The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is wrapping up its probe into the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, according to a report.
The high-profile case will soon be turned over to Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes, GBI Director Vic Reynolds announced, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Holmes will be the fourth prosecutor to handle the matter.
To date, three men have been arrested in the GBI’s 16-day investigation. On Thursday night, William “Roddie” Bryan, the Glynn County man who filmed the final seconds Arbery’s life on his cellphone, was charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Bryan’s video helped incriminate his neighbors Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34 — the white father and son charged with the Feb. 23 shooting death of Arbery, 25, who was black.
The pair reportedly chased the unarmed Arbery for more than four minutes before Travis McMichael shot Arbery at close range with a shotgun following a tussle.
The McMichaels were arrested two months after the video surfaced and went viral — prompting a national outcry. Ironically, it later surfaced that it had been Gregory McMichael, a former Glynn County police officer and prosecutorial investigator, who had first leaked the clip to the press — because he thought it would make him and his son look better.
“We intended on turning over every stone in this case,” GBI director Reynolds said during a news conference Friday. “The agents have done that.”
He didn’t rule out additional arrests, but said, “We feel confident that the individuals who needed to be charged have been charged.”
Kevin Gough, Bryan’s attorney, maintained his client’s innocence to reporters Friday.
“Mr. Bryan has committed no crime, and bears no criminal responsibility for his death,” Gough said. “Roddie passed a polygraph examination that effectively exonerates him of any criminal responsibility in this matter.”