A Georgia man is dead after being shot in broad daylight during a reported afternoon jog, following a chase by two gun-toting men. Nancy Grace and a team of experts delve into the case on the latest “Crime Stories,” airing on Fox Nation and Sirus XM.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was jogging in a neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, on February 23, when retired district attorney investigator Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis, 34, blocked him with their truck.
The truck stopped at Satilla Drive and Holmes Drive, according to the Glynn County Police Department. Travis got out of the truck with a shotgun and got into an apparent scuffle with Arbery, according to a video taken by a driver directly behind the truck.
Gregory McMichael fired two shots with a .357 magnum revolver while standing in the truck bed and later claimed Arbery had “violently attacked” his son. A shot from Travis McMichael’s shotgun struck Arbery in the abdomen.
A coroner pronounced Aubrey dead at the scene at 1:46 p.m.
The men were later questioned by authorities. McMichael, according to police, said that there had been several break-ins in the neighborhood and that Arbery was caught on security footage earlier that day, looking into an open home under construction on his block.
McMichael said when he spotted Arbery jogging, he contacted police, then yelled for him to stop before confronting him.
McMichael told police that he saw the same person on a previous night reach in his pants. McMichael said he thought the man was reaching for a gun. The following day, they spotted Arbery and followed him.
So far, no charges have been filed.
“Let’s just say there was a burglary, and I’m not saying there was, does that justify deadly force of citizen’s arrest? ” Grace asked.
Former FBI agent Jeff Cortese said that as a former investigator, Gregory McMichael should have known the outcome of his actions could end up in a fatality.
“This is a former investigator. He is supposed to understand how these things work,” Cortese said. “Even if everything he says about Arbery is true, it was reckless right out of the gate.”
Grace added that regardless of whether a burglary happened or not, the two men had no legal right to shoot Arbery.
“But when you are chasing somebody down the road that you think may have burglarized somebody else’s home and nobody is there, it’s not even a real home yet, how can that be justified?” Grace asked.
“Even if all that is true, the law does not justify under any citizen’s arrest statute that you grab your gun and chase somebody down and inflict mortal deadly force when you’re not, yourself, being pursued. That is clearly what happened here. This type of deadly force is not justified.”
“It looked like they were going hunting,” defense lawyer Kirk Nurmi added.
At the request of Liberty County District Attorney Tom Durden, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the shooting.
Check back for updates.
Ahmaud Arbery Police Report by Leigh Egan on Scribd
[Feature Photo: Ahmaud Arbery/Handout; Greg and Travis McMichael/Facebook]
