Family of slain US man Ahmaud Arbery say he was murdered in cold blood, demand justice

The father and son who shot Ahmaud Arbery have now been charged with his murder. 

The family of a US man who was shot and killed in broad daylight while out on a run say he was "hunted like an animal".

Video footage has surfaced of the moment Ahmaud Arbery aged 25 was gunned down in the middle of a Georgia street.

Arbery had run the same route daily for years according to his neighbours - but one Saturday in February, that run ended in tragedy.

The footage released on Tuesday shows Arbery jogging towards a white truck in the middle of the road. One man stands in the bed of the truck, the other to the side of it. As Arbery approaches a gunshot rings out and he swerves out of view behind the truck. Another shot is heard as he staggers out from the truck and then a third. 

Arbery staggers a few more steps and then falls to the ground. He was dead before police could reach him. 

According to a police report the two men near the truck are 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his son 34-year-old Travis McMichael. They had watched Arbery run past and suspected him to be part of a burglary nearby. 

The pair immediately armed themselves to pursue him. They claim that Arbery attacked them and they killed him in self-defence. 

 Neither man has been arrested or charged but the release of the footage means the case will now go to a grand jury according to district attorney Tom Durden. 

Arbery's family says there is no doubt their son was murdered in cold blood.

Speaking to CBS his mother Wanda Jones said the footage proves her son is innocent. 

"[It] proves that my son was not committing a crime. He was out for his daily jog and he was hunted down like an animal and killed," Jones said.

She says the death of her son was untimely. 

"He had ambition, he had plans. Ahmaud was still young,  he had dreams."

An investigation has been launched into Arbery's death.