William Bryan told investigators he heard Travis McMichael use a racial epithet after fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified Thursday during preliminary hearings.
The hearing lasted about seven hours, with the judge ruling all three defendants -- McMichael; his father, Gregory McMichael; and William "Roddie" Bryan -- would stand trial on all charges.
GBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial testified that Bryan told police Travis McMichael said "f***ing n***er" after three blasts from his shotgun left Arbery dead in the street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in February. Body camera footage also showed a Confederate flag sticker on the toolbox of McMichael's truck, he said. [...]
there were "numerous times" on social media and via messaging services that McMichael used the same slur, once messaging someone that he loved his job because there "weren't any N-words anywhere.
In another instance sometime before the shooting, he replied in an Instagram message saying things would be better if someone had "blown that N-word's head off," Dial testified. Dial did not say to whom McMichael was referring.