March 12, 2012
2. Trayvon Martin
The 17 year-old African-American was shot once in the chest by George Zimmerman, volunteer captain of the neighborhood watch on Feb. 26. Martin was dead when police arrived.
Trayvon was visiting his father, stepmother and brother in Sanford, Florida. They were watching a basketball game and during half-time Trayvon went to a convenience story to get his younger brother candy.
On the way back, Trayvon caught the attention of Zimmerman, 26 year-old criminal justice major
Zimmerman called 911 to report a suspicious person - was told that police were on their way and not to engage the person
Instead Zimmerman (who had a loaded gun) tailed Trayvon in his car, at some point got out and followed him. By Zimmerman’s account, Trayvon noticed he was being followed and asked “what’s your problem?” - physical confrontation ensued soon after
Six neighbors called the police to report shouting and a gun shot
When Sanford police arrived, they found Trayvon lying face down on a patch of grass about 70 yards from his house. All he had with him was a can of iced tea and a pack of Skittles.
Zimmerman claims to have acted in self defense - police told Trayvon’s family that Zimmerman had a squeaky clean background - not exactly true, in 2005 Zimmerman was arrested for resisting an officer with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer, but the charges were later dropped
Tracy Martin (father) asked why there was no arrest, police told him about Zimmerman’s ‘clean’ background - Tracy then asked about Trayvon’s background, which is also clean - “So I asked if Zimmerman having a clean record, did that give him the right to shoot and kill an unarmed kid?”
Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged - police say the investigation will be wrapped up by the end of the week. They will then hand it over to the county court who will decide whether or not to prosecute.
