While it is not definitive, the property owner now believes that Ahmaud Arbery may have simply been getting a drink of water from the construction site on the day he was killed by Travis McMichael:
NY POST – New video suggests slain Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery may have been getting a drink of water when he was spotted entering a construction site before he was shot dead, the property owner’s lawyer said Friday.
Attorney Elizabeth Graddy made the suggestion based on newly released security camera footage showing a man believed to be Arbery enter the under-construction home at least five separate times since last fall, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A man believed to be Arbery was inside the construction site at around 1 p.m. moments before the McMichaels confronted him. The McMichaels said they chased him down with weapons because they believed he was a burglar, then the son shot him in a struggle over a shotgun.
Graddy, who represents property owner Larry English, said in a statement Friday that there were two water faucets on the site – one at the rear of the house and one on the side, the Journal-Constitution reported.
“Although these water sources do not appear within any of the cameras’ frames, the young man moves to and from their locations,” she told the paper after reviewing the new footage.
Most of the videos are short clips showing a person walking around inside and outside of the construction site in Brunswick.
The footage shows no evidence of theft and nothing was ever reported missing from the property, according to the newspaper.
There were other instances where Arbery was caught on camera on the property:
In a Dec. 17 clip, a man the authorities believe is Arbery, wearing shorts and a tank top, leaves the construction site and enters Satilla Drive jogging.
On Feb. 11, the motion-activated cameras recorded a man who looked like Arbery sometime after 7 p.m. slowly walking through the house, the paper reported.
That night Travis McMichael was driving his red pickup truck past the construction site when he saw a man running into the house and called 911 to report a break-in. Police responded but didn’t find an intruder.
On an earlier occasion, the cameras recorded an unknown man and woman enter the property after 10 p.m. on Nov. 17, according to the newspaper.
Arbery was killed on February 23, which means McMichael had seen Arbery going into the property at least once before on February 11th and called the cops. If all of this is true, it doesn’t bode well for the McMichaels. However, it’s still best not to jump to conclusions until the investigation is done and all the video is accounted for. According to the attorneys for the McMichaels, there’s still more truth to come out:
But Robert Rubin and Jason Sheffield, attorneys for the younger McMichael, “conducted an extensive initial investigation and believe there is compelling evidence that Mr. McMichael is not guilty of the charges against him,” a statement from their law firm reads.
“Travis has been vilified before his voice could even be heard. … The truth in this case will exonerate Travis,” the statement reads.
Gregory McMichael’s attorneys said the public has not heard the whole story, and “more of the truth will come out.”
“So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgement, which has happened in this case,” Laura Hogue, one of the attorneys for the elder McMichael, said in her law firm’s statement.
“While the death of Ahmaud Arbery is a tragedy, causing deep grief to his family — a tragedy that at first appears to many to fit into a terrible pattern in American life — this case does not fit that pattern,” attorney Frank Hogue said. “The full story, to be revealed in in time, will tell the truth about this case.”
According to Hogue today, she said there is more than one video and that all of the facts they know will be revealed in a preliminary hearing:
The legal team for Greg McMichael says the facts they are referring to will be revealed in the preliminary hearing. Laura Hogue says there is more than one video of the deadly shooting. @wjxt4
— Kelly Wiley (@KellyWileyNews) May 15, 2020