Shelia Ramos of the Glynn County Police Department said she arrived at the site of the killing on February 23, 2020, and started taking photos as soon as she determined the scene had been secured.
As a prosecutor showed photos to the jury on Monday, Ramos identified the images, including Arbery’s body lying in the street under a bloodstained sheet, closeups of his wounds, blood stains on the pavement, the shotgun used to kill him lying in the grass and spent shotgun shells.
Several jurors squirmed in their seats as the first few photos of Arbery were shown. Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, exhaled quietly as Ramos identified closeups of gaping gunshot wounds to Arbery’s chest and wrist.
Ramos said Arbery’s body had been moved by the time she arrived because first aid was provided.
Prosecutor Paul Camarillo showed Ramos a rectangular box, which she said contained the shotgun used to kill Arbery and four unfired and one fired shotgun shells. The gun was not taken out of the box.
Ramos is the second witness to testify in the trial of Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan Jr.
On Friday, the jury of 11 White and one Black member heard the first witness.
First witness testified on Friday
Glynn County Police Officer William Duggan testified he responded to the scene of the shooting to find a Black man lying on the pavement and “a couple of other people walking around.”
Duggan said he felt Arbery was dead because of “the amount of blood loss I saw on the scene, the lack of rise and fall of the chest, and basically the gaping wound I saw in his chest. There was nothing I could do for him.”
Also on Friday, prosecutors and defense lawyers made opening arguments.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski told the jury that the defendants tracked down Arbery and cornered and fatally shot him without evidence or knowledge he’d done anything wrong, despite saying they were attempting a citizen’s arrest.
“In this case, all three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions,” she said. “Not on facts, not on evidence — on assumptions.”
Attorneys for the McMichaels contended their clients were trying to conduct a citizen’s arrest of Arbery, whom they suspected of burglary after they and several neighbors had become concerned about individuals entering a home under construction.
“The evidence shows overwhelmingly that Travis McMichael honestly and lawfully attempted to detain Ahmaud Arbery according to the law and shot and killed him in self-defense,” said Bob Rubin, Travis McMichael’s defense attorney,
Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, said he would wait to present an opening statement until after the state presented its case.
The McMichaels and Bryan are charged with malice and felony murder in connection with Arbery’s shooting. They also face charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. All have pleaded not guilty.
CNN’s Dakin Andone and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.