Ahmaud Arbery Shooting: Former Police Officer Involved In Killing Had Previously Investigated Victim

New details have emerged in the shooting death of unarmed jogger Ahmaud Arbery. Gregory McMichael, the father who provided gun cover while his son, Travis McMichael, carried out the attack, might have known of Arbery prior to the confrontation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week.

This new information became known through a recusal letter sent to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on April 7. The AJC report notes that Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill claimed that his son, a prosecutor for the Brunswick District Attorney, had in the past partnered with McMichael, a former police officer and investigator for the District Attorney, in investigating Arbery. The specifics of the investigation and when it took place remain unclear.

Initially, Gregory McMichael had told Glynn County Police that he recognized Arbery from surveillance footage of a robbery and intended to make a citizen’s arrest. He reportedly made no mention to officers of his past connection to Arbery.

The killing of Arbery, 25, occurred on Feb. 23 when Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, confronted Arbery while jogging in Satilla Shores, which is located near Brunswick, a city in southeast Georgia. Travis McMichael got into an altercation with Arbery, which escalated to a shooting. The father and son then drove off in their pickup truck. The investigation into the killing stalled for two months until recent public outcry on social media put more pressure on law enforcement.

Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael have both been charged with murder and aggravated assault.

The attack was documented in a 36-second video taken by William “Roddie” Bryan and eventually helped lead to their arrests. Bryan's attorney, Kevin Gough, said Bryan has begun receiving threats to his safety after his involvement with the case was made public.

“It was Mr. Bryan who videotaped the incident in question, disclosed the existence of the videotape, and invited a responding Glynn County Police Officer to sit with him in his truck where they watched the video together,” Gough said in a statement Friday.