Georgia GOP Senate candidates push for probe into killing of Ahmaud Arbery
Two top Republican lawmakers from Georgia over the past 24 hours have joined a growing chorus of outrage over the fatal February shooting of a 25-year-old black man by two white men, echoing calls for an investigation of the killing after a chilling video emerged showing victim Ahmaud Arbery’s final moments.
“What I saw on the video is disturbing and wrong and looks like a criminal act,” said Rep. Doug Collins, a top GOP congressman and ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, in a tweet on Thursday. “It must be thoroughly investigated and I can't imagine why it has taken this long to come to light.”
A day earlier, Sen. Kelly Loeffler called Arbery’s death “troubling,” saying in a statement that she was “deeply concerned” by the killing and calling for “swift action and immediate answers in the wake of this tragedy.”
Loeffler’s comments came after the state bureau of investigation said it would step in to probe the shooting in Brunswick, a coastal town near the port city of Savannah.
“I anticipate a thorough and rigorous investigation will be conducted, and that it will deliver much-needed clarity and justice in this case,” she said. “My prayers are with the Arbery family for their devastating loss.”
Both lawmakers, who are locked in a contentious "jungle" primary for Loeffler’s Senate seat come November, weighed in as outrage over the shooting and the lack of prosecution have erupted nationwide in the wake of the video’s release.
Greg McMichael and his son Travis were arrested and charged with murder, the Associated Press reported Thursday evening.
Local police had initially declined to charge the two men, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But following the release of the video a local district attorney said he was recommending that the case be referred to a Glynn County grand jury to weigh criminal charges against the men.
According to local media reports, Arbery’s pursuers told police he looked like a suspect in a spate of recent burglaries.
The video released this week shows Arbery jogging, before it depicts Arbery in a struggle with one man holding a long gun while another man stands in the bed of a pickup truck with what appears to be a handgun when three gunshots are heard.
The video prompted immediate national outrage, with prominent politicians, activists and civil rights groups who have called the killing a “modern-day lynching.” It has also prompted questions, echoed by Collins on Thursday, about why its revelations took so long to surface.
According to the AJC, the video had been available to police since the day of the shooting and contradicts several portions of the account Greg McMichael gave to police the same day. The case is currently in the hands of its third local prosecutor after two others recused themselves due to Greg McMichael’s ties to local law enforcement.
Rev. Raphael Warnock, a pastor at the Atlanta church of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee-backed candidate for Loeffler's seat, also condemned the shooting on Wednesday and said the ensuing investigation would be closely watched.
"How this investigation is handled speaks to the basic covenant of America, that equal protection under the law applies to us all," he wrote in a tweet, along with a demand that "local officials conduct a thorough investigation and demand accountability for all injustices."
