Bryan told police McMichael said "f***ing n***er" after three blasts from McMichael's shotgun left Arbery dead in the streets of the Satilla Shores neighborhood, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial said.

However, the agent said, there were "numerous times" on social media and via messaging that McMichael used the same slur, replying to an Instagram message sometime before the shooting by saying things would be better if someone had "blown that N-word's head off," Dial testified.

Dial did not say to whom McMichael might have been referring and was not asked for more context.

The pursuit

The allegations came as Dial outlined the events that led to Arbery's death and told the court that before Arbery was shot, the three men charged in his murder engaged in an elaborate chase, hitting the 25-year-old jogger with a truck as he repeatedly tried to avoid them.

Asked if he believed Travis McMichael could've been acting in self-defense, Dial said the opposite was true.

Arbery's decision was to just try to get away, and when he felt like he could not escape he chose to fight."

As Travis and his father Gregory McMichael attempted to head him off, Arbery turned and ran past the truck of Bryan, who filmed the killing, and Bryan struck Arbery with the side of his truck, Dial said.

The new details of the final moments of Arbery's life emerged amid a week of nationwide protests over another killing -- that of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis -- and demonstrators have also called for justice in Arbery's case.

Investigators found a swipe from a palm print on the rear door of Bryan's truck, cotton fibers near the truck bed that "we attribute to contact with Mr.

Arbery" and a dent below the fibers, he said.

Bryan told police that at one point he thought Arbery was trying to enter his truck, Dial said, adding that he didn't know if that was true but he felt Arbery was trying to escape.

Arbery tried to escape, agent says

Though Bryan's attorney has contested allegations his client took part in the killing, Dial said Bryan first became involved by yelling to the McMichaels, "Do you got him?" when he saw them chasing the 25-year-old jogger.

The McMichaels and Bryan have not entered pleas, but lawyers for all three men have proclaimed their innocence.

After yelling out to the McMichaels about Arbery, Bryan joined the chase, and at this point, none of the three had called 911, Dial said.

The McMichaels had already tried to head off Arbery once when Bryan joined the pursuit, the GBI agent said.

Bryan tried to block in Arbery as Travis McMichael drove around the block with his father in the bed of the truck.

Bryan "made several statements about trying to block him in and using his vehicle to try to stop him," Dial said.

Arbery kept jumping out of the way and moving around the bumper and actually running down into the ditch in an attempt to avoid his truck."

At one point, Arbery was heading out of the Satilla Shores neighborhood where the defendants live, but the McMichaels forced him to turn back into the neighborhood and run past Bryan, the agent said.

"The truth in this case will exonerate Travis."

Gregory McMichael, Travis' father, who called 911 about Arbery and was seen on Bryan's video in the back of a pickup truck when his son shot Arbery three times, is also a victim of a rush to judgment, his attorney said.

Bryan's video picks up before the third attempt, and Arbery is seen trying to avoid the McMichaels' pickup truck, which is stopped in the road, before abruptly turning toward Travis McMichael in front of the truck.