Murder trial for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery: How the city and county are preparing for crowds

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Ahmaud Arbery’s accused killers will be tried at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, and already, crowds of protesters are forming.

“We’re here to show the Arbery family that they are not alone,” Lynn Whitfield told Action News Jax.

She came up to Brunswick from South Florida. She’s among close to a hundred people from all over the country with the Transformative Justice Coalition.

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“Ahmaud Arbery is all of our sons, all of our nephews, all of our brothers. What happened to him on that street that day could happen to anyone anywhere in this country and we cannot let him be forgotten,” she said.

Whitfield says her group wants to get its message across peacefully, but city and county leaders can never be too prepared.

Brunswick mayor Cornell Harvey says a unified command consisting of law enforcement and public safety officials was created to handle larger crowds.

“We want people to be able to come here and also to voice their opinion and they need to march and make a statement, that’s fine, but we’re hoping, we’re praying for peaceful demonstrations,” Harvey said.

Harvey doesn’t know yet how much the extra resources will cost the town, but he says the city and the county will split the cost.

As for Whitfield, she wants justice, and prays the Arbery family finds comfort.

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“We know that this has to stop. When you do wrong, you have to pay for it. We just want to make sure that the people of Brunswick know that people care about this family,” she told Action News Jax.

You can count on Action News Jax to bring you live team coverage of the trial.

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