Three Georgia men are on trial for the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old killed in 2020 after the defendants allegedly chased him down and blocked him with their trucks.
Defendants Greg and Travis McMichael, along with William Roddie Brown, are facing degree-murder charges.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski started her opening statement last week by referring to a short cellphone video clip that shows part of the attack on Arbery who was gunned down last year in a residential neighborhood in Brunswick.
“They assumed that he must have committed some crime that day,” Dunikoski said. “He tried to run around their truck and get away from these strangers, total strangers, who had already told him that they would kill him. And then they killed him.”
Arbery’s untimely death was unknown to the nation until the leaked video reached the masses on social media. The video, recorded by Bryan in February 2020, showed the fatal end of an incident in which Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, chased Arbery in their pickup truck for several minutes around the Satilla Shores neighborhood before blocking him in.
The McMichaels suspected that Arbery was responsible for a string of break-ins in the neighborhood, although they had no proof of their claims, according to court documents.
Bryan, who also pursued Arbery in his vehicle, blocked Arbery with his truck from behind as the McMichaels circled around the block and stopped in front of the victim, court documents state.
Travis McMichael then got out of his truck, armed with a shotgun. A scuffle broke out and Travis McMichael ended up shooting Arbery three times.
Arbery, unarmed, died at the scene.
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[Feature Photo: Ahmaud Arbery/Handout]
