Ahmaud Arbery is being honored by his hometown after stiff sentences for hate crimes against the white men who chased and killed him

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- A crowd of dozens chanted on a sweltering street corner Tuesday as Ahmaud Arbery's hometown unveiled new street signs honoring the young Black man who was fatally shot after being chased by three white men in a nearby neighborhood — a crime local officials vowed to never forget.

Arbery's parents joined the celebration the day after the men responsible for their son's death received harsh prison sentences in U.S. District Court for committing federal hate crimes.

Officials in coastal Brunswick, where Arbery grew up, have ordered that intersections along all 2.7 miles (4.35 kilometers) of Albany Street that runs through the heart of the city's Black community will have additional signs designating it as Honorary Ahmaud Arbery Street.

The first two signs were unveiled Tuesday at an intersection near the Brunswick African-American Cultural Center, where one wall is adorned with a giant mural of Arbery's smiling face.

“That's an honor, is all I can say,” said Brenda Davis, a dock worker at Brunswick's busy seaport who lives on Albany Street along a stretch of modest brick and cinder block homes. “He means something to everybody, though a lot of people didn't know him.”

Arbery was killed Feb. 23, 2020, after he was spotting running in the Satilla Shores subdivision not far from his mother's house. A white father and son, Greg and Travis McMichael, grabbed guns and used a pickup truck to chase after Arbery, suspecting he was burglar. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun.

No arrests were made for more than two months, until the graphic cellphone video leaked online and Georgia state investigators took over the case from local police. Arbery's death reverberated far beyond Brunswick as protests erupted across the U.S. over killings of unarmed Black people such as George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.

“There's a sigh of relief now that justice is served,” said the Rev. Abra Lattany Reed, a Brunswick native and Methodist minister who attended the street sign dedication Tuesday.

She added: “It would be a fair assessment to say we're tired of the spotlight. This isn't the kind of spotlight you want on your community.”