Travis McMichael Takes Stand for Second Day, Says He Told Ahmaud Arbery Police Were Coming

The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery testified for a second day Thursday, telling the court that he first approached Arbery to tell him that the police were coming and the 25-year-old took off running, the Associated Press reported.

Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan are all facing trial in Georgia for the pursuit and killing of Arbery, a Black man, in February 2020.

Travis McMichael testified that he learned from neighbors that a possible crime had taken place down the road in his Georgia neighborhood. McMichael pulled up in his pickup truck alongside Arbery, who was running in the area, to ask him about it, he said.

Arbery initially stopped running, but then continued when McMichael told him that police were on the way. McMichael, who testified that he had a shotgun pointed at the ground inside his vehicle, said that while he viewed Arbery's demeanor as suspicious, the 25-year-old didn't threaten him in any way.

"He just ran?" prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked McMichael.

"Yes, he was just running," McMichael answered.

When the prosecutor asked McMichael how many times he had pulled up next to strangers in his neighborhood in the past, the defendant said never, the AP reported.

"You know that no one has to talk to anyone they don't want to talk to, right?" Dunikoski said.

The court played cellphone footage recorded by Bryan of the final deadly encounter between McMichael and Arbery. Arbery was seen in the video running around the back of McMichael's truck after he pointed the shotgun at him. The two men came face to face again at the front of the truck, but the vehicle blocks any view of what happened in the moments before the first shotgun bullet was fired.

The defense rested their case Thursday after calling only seven witnesses. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Monday, potentially allowing the jury to deliver a verdict before Thanksgiving.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

McMichael's testimony Wednesday marked the first time any of the three defendants has spoken publicly about the killing. The other two defendants did not testify. McMichael said Arbery forced him to make a split-second "life-or-death" decision by attacking him and grabbing his shotgun.

Dunikoski noted Thursday that's not what McMichael told police in an interview about two hours after the shooting occurred.

"So you didn't shoot him because he grabbed the barrel of your shotgun," Dunikoski said. "You shot him because he came around that corner and you were right there and you just pulled the trigger immediately."

"No, I was struck," McMichael replied. "We were face to face, I'm being struck and that's when I shot."

McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck after he ran past their home from the house under construction. Bryan, the neighbor, joined the chase in his own truck and recorded cellphone video. Arbery's killing deepened a national outcry over racial injustice after the video leaked online.

Defense attorneys have argued that their clients were lawfully trying to stop burglaries in their neighborhood and that McMichael opened fire in self-defense. Prosecutors say there's no justification for what the men did and no evidence that Arbery had committed any crimes.

Six neighbors testified Thursday about sharing reports of property crimes and suspicious people on their subdivision's Facebook page. Brook Perez said one neighbor's 2019 post about a car break-in prompted her to check her husband's truck and discover some of his tools missing.

"I'm home by myself with the kids," Perez said. "So it just felt like a violation."

Outside the Glynn County courthouse, hundreds of pastors gathered, while a defense lawyer renewed his bid to keep Black ministers out of the courtroom. The Rev. Jesse Jackson again joined Arbery's family in the courtroom, as he has every day this week. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley declined to take the issue up again, noting he'd already rejected the same motion from Bryan attorney Kevin Gough twice.

Gough first asked the judge last week to remove the Rev. Al Sharpton from the court, saying the civil rights activist was trying to influence the disproportionately white jury. He also has complained that activists outside the courthouse are trying to influence the jury with banners and signs, and likewise objected to the pastors' rally.

"We had a huge protest at lunchtime that was so loud, with bullhorns literally 20 feet from the front door of this courthouse, that you could literally hear what was being said at the doors of this courtroom," Gough told the judge.