Georgia to Investigate Man Who Took Video of Killing

Trump calls Ahmaud Arbery's slaying 'very disturbing'
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2020 3:30 PM CDT
Georgia to Investigate Man Who Took Video of Killing
People protest the killing of Ahmaud Arbery at a rally Friday in Brunswick, Ga.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Georgia officials said Friday their investigation into the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery will include the man who videotaped the killing. "We are going to go wherever the evidence takes us," the director of the state Bureau of Investigation said, USA Today reports. Father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, two white men, have been charged with murder in the death of Arbery, a black man who was jogging through their neighborhood. The attack was videotaped by William "Roddie" Bryan, who lives a few doors down from Travis McMichael. A lawyer for Arbery's family has said Bryan should be arrested. That's a possibility, investigators said. "Once again, a black man was lynched in Georgia," said Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, during a press conference Friday. "That is a sad statement in where we are in this nation."

President Trump addressed the slaying in an appearance Friday on Fox and Friends. "My heart goes out to the parents and the family and friends," he said, calling it a "very disturbing situation." The president said he'd watched the video, per the BBC, and found it "troubling"; the footage appears to show Travis McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun. Later Friday, Trump's press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, left open the possibility of the Justice Department getting involved with the case. The killing was a "modern-day lynching," Marcus Arbery, the victim's father, told CNN. "He was a very good young man," he said. "His heart was just bigger than life." Demonstrations calling for justice were held Friday, which would have been Arbery's 26th birthday. (Supporters are running to mark Arbery's death.)

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