On 23 February 2020, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was jogging in his neighborhood outside the coastal town of Brunswick in Georgia in the USA. Arbery, who was African-American, was stopped by two white men, Gregory and Travis McMichael, who shot and killed Arbery.
Filmed the murder
William “Roddie” Bryan, who was next door to Gregory and Travis McMichael, filmed the murder. He posted the footage on social media in May, two and a half months after the incident. The two male suspects were only arrested by police two days after the video was posted, three months after they killed Arbery. They were both sentenced to life imprisonment.
KILLED ON JOG: Ahmaud Arbery was unarmed when he was killed on a jog in his neighborhood.
Foto: HANDOUT / Reuters
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William Bryan was arrested a few days later. He was also sentenced to life in prison. On Monday, he received an additional sentence of 35 years for hate crime. Father and son also received symbolic additional sentences.
Got involved in the case
The murder led to strong reactions across the United States.
Joe Biden, who was then a presidential candidate, became strongly involved in the case. Then-President Donald Trump also spoke about the murder, and offered his condolences to Arbury’s parents.
Local law enforcement received strong criticism in the wake of the video, and the investigation was therefore transferred to the authorities in Georgia. The men were sentenced there.
Bryan insisted that he was innocent and that he was only filming what happened.
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