Ahmaud Arbery

On February 23, 2020, twenty-five-year-old Ahmaud Marquez Arbery was jogging through the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, when he was pursued by three white men in pickup trucks. Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan Jr. chased Arbery for several minutes before Travis McMichael fatally shot him with a shotgun.

The McMichaels claimed they suspected Arbery of committing burglaries in the neighborhood and were attempting a citizen's arrest. Bryan filmed the confrontation on his cellphone. Despite the video evidence, no arrests were made for over two months, as local prosecutors initially declined to press charges.

The cellphone video was leaked in May 2020, sparking national outrage and protests. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case, and all three men were arrested and charged with murder. The case became part of a broader national reckoning about racial violence and the criminal justice system.

In November 2021, all three defendants were found guilty of murder in state court. Travis McMichael and his father received life sentences without parole; Bryan received life with the possibility of parole. All three were subsequently convicted of federal hate crimes in February 2022.