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'If I coulda gotten a shot at the guy, I would've shot him myself': Murder defendant to police following Ahmaud Arbery killing

Raw video released in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery includes police interviews with all three men now charged with murdering the 25-year-old Black man.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — RAW VIDEO BELOW. VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.

Police body cam footage released by the Glynn County Police Department includes graphic images of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, shot multiple times and laying lifeless on a sun-dappled Georgia street.

The video also includes interviews with all three men now charged with his murder, though none was arrested the day of the shooting, and would not be until 74 days later.

Arbery's death gained national attention after a cell phone recording of his death, taken by one of the three men, was released in May. The men told police they chased Arbery through their Satilla Shores subdivision in Brunswick before the fatal shooting on Feb. 23. The men say they believed he was burglarizing local homes. His family maintains he was jogging.

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Gregory McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan Jr., face charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. They have pleaded not guilty and are in jail being held without bond.

In the newly released footage, Gregory McMichael can be seen talking to his son as Travis McMichael paces back and forth. Speaking directly to an officer later, Gregory McMichael tells a police officer he believes Arbery is the person he's seen "numerous times breaking into houses." 

Surveillance video released after the shooting showed Arbery visited a home under construction on several occasions, as did other neighborhood residents and children, but nothing was stolen or damaged.

Bryan tells police he joined the pursuit and attempted to "corner" Arbery. He has subsequently maintained he was simply a bystander. 

“I hollered at them, I said, 'y’all got him?'" Bryan told officers. "They got down to the end somewhere and they must’ve got past him because I pulled out of my driveway and was going to try and block him."

Bryan continued, “Should we have been trying to chase him? I don’t know. I mean, but yeah -- at one time when I cornered him up over here, he was trying to get in my truck.”

When the recording officer first approaches Travis McMichael, he is sitting on a bench with face, hands and arms covered in Arbery’s blood, the video shows. As he stands, he says, “If he would have stopped, this wouldn’t have happened.”

In Greg McMichael's telling, "Roddie pulls out at some point... pulls up in his truck and kind of blocks [Arbery]... [Arbery] starts running past us and Travis backs up and says, 'hey stop, stop we want to talk to you' or something to that effect. I don't remember the exact words." 

Travis McMichael tells an officer Arbery hit him. “He struck me a few times,” he said, adding “in the face.” The officer notes he has a bruise that is starting to swell.

Travis McMichael paces around the yard, hands on his hips, blood coating his forearm. He asks the officer if he can get cleaned up but the answer is no. Investigators need to preserve evidence.

Early in the encounter, the officer apologizes for needing to take pictures of Travis McMichael, saying “we want to do everything right.”

“I want it done right,” Travis McMichael replies. “This doesn’t look good.”

Credit: WTLV
Ahmaud Arbery murder suspects have been formally indicted for felony murder. Arbery was shot and killed in February.

   

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