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Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were taken into custody and will be booked into the Glynn County Jail, the GBI said Thursday evening.
The GBI said in a tweet it would hold a news conference Friday at 9 a.m. ET to discuss the case. It did not say when the McMichaels would appear in court.
The arrests come two days after a 36-second video that appears to show the deadly confrontation surfaced online.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father, said it was outrageous that it took more than two months for the father and son to be arrested.
“It’s a travesty of justice that they enjoyed their freedom for 74 days after taking the life of a young black man who was simply jogging. Yet, tomorrow, on Ahmaud’s birthday, his parents are denied the simple joy of celebrating with their son,” he said.
Arbery, 25, was jogging in a neighborhood outside Brunswick on February 23 when Gregory McMichael, a former police officer, and his son chased him down, authorities said.
According to a Glynn County Police report, Gregory McMichael, 64, later told officers that he thought Arbery looked like a person whom they suspected in a series of recent break-ins in the area.
After they chased down Arbery, McMichael told police, Arbery and Travis McMichael, 34, struggled over his son’s shotgun. The elder McMichael told police that his son shot Arbery after the latter attacked him, according to the police report.
In the video, three shots can be heard before Arbery is seen stumbling and falling to the ground.
Arbery family attorney S. Lee Merritt says that the McMichaels, who are white, saw a black man jogging through their neighborhood, assumed the worst and tracked him down and killed him.
CNN’s attempts to reach Travis McMichael this week have been unsuccessful. Greg McMichael has declined to comment because he’s under investigation.
Two district attorneys had recused themselves from the case, though one said he thought the McMichaels had used their citizens’ arrest rights.
A third DA, Tom Durden of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, said this week he would present the evidence to a grand jury, once the coronavirus pandemic restrictions against them were lifted.
The GBI got the case Tuesday night when Durden requested the agency take over.
On Tuesday, demonstrators converged on the Satilla Shores neighborhood where Arbery was killed.
“You want to chase somebody down? We got over 100 bodies out here. Chase us down,” said a man leading the demonstration. “We’re a community. We’re not going to keep allowing this to go on in Glynn County.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
CNN’s Angela Barajas, Martin Savidge, Eliott C. McLaughlin and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
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