Ahmaud Arbery's mother was seen unable to hold back tears as she watched bodycam footage of her son's murder for the first time at trial in Georgia on Friday.
Wanda Cooper-Jones said afterward in a brief press conference at the trial that she had 'often avoided the video' of Ahmaud's death but decided Friday 'was time to see' it.
She told reporters the footage from Glynn County Police Officer William Duggan, in which Travis McMichael can be heard saying 'I f---ing killed someone' was 'heartbreaking.'
The footage, in part, shows Duggan approaching Arbery as he lies motionless, his face down in the street. He then turns Arbery over onto his back with his shirt and shorts saturated with blood.
The pool reporter in the courtroom noted that at one point, one of the jurors had to shield their eyes with a notebook.
Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, watched the video depicting the shooting that killed her son
Cooper-Jones told reporters afterward it was the first time she'd watched the video in full
She closed her eyes and covered her ears during the final moment when Arbery was shot
Cooper-Jones, seen in a photo with her son Ahmaud Arbery
#RT @nowthisnews: The mother of Ahmaud Arbery became visibly emotional while a video of her son’s death played in court on Friday. Wanda Cooper-Jones later revealed that it was her first time watching the video in its entirety.
Cooper-Jones plans to hon… pic.twitter.com/IQbPqMR8ou
— T.N.T VIRAL US (@TNTVIRALUS) November 6, 2021
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Duggan, an officer of the force for 12 years, took the stand and talked the jury through his bodycam video, which depicts the moment the officer found Arbery on the ground after being shot by Travis McMichael, who chased the black jogger with the help of his father Greg McMichael and neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan.
Duggan said when he approached Travis, the 35-year-old was covered in blood, saying, 'I'm not okay.'
Meanwhile, Duggan, who has had nearly 190 hours of medical training, determined that Arbery was already dead given 'the blood loss, lack of rise and fall of the chest and the gaping would I saw in his chest.'
'There was nothing I could do,' he told EMS officials as they arrived at the scene shortly after.
His testimony came after prosecutors claim the three white men on trial for the murder of Arbery knew that he was not a burglar despite their claims that they confronted the black jogger because they suspected him of robbery.
Officer William Duggan was the first to take the stand in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was killed on February 23, 2020, while he was out for a run in his neighborhood
Travis McMichael delivered the fatal gunshot wounds that killed Arbery
Greg McMichael sits and listens to the charges placed against him during the trial
William "Roddie" Bryan helped chase Arbery and filmed the fatal interaction
Georgia Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski presented a bodycam video of Greg and his adult son, Travis , speaking with a police officer months before the fatal shooting, with the officer telling them that Arbery, 25, is only a suspected trespasser and loiterer in the area, not a burglar.
'Mr. Arbery has never taken anything from this property. At this point, the McMichaels knew this,' Dunikoski told the nearly all white jury at Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick.
The McMichaels had armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck as he ran through their neighborhood just outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick on February 23, 2020. A neighbor, Bryan, joined the chase and recorded graphic video of Travis shooting Arbery three times with a shotgun.
Travis's attorney, Robert Rubin, claimed that the former US Coast Guard service member was only trying to defend his neighborhood amid a series of robberies in the area.
The prosecutor was also allowed to show the jury, which has just one black juror on the 12-person panel, a picture of Travis's license plate that features an old Georgia flag with the Confederate battle emblem, after the judge overruled objections by defense lawyers.
Georgia Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski, left, claimed Greg McMichael, top right, and son Travis McMichael, knew Ahmed Arbery was not a burglar months before they were caught on video shooting the black jogger in their neighborhood
Dunikoski presented photos highlighting Travis's shadow, demonstrating that he confronted Arbery in front of the car and not backing away from the jogger when he shot him
Police bodycam footage shows the Confederate flag vanity plates on Travis McMichael's pickup truck
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley has slammed the trial for 'intentional discrimination' after just one black juror was picked to sit on the 12-person jury
Georgia's response to the killing has become part of a broader effort to address racial injustice in the criminal legal system after a string of fatal encounters between police and black people such as George Floyd in Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.
All three defendants are standing trial together, charged with murder and other felony counts.
Dunikoski said the tragedy befell Arbery for a series of assumptions, 'driveway decisions' and malice about his race and suspicion regarding thefts in the area.
Larry English had long been complaining about thefts on his property when his home surveillance caught video of Arbery on the property in late 2019.
Dunikoski said English and police suspected Arbery of the burglaries for only a brief moment before designating him as a 'strange' trespasser and loiterer who only seemed to walk by the area. Videos of
