The Georgia man who allegedly shot Ahmaud Arbery while he was he was jogging on a residential street called him a "f---ing n----r" as he stood over the 25-year-old's lifeless body, according to testimony given Thursday in a Gynn Country courtroom.
William Bryan, the man who shot the infamous viral video of Arbery's death, told investigators that ex-cop Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, chased Arbery with their truck and blocked his exit before opening fire and killing the young black man.
That admission, along with the use of racial expletives, will likely factor into the Department of Justice's decision whether to pursue federal hate crime charges against Arbery’s accused killers.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation's lead investigator, Rick Dial, testified Thursday at a probable cause hearing for the three defendants charged with Arbery’s murder: the McMichaels and their neighbor Bryan, 50.
Dial testified that Arbery was running toward the McMichaels' truck and that Greg McMichael was in the bed of the pick-up. Travis McMichael aimed his shotgun at Arbery from outside the driver’s side door.
Arbery changed direction and tried to pass the truck on the passenger’s side, but Travis McMichael showed up again and "made the decision to engage," Dial said.
Arbery was shot three times. Once in the center of his chest, once in the upper left chest and once through his right wrist.
The first shot soaked Arbery's white shirt with blood instantly, Dial said.
The McMichaels and Bryan have all been charged with felony murder in Arbery's death and appeared on video from the Glynn County Detention Center due to coronavirus concerns.
In addition to murder, the McMichaels have also been slapped with an aggravated assault charge while Bryan, who shot the cellphone video that was leaked on social media and triggered a national outcry, has also been charged with one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Special prosecutor Jesse Evans described a harrowing scene in the last minutes of Arbery's life and said he was “chased, hunted down and ultimately executed."
Arbery's mother, Wanda Lee Cooper, and family attorney Lee Merritt were also at the hearing. Some of Arbery's family members got emotional in the hearing and left the courtroom.
Dial confirmed there is additional video of Arbery trying to leave but that Bryan tried to block Arbery multiple times.
Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man studying to be an electrician, was shot and killed in late February near the coastal city of Brunswick. Charges, however, were not filed against any of the men accused in his shooting death until May, when the Georgia Bur... (Read more)
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