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Atlanta pushes state to outlaw citizen arrests in wake of Ahmaud Arbery shooting

Both Arbery's death and the delay in the prosecution of his killers have led to public outrage and more scrutiny of an age-old law in Georgia.

ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council is adopting legislation urging state lawmakers to outlaw citizen arrests. 

House Bill 1203 was introduced after Ahmaud Arbery was killed in southeast Georgia. Arbery was followed and shot to death while he was jogging in a Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood in January.

However, it wasn't until months later that Gregory and Travis McMichael were arrested when a video of the deadly incident arose. The person who took the video, William "Roddie" Bryan, was also arrested.

Prosecutors assigned to this case initially said the McMichaels' actions were legal under the citizen arrest statute.

The United States Department of Justice is now looking into how the case was handled.

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