The Georgia attorney general has promised his office will investigate local authorities' handling of the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the black 25-year-old man shot to death by two white men who escaped charges for more than two months.
Captured in a shaky graphic video that went viral this week, the Feb. 23 shooting of Arbery in southern Georgia shocked and inflamed the local community and the wider public.
Gregory McMichael, a retired 64-year-old district attorney's investigator, and his 34-year-old son, Travis, were arrested and charged with murder Thursday.
After the shooting, the two men told Glynn County police that they pursued Arbery with a .357 Magnum revolver and a shotgun because they suspected him in a spate of local break-ins.
Police, however, said a series of burglaries wasn't reported in the area this winter.
"I will be looking into how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement issued to The Washington Post. "The family, the community, and the state of Georgia deserve answers."
Video of the incident, which was transferred to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in an investigative file on Wednesday, shows Arbery jogging along a shady rural road in an unincorporated area near Brunswick.
Arbery appears to be stopped as he passes a pickup truck, and a struggle ensues. Gunshots ring out. Arbery begins to stumble away but then falls into the pavement.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation launched an independent investigation into the shooting this week, which promptly produced the arrests and charges against the McMichaels.
The incident _ and the 74 days that passed without charges _ generated anguished calls from politicians and celebrities across the country this week.
"We're literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!" Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said in a tweet Wednesday.
