Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia. Three white men, who later claimed to police that they assumed he was a burglar, pursued Arbery in their trucks for several minutes, using the vehicles to block his path as he tried to run away. Two of the men, Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, were armed in one vehicle. Their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, was in another vehicle. After overtaking Arbery, Travis exited his truck, pointing his weapon at Arbery. Arbery approached Travis and a physical altercation ensued, resulting in Travis fatally shooting Arbery. Bryan recorded this confrontation and Arbery's murder on his cell phone.

Members of the Glynn County Police Department (GCPD) arrived on the scene soon after the shooting; due to Gregory McMichael's background in civil service, the responding officer referred to him on a first-name basis and no questions as to the legality of the shooting nor the validity of self-defense claims were made. Arbery was still alive at the time officers arrived on the scene. No arrests were made for more than two months. The GCPD said the Brunswick District Attorney's Office first advised them to make no arrests, then Waycross District Attorney George Barnhill twice advised the GCPD to make no arrests, once before he was officially assigned to the case, and once while announcing his intention to recuse himself due to a conflict of interest. At the behest of Gregory McMichael, a local attorney provided Bryan's video to local radio station WGIG, which published the video on May 5. The video went viral on YouTube and Twitter. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) arrested the McMichaels on May 7 and Bryan on May 21, charging them with felony murder and other crimes.

The case was ultimately transferred to the Cobb County District Attorney's Office. On June 24, 2020, a grand jury indicted each of the three men on charges of malice murder, felony murder, and other crimes. Their trial began in November 2021 in the Glynn County Superior Court; all three were convicted on November 24 of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. Travis McMichael was further convicted of malice murder. On January 7, 2022, the McMichaels were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus 20 years, while Bryan was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years. On February 22, 2022, the three men were found guilty in a federal court of attempted kidnapping and the hate crime of interference with rights, while the McMichaels were also convicted of one count of using firearms during a crime of violence.

The local authorities' handling of the case resulted in nationwide criticism and debates on racial profiling in the United States. Many religious leaders, politicians, athletes, and other celebrities condemned the incident. Georgia attorney general Christopher M. Carr formally requested the intervention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the case on May 10, 2020, which was granted the following day. Former Brunswick district attorney Jackie Johnson was indicted in September 2021 for "showing favor and affection" to Gregory McMichael (her former subordinate) during the investigation, and for obstructing law enforcement by directing that Travis McMichael not be arrested. In the aftermath of the murder, Georgia enacted hate crimes legislation in June 2020, then repealed and replaced its citizen's arrest law in May 2021.

People involved

• Ahmaud Marquez Arbery (May 8, 1994 – February 23, 2020), nicknamed "Maud" or "Quez", was 25 at the time of his murder. He frequently ran for exercise, including regularly in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood close to the city of Brunswick, Georgia. Arbery lived in Fancy Bluff, a traditionally black neighborhood across the U.S. Route 17 highway from Satilla Shores, which was around two miles (3 km) away. He graduated from Brunswick High School in 2012, where he was a football star. As a linebacker, he was known for his speed and agility. He attended South Georgia Technical College during fall 2012 and spring 2013 to train for a career as an electrician. He paused his studies to save money by working in his father's car wash and landscaping business, and had plans to re-enroll.
• Gregory Johns McMichael (born December 23, 1955), then 64, previously worked as a Glynn County Police Department (GCPD) officer from 1982 to 1989, and as an investigator for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office from 1995 to his retirement in May 2019. In 2018, McMichael helped in a shoplifting investigation involving Arbery. According to various news sources, Arbery had been caught shoplifting in a Walmart store which led to a subsequent revocation and extension of Arbery's probation. It is unknown whether McMichael remembered this when he encountered Arbery on the day of the shooting. The prosecution later said the charges had nothing to do with his murder.
• Travis James McMichael (born January 18, 1986), then 34, was a U.S. Coast Guard mechanic between 2007 and 2016, and had some training in law enforcement. He is the son of Gregory McMichael.
• William Roderick Bryan, Jr (born August 19, 1969), nicknamed "Roddie", then 50, was a neighbor of the McMichaels. Bryan was a mechanic and worked at a local hardware store in Brunswick according to posts on his social media.

Video of the murder

A video of the murder was recorded by Bryan using his cellphone from his vehicle as he followed Arbery jogging down the neighborhood road. The video showed Arbery jogging on the left side of the road when he encountered a white pickup truck, a thirteenth generation Ford F-150, that had stopped in the right lane. Gregory McMichael is standing in the truck bed, while Travis McMichael initially stands beside the driver's door with a shotgun. Bryan's vehicle comes to a stop behind Arbery and the pickup truck.

As Arbery approaches the pickup truck, shouting can be heard. Arbery then crosses from the left side of the road to the right side and runs around the passenger's side of the truck. After passing the truck's front, Arbery turns left. Meanwhile, Travis McMichael, holding his shotgun, approaches Arbery at the truck's front. The camera's view of the confrontation between Arbery and Travis is momentarily blocked.

Several media accounts of the video report that the audio of the first gunshot seems to be heard before Arbery and Travis struggle with each other. Some media accounts first report a struggle, and then mention the gunshot(s). Other media accounts describe that it was "not possible" to see from the video what was happening when the first gunshot was fired, or report that the truck "blocks the view of how the men first engage each other" with regard to when the gunshot is heard.

Travis and Arbery are seen to grapple over the shotgun. While struggling, both men disappear off camera view on the left side of the frame, after which the audio of a second gunshot is heard. When they reappear, Arbery throws punches and tries to grab the shotgun. A third gunshot is heard being fired by Travis at point-blank range as Arbery appears to throw a right-handed punch at his head. Arbery recoils, stumbles, and collapses face down in the middle of the road while Travis walks away. Gregory McMichael, who has taken out a handgun but has not fired, runs towards his son and Arbery.

Investigation by Glynn County Police

Prior thefts and trespassing incidents reported

In December 2019 and January 2020, residents of Satilla Shores reported three break-ins or thefts. On December 8, 2019, a Satilla Shores resident reported rifles stolen from the resident's unlocked car. Police recorded a theft on December 28, 2019. On January 1, 2020, Travis McMichael filed a report of a firearm stolen from his unlocked truck.

On February 11, 2020, Travis called 911 to report a slender six-foot-tall (1.83 m) black man with short hair, wearing red shorts and a white shirt, who was trespassing on the site of a house under construction. Travis said, "I've never seen this guy before in the neighborhood". The dispatcher asked whether Travis was OK, and he said, "Yeah, it just startled me. When I turned around and saw him and backed up, he reached into his pocket and ran into the house. So I don't know if he's armed or not. But he looked like he was acting like he was." "We've been having a lot of burglaries and break-ins around here lately", Travis said on the call. He told the dispatcher that he was out in his truck, and that as many as four neighbors were out looking for the man. His father Gregory was one of the people out searching that night, and Gregory and at least one other neighbor were armed. Police responded and searched the house along with a neighbor, but found no one. However, surveillance video from that evening showed a man who reportedly looked like Arbery, briefly walking in and out of the house under construction. He did not take anything. The under-construction house did not have doors or windows.

No evidence has emerged of Arbery committing burglaries or thefts in Satilla Shores.