Third suspect arrested in US black jogger’s killing
Investigators in the southern US state of Georgia on Thursday arrested a man who filmed the fatal shooting of an unarmed black jogger, a case that has sparked nationwide outrage.
William Bryan Jr, 50, was charged with murder and attempted false imprisonment in connection with the February death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
No further details were given, but a press conference was scheduled for Friday.
Arbery, 25, was killed on February 23 as he ran on a sunny day in a residential neighborhood in the town of Brunswick.
Two white men — retired police officer Gregory McMichael, 64, and his 34-year-old son Travis — were arrested two weeks ago over the shooting, more than two months after it happened.
Their arrest came two days after the release of the video shot by Bryan, which shows Arbery being gunned down.
His death sent shockwaves across the country, galvanizing activists who say the death highlights deeply rooted racism in parts of the United States.
President Donald Trump said he had seen the video and called it “very disturbing.”
The two first prosecutors in the case recused themselves, although it took several weeks for the second one to do so.
Gregory McMichael had long worked in the local district attorney’s office as an investigator.
The original police report stated that Gregory McMichael had claimed he thought Arbery was a burglar trying to escape the scene of a nearby break-in.
He said he and his son grabbed their guns and set off in pursuit, but that the confrontation went badly wrong.
The slain man’s family says he was simply out jogging and was the victim of a hate crime.
Georgia’s state attorney general has asked the US Justice Department to investigate the fatal shooting. AFP
