Travis McMichael Tells Court He Feared for His Life After Ahmaud Arbery Grabbed His Shotgun

The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery took the stand in court on Wednesday to "give my side of the story," saying that he feared for his life when the 25-year-old attacked him and grabbed his shotgun after he and his father chased him through their Georgia neighborhood, the Associated Press reported.

Travis McMichael, his father, Greg McMichael, and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, are on trial for the pursuit and killing of 25-year-old Arbery in February of 2020. The defense is arguing that the three men were lawfully attempting to stop a burglary in a Georgia neighborhood impacted by crime.

After seeing Arbery in the neighborhood on February 23, 2020, the McMichaels armed themselves and began pursuing him in a pickup truck. Travis McMichael said that he believed it was the same man he saw "creeping" around a nearby house under construction days prior, AP reported.

McMichael said that when he eventually stopped the truck and exited the vehicle, Arbery ran at him and grabbed his gun. In a moment recorded on cellphone video by Bryan, the neighbor who joined the chase, McMichael shot Arbery three times with a shotgun.

When McMichael's attorney asked why he shot Arbery, he said that it was because he feared for his safety.

"He had my gun. He struck me. It was obvious that he was attacking me, that if he would have gotten the shotgun from me, then this was a life-or-death situation, and I'm going to have to stop him from doing this so I shot," McMichael said.

McMichael choked up slightly as he said that he was thinking about his son in that moment.

"It sounds weird, but that's the first thing that hit me," McMichael said.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Bryan told police that he tried to run Arbery off the road and then recorded cellphone video as McMichael fired three shotgun blasts before Arbery fell facedown in the street.

Bryan's attorney, Kevin Gough, argued Wednesday that Bryan never intended to harm Arbery and never tried to hide his involvement in the pursuit. He noted that Bryan openly shared his cellphone video — the key piece of evidence in the case — with police officers at the scene.

The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a burglar because security cameras had recorded him several times in the unfinished house on their street.

The defense began its case after Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley denied a request from defense attorneys to ban prominent 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.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson sat with Arbery's parents in the back row of the courtroom Wednesday for the second time this week. Attorneys for the defendants have said Jackson's presence and that of others who have spoken out in support of convictions in the case could unfairly influence the jury.

"They represent part of a national conversation" on racial injustice that has advocated for "conviction of the defendants," said Jason Sheffield, an attorney for McMichael. "And for that reason I do not think they should be present in the courtroom."

In an interview outside the courthouse, Jackson said that by bringing up the issue of his attendance and that of other Black pastors who have supported the Arberys, the defense attorneys are "looking for a diversion."

"They don't want a trial," he said. "They want a mistrial."

The trial is taking place before a disproportionately white jury at the Glynn County courthouse in the port city of Brunswick.

Arbery had enrolled at a technical college and was preparing to study to become an electrician like his uncles when he was killed.

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said: "Mr. Travis McMichael killed my son all on assumptions. He didn't know where Ahmaud was coming from or what Ahmaud had done. He just took actions into his own hands."

Update 11/17/21, 6:23 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include more of Wednesday's testimony.