3 Indicted On Federal Hate Crime Charges In Ahmaud Arbery Death

A federal grand jury in Georgia indicted three men Wednesday in connection with the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was shot while jogging in Georgia last year.

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan each face a hate crime charge and a charge of attempted kidnapping. These are separate from state charges brought  against the three men last year over the February 2020 killing.

The federal grand jury alleged that Travis McMichael, 35, and his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, “did willfully, by force and threat of force, injure, intimidate, and interfere with Ahmaud Arbery, an African American man, because of Arbery’s race and color” while Arbery was “running on a public street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia.”

The indictment charges that the McMichaels “armed themselves with firearms, got into a truck, and chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood while yelling at Arbery, using their truck to cut off his route, and threatening him with firearms.” They “attempted to forcibly hold and detain Arbery against his will” and their actions resulted “in the death of Ahmaud Arbery,” the indictment states.

It also alleges that Bryan, 51, aided and abetted the McMichaels and that he “chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood, and used his truck to cut off Arbery’s route.”

The indictment came as the Biden administration steps up civil rights enforcement at the Justice Department.

The federal hate crimes investigation became public last May.

Read the indictment below.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.