Travis McMichael takes the stand
Travis McMichael, one of three defendants accused in the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, was the first witness to take the stand Wednesday afternoon, as the defense began to present their case.
“I want to give my side of the story,” he said as he began his testimony.
In response to the first question from his defense attorney, Jason Sheffield, McMichael confirmed that he was aware that he is not required to testify in his defense.
Sheffield then asked Travis McMichael about his stint in the Coast Guard. McMichael said his main job was as a mechanic, but he also confirmed that his duties included law enforcement and search-and-rescue operations. McMichael went on to describe his training as a boarding officer at the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy, adding that the role gave him arrest powers in the Coast Guard.
McMichael, 35, testified that there had been a rash of thefts and break-ins in the Satilla Shores neighborhood outside Brunswick, Ga., before the fatal encounter with Arbery. He is the first person to take the stand on behalf of the defense.
By early 2019, McMichael said, he often witnessed his Satilla Shores neighbors compare stories of cars being broken into, either in person or on a neighborhood watch Facebook page.
On the evening of February 11, 2020—nearly two weeks before Arbery’s shooting—McMichael testified that he saw someone “creeping through the shadows” in their neighborhood and got out of his vehicle to ask what was happening.
He said the person, who he later described to police as a Black male, “pulls up his shirt” and went for his “pocket, waistband area.” McMichael said he assumed the person was armed, so he jumped back into his vehicle and the person ran to the house under construction.
He said that he then went back to his house, where he told his father Gregory what he had witnessed. The pair went back to the house under construction and called authorities. Travis McMichael testified that police never saw, talked to or caught the person said he saw that night.
Up next in his testimony, McMichael relayed to the court his account of the day that Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot. He said his father, Gregory McMichael—another defendant in the case—was the first to alert him to Arbery’s presence in Satilla Shores on Feb. 23, 2020.
McMichael said that his father referred to Arbery as “the guy” who was possibly responsible for the break-in at the construction site earlier that month. “I assumed it was the same guy from Feb. 11,” McMichael testified, adding that he remembered his father telling him to grab his gun, “So I grabbed [my] shotgun.”
McMichael confirmed that he and his father then hopped in his pickup truck to pursue Arbery who was running down Satilla Dr., a street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood. McMichael said that at the time, he assumed his father had called the police.
After confirming that his father Gregory did not have his phone on him, McMichael said he attempted to call 911 himself and spotted Arbery running toward his truck. As Arbery got closer, Travis McMichael said that he drew his weapon on the jogger to attempt to deter him. Next, McMichael said Arbery darted to the right.
Per McMichael’s testimony, Arbery appeared to be “straightening up and starts running back straight to the truck where my father’s at the back of it.” The younger McMichael testified that he then made his way to the front of the vehicle. It was then that McMichael first made contact with Arbery, who he said grabbed the shotgun and struck him.
“I shot him,” Travis McMichael testified. “He had my gun, he struck me, it was obvious...that he was attacking me, that if he would have gotten the shotgun from me, then it was a life or death situation.”
He testified that he thought he shot Arbery twice but would later realize it was three shots when talking to investigators. McMichael testified he shot him again after the initial time because “I was still fighting.” After the final shot, Travis McMichael said Arbery let go.
“I turned around, we got over there and pulled [Arbery’s] hand under him and realized he was deceased,” he said.
McMichael claims he didn’t want to shoot Arbery.
Shortly after the prosecution began its cross-examination, attorney Linda Dunikoski asked if the judge would like to break for the day. Court will resume Thursday, as the prosecution continues its cross-examination of Travis McMichael.