*William “Roddie” Bryan, the man who filmed the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, has been arrested in connection to the young man’s murder.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed Thursday that Bryan has been hit with charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment, per Complex.
Roddie has insisted that he was simply a witness to Gregory and Travis McMichael hunting and killing Arbery on February 23, claiming he had zero involvement with the slaying. His arrest comes after increasing public outcry after over his cell phone footage which captured Arbery’s killing, and catapulted the case into the national spotlight.
Bryan said after his video leaked online, he started receiving death threats.
Attorneys for Ahmaud’s parents — S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump and L. Chris Stewart — tell TMZ …”We called for his arrest from the very beginning of this process. His involvement in the murder of Mr. Arbery was obvious to us, to many around the country and after their thorough investigation, it was clear to the GBI as well.”
Merritt also told CNN this week, “We are going to continue to push for the arrest of William Bryan for recording and participating in the ambush of Ahmaud Arbery.”
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On May 21, 2020, the GBI arrested William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., age 50, on charges of Felony Murder & Criminal Attempt to Commit False Imprisonment. Read the updated press release here ⬇️:https://t.co/VJCuz8chVr pic.twitter.com/MXcs8qEY8m
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) May 21, 2020
Ahmaud was unarmed when he was shot on February 23 by Travis, 34, and his father, Gregory, 64, a retired cop, who had seen Arbery jogging in the area and decided to arm themselves, chase him down in a pickup truck for over four minutes and kill him.
The sister of Arbery’s killer, Lindsay McMichael, 30, admits she posted a picture of his dead body to Snapchat because she is “a true-crime fan.”
Lee Merritt noted that the posting the gruesome photo online “fits the pattern” of the family’s thirst for violence.
Gregory claims he leaked the video of the killing thinking it would exonerate him and his son. But as one Twitter user noted, “Lynching tradition is to take souvenirs. If there weren’t so many witnesses, someone would have a coin purse made of the brother’s private parts.”
“First you have (Gregory) McMichael sharing with a news station a video of the murder, then you have his daughter sharing an image of Ahmaud’s bullet-ridden body on Snapchat,” Lee Merritt told The Sun. “It’s deeply disturbing behavior.”
Adding, “The picture Lindsay McMichael posted was very disturbing and very disturbing to the family. It actually fits the pattern of the McMichael family engaging in a weird, violent form of voyeurism.”
Arbery was shot twice with a shotgun at close range during the confrontation with the McMichaels.
Georgia authorities initially declined to pursue charges against Gregory and Travis, claiming the father and son had acted in self-defense. However, after footage of the deadly shooting surfaced online in early May, sparking a national call for justice, the McMichaels were arrested on murder and aggravated assault charges.
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