ATLANTA (Reuters) – Georgia police expect no more arrests in the shooting death of a black jogger after taking a third suspect into custody in the racially charged case, which attracted national attention when a video of the incident went viral, authorities said on Friday.
Late Thursday, William “Roddie” Bryan, 50, of Brunswick, Georgia, became the third white man charged with the Feb. 23 murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man.
“We feel confident that the individuals who needed to be charged have been charged,” said Vic Reynolds, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, at a press conference Friday in Atlanta.
A cell phone video of Arbery’s death in the small, coastal community of Brunswick shows him jogging down a two-lane street, then being shot to death by two armed men who had stopped their pickup truck in his path.
Bryan, who had come forward publicly to say he shot the video, was charged with felony murder and attempt to commit false imprisonment.
A father-and-son pair, Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested May 7, and each were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.
A police report says that the McMichaels spotted Arbery running down the street, grabbed a shotgun and a pistol and gave chase in their pickup, seeking to make a citizen’s arrest. They had suspected Arbery in a burglary.
At some point, Bryan comes on the scene in his own vehicle, police said. An arrest warrant says Bryan attempted to block Arbery from running away multiple times.
His Brunswick attorney, Kevin Gough, declined immediate comment to Reuters, but he has told multiple media outlets that Bryan was just an unarmed bystander.
The three are all being held in the Glynn County Detention Center without bond.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Alistair Bell)
