WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. charged three white men in Georgia on Wednesday with federal hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who died last year after they gunned him down while he was jogging through a suburban neighborhood.
The U.S. Justice Department said that former police officer Gregory McMichael, 65, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and William “Roddie” Bryan, 51, were each charged with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping.
Travis and Gregory McMichael are also additionally facing charges for using guns to carry out acts of violence.
Arbery’s death sparked fury after his murder was caught on video and went viral on social media in May 2020, some 10 weeks after he was killed.
Many expressed outrage at the time that no one had been arrested yet.
Later, all three men were charged in state court with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
A trial date for the state charges has not yet been set.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Chris Reese and Howard Goller)
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