Ahmaud Arbery's mother believes he was checking wiring at construction site as he was an aspiring electrician
Ahmaud Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, reportedly believes that her late son, who was an aspiring electrician, went to the under-construction property to observe the wiring there. Her statement came hours before the Arbery family lawyer announced on Monday, May 25, that the Justice Department was officially investigating the jogger's killing as a hate crime.
Father and son duo, 64-year-old Gregory McMichael — a former police officer — and 34-year-old Travis McMichael, shot 25-year-old Arbery dead on February 23 on a street in broad daylight while he was jogging. The pair reportedly suspected him to be a burglar running around the neighborhood. Arbery was shot thrice and was reported dead on the scene. After a video of the assault was released on social media, the incident sparked a widespread racial outcry in the country and has led many to question why the suspects were arrested only after the outrage. No arrests were made in the case for over two months.
Shortly after the McMichaels' arrest, another video was released showing Arbery lingering inside a construction site in the neighborhood. The property's owner later released a statement, saying nothing was taken from the house and it was likely that the jogger came in for a drink of water.
The Arbery family's attorney confirmed that the 25-year-old was captured on security cameras entering the construction property on the day he was killed. However, there were other videos released weeks later, showing other people walking in and out of the construction site property too.
The jogger's mother, Cooper-Jones, in a recent statement said she believes that her son walked into the property to observe the wiring. "I think that when he went into the property, he probably was looking to see how they were going to run the wire... or how he would do the job if it was one of his assignments," she said referring to Arbery's plan to become an electrician.
The confirmation of a hate crime probe in the incident came after the Justice Department, earlier this month, had stated that they were weighing whether or not to bring federal hate crime charges. Arbery's family, however, have always maintained that the 25-year-old was the victim of a racist hate crime, according to PBS. Although Georgia does not have hate crime charges as a state, the federal charge carries a maximum prison sentence of life, particularly when the hate crime results in death.
The latest update comes after the arrest of one of the McMichaels' neighbors, William Roddie Bryan Jr, who took recorded the video of Arbery's killing. Bryan had initially insisted that he was just a witness and not an accomplice. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), however, negated his claims, stating that he was not merely a witness to the murder, and that they "wouldn't have arrested" Bryan if he was not involved in Arbery's fatal shooting. The bureau announced that 50-year-old Brian has also been charged in Arbery's murder with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. Reports state that if he is found guilty, he could face the death penalty or life in prison for the felony murder charge and up to 10 years of imprisonment.