The McMichaels are white, and Arbery was black, and yet the dad, an ex-cop, leaked the video to a radio station two months after the shooting because he thought it would ease rising racial tensions in the South Georgia community of Satilla Shores, WSB-TV reported.

The stunning plot twist was revealed Friday by Alan Tucker, a Brunswick attorney who had informally consulted with the suspects, and who was previously known to have been the source of the video.

Tucker told WSBS-TV that leaking the video, which had been shot from a second vehicle by a pal of the father and son, was Greg McMichael’s idea.