Grand jury to weigh charges in Georgia shooting of unarmed black jogger

The case of an unarmed black jogger shot to death by a group of white men in Georgia will go before a grand jury — after a video apparently showing the killing was released online this week, sparking outrage.

The cellphone video, which emerged Tuesday, shows 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery being confronted by two armed men in a pickup truck Feb. 23 in the city of Brunswick, according to lawyers for the family.

In the video, the runner is seen crossing the road near the truck, before a gunshot sounds.

He’s then spotted grappling with a man in the street over a shotgun or rifle. A second shot is heard and the jogger can be seen punching the man — before a third shot is fired at pointblank range.

The runner then staggers a couple of feet before falling face down.

Following the video’s release, protesters marched in the neighborhood where Arbery was killed, and the state opened its own investigation.

Tom Durden, an outside prosecutor assigned to examine the case, said he plans to have a grand jury hear the evidence in the shooting and weigh charges against father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael.

Gregory McMichael told cops he and his son believed Arbery matched the description of a suspect wanted in a series of nearby break-ins and armed themselves before pursuing him, according to a police report.

The father said Travis got out of the truck holding a shotgun, and Arbery “began to violently attack.”

He said Arbery was shot as the two men struggled over a shotgun.

But lawyers for the slain man’s family said the father and son had no right to launch an armed pursuit and stop Arbery, calling the incident “murder.”

“Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherance of their unlawful attempted stop,” attorney S. Lee Merritt said.

“These men were vigilantes, they were a posse and they performed a modern lynching in the middle of the day.”

Arbery’s family is calling for immediate charges to be filed in the case —since the grand jury won’t be able to convene for at least another month, as Georgia courts remain largely closed because of the coronavirus until at least June 13.

“I think the video is very clear that they were on the truck with guns hunting him down,” said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father. “I don’t know what more you need to make an arrest.”

Additional reporting by Tamar Lapin, with Wires