The Justice Department is considering whether to file federal hate crime charges against the two white men who allegedly killed Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man jogging through a southern Georgia neighborhood earlier this year.
“The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia have been supporting and will continue fully to support and participate in the state investigation,” DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement Monday. “We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate.”
Arbery, 25, was fatally shot when he was confronted by Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, during a jog in February. The McMichaels told police at the time they were trying to conduct a citizen’s arrest because they believed Arbery was the suspect in a series of robberies in the area.
Police did not arrest them at the time, but after the release of a video appearing to show the confrontation emerged last week, they were arrested and charged with murder.
Two local commissioners on Friday accused District Attorney Jackie Johnson of barring the Glynn County Police Department from making the arrests immediately after the shooting. They said the police at the scene “were ready to arrest” the McMichaels, but Johnson called them off before recusing herself from the case because the elder McMichael used to work in her office.
On Sunday, Georgia’s attorney general requested a DOJ investigation into the handling of the case.
“In addition, we are considering the request of the Attorney General of Georgia and have asked that he forward to federal authorities any information that he has about the handling of the investigation,” Kupec added in her statement. “We will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law.”
