On February 23rd, 2020, a 25-year-old man by the name of Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed while he was taking a jog around his neighbourhood in Brunswick, Georgia. According to TMZ, the killing is being regarded as a modern day lynching, seeing as the perpetrator, a white man named Travis McMichael, shot Ahmaud, an unarmed black man. Travis, the son of a former district attorney investigator, Gregory McMichael, who was in the back of Travis' truck while he shot Ahmaud to death in the street, has yet to be charged or even arrested for his abhorred actions. However, after reviewing the graphic footage of the shooting, D.A. Pro Tempore Tom Durden has called on a grand jury to determine the criminal charges.
“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’s statement read. “I have no control over the suspensions due to the pandemic, however, I do intend to present the case to the next available grand jury in Glynn County.” In the now viral video, Travis and Ahmaud struggled over the former's shotgun while the latter attempted to get away. Two shots were fired before Ahmaud collapsed.
Both Travis and his father are claiming that they were making a citizen's arrest when they stopped Ahmaud on the street. They allege that he fit the description of a suspect in a string of recent break-ins in the area.
“Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherance of their unlawful attempted stop,”S. Lee Merritt, the attorney representing Ahmaud's family, stated. “This is murder."