The Georgia Bureau of Investigations is reviewing surveillance video that appears to show Ahmaud Arbery entering a construction site before he was killed, numerous sources reported.
In the video obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a person matching Arbery’s description is seen walking up to a house under construction and then walk around back of the house. The tape indicates that man was on the construction site less than five minutes, much of the time out of view of the camera. He did not appear to take anything from the house.
People are claiming that #AhmaudArbery “broke into this home”
My question is what did he burglarize? He walked on an open property, look around for a few seconds a left!
As a kid, I’ve done this to abandoned homes, new constructions, old-time schools and walked away too pic.twitter.com/fk69hvme3M
— ✭ Wayne Dupree ???? (@WayneDupreeShow) May 10, 2020
The tape was recorded minutes before Arbery, 25, was killed on February 23. Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested May 7 and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. (RELATED: Two 911 Calls Were Made Moments Before Shooting Death Of Ahmaud Arbery)
Arbery’s death sparked outrage following the release of a viral video depicting the father and son confronting and shooting Arbery, who was announced by police to have been unarmed.
Former police officer Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael pose for a booking photo they were arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and charged with murder in the shooting death of unarmed black man Ahmaud Arbery, in Brunswick, Georgia, U.S. (Reuters)
Arbery’s family said he liked to jog in the area. One of the men who attacked Arbery told police that they pursued Arbery because they thought he had been involved in earlier neighborhood break-ins.
“We are indeed reviewing additional video footage and photographs as part of the active case,” the GBI said in a statement. “It is important to note that this footage was reviewed at the beginning of the GBI investigation and before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael.”
Attorneys representing Arbery’s family say the new video is “consistent with the evidence already known to us,” according to NBC News.
“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,” the family’s lawyers said in a statement.