Grieving mom of slain jogger Ahmaud Arbery says ‘killer’ ex-cop and son should get DEATH penalty if convicted
AHMAUD Arbery's mom wants the death penalty for her son's killers after he was filmed being shot while out jogging in broad daylight - sparking nationwide outrage.
Grieving Wanda Cooper-Jones wants Travis and Gregory McMichael, who are accusing of killing the 25-year-old, to "die as well" if they are found guilty.
"What would your family consider as swift justice?" Cooper-Jones was asked by a TMZ reporter on Tuesday.
"Coming from a mother's point of view, my son died," she said. "So they should die as well.
"I would totally agree with [the death penalty]."
Arbery's mother also added that the new DA had reached out to update her on the case.
"I think there will be justice for Ahmaud", she said.
On Monday, Cooper-Jones said his death would have been covered up if footage of the shooting had not emerged.
Her heartbreaking comments came as it was revealed Arbery, from Georgia, died from two gunshot wounds and suffered a third.
"I do think there are prejudices and racism, but I never worried about my son," Wanda Cooper-Jones told Fox News.
"Maybe he would be pulled over by a cop in his car, but never did I worry that he would be out jogging and shot.
"I believe it would have been covered up," she said as she added she thought local law enforcement would have dropped the case if the video of Arbery's death had not surfaced.
Cooper-Jones said she took "weeks and weeks" waiting for action to be taken, but cops only made arrests after the video of the shooting was leaked more than 10 weeks later.
The Glynn County Coroner conducted Arbery's autopsy back on February 24, one day after he was shot, TMZ reports.
The coroner found Arbery died from two close-range shotgun blasts in his chest, and x-rays showed two separate groups of buckshot pellets.
It also said he had a graze wound on his right wrist.
Coroner Edmund Donoghue noted cause of death was "multiple shotgun wounds", and described the manner of death as "homicide."
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, the two white men accused of killing Arbery, could be hit with hate crime charges - after a prosecutor initially called the fatal shooting "justifiable homicide."
Cops say Arbery, who was black, was shot and killed by father and son as he was jogging on Feb 23, but arrests were not made until last week.
The Department of Justice said that it will determine if hate crime charges for the brutal slaying are "appropriate."
"In addition, we are considering the request of the Attorney General of Georgia and have asked that he forward to federal authorities any information that he has about the handling of the investigation," said DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec in a statement.
"We will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law."
The Ahmaud Arbery case: What we know so far
- DOJ investigates killing as possible hate crime
- Trump says shooting 'doesn't look good'
- The man who recorded the shooting 'receives death threats'
- Lawyer who leaked video says Arbery would be alive if he'd 'froze'
- Georgia DA 'blocked' arrest of McMichael pair
A black DA was appointed to take over the case on Monday, making her the third outside prosecutor to come in.
Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes takes over 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 from the coastal Georgia community in Glynn County where the shooting happened.
In addition, a group of US district attorneys have condemned the prosecutor who told cops the shooting death of Arbery was "justifiable homicide."
In a fiery statement released on Saturday, the National District Attorneys Association slammed prosecutor George Barnhill for writing a letter exonerating the McMichaels on April 3 after he recused himself from the case due to a conflict of interest.
Barnhill withdrew from the investigation three days later because his son is a prosecutor in the Brunswick DA's office, where Gregory worked as a cop for nearly 20 years.
"We must strongly disagree with District Attorney George Barnhill's decision to share his opinion of whether Greg and Travis McMichael should be arrested after he decided to recuse himself from the case," the group said in the letter obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The association said the letter could influence jurors and make another prosecutor's job harder.
"No prosecutor should inject his or her opinion into a pending case to the point where she or he becomes a potential witness and risks compromising the just outcome of a case," the letter said.
Barnhill told cops after the fatal February 23 shooting that there was insufficient evidence to charge the two white men who hunted down the black jogger and blasted him with a shotgun, according to the Glynn County Police Department.
Before Barnhill was appointed by Attorney General Chris Carr to prosecute Arbery's case, he advised Glynn County officers not to arrest the McMichaels, AJC reported.
His decision not to arrest the men left the case at a standstill for nearly two and a half months.
After reviewing the evidence - including the 36-second video that shows the father and son confronting and killing Arbery - the DA told cops the McMichaels actions were justified.
In a letter to police, Barnhill argued the pair shot the unarmed 25-year-old in self-defense.
MOST READ IN US NEWS
Horrifying footage of Arbery's death was leaked on May 5, inciting outrage on social media and prompting a two-day probe.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged the McMichaels with felony murder and aggravated assault last Thursday.
Cooper-Jones described her son's death during a press conference last Wednesday as a "lynching in the middle of the day".
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552.