The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed they are reviewing new surveillance video that shows Ahmaud Arbery was trespassing inside a property under construction.
The new video conflicts with the narrative that 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was out for a jog when he was confronted on the road and fatally shot by father and son white supremacists in Brunswick, Georgia.
Arbery was gunned down on Feb. 23 in Satilla Shores, a working class majority white neighborhood in Glynn County in south Georgia.
The triggerman, Travis McMichael, 34, and his father, former cop Gregory McMichael were arrested on Thursday and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault by the GBI.
Cellphone video shows Travis McMichael and Arbery wrestling over Travis’ shotgun before Arbery was shot 3 times and bled out on the ground.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, said her son was out jogging in the neighborhood when he was shot and killed.
But new surveillance video obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper shows a person who appears to be Arbery walking near a construction site just down the road from his fatal encounter with the McMichaels.
Arbery, wearing a white t-shirt and khaki shorts, is seen entering a house under construction through the open garage. He disappears from camera view and moments later, he quickly emerges from the house through the front door.
A neighbor wearing overalls stands across the road observing the construction site. A car passes, and a minute later, Arbery runs down Satilla Drive toward Travis McMichael’s house.
According to ABC News, Travis called police 12 days before the shooting to report seeing a Black man enter a nearby construction property. The man ran off and Travis waited out front until police arrived.
Benjamin Crump, the attorney representing Arbery’s father, said the new video doesn’t change the facts that Arbery was simply “out for a jog,” and his murder was not justified.
“Our office has reviewed the surveillance video which appears to show a person, believed to be Ahmaud Arbery, entering a property under construction,” Crump said in a statement on Saturday. “The individual remains on the property for under 3 minutes before continuing to jog down the road. This video is consistent with the evidence already known to us. Ahmaud Arbery was out for a jog. He stopped by a property under construction where he engaged in no illegal activity and remained for only a brief period. Ahmaud did not take anything from the construction site. He did not cause any damage to the property. He remained for a brief period of time and was not instructed by anyone to leave but rather left on his own accord to continue his jog.
“Ahmaud’s actions at this empty home under construction were in no way a felony under Georgia law. This video confirms that Mr. Arbery’s murder was not justified and the actions of the men who pursued him and ambushed him were unjustified. We reiterate, Ahmaud Arbery did not take part in ANY felony, had no illegal substances in his system, was not armed yet was shot three times with a shotgun at close range.”
Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., spoke to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB at a rally on Saturday.
“If he committed a crime, why don’t you call the authorities?” Marcus Arbery said. “But you came at him like you were hunting an animal.”
