Travis McMichael Reportedly Called Ahmaud Arbery a 'F****ng N*****' After Fatal Shooting, Investigator Says

On Thursday, an investigator from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), stated Travis McMichael, who is charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery, called the black man a racial slur after shooting him.

"Mr. Bryan said that, after the shooting took place, before police arrival, while Mr. Arbery was on the ground, that he heard Travis McMichael make the statement, 'f****** n*****'," said GBI Investigator Richard Dial during a preliminary hearing regarding the criminal case.

McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, are charged with murder and aggravated assault of Arbery, who was killed in February while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia. According to Dial, the McMichaels chased Arbery down in a pickup truck and Travis exited the vehicle with a gun to confront Arbery. The two men told investigators that they believed Arbery to be involved in a burglary that happened in the neighborhood prior to the altercation.

A third man, William Bryan, recorded a video of the encounter between Arbery and the McMichaels, which was later shared with a local radio station and posted onto the station's website. The video quickly went viral with people calling for justice and for the McMichaels to be arrested.

Bryan has since been charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Since being charged, Bryan's attorney has disputed allegations that he was involved in the incident, but during the preliminary hearing, Dial gave more details regarding Bryan's involvement, including that Bryan yelled to the McMichaels "do you got him?" before joining the chase.

According to Dial, Bryan hit Arbery with his truck before he began recording the fatal incident. Dial stated that investigators found a palm print and cotton fibers on the back of Bryan's truck, that "we attribute to contact with Arbery."

While being chased, Arbery began running away from the Satilla Shores neighborhood, where the McMichaels live, but they forced him to turn back. While running back through the neighborhood, Arbery passed Bryan, which is when he struck him, according to Dial.

Dial added that Bryan "made several statements about trying to block him in and using his vehicle to try to stop him."

"His statement was that Mr. Arbery kept jumping out of the way and moving around the bumper and actually running down into the ditch in an attempt to avoid his truck," Dial said.

According to Dial, none of the three men called the police while chasing Arbery down.

Newsweek reached out to GBI for comment on the preliminary hearing, but they declined to comment due the ongoing investigation.

06/04/20, 12:53 p.m.: The headline to this story has been updated to reflect who made the comments regarding Travis McMichael's use of a racial slur.