Gregory and Travis McMichael Arrested in Killing of Ahmaud Arbery

ATLANTA — Georgia police on Thursday arrested a white father and son and charged them with murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man whose death in February had recently attracted widespread outrage.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that both men had been taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault in addition to murder. Travis McMichael fired the shot that killed Mr. Arbery, the state police agency said in a statement.

In recent days, details surrounding the circumstances of Mr. Arbery’s death on Feb. 23 — and the fact that no one had been arrested — prompted a wave of outrage and concern from figures as diverse as former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the basketball star LeBron James and Russell Moore, a prominent leader of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Those sentiments surged on Tuesday with the release of a graphic video that showed a black man, apparently Mr. Arbery, running toward a truck, engaging in a struggle with a man holding a shotgun, and then falling to the ground after three shotgun blasts went off.

The case is the latest in the United States to raise concerns about racial inequities in the justice system. Documents obtained by The New York Times show that a Georgia prosecutor who had the case for weeks before recusing himself over a conflict of interest had advised the Glynn County Police Department that there was “insufficient probable cause” to issue arrest warrants for the McMichaels.

The prosecutor, George E. Barnhill of Georgia’s Waycross Judicial Circuit, noted that the McMichaels were carrying their weapons legally under Georgia law. He also cited the state’s citizen’s arrest statute, and the statute on self-defense.

Mr. Barnhill argued that Mr. Arbery, who appeared to be unarmed, had initiated the fight with Travis McMichael, and was thus “allowed to use deadly force to protect himself” under Georgia law.

The case was next assigned to another district attorney, Tom Durden.

Amid rising anger, criticism and national attention, Mr. Durden this week announced that he would ask a Glynn County grand jury to decide whether charges were warranted. This week Mr. Durden also asked for the state bureau of investigation to get involved.

It was not clear on Thursday whether the McMichaels had retained legal counsel. Previously, Gregory McMichael could not be reached for comment, and Travis McMichael had declined to comment, citing the investigation.

Gregory McMichael is a former officer with the Glynn County Police Department, and until his retirement last year, he spent many years as an investigator in the local district attorney’s office.

A protest is scheduled for Friday morning, on what would have been Mr. Arbery’s 26th birthday, outside the courthouse in Brunswick, Ga. The rally was organized by the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., which implored protesters to “mask up,” coming with their faces covered as protection from the coronavirus.

The hashtag #IRunWithMaud also spread widely on social media, with celebrities and prominent activists pledging to join others in running 2.23 miles, marking the date when Mr. Arbery was fatally shot.

Gerald Griggs, the vice president of the Atlanta chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., said that the protest in Brunswick would continue as planned.

“We are going to send a message,” he said, “and the message is this: We will not allow unarmed African-Americans to be killed in this state with impunity. We will demand punishment within the fullest extent of the law.”

Akeem Baker, 26, Mr. Arbery’s close longtime friend who has been watching the case closely, said on Thursday night that he felt an “ounce of joy.”

“But I’m still uneasy,” he added. “It’s a small win, you know, but I feel like we still got to continue to push forward to get justice. To make sure everybody involved are held accountable.”

Richard Fausset reported from Atlanta, and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from New York. Rick Rojas contributed reporting from Atlanta.