CNN reporter demolishes Ahmaud Arbery killers' claim they were trying to protect the neighborhood

On CNN Friday, reporter Martin Savidge scrutinized the claims made by Ahmaud Arbery's killers that they were just trying to protect the neighborhood.

"Another key aspect of this is going to be the basis of the defendants' attention here, which they say a series of burglaries for which this man fit the description — what can you tell us about burglaries in the area, knowledge of the same, and a description of potential assailant?"

"Well, Gregory McMichael, who is of course former law enforcement, first thing he begins telling the officers when they arrive on scene after horrific shooting, says they were in hot pursuit of the suspect because of a series of break-ins in the neighborhood," said Savidge. "This is a perception even some callers to 911 had said, so we went looking into the police records to find the reports about all the break-ins. You don't find them. There's one reported theft that occurred on New Year's Day, a gun taken out of an unlocked pickup, that belonged, by the way, to the McMichaels."

"So when you hear this depiction there was this sense this was a neighborhood victimized by crime time and time again, it simply isn't verified by police records or reports," said Savidge.

Watch below: