SC running community honors Ahmaud Arbery with running tribute

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - The running community in South Carolina joins other states across the nation in honoring Ahmaud Arbery with a running tribute on Friday, May 8.

The group in South Carolina will meet at the front steps of the State House at 9 a.m. for a moment of silence and will then run 2.23 miles around the State House block to pay tribute to Arbery and his family.

Friday would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday.

Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was killed on Feb. 23 just outside of Brunswick, Ga. The two white men, who were armed and pursued him in a pickup truck, 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son Travis McMichael, told police they believed Arbery was a burglar.

Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George E. Barnhill said in a memo that Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and their neighbor William Bryan were in "hot pursuit of a burglary suspect”.

Barnhill also identifies William Bryan, who is also white, as the man who shot the video of the killing of Arbery. The video allegedly depicts Arbery and Travis wrestling for a shotgun. Three shots are fired and Arbery is apparently seen dying in the street. He was unarmed.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested McMichael and his son on May 7 in connection with Arbery’s death. Both are being charged with murder and aggravated assault and have been booked in the Glynn County Jail.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, said it was “outrageous” that it took so long for arrests to be made.

Critics of Arbery’s murder case believe that no initial arrest was made due to Travis McMichael being the son of a retired Glynn County police officer.

This is an ongoing investigation.

GBI: 2 men charged with murder of Ahmaud Arbery

Protest held to demand arrests for the death of Ahmaud Arbery

Ahmaud Arbery shooting investigation is latest source of criticism for Glynn County PD

Ga. district attorney says shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery should go to grand jury trial

Copyright 2020 WIS. All rights reserved.