud Arbery is grateful for the fed hate crime charges against the men responsible for his murder,” S. Lee Merritt, the Arbery family’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday. “These charges will serve as a fail-safe to the state prosecution. Hate claimed Ahmaud’s life. Our justice system must combat intolerance.”
