The prosecution in the trial of three White men charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s killing played a series of 911 calls made by Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, including calls made weeks before the shooting.
In early January 2020, Travis McMichael called to report that a gun had been stolen from his truck. A little more than a month later, on February 11, 2020, he called again to report a suspicious individual inside a home under construction in the neighborhood.
“We’ve been having a lot of burglaries and break-ins around here lately, and I had a pistol stolen January 1 actually, and I’ve never seen this guy before in the neighborhood,” Travis McMichael is heard saying on the call. He goes on to say that when he spotted the person, the individual “reached into his pocket,” ran into the house and was “acting like he was” armed.
Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was shot and killed on February 23, 2020, near Brunswick, Georgia. Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are accused of chasing and killing him.
Defense attorneys contend their clients were trying to conduct a lawful citizen’s arrest of Arbery, whom they suspected of burglary after they and several neighbors became concerned about people entering a home under construction. The defense contends Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense as Arbery and Travis McMichael wrestled over Travis’ shotgun.
The McMichaels and Bryan are charged with malice and felony murder in connection with the killing. They also face charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. All have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski played the 911 clips during testimony from Cara Richardson, director of the Glynn-Brunswick 911 call center. Richardson was the final witness called to the stand Wednesday.
Another call that was played was from Gregory McMichael on the day of Arbery’s shooting. He is heard saying on the phone, “there’s a Black male running down the street.” When the dispatcher asks where, McMichael goes on to say, “I don’t know … Stop. Dammit. Stop. Travis!”
Kellie Parr, who grew up in the coastal Georgia neighborhood, testified earlier Wednesday that she had seen a “very tall” Black man standing in the doorway of the home under construction sometime in December 2019 or January 2020.
“There wasn’t a door there and he was just standing in the door frame and we just kind of looked at each other as I drove by,” Parr testified.
Arbery’s mother called testimony ‘disturbing’
The court also heard from Stephan Lowrey on Wednesday, who was an investigator with Glynn County police at the time of the shooting.
Lowrey testified that Bryan, one of the defendants, told him during an interview that he was on his porch on February 23, 2020, when he saw a “Black guy running down the road” and a truck “trailing or following” him. Bryan told Lowrey he yelled “You all got him?” to the truck and then got in his own truck to “assist,” according to a transcript of the interview.
Bryan, who recorded cell phone video of the shooting, allegedly hit Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery. The three men were allowed to leave the scene and weren’t arrested until the video became public.
On Wednesday, Lowrey testified Bryan told him that once in his truck, he “angled” Arbery “off the side of the road,” according to the transcript. Bryan told Lowery he had not seen Arbery prior to that incident, according to the transcript, and was not aware of him being involved in “any past instances.”
In a news conference after trial proceedings ended for the day, Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, said it was Lowrey who called her on the day of the shooting.
“Investigator Lowrey was the individual that called me on that Sunday afternoon, about 6:30 p.m., and told me that Ahmaud had committed a burglary,” Cooper-Jones said. “He told me that Ahmaud had did a burglary, he was confronted by the homeowner and Ahmaud was killed.”
But she added that during testimony, she did not hear Lowrey say anything about her son committing a burglary.
“That was very disturbing,” she added.
Witness testified Gregory McMichael didn’t know if Arbery committed a crime
Roderic Nohilly, a police sergeant in Georgia’s Glynn County, also testified Wednesday and said Gregory McMichael didn’t know during police interviews whether Arbery committed a crime prior to their pursuit of him.
The prosecution has said Arbery was on the construction site that day, and that neighbor Matthew Albenze called police to report this – but that neither of the McMichaels nor Bryan knew at the time whether Arbery had done anything wrong or had even been on the site that day.