The man who filmed Ahmaud Arbery’s murder claimed he was only a witness and submitted the footage to the police immediately.
According to the Daily Mail, William ‘Roddie’ Bryan started recording when he saw the father-son duo chase down Arbery in their truck and said the shooting started happening right in front of him. Bryan was the neighbor of Gregory and Travis McMichael, the two men who targeted Arbery and gunned him down back in February. Bryan’s attorney Kevin Gough said his client was unaware that he was under investigation for the shooting until he heard the announcement by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Friday. The reveal caused Bryan to lose his job and he’s been receiving multiple death threats.
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‘From day one Mr Bryan has fully cooperated with law enforcement officers investigating this matter.Mr Bryan went home and came back out to the crime scene shortly after at the request of law enforcement to further assist them and then later Mr Bryan voluntarily went to the Glynn County Police Department where he answered all the questions they had for him without a lawyer during a lengthy interview.’
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Gough further added that Bryan was not acting in vigilante justice and is wondering why he is being branded as an accomplice in the shooting.
‘Despite his cooperation and for reasons he does not understand Mr Bryan has learned the family and apparently their lawyers are demanding he is arrested. He is not and never has been a vigilante. Mr Bryan had never been advised by any prosecutor or law enforcement officer that he was a target of investigation into Mr Abery’s death until the GBI announced it this morning in a press conference,’
The McMichaels’ attorney Alan Tucker said in a statement with Inside Edition that he thought releasing the footage would prove their innocence but it has sparked outrage in the nation.
‘I really thought releasing the video would put the truth out to the public. If he [Arbery] had just froze and hadn’t done anything, then he wouldn’t have been shot.’