911 audio from before the Ahmaud Arbery shooting has been released. It depicts two calls made to the operators before the fatal February 23 incident, according to The Guardian.
Newly released footage led to public calls for arrests in Arbery’s death. He was shot and killed when being confronted by father-son duo George McMichael, and Travis McMichael. The pair allegedly believed that Arbery was the suspect in a series of recent burglaries, and the elder McMichael claimed his son was acting in self-defense. The video, however, told a different story.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father, called this a “modern-day lynching.”
Ahmaud Arbery’s murder was caught on video! It’s graphic but must be shared. @BenCrumpLaw will be representing Ahmaud’s father Marcus Arbery as we seek justice in this modern-day lynching. Everyone must know the truth! #JusticeforAhmaudArbery pic.twitter.com/y4kBgRJ8X6
— Benjamin Crump, Esq. (@AttorneyCrump) May 5, 2020
Tom Durden, a district attorney assigned to the case by the state’s attorney general, has said he will take the case to a grand jury. This will take until at least after June 12 since courts are slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The call transcripts were previously reported in The Brunswick News. The callers in both ones were not publicly identified.
The first one happened at 1:08 pm., according to The Guardian. The caller told the dispatcher about a black man in a white T-shirt being at a house under construction. The operator asked if the subject was breaking into it.
“No, it’s all open, it’s under construction,” he said. “And he is running right now. There he goes right now.” The caller said the man was running down the street. (Family has said that Arbery often went jogging.)
The caller said the subject was caught on camera often at night.
The second call followed minutes later at 1:14 pm. The caller reported a black man running down the street. Things apparently great heated on the other side: the caller yelled out for someone to stop. Then he yelled out a name.
“Travis!” he said.
The dispatcher asked about the caller’s whereabouts, but there was no answer.
[Screengrab via Benjamin Crump]
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