Ahmaud Arbery Shooting Suspect Thought Video Would Show He's Not A White Supremacist
Following the death of Ahmaud Arbery, one of the two suspects, Gregory McMichael is claiming that he played a role in allowing the video of the shooting to be released to the public.
According to NBC News, Alan Tucker, an attorney in Brunswick, Georgia, said that Gregory McMichael, 64, wanted the world to see the viral video.
“[Greg] wanted the public to know the truth," Tucker said. "That he and his son were not white supremacists driving in a pick-up truck with a confederate flag in the back who shot a Black man in the back because he was jogging in a white neighborhood.” Gregory McMichael’s son is 34-year-old Travis McMichael.
Tucker continued, “He hoped the public would see them trying to make a citizen’s arrest on a young man that was running from a home under construction – that he had been seen in at night on several occasions while he plundered around on the owner’s security camera.”
William Bryan, the man who filmed the incident, is reportedly under investigation.
“I truthfully need to be cleared of this because I have nothing to do with it,” Bryan told The Associated Press.
Later telling CNN’s Chris Cuomo, that “if there wasn’t a tape, we wouldn’t know what happened.”
He also added, “I hope that in the end, it brings justice to the family, and peace to the family.”
On February 23, Ahmaud Arbery died from multiple gunshot wounds after he was followed by Gregory and Travis McMichael while he was out for a jog in a nearby neighborhood. The McMichaels were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault two months later on May 7, after the footage of the killing went viral.
“The truth will reveal that this is not just another act of violent racism. Greg McMichael did not commit murder,” said Frank Hogue, one of Gregory McMichael’s defense attorneys.
