Memorial to Ahmad Arbery at the entrance to Satilla Shores in Brunswick, Georgia. Photo… Nicole Crane for The New York Times
In November, three white men were found guilty of killing Ahmad Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, after they suspected him of committing a series of break-ins in their South Georgia neighborhood. In January, the men were sentenced to life in state prison and now face federal hate crime charges.
Here’s what we know about the circumstances of Mr. Arbery’s death.
Ahmad Arbery, former outstanding high school football playerlived with his mother outside the small town of Brunswick, Georgia. He spent some time in college, but it looks like he was in his 20s in a drift period, trying out different professions, working on his rapping skills, and living with his moms. He also suffered from mental illness that caused him to have auditory hallucinations.
According to a police report, on Sunday, February 23, 2020, shortly before 1:00 p.m., Mr Arbery was running in a suburban area called Satilla Shores when a man standing in his front yard saw him walking by. The man, Gregory McMichael, said that he thought Mr. Arbery looked like a man suspected of several break-ins in the area and called Travis McMichael, his son.
According to the police report, the men grabbed a .357 Magnum pistol and a shotgun, got into a pickup truck and chased Mr. Arbery, unsuccessfully trying to cut him off. According to the report and other documents, a third man, William Bryan, also joined the pursuit in a second truck.
In a recording of an 911 call that appeared to have been made minutes before the start of the chase, a neighbor told the dispatcher that a black man was in a house under construction in the McMichael block.
During the chase, the McMichaels yelled, “Stop, stop, we want to talk to you,” Gregory McMichael’s police report says. They then drove up to Mr. Arbery and Travis McMichael got out of the truck with the shotgun.
Gregory McMichael “stated that an unidentified man began to viciously attack Travis, after which the two men began to fight over a shotgun, after which Travis fired, and a second later a second shot was fired,” the report says.
Mr Arbery was unarmed.
Shortly after the shooting, Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself because Gregory McMichael worked in her office.
The case was sent to George E. Barnhill, District Attorney in Waycross, Georgia, who later withdrew from the case after Mr. Arbery’s mother claimed he had a conflict because his son also worked for the Brunswick District Attorney.
But before dropping the case, Mr. Barnhill wrote a letter Glynn County Police Department. In the letter, he argued that there were insufficient grounds for the arrest of Mr. Arbery’s persecutors.
Mr. Barnhill noted that the McMichaels legally carry their firearms under Georgia’s open carry law. He said they had the right to prosecute what he called a “burglary suspect” and cited state law that states “A private person may arrest a criminal if the crime is committed in his presence or in his immediate vicinity.” This so-called Citizens’ Arrest Act was largely repealed in response to the Arbery case.
Mr. Barnhill also argued that if Mr. Arbery attacked Travis McMichael, Mr. McMichael “has the right to use lethal force in self-defence” under Georgia law.
Anger at the killing and the lack of consequences for the McMichaels increased when a graphic video showing the shooting was released. on a suburban road.
The mobile phone video filmed by Mr. Brian is about half a minute long. It shows Mr. Arbury running down a shaded two-lane residential road when he bumps into a white truck, with Travis McMichael standing next to the open door on the driver’s side with a shotgun. Gregory McMichael lies in the back of a pickup truck with a gun.
Mr. Arbery runs around the truck and briefly disappears from view. Muffled screams are heard before Mr. Arbery appears fighting Travis McMichael outside the truck as three shotgun blasts echo.
Mr. Arbery tries to run, but stumbles and after a few steps falls to the pavement.