GA Radio: iHM's WGIG First To Post Fatal Shooting Video

For weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was killed while running down a road in coastal southern Georgia, there were few public developments in the case of a 25-year-old unarmed black man who was shot while being pursued by two white men with weapons in February.

Then a graphic video of the shooting surfaced online, spurring widespread outrage. the NY times reports.

Within days, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had taken over the case. The video was criticized by celebrities and politicians alike, including President Trump, who called the footage “very, very disturbing,” and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who said Mr. Arbery had essentially been “lynched before our very eyes.”

And in a major turn, the authorities announced on Thursday night that they had arrested two suspects in the case and charged them with murder and aggravated assault.

According to The Times, the video — which by Friday officials had described as “a very important piece” of evidence in moving forward with criminal charges — was first posted by iHeartMedia's News/Talk WGIG 1440 AM / 98.7 FM in Brunswick, Ga., which said it had obtained the footage from an anonymous source.

But in a twist emblematic of the small-town politics that have defined the case, that source turned out to be a criminal defense lawyer in town who had informally consulted with the suspects.

The lawyer, Alan Tucker, said in an interview on Friday that the video had come from the cellphone of a man who had filmed the episode and that he later gave the footage to the radio station. Tucker’s role was confirmed by Scott Ryfun, who oversees the station’s programming.



The video, taken from inside a vehicle, shows Mr. Arbery running when he comes upon a white truck, with one man standing next to its open driver’s-side door and another in the bed of the pickup. Mr. Arbery runs around the truck and disappears briefly from view. Then the man standing outside the truck tussles with him, and three gunshots are heard.

The authorities identified Travis McMichael, 34, as the suspect who shot Mr. Arbery. His father, Gregory McMichael, 64, a retired investigator at the local district attorney’s office, was also charged.