(Reuters) – A former white police officer and his son were arrested on Thursday in Georgia and charged with murder in the death of an unarmed black man in an incident that has touched off a furor in the community and among civil rights activists nationwide.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were taken into custody by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and would be booked into jail in connection with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in the town of Brunswick, the agency said in a written statement.
The Feb. 23 shooting death of Arbery, 25, as he ran through the small town was captured on video by an unnamed witness in a vehicle near the scene. Its wide broadcast in recent days had ignited outrage over the failure of police or prosecutors to take action against the McMichaels.
A district attorney appointed to handle the high-profile case after two other prosecutors recused themselves had said on Wednesday that he would ask a county grand jury to weigh charges against the two men.
The arrest and charges brought by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation appear to make that process moot.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Sandra Maler)
