Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, was chased down, cornered, and killed near Brunswick, GA, by white vigilantes on February 23, 2020, while jogging through a white neighborhood. The men who killed the 25-year-old Arbery claimed they thought he was a burglar after allegedly spotting him looking around a house under construction in the community.

Arbery's murder became national news because one of his alleged murderers, 52-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan, recorded the pursuit and killing on his smartphone. Bryan claimed he merely used his truck to help chase down and corner Arbery. The other defendants — 67-year-old Greg McMichael and his son Travis McMichael, 35 — are seen confronting Arbery in an attempt to perform a "citizen's arrest" in an encounter that ends with Arbery dead after three gunshots.

More than two months would pass before authorities took action.