WAYCROSS, Ga. — A community already reeling from the high-profile shooting death of a 25-year-old Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, is now struggling to process an officer-involved-shooting involving five children.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said it could take months to fully investigate the officer-involved shooting in Waycross Saturday.
No officers were hurt and no one was hit by any bullets.
The Georgia NAACP is now demanding the release of officers' body camera video and the dash camera video in the incident.
"We want to make sure there's a level of fair and transparent determination in this case," Gerald Griggs, an attorney with the Georgia NAACP, said.
After the GBI finishes its investigation, it's handed over to the district attorney.
"We are concerned about this particular case going to the Ware County district attorney," Griggs said.
This next step, however, also worries the president of the Waycross NAACP, Larry Lockey. The DA in Waycross is George Barnhill. Barnhill was the second DA to recuse himself from the Ahmaud Arbery shooting death case due to a conflict of interest.
In his recusal letter, Barnhill justified the Arbery shooting as the suspects acting in self-defense. Several have since called for Barnhill's removal.
"We are very concerned due to his involvement with the killing of Ahmaud Arbery," Lockey wrote in a statement.
"There's a deep concern about the fairness in the process, and so that's why we at the Georgia NAACP, and of course through the Waycross branch, are concerned and are upping our level of monitoring of the situation in Southeast Georgia," Griggs said.
Griggs said the NAACP is conducting an investigation as well and has been in touch with the Waycross Police Department and the GBI.
Lockey is calling for a citizen review board to be established in Waycross as soon as possible to look into the shooting.