The Department of Justice is weighing federal hate crime charges in the Georgia shooting death of unarmed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, according to reports.
The announcement comes one day after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr asked federal prosecutors to jump into the controversial Feb. 23 shooting of Arbery by two white men, Fox News reported Monday.
“The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the US Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia have been supporting and will continue to fully support and participate in the state investigation,” Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement.
“We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate. 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.”
Under federal law, hate crimes can carry the death sentence for more serious and violent crimes.
Arbery, 25, was jogging through a residential neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, when he was confronted by Gregory McMichael, 64, and his 34-year-old son, Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery dead in the street amid a struggle.
The case sat dormant for weeks until a cell phone video of the fatal encounter went public, speaking national outrage over the incident.
The McMichaels were arrested and charged with murder last week, but not until after three local prosecutors recused themselves because of their ties to Gregory McMichael, a former cop in Glynn County and a retired investigator for the district attorney’s office.
One prosecutor, George Barnhill, told police a day after the shooting that he viewed it as a “justifiable homicide.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the state law enforcement agency, took over the case and levied the murder charges.