Man who shot Arbery testifies ‘to give my side’

Mcmichael said he was afraid during the encounter

The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery testified Wednesday that he feared the 25-year-old Black man was armed with a gun when he encountered Arbery “creeping ” outside an unfinished house in his Georgia neighborhood 12 days before the shooting.

Travis Mcmichael’s testimony came as defense attorneys in the murder trial for the three white men charged with chasing and killing Arbery opened their case by building on arguments that their clients were lawfully trying to stop burglaries in their neighborhood.

“I want to give my side of the story,” Mcmichael, 35, said.

He said he first ran into Arbery at the house under construction on Feb. 11, 2020. Mcmichael said he was driving when he saw a man “lurking” and “creeping ” outside the home. He turned his vehicle to point his headlights on Arbery, he said, and the man tried to hide behind a portable toilet at the construction site.

“He comes out and pulls up his shirt, and goes to reach in his pocket or waistband area,” Mcmichael said.

“It freaked me out,” said Mcmichael, who then went home and called 911. “Once I realized what’s going on, he’s doing this,

I’m under the assumption he’s armed. I jumped back into the vehicle and he runs into the house.”

On Feb. 23, 2020, Travis Mcmichael and his father, Greg Mcmichael, armed themselves and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue Arbery after he ran past their home from the unfinished house. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase in his own truck, telling police that he tried to run Arbery off the road and then recorded cellphone video as Travis Mcmichael fired three shotgun blasts before Arbery fell facedown in the street.

Travis Mcmichael began testifying after Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley denied renewed requests for a mistrial and a directed verdict acquitting all three defendants on murder charges. The prosecution rested Tuesday after eight days of testimony from 23 witnesses.

Walmsley denied a request from defense attorneys to ban civil rights leaders and other high-profile visitors from the courtroom and require instead that they view the trial on a video screen in another room that has been set up for additional spectators as part of COVID -19 precautions.

Arbery, 25, had enrolled at a technical college to study to become an electrician.