Newly released body camera footage shows Greg McMichael telling police he and his son shot 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery and bragging about where they acquired their gun moments after the shooting.
The video substantiates a prosecutor’s argument that one of the alleged killers tried to use his past work in law enforcement to influence the judgment at the time.
The body camera footage, obtained and published by WSB-TV, shows officers interviewing suspects Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael, and Roddie Bryan immediately after Arbery’s killing in February in Glynn County, Georgia.
In the video, Greg McMichael can be heard telling his son Travis that Bryan had the whole incident recorded on video. The father and son tell police officers that the killing “wouldn’t have happened” if Arbery had stopped when they were chasing him.
Greg McMichael brags about where he got his gun while describing the incident. “I mean we were just this close to him. And he keeps on running,” McMichael says. “So I grab my .357 magnum, Glynn County PD issued, by the way.”
Later, two of the officers are heard discussing McMichael. When one officer says he doesn’t know who Greg McMichael is, the other officer responds, “Really? He was the chief investigator for the DA’s office.”
This lends some justification to prosecutors’ claim that McMichaels, who is retired, tried to use his past influence to impact the investigation.
It also invalidates consistent claims by Bryan’s attorneys that he was a mere bystander. The body camera shows an officer asking Bryan if he was a passerby, and he responds, “Not necessarily.”
The McMichaels were arrested and charged with murder two days after a viral video showed Arbery running from their truck before they shot him.
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H/T the Root