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The Department of Justice is considering bringing federal hate crime charges against the men accused of murdering a then 25-year-old black jogger Ahmaud Arbery.
The DOJ’s statement follows Georgia's attorney general’s call for a federal investigation into the way that local authorities handled the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
“We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate,” Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “We will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law.”
Just last week, state authorities said there would be no hate crime charges brought in the case — because the state doesn’t have a hate crime law on the books.
Now, the feds are looking into whether federal hate crime laws are applicable.
The case had been stalled for months, until a video of the killing emerged last week, showing two men who appeared to be waiting for Arbery, and shot him dead on the side of a tree-lined road near Brunswick, Georgia.
“We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset," Attorney General Chris Carr said in a news release Monday. “The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers.”
Developing ...
Cover: This photo combo of images taken Thursday, May 7, 2020, and provided by the Glynn County Detention Center, in Georgia, show Gregory McMichael, left, and his son Travis McMichael. The two have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. (Glynn County Detention Center via AP)
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