The Georgia Bureau of Investigations is reviewing surveillance video in the Ahmaud Arbery case that appears to show him entering a construction site just before he was killed, the agency confirmed on Saturday.
Arbery, who is black, was shot to death on Feb. 23 in Brunswick, Georgia, after being chased by white men in a pickup truck. Arbery, 25, was on a jog at the time of his murder, his family says.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested on Thursday and face charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. Police said a third man, identified as a neighbor, joined the chase and jumped into the McMichaels' truck. According to police reports, the McMichaels say they believed Arbery was a burglar.
Video from the day of Arbery’s death, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shows a person matching the description of Arbery walking up to a house under construction, entering, and then leaving shortly later.
“We are indeed reviewing additional video footage and photographs as part of the active case,” the GBI said in a statement. “It is important to note that this footage was reviewed at the beginning of the GBI investigation and before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael.”
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A statement from attorneys representing Arbery’s family say the new video “is consistent with the evidence already known to us.”
“Ahmaud’s actions at this empty home under construction were in no way a felony under Georgia law. This video confirms that Mr. Arbery’s murder was not justified and the actions of the men who pursued him and ambushed him were unjustified,” the family's lawyers said in a statement.
Gregory McMichael saw Arbery in February on foot running down a street in Brunswick, a coastal city between Savannah and Jacksonville, Florida, according to a police report. He grabbed his gun and with his son, who was also armed, jumped into their pickup truck to chase Arbery. The McMichaels claim they thought Arbery was a burglar and armed themselves because they thought Arbery might have a gun, authorities said. Representatives for Arbery's family deny he was armed.
In video of the shooting, Arbery is seen running down a road as a white pickup truck is stopped in front of him. He runs around the vehicle, and a shot is fired. The video then shows Arbery and another man appearing to tussle as two more shots are fired. Travis shot and killed him following the confrontation, authorities said.
NBC News does not know what occurred before the events shown in the video.
George Barnhill, one of the prosecutors who first handled the case, defended the actions of the McMichaels and their neighbor in the truck. In a letter to the Glynn County Police Department obtained by NBC News, Barnhill wrote that the men had "solid first hand probable cause" to chase Arbery, a "burglary suspect," and stop him.
Barnhill also said he believed Travis McMichael "was allowed to use deadly force to protect himself" under Georgia law.
Laywers for Arbery's family say Arbery was a victim of "racial violence" and Rev. James Woodall, the state president of the Georgia NAACP called his death a "modern-day lynching."
The shooting has sparked nationwide outrage and protests, and on Friday people across the country ran laps to honor Arbery. His mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told NBC News, "I wish the world would have gotten the chance to know Ahmaud, to really truly love Ahmaud.”
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