Owner says he did not report crime after video shows man on property in neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was killed

The owner of a house under construction in the Georgia neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was killed said Tuesday night that he had not reported a crime after surveillance video showed a man on his property the day Arbery died.

The security video footage, taken on Feb. 23 shortly before Arbery’s death, shows a man looking around the construction site in Brunswick, Ga. An African American man wearing a white T-shirt and tan shorts can be seen in the video. The man does not touch anything before eventually walking away. 

Arbery was wearing a white T-shirt, khaki shorts, Nike sneakers and a bandanna when he was killed, The New York Times reported. 

When CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked the homeowner, Larry English, if he believed Arbery took anything from his property, English responded, “No.”

“I don’t want it to be put out and misused and misinterpreted for people to think that I had accused Mr. Arbery of stealing or robbery, because I never did,” English said.

English’s attorney, Elizabeth Graddy, said her client was alerted to a person in his home through his security system and contacted a neighbor about 20 minutes after the alert. The neighbor told him a person had been in the house but had been killed, she said.  

“By the time Larry saw the video, Mr. Arbery had been killed,” she said.

Graddy said in a statement to CNN that English originally believed the man captured on his construction site was not Arbery.

“And then subsequently, we heard that that probably was him,” she said.

Greg McMichael and Travis McMichael were arrested last week and face charges of felony murder and aggravated assault for Arbery’s death. The two, who are white, claimed that they had seen Arbery in a surveillance video after several break-ins in the neighborhood, according to the police report. 

But English told CNN he did not share the video of the man on his property with the McMichaels and had not personally shared any other incidents that may have occurred at his property to the father and son. 

Arbery, 25, was shot and killed in Glynn County, Ga., while jogging. An autopsy obtained by The Hill showed he was shot twice in the chest and a third bullet grazed his wrist. 

The McMichaels were arrested almost three months after Arbery’s death after an attorney representing his family released a video that appears to show Arbery being chased and struggling with a man before his death. 

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday it will examine Arbery’s death per state Attorney General Chris Carr’s (R) request. The Justice Department has announced it is reviewing evidence in the case to determine if federal charges should be made.