Last week, it was announced by the Georgia state Bureau of Investigation that a father and son had been arrested and charged for the murder of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
The charges came more than two months after 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was killed on a residential street just outside the port city of Brunswick, Georgia.
Check out this breaking news report on the arrests below: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.
Now, the lawyer who leaked the cell phone footage of Arbery's shooting has spoken out about his reasons for sharing the video with the public.
Video footage of the shooting was captured by a friend of the McMichaels family who was following in his car.
Speaking to Inside Edition on Friday, Brunswick attorney Alan Tucker not only revealed that he was the one who released the video, but said he did so believing that doing so would help the McMichaels, who are father and son.
"I really thought the video would put the truth out to the public," Tucker told the news show. "I was trying to stop a riot."
When he was asked to elaborate, Tucker said: "Well, you saw what happened to Baltimore, you've seen what happened to Charleston, you saw what happened to Ferguson. I was trying to stop a riot."
Tucker can be seen explaining his actions in the video below:Tucker is referring to the 2015 arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Gray - a 25-year-old black man - had been arrested on April 12, 2015, by Baltimore police, and while being transported in a police van, suffered spinal injuries so severe that they eventually resulted in his death.
Per the BBC, several incidents of violent protests and riots erupted later that month, resulting in further arrests and injured police officers.
Tucker continued to explain that if Arbery had cooperated and "froze", he wouldn't have gotten shot, saying:
"The video speaks for itself. What happened, happened. I don't have an excuse for it. I can't explain. Other than, we always say, 'What if he had just froze and hadn't done anything, he wouldn't have gotten shot.'"
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."
Gregory and Travis McMichael are currently being held without bond.