Ex-cop and son accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery had confronted him just DAYS before fatal shooting, neighbor says
THE father and son accused of shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery reportedly had a confrontation with the 25-year-old less than two weeks before his death.
Diego Perez said Tuesday that he accompanied George McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, on a February 11 search for a young black man who entered a neighboring house under construction in Georgia.
Perez told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was at the shooting scene immediately after Arbery was shot on February 23 and recognized the 25-year-old as the man the McMichaels confronted earlier that day.
The February 11 encounter had been prompted by footage from a motion-sensor security camera in the construction site that had pinged the property owner, who was two hours away, according to AJC.
The owner of the home, Larry English, then texted the video to Perez, who lived near the construction site.
Perez had offered to keep watch and told English he'd gladly check on his property at any time.
The McMichaels were arrested last Thursday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.
English told the AJC he didn't know the McMichaels or provide them with any camera footage, and that nothing was taken from his property.
Perez, who said he's spoken to the GBI, said he was armed when he left his home on February 11 to check on the home on Satilla Drive.
As he approached the house under construction, he said he saw Travis McMichael drive up from the opposite direction and stop his truck.
"Travis saw him in the yard and Travis stopped," he said.
"He confronted (the man) halfway into the yard. He said (the man) reached for his waistband, and Travis got spooked and went down the road."
When McMichael returned, he wasn't alone - his father Gregory was with him and armed, Perez said, adding that the elder McMichael had called local police.
But the watchful neighbor said he found no evidence of Arbery around the property.
When cops arrived, he described to officers the vehicle he believed he saw Arbery enter before it drove off.
Perez said officers recognized the young man from other security camera videos that had placed him at the construction site months before.
"All we knew about him was that he was the guy who kept showing up in our cameras," he said.
"No one know who it was."
The next time Perez saw Arbery was on February 23 as he laid motionless on the pavement.
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The McMichaels are currently behind bars at the Glynn County Detention Center, where they're being held without bond.
Glynn County Undersheriff Ron Corbett told TMZ Wednesday that the alleged killers are in protective custody away from the general population in jail due to safety concerns amid rising tensions in the community.
Due to safety reasons, Corbett declined to say whether the men were on suicide watch or if their lives have been threatened by other inmates.