Father and son charged with the murder of unarmed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery

A father and son have been charged for the murder of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, the BBC reports.

The charges come more than two months after 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was killed on a residential street just outside the port city of Brunswick, Georgia.

Earlier this week, the case caused national outrage when cellphone footage from the incident appeared to show the unarmed Arbery attempting to flee an attack from Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34.

Back in February, Arbery had reportedly been jogging in their neighborhood, when the white father and son confronted the black man. Footage from the incident then appears to show the unarmed Arbery being shot and killed in the street. The McMichaels say they thought Arbery was a burglar.

Per CNN, a prosecutor who has since recused himself from the case says the father and son were attempting to make a citizen's arrest, and that they acted in self-defense when Arbery grabbed their gun.

Marcus Arbery, the victim's father, spoke to PBS Newshour on Thursday, and described his son's death as a "lynch mob". He added:

"I don't know why they racially profile him and done him like that because all he did is work out and ran and just took care of his body, because he had dreams now.

"Now all his dreams are gone, because they took his life for nothing."

When asked about the suggestion that his son could have been involved in a burglary, Mr Arbery said that was "just a lie and a cover-up".

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has since said in statement:

"The outcome of this incident left more than one victim, and we want to ensure that the family of Ahmaud Arbery is not further traumatized."

Both Gregory and Travis McMichael were detained on Thursday by the Georgia state Bureau of Investigation, and charged with murder and aggravated assault, investigators revealed in a statement.

The bureau also said that the father and son had confronted Arbery with two firearms, and it was Travis who had shot and killed the 25-year-old.

After footage of the incident hit social media earlier this week, the failure to bring charges against the father and son caused widespread outrage.

On May 6, US basketball icon LeBron James tweeted out about the case to his 45.9 million Twitter followers:

"We’re literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes! Can’t even go for a damn jog man! Like WTF man are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!? No man fr ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! I’m sorry Ahmaud(Rest In Paradise) and my prayers and blessings sent to the.....

"heavens above to your family!!"

Alongside the tweet, James posted a photograph of Arbery and a message as if the 25-year-old written it himself:

"I was murdered by an armed father and son who hunted me down and shot me as I jogged in a Georgia neighborhood. Neither of my killers have been charged. My name is Amhaud Arbery."

The image has since been widely shared on social media.

In the press release, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation also stated:

"We know you want and deserve answers as quickly as possible, and we do too.

"So when we ask for patience knowing it’s been over two months since the incident, we do so to allow our team to complete the investigation.

"We know this is difficult and is not only affecting the Brunswick community, or Georgia, but the entire nation.

"We thank you for your understanding."