ATLANTA (AP) — Local law enforcers are now being investigated in the shooting of a black man who was chased down by two white men in Georgia.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and federal authorities to probe how local prosecutors handled the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. It took more than two months and the release of a video of the shooting before Gregory and Travis McMichael were charged with murder and jailed.

“Unfortunately, many questions and concerns have arisen regarding, among other things, the communications between and actions taken by the District Attorneys of the Brunswick and Waycross Circuits. As a result, we have requested the GBI to review in order to determine whether the process was undermined in any way,” Carr said in a statement Tuesday.

Carr also appointed a black district attorney from suburban Atlanta on Monday to take over, making her the fourth prosecutor in charge of a case that’s prompted a national outcry over suspicions that race played a role in delaying arrests.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said federal prosecutors also are considering whether hate crimes charges are warranted, and that Carr has been asked to “forward to federal authorities any information that he has.”

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes replaces prosecutor Tom Durden, who Carr said asked to be replaced by a prosecutor with a large staff as “this case has grown in size and magnitude.”

Holmes is based in metro Atlanta, far from the coastal Georgia community in Glynn County where the shooting happened, and is “a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge,” said Carr, a Republican.

Holmes served four years a magistrate judge before Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her last July to succeed GBI Director Vic Reynolds as district attorney. The Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council said she’s one of only seven black district attorneys in the state.

An attorney for Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, asked Holmes to “be zealous in her search for justice.”

“In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement.

The McMichaels told police they chased Arbrey because they believed he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect caught on surveillance video in their subdivision just outside Brunswick, a working-class port city of about 16,000 that also serves as a gateway to island beach resorts.

Arbery was hit by three shotgun blasts, according to an autopsy report released by the GBI; one shot grazed his right wrist, and the other two struck him in the chest. Blood tests for various drugs and alcohol all came back negative.

Many have expressed frustration with the investigation, suggesting the defendants’ race and law enforcement ties protected them until the video was shared and outrage grew. Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer who worked 20 years as district attorney’s investigator before retiring last year.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, have been jailed since Thursday. Neither man had lawyers at their first court appearances on Friday, done by video link from the Glynn County jail. With courts largely closed because of the coronavirus, a grand jury can’t be called to hear the case until mid-June.

Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself because the elder McMichael had worked under her. District Attorney George Barnhill of the neighboring Waycross Judicial Circuit was brought in, but stepped aside about a month later because his son works for Johnson as an assistant prosecutor. Durden then got the case, but it didn’t appear to advance until the emergence of the video.

Carr’s letter to the GBI accuses the first two prosecutors of leaving his office was in the dark about their actions. “Unknown and undisclosed to the Attorney General,” it says, Barnhill told Glynn County Police that he didn’t see grounds for any arrests.

The phone at Barnhill’s office in Waycross rang unanswered Tuesday.

President Donald Trump said Monday he’s following the case “very closely” and that Arbery “looks like a wonderful young guy.”

“Certainly the video, it was a terrible looking video to me,” Trump said. “But you have a lot of people looking at it and hopefully an answer’s going to be arrived at very quickly.”

Wanda Cooper Jones has said she thinks her son was simply jogging in the neighborhood before he was killed.

The leaked video shows a black man running at a jogging pace. A truck is stopped in the road ahead of him, with one white man standing in the pickup’s bed with a handgun, and another beside the open driver’s side door with what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. The running man attempts to pass the pickup on the passenger side, moving briefly out of view. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the runner grappling with the gunman in the street. A second shot can be heard, and the running man can be seen punching the other man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The running man staggers a few feet and falls face down.

A man who says he recorded the video on his phone said he’s received death threats. William R. Bryan, identified as a witness in the police report, has not been charged.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Bryan told WJAX-TV in an interview. “I was told I was a witness and I’m not sure what I am, other than receiving a bunch of threats.”

Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A person holds a sign while watching a rally to protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery Friday in Brunswick Ga. Two men have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Arbery, a black man in his mid-20s, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s attorney general has asked state law officers to investigate allegations of misconduct by local prosecutors in the killing of a black man who was chased by a white father and son, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced this morning.

The GBI said Attorney General Chris Carr requested the investigation of how the district attorney offices in Brunswick and Waycross handled the Feb. 23 killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. More than two months passed before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael. They were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault after video of the shooting appeared online and prompted outrage.

“Unfortunately, many questions and concerns have arisen regarding, among other things, the communications between and actions taken by the District Attorneys of the Brunswick and Waycross Circuits. As a result, we have requested the GBI to review in order to determine whether the process was undermined in any way,” Carr said in a statement this morning.

Carr also appointed a black district attorney from suburban Atlanta on Monday to take over the case, making her the fourth prosecutor in charge of a case that’s prompted a national outcry over suspicions that race played a role in delaying arrests.

Carr also has asked federal authorities to investigate how local police and prosecutors handled the case. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement that Carr has been asked to “forward to federal authorities any information that he has.”

Federal prosecutors are also considering hate crimes charges, Kupec said. This would allow for a separate federal case against the gunmen.

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes takes over the case from prosecutor Tom Durden, who the state’s attorney general said asked to be replaced by a prosecutor with a large staff as “this case has grown in size and magnitude.” Holmes is based in metro Atlanta, more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the coastal Georgia community in Glynn County where the shooting happened.

“District Attorney Holmes is a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge,” Carr, a Republican, said in a statement. “And the Cobb County District Attorney’s office has the resources, personnel and experience to lead this prosecution and ensure justice is done.”

Holmes served four years a magistrate judge in suburban Cobb County before Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her last July to succeed GBI Director Vic Reynolds as district attorney. According to the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Holmes is one of only seven black district attorneys in the state.

An attorney for Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, applauded the appointment of a new lead prosecutor.

“In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement. He asked that Holmes “be zealous in her search for justice.”

The McMichaels told police they chased Arbrey because they believed he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect caught on surveillance video. Arbery was hit by three shotgun blasts, according to an autopsy report released Monday by the GBI; one shot grazed his right wrist, and the other two struck him in the chest. Blood tests for various drugs and alcohol all came back negative.

Many have expressed frustration with the investigation, questioning whether the arrests took so long because the suspects are white and the victim black. The killing happened in a subdivision just outside Brunswick, a working-class port city of about 16,000 that also serves as a gateway to beach resorts on neighboring islands.

The McMichaels weren’t arrested until after the video became public and the GBI was asked to look into the killing. Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, have been jailed since Thursday. Neither man had lawyers at their first court appearances on Friday, done by video link from the Glynn County jail.

With courts largely closed because of the coronavirus, getting an indictment needed to try the men on murder charges will take a while longer still. The soonest a grand jury can convene to hear the case will be mid-June.

Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer who later worked 20 years as an investigator for the local district attorney’s office. He retired a year ago.

Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself from the case because the elder McMichael had worked under her. The first outside prosecutor appointed, District Attorney George Barnhill of the neighboring Waycross Judicial Circuit, stepped aside about a month later because his son works for Johnson as an assistant prosecutor. Durden got the case in mid-April, but the case didn’t appear to advance until the emergence of the video.

In his letter to the GBI requesting the probe of the first two prosecutors, Carr said his office was in the dark about actions taken by Barnhill before he was removed from the case. “Unknown and undisclosed to the Attorney General,” it says, Barnhill told Glynn County Police that he didn’t see grounds for any arrests.

The phone at Barnhill’s office in Waycross rang unanswered this morning.

Attorneys for Arbery’s parents and others, including Carr and the Southern Poverty Law Center, asked for a federal hate crimes investigation, since Georgia has no hate crime law allowing state charges.

At the White House, President Donald Trump said Monday he’s following the case “very closely” and that Arbery “looks like a wonderful young guy.”

“Certainly the video, it was a terrible looking video to me,” Trump said. “But you have a lot of people looking at it and hopefully an answer’s going to be arrived at very quickly.”

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighborhood before he was killed.

The leaked video shows a black man running at a jogging pace. A truck is stopped in the road ahead of him, with one white man standing in the pickup’s bed and another beside the open driver’s side door.

The running man attempts to pass the pickup on the passenger side, moving briefly outside the camera’s view. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the running man grappling with a man over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. A second shot can be heard, and the running man can be seen punching the other man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The running man staggers a few feet and falls face down.

A man who says he recorded the cellphone video of the shooting said he’s received death threats.

William R. Bryan is identified as a witness in the police report taken after Arbery’s shooting. He has not been charged.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Bryan told WJAX-TV in an interview that aired Monday. “I was told I was a witness and I’m not sure what I am, other than receiving a bunch of threats.”

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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s attorney general has asked state law officers to investigate allegations of misconduct by local prosecutors in the killing of a black man who was chased by a white father and son, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.

The GBI said Attorney General Chris Carr requested the investigation of how the district attorney offices in Brunswick and Waycross handled the Feb. 23 killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. More than two months passed before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael. They were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault after video of the shooting appeared online and prompted outrage.

“Unfortunately, many questions and concerns have arisen regarding, among other things, the communications between and actions taken by the District Attorneys of the Brunswick and Waycross Circuits. As a result, we have requested the GBI to review in order to determine whether the process was undermined in any way,” Carr said in a statement Tuesday.

Carr also appointed a black district attorney from suburban Atlanta on Monday to take over the case, making her the fourth prosecutor in charge of a case that’s prompted a national outcry over suspicions that race played a role in delaying arrests.

Carr also has asked federal authorities to investigate how local police and prosecutors handled the case. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement that Carr has been asked to “forward to federal authorities any information that he has.”

Federal prosecutors are also considering hate crimes charges, Kupec said. This would allow for a separate federal case against the gunmen.

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes takes over the case from prosecutor Tom Durden, who the state’s attorney general said asked to be replaced by a prosecutor with a large staff as “this case has grown in size and magnitude.” Holmes is based in metro Atlanta, more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the coastal Georgia community in Glynn County where the shooting happened.

“District Attorney Holmes is a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge,” Carr, a Republican, said in a statement. “And the Cobb County District Attorney’s office has the resources, personnel and experience to lead this prosecution and ensure justice is done.”

Holmes served four years a magistrate judge in suburban Cobb County before Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her last July to succeed GBI Director Vic Reynolds as district attorney. According to the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Holmes is one of only seven black district attorneys in the state.

An attorney for Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, applauded the appointment of a new lead prosecutor.

“In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement. He asked that Holmes “be zealous in her search for justice.”

The McMichaels told police they chased Arbrey because they believed he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect caught on surveillance video. Arbery was hit by three shotgun blasts, according to an autopsy report released Monday by the GBI; one shot grazed his right wrist, and the other two struck him in the chest. Blood tests for various drugs and alcohol all came back negative.

Many have expressed frustration with the investigation, questioning whether the arrests took so long because the suspects are white and the victim black. The killing happened in a subdivision just outside Brunswick, a working-class port city of about 16,000 that also serves as a gateway to beach resorts on neighboring islands.

The McMichaels weren’t arrested until after the video became public and the GBI was asked to look into the killing. Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, have been jailed since Thursday. Neither man had lawyers at their first court appearances on Friday, done by video link from the Glynn County jail.

With courts largely closed because of the coronavirus, getting an indictment needed to try the men on murder charges will take a while longer still. The soonest a grand jury can convene to hear the case will be mid-June.

Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer who later worked 20 years as an investigator for the local district attorney’s office. He retired a year ago.

Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself from the case because the elder McMichael had worked under her. The first outside prosecutor appointed, District Attorney George Barnhill of the neighboring Waycross Judicial Circuit, stepped aside about a month later because his son works for Johnson as an assistant prosecutor. Durden got the case in mid-April, but the case didn’t appear to advance until the emergence of the video.

Attorneys for Arbery’s parents and others, including Carr and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have asked for a federal investigation to weigh whether hate crimes charges should be brought. Georgia has no hate crime law allowing state charges.

At the White House, President Donald Trump said Monday he’s following the case “very closely” and that Arbery “looks like a wonderful young guy.”

“Certainly the video, it was a terrible looking video to me,” Trump said. “But you have a lot of people looking at it and hopefully an answer’s going to be arrived at very quickly.”

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighborhood before he was killed.

The leaked video shows a black man running at a jogging pace. A truck is stopped in the road ahead of him, with one white man standing in the pickup’s bed and another beside the open driver’s side door.

The running man attempts to pass the pickup on the passenger side, moving briefly outside the camera’s view. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the running man grappling with a man over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. A second shot can be heard, and the running man can be seen punching the other man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The running man staggers a few feet and falls face down.

A man who says he recorded the cellphone video of the shooting said he’s received death threats.

William R. Bryan is identified as a witness in the police report taken after Arbery’s shooting. He has not been charged.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Bryan told WJAX-TV in an interview that aired Monday. “I was told I was a witness and I’m not sure what I am, other than receiving a bunch of threats.”

Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Victoria Police has suspended two more police officers over the leak of unauthorised photos of former AFL player and coach Dean Laidley in custody inside a police station.

It follows the suspension of two other officers earlier this week over an “appalling” privacy breach after unauthorised images were shared of the former North Melbourne player and coach in custody inside St Kilda police station.

The photos were taken when Laidley was in police custody last weekend on allegations of stalking, as well as other charges.

The 53-year-old from Moonee Ponds was arrested on Saturday night after an incident outside a St Kilda home about 9:00pm.

In a statement, police said Professional Standards Command had “suspended two further Victoria Police employees in relation to photos circulating on social media of a person who was in custody at a police station in Victoria”.

The two male senior constables are from the southern metropolitan region and are expected to be charged with a breach under section 227 of the Victoria Police Act, which is unauthorised disclosure of information.

There have now been four police officers suspended as part of the investigation.

Police said as the investigation was ongoing, there would be no further comment.

Independent oversight of police probe

Meanwhile, Victoria’s corruption watchdog said it would oversee the Victoria Police investigation into the “serious privacy breach”.

Victoria’s independent police oversight agency, IBAC, said the scope of Victoria Police’s investigation would address issues the watchdog considered necessary to restore public confidence and prevent future breaches.

The police investigation will examine the number of officers involved in taking the initial photographs and the conduct of any other officers who were present and aware of the behaviour.

It will also probe how other officers received the photographs and responded to them, including whether they further distributed the images.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich said the community was right to expect that police always conducted themselves in accordance with the law.

“This must include ensuring that people’s privacy is appropriately protected at all times,” Commissioner Redlich said.

“Importantly, Victoria Police has confirmed they are looking at any underlying cultural issues, and how they can build on their work with the LGBTIQ community and ensure their officers have proper regard to human rights.

“Addressing any such cultural issues and improving police training will be fundamental to ensuring this type of behaviour is simply not tolerated and doesn’t happen again.”

Top cop’s ‘sense of shame’

Earlier on Friday, Victoria’s Chief Police Commissioner, Graham Ashton, said he felt ashamed of the force when he learnt the photo of Mr Laidley had been leaked in an act of “immaturity and gross stupidity”.

“I was firstly very angry when I first heard about it, because [it was] on a day when we should have been paying our respects to a fallen police hero, Josh Prestney,” the Chief Commissioner said referring to the funeral of one of four police officers killed in a truck crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway last month.

Mr Ashton said while Constable Prestney’s parents did not raise the incident with him at the funeral on Monday, “there was a sense of shame that I felt that someone in the force had done that on a day that we should have been honouring a police hero”.

He said it was clear “a lot of people” in the force had received the messages, and detectives were in the process of determining how widely it was shared.