Trump calls killing of black jogger ‘very disturbing situation’
US President Donald Trump on Friday said the video footage of a black jogger being shot in the US state of Georgia was “very disturbing.”
Speaking in an interview on Fox News, Trump called the incident, in which two white men are suspected of ambushing Ahmaud Arbery and shooting him to death during an altercation, was “heartbreaking.”
“I looked at a picture of that young man,” the president said of 25-year-old Arbery. “That looks like a really good young guy and it’s a very disturbing situation to me.”
The killing of Arbery, who was out exercising on February 23 near his home in Brunswick, Georgia, sparked outrage across the US after video footage of the incident was widely shared online.
The video appears to show Arbery jogging down a street when he comes across father and son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael brandishing guns and blocking the road with their truck.
Arbery struggles with one of the men before being shot multiple times and killed.
The two men, who said they suspected Arbery was a burglar, were charged with murder and aggravated assault on Thursday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said.
Asked what could be done to avoid a surge in racial tensions as a result of the killing, Trump said “justice getting done is the thing that solves that problem.”
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The president said he trusted Georgia’s governor and state law enforcement to handle the situation.
GBI director Vic Reynolds on Friday told a press conference the probe was still active, with investigators attempting to determine if “probable cause exists to arrest anyone else.” (dpa)
