You may want to reread Travis' testimony. He said he pointed the weapon at Arbery first to try to "de-escalate." After he raised the weapon and pointed it at Arbery, Arbery then turned. Travis was concerned at that point that Arbery would hurt his father, so he moved.towards Arbery and engaged him. But the pointing of the weapon came first. That was on direct examination.
On cross, the prosecutor got him to Travis to admit directly that Arbery made no threatening move until after a gun was pointed at him.
No point in arguing further since this is a fact dispute. I'd agree that IF Arbery moved to assault either McMichael before Travis pointed a gun at him, then they have a valid claim of self defense. However, if Travis pointed the gun at armory before he made any threatening move, then they have no valid claim of self-defense, and should be convicted.
The young fat guy clearly doesn't do much running, so i'm betting he wouldn't know one way or the other about that. Street thugs often drop their guns or accidentally discharge them. The guy is running towards him. That would make me wonder if he had a heater.
After he raised the weapon and pointed it at Arbery, Arbery then turned.
Arbery ran on the opposite side of the truck from the younger McMichael, so it would seem to me he had already seen the shotgun. Also, I don't think there was enough time to do a "then turned." Looked like one fluid motion without any pauses.
Travis was concerned at that point that Arbery would hurt his father, so he moved.towards Arbery and engaged him.
Yeah, I read that elsewhere and it didn't make any sense to me. Arbery could have leapt up into that truck before the younger McMichael could have done a d@mn thing. The older McMichael also had a gun and could have shot Arbery several times before he got close enough to hurt him.
I think the concern for his father is made up crap.
However, if Travis pointed the gun at armory before he made any threatening move,...
As I said, the manner in which Arbery kept running at them I would have interpreted as a threatening move. What sort of person runs at people with guns?