Ahmaud Arbery Killing: Homeowner Says He Had Not Asked Men to Protect Property

BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA — The owner of the home Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr. accused Ahmaud Arbery of burgling before he was killed has told a jury in the murder trial that he had not asked the men to protect the property and he had called the police to report various people entering the property in the months before Arbery was killed.

The three men, all white, are accused of chasing Arbery, a black man, in vehicles before killing him on February 23, 2020, according to CNN, with Arbery's mother telling CNN's Anderson Cooper Thursday night that her son was “jogging: and “in the midst of his jog” he stopped by an ‘unoccupied home under construction and looked around’ and was “killed immediately.” The three men involved in the killing have pleaded not guilty to charges of malice and felony murder, plus charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

The defence argues that Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense as Arbery and Travis McMichael wrestled over Travis' shotgun, though Reuters reports that while Gregory McMichael bloodied himself as he searched Arbery's body for a weapon, he found none, according to police testimony at the trial.