Man accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery allegedly used racial slur after shooting

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified on Thursday that the man who shot Ahmaud Arbery was heard using a racial slur while standing over Arbery's body.

Arbery, a 25-year-old unarmed black man, died in February after being shot while jogging through a Brunswick, Georgia, neighborhood. Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan have all been charged with Arbery's murder. The hearing held on Thursday was to determine whether there is enough evidence to hold a murder trial.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Richard Dial testified that Travis and Gregory McMichael were in one truck and Bryan was in another when they chased Arbery and boxed him in. Travis McMichael got out of the truck to confront Arbery, and he later told police that when Arbery refused to get down on the ground, he shot him in self-defense. Video recorded by Bryan shows Arbery was shot twice in the chest and once in the hand.

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The McMichaels were arrested on May 7, and a week later, Dial said, Bryan told investigators that before police arrived at the scene of the shooting, Travis McMichael stood over Arbery's body and called him a "f---ing n---er." Bryan was arrested on May 21.

Gregory McMichael, who has claimed they thought Arbery was a burglary suspect, told police "he didn't know if Mr. Arbery had stolen anything or not, but he had a gut feeling," Dial testified. He also said investigators found at least two more racial slurs in messages on Travis McMichaels' phone, and police body camera footage showed a Confederate flag sticker on his truck's toolbox. At the end of the hearing, Magistrate Court Judge Wallace Harrell found there is enough evidence for cases to proceed against all three defendants.