In February, 25-year-old
Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead in the
south Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores. In the two months
that followed, no arrests were made. But local residents
and lawmakers protested what they said
was a deadly combination of racial profiling and
flawed self-defense laws. “When they stop you, make sure
you got your cameras on. Make sure you got a video.” Police did eventually
arrest 2 suspects, but it was days after this video
of the fatal shooting emerged. Gregory McMichael
and his son Travis were charged with
murder and aggravated assault. The case has reignited
the national debate over racial violence. “I’m sure you saw the news
about Ahmaud Arbery.” “It looks like murder.” “The American public
saw the video.” What exactly happened
in the last moments of Mr. Arbery’s life? Using security camera footage,
cellphone video, and 911 calls and logs, The Times has reconstructed
the critical 12 minutes from when Mr. Arbery
appeared on Satilla Drive to his death,
less than 300 yards away. It’s around 1 p.m.
on Feb. 23 when Ahmaud Arbery is out,
less than 2 miles from his home. A security camera at
219 Satilla Drive is recording when Mr. Arbery enters
the frame at around 1:04 p.m. He may have been
jogging in the area, but he stops on the
front lawn of 220 Satilla, a house being built
across the street. Arbery glances around and wanders
into the open construction site. Inside, security footage briefly
captures him looking around. Meanwhile outside, a neighbor
walks from Jones Road towards Satilla Drive and calls 911. The neighbor waits
by the street corner. He will later tell
the dispatcher that Arbery resembles a
recent trespasser in the area. On multiple occasions
before Feb. 23, several trespassers
were caught on camera at 220 Satilla. The owner routinely
alerted the police. On four occasions, what
appears to be the same man was filmed. It’s unclear if
this was Arbery, but even if it were,
this does not justify his shooting by neighbors
outside on the street. The site’s owner
says nothing was ever stolen from the house
during these incidents or on Feb. 23, and no
property was ever damaged. But neighbors were
aware of the trespasses and the community was on alert. Now, back to the
day in question. It’s 1:08 p.m. and
Arbery is walking around inside the house. Four minutes after he entered,
he walks out and runs off. In the top corner
of the security footage, we can see down the street to 230 Satilla, the home
of Travis McMichael. At 1:10 p.m., Travis and his
father, Gregory, grab their guns,
jump in a white truck, and leave the house
to pursue Mr. Arbery. We don’t have footage
showing the next 3 minutes, but testimony
Gregory McMichael gave police at the scene,
and interviews by another witness, Roddy Bryan,
indicate what happened. Gregory and Travis
McMichael follow Arbery onto Burford Road. Their neighbor
Roddy Bryan sees the pursuit, gets in
his car and follows. The McMichaels try
to cut Arbery off. Arbery doubles back
and passes them. Bryan tries to block Arbery,
but Arbery runs past him and toward Holmes Road. Gregory McMichael
climbs from the cab to the bed of the truck
armed with a handgun. We don’t know exactly
what happens next. But Bryan and the
McMichaels end up following Arbery
on Holmes Road. And we next see Arbery at
1:14 p.m. running back down Holmes Road away
from Roddy Bryan and toward the McMichaels. Roddy Bryan is filming and —
a warning — these scenes are distressing. Gregory McMichael dials
911 at this time. Let’s watch this back and
break down what happens. This is Arbery. He has been running
from the vehicles for almost 4 minutes. Travis is standing by the
driver’s side of the truck, armed with a shotgun. Gregory is in the bed of the
truck on the 911 call. Arbery doesn’t know
where to run. He veers right,
then left and then darts around the right
side of the vehicle. Arbery comes around
the front of the truck. We see his white T-shirt
through the windshield and here is Travis now
leaning toward him. This is the instant
the first shot is fired. Arbery is hit in the chest,
his right lung, ribs, and sternum are injured. The two men wrestle
over the gun. Gregory shouts:
“Travis!” Arbery punches Travis. In the back of the truck, Gregory drops the cellphone. A second blast goes off
out of frame. But we see the
shotgun smoke here. Arbery is heavily bleeding. He throws another punch. Travis fires a final shot, which hits Arbery
in his left upper chest. Travis walks away
holding his gun. Gregory gets off the truck
clutching his .357 Magnum. According to the
police report, Gregory rolled Arbery over
to see if he had a weapon. He did not. Police officers arrive
within seconds of the shooting, and a minute or so later at 1:16 p.m., Police Officer
R. Minshew reports: Two subjects on Holmes Road. Shots fired. Male on ground bleeding out. The police took Gregory
McMichael’s testimony and let the two men go. But now the McMichaels
both face serious charges. Hi, this is Malachy
and I reported this story. For transparency, a note about
the security footage used in this video,
which was first published by The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The time code you see
here is incorrect. We know this because
we lined up what we see in this video with what
we hear in two 911 calls and we confirmed
the time of those calls. These details and
police logs also allowed us to determine that
Gregory McMichael called 911 from his
son’s phone just before the fatal shooting. So in this video,
we used the real time that events happened. Thank you for watching.
