Suspect in Ahmaud Arbery shooting had earlier encounter at home

One of the suspects in Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting death called 911 on Feb. 11 to report a break-in at an unfinished property that is a focal point of the investigation into Arbery’s killing. 

Travis McMichael, 34, who along with his father Greg McMichael is accused of felony murder and aggravated assault in Arbery’s death, called 911 and reported a man running into an unfinished house, according to audio of the call obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

On Feb. 23, Arbery was shot and killed. Video of his killing contributed to the arrests of the McMichaels. The video showed Arbery and a man struggling with a gun. Shots are later heard after the two men move out of the view of the video. 

Greg McMichael told police after Arbery’s shooting that there had been several break-ins in the neighborhood, and that they believed Arbery could have been a suspect. 

Arbery’s family says he was a jogger and likely was running through the neighborhood.  

The Feb. 11 incident ended with a police report being filed following McMichael confronting the unidentified man and the man running away.

“I was leaving the neighborhood and I just caught a guy running into a house being built,” McMichael told a police dispatcher, according to the AJC. “When I turned around, he took off running into the house.”

Security footage of the earlier incident has reportedly not yet been located, and there is no evidence to suggest that Arbery was involved. The unidentified man, like Arbery, was black; McMichael and his father are white.

Neighbors told The Associated Press that multiple instances of people entering the unbuilt property without permission have been reported, though the owner insisted in a statement through his attorney that nothing had been stolen.

“Nothing was ever taken from the English property,” owner Larry English’s attorney J. Elizabeth Graddy told the AP on Wednesday. “Mr. English is deeply distressed by Mr. Arbery’s death.”