Ahmaud Arbery ‘killer’ ex-cop ‘encouraged by police to be vigilante – and neighbors told to call HIM rather than 911’
ONE of the alleged murders of Ahmaud Arbery was a point person for police just months before the fatal shooting, according to reports.
Arbery was shot dead following a pursuit by Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, fueling a debate about whether the act was racially motivated.
The two men have been jailed on murder charges since May 7.
Gregory McMichael, 64, told police that he suspected Arbery, 25, was responsible for a series of break-ins in the area, and that Arbery had attacked his son before he was fatally shot in Brunswick, Georgia, on February 23.
On Friday, that police told at least one neighbor that Gregory McMichael should be called if there was a trespasser on their property.
In a text reported to be from an officer with Glynn County Police Department to Larry English, the owner of the home under construction where Ahmaud's alleged killers claim he was trespassing, English is told to contact McMichael if he ever needed assistance.
The text read: "Greg is retired Law Enforcement and also a Retired Investigator from the DA's office. He said please call him day or night when you get action on your camera."
English's attorney, Elizabeth Graddy, confirmed the text exchange is real, reports said.
Gregory McMichael had previously worked as a police officer with Glynn County and retired from working as an investigator with Brunswick D.A. in 2019.
On Friday, Graddy released four separate camera videos of a man who may have been Arbery walking through the construction site he visited the day he was shot.
Graddy said that the footage shows that Arbery may have been looking for a when he wandered into the site.
Though water sources are not visible in the footage, the lawyer said that the man was moving to where the would be located.
Additional video showed other people visiting the site on the day Arbery was shot, leading his legal team questioned why Arbery was the one to be shot.
It's this motivation that has fueled fierce debate over the 25-year-old's death, leading people to claim whether the act was racially motivated.
Attorney Franklin Hogue, hired to defend Gregory McMichael, told a news conference: "The truth will reveal this is not just another act of violent racism.
"Greg McMichael did not commit murder. Greg McMichael is not a party to the crime of murder."
Cellphone footage of the shooting was leaked last week, and defense lawyers for McMichael said on Friday that they have examined evidence that "tells a very different story" about the victim.
Attorney Laura Hogue told reporters: "There is more than one video of the incident."
Arbery's mother said that her son was merely out jogging the day he was shot, and the 25-year-old's lawyers said the footage of Arbery at the construction site shows he is committing no crimes.
Attorneys for Arbery's parents said: "There were frequently people on the construction site both day and night.
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"Ahmaud Arbery seems to be the only one who was presumed to be a criminal and ultimately the only one murdered based on that assumption."
Two weeks prior to the shooting, Travis McMichael, 34, had called 911 to report a potential trespasser on English's property.
The description McMichael gave was: "Black male, red shirt and white shorts."
