Biden: Video Shows Black Jogger Ahmaud Arbery Was ‘Killed in Cold Blood’

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said in a late-Tuesday tweet that 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was “killed in cold blood” by the three white men who chased and shot him when he was out for a jog near Brunswick, Georgia, in February.

Biden also called for a “swift, full, and transparent investigation.”

The men who chased Arbery, former law enforcement officer Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and a man identified in a police report as “Roddy,” have not been arrested or charged with a crime since Arbery was killed on February 23. The video appearing to show Arbery being shot and killed by Travis McMichael emerged yesterday when it was posted on Twitter by activist Shaun King.

Gregory McMichael, a retired investigator for the county district attorney, told police that they chased Arbery because there had been several break-ins in the area and Arbery was “hauling ass” down the street, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. McMichael also claimed to have seen Arbery on a night leading up to the incident “with his hand down his pants.”

After being chased, McMichael said Arbery then “violently attacked” his son, who shot Arbery with a shotgun. One of the prosecutors who had the case declined to press charges and said that Travis McMichael acted out of self-defense, according to the Times, though he and another prosecutor later recused themselves due to conflict of interest.

On Tuesday night, the current prosecutor, Glynn County District Attorney Tom Durden, formally asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate Arbery’s death. Durden has also said he plans to present the case to a grand jury when Georgia courts reopen.

After the video was leaked yesterday, Arbery’s mother’s attorney Lee Merritt called for the men to be taken into custody pending their indictment, and said in a statement on Twitter that the video confirmed that the men “targeted Arbery solely because of his race and murdered him without justification.”

"Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had a right to stop him with weapons or use deadly force in furtherance of their unlawful attempted stop," Merritt said. "This is murder."

Cover: Former Vice President Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during the Jill and Joe Biden 2020 Super Tuesday Los Angeles Rally held at the Baldwin Hills Recreation Center on March 3, 2020 in Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)