Man who shot Arbery testifies: ‘He had my gun. He struck me’

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery has testified at his murder trial that the 25-year-old Black man forced him to make a split-second “life or death” decision by attacking him and grabbing his shotgun. Wednesday’s testimony was the first time Travis McMichael has spoken publicly about the February 2020 shooting. He was the first witness called as defense attorneys for the three white men charged in Arbery’s death opened their case. They’re building on arguments that their clients were lawfully trying to stop burglaries in their neighborhood and that McMichael opened fire in self-defense. Arbery’s death deepened a national outcry over racial injustice after cellphone video leaked online two months later.