Security Footage in Arbery Case Leaks, 2 New Videos Back Up Original 911 Call
Georgia investigators are reviewing new video evidence as they try to piece together the events that led to the Feb. 23 killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
On Thursday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that it had arrested Gregory McMichael, 64, and his 34-year-old son, Travis McMichael, and charged them with aggravated assault and the murder of Arbery.
Arbery, 25, was jogging in Brunswick, Georgia, on Feb. 23 when the McMichaels confronted him. Police have alleged that Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery. Gregory McMichael has said he and his son suspected Arbery was linked to burglaries in the area, and claimed Arbery attacked them.
Cell phone video of Arbery being shot has made the case a national flashpoint.
The GBI is trying to piece together what took place before the shooting, and to do that has reviewed a home security video from the neighborhood.
“We are using video to put the timeline together to fill in the blanks of what happened that afternoon,” said Scott Dutton, GBI’s deputy director of investigations, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It is important to note that this footage was reviewed at the beginning of the GBI investigation and before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael,” the GBI said in a statement released Saturday.
Video leaked to the Journal-Constitution appears to back up 911 calls prior to the shooting, which reported that a man had entered the site of a home under construction.
Another video showed a man actually on the property where the construction was taking place. Another 911 call reported a man running down the street.
Video taken from a home about a block away from the construction site shows a man wearing clothes that appear to match what Arbery was wearing at the time of the incident walk into house that was under construction.
The figure is small and appears first in the top right of the frame about the 13:30 mark of the video.
As the video continues, the man who appears to be Arbery reappears after several minutes (a barely visible white flash about the 14:43 mark), and runs off of view in the direction of Travis McMichael’s home, according to the Journal-Constitution.
On that day, the Glynn County 911 center received report from a man identified by George Public Broadcasting as Travis McMichael, who reported that a man was in the house under construction. A recording of the call has been released.
“And you said someone is breaking into it right now?” a 911 dispatcher said.
“No,” the man said. “It’s all open, it’s under construction. And he’s running right now! There he goes right now.”
“OK,” the dispatcher asked. “What is he doing?”
“He’s running down the street,” the caller said.
“OK. That’s fine. I’ll get them out there. I just need to know what he was doing wrong,” the dispatcher said.
A second 911 call included a comment from a man who said, “There’s a black male running down the street.”
Other video shows a man who appears to be Arbery walking around the site.
Lawyers representing Arbery’s family said the video shows the dead man did nothing wrong.
“Ahmaud Arbery did not take part in any felony, had no illegal substances in his system, was not armed yet was shot three times with a shotgun at close range,” the statement said.
Although the McMichaels said they were reacting to recent burglaries, Glynn County police records only show a Jan. 1 report of a gun stolen from an unlocked truck parked at McMichael’s house, according to the Journal-Constitution.
GBI Director Vic Reynolds defended the decision to charge the father and son.
“I can tell you there was more than sufficient probable cause in this case,” he said.
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