Neighborhood watch captain shoots innocent black youth and doesn't even get arrested

[Bump]

This is some ****ED UP SHIT, they aren't sure if the racist neighborhood watch idiot should be arrested? If anything, local gangs might take notice of this and start shooting up that neighborhood or just random white neighborhoods. I could never live in the south, it's ridiculous. The guy shoots an innocent teen walking to the store to buy skittles. Should be life in prison, that's cold blood man.

http://news.yahoo.com/family-florida...044537742.html




ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The family of a 17-year-old African-American boy shot to death last month in his gated Florida community by a white Neighborhood Watch captain wants to see the captain arrested, the family's lawyer said on Wednesday.

Trayvon Martin was shot dead after he took a break from watching NBA All-Star game television coverage to walk 10 minutes to a convenience store to buy snacks including Skittles candy requested by his 13-year-old brother, Chad, the family's lawyer Ben Crump said.

"He was a good kid," Crump said in an interview, adding that the family would issue a call for the Watch captain's arrest at a news conference on Thursday. "On his way home, a Neighborhood Watch loose cannon shot and killed him."

[Related: Fla. teen avoids deportation]

Trayvon, who lived in Miami with his mother, had been visiting his father and stepmother in a gated townhome community called The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, 20 miles north of Orlando.

As Trayvon returned to the townhome, Sanford police received a 911 call reporting a suspicious person.

Although names are blacked out on the police report, Crump and media reports at the time of the shooting identified the caller as George Zimmerman who is listed in the community's newsletter as the Neighborhood Watch captain.

Without waiting for police to arrive, Crump said, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, who was on the sidewalk near his home. By the time police got there, Trayvon was dead of a single gunshot to the chest.

"What do the police find in his pocket? Skittles," Crump said. "A can of Arizona ice tea in his jacket pocket and Skittles in his front pocket for his brother Chad."

Zimmerman could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening at a phone number listed for him on the community's newsletter.

Crump said the family was concerned that police might decide to consider the shooting as self defense, and that police have ignored the family's request for a copy of the original 911 call, which they think will shed light on the incidents.

"If the 911 protocol across the country held to form here, they told him not to get involved. He disobeyed that order," said Ryan Julison, a spokesman for the family.

"He (Zimmerman) didn't have to get out of his car," said Crump, who has prepared a public records lawsuit to file on Thursday if the family doesn't get the 911 tape. "If he never gets out of his car, there is no reason for self-defense. Trayvon only has skittles. He has the gun."

Since Trayvon, a high school junior who wanted to be a pilot, was black and Zimmerman is white, Crump said race is "the 600 pound elephant in the room."

"Why is this kid suspicious in the first place? I think a stereotype must have been placed on the kid," Crump said.

(Editing By Cynthia Johnston and Peter Bohan)

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

I wont repeat what I said to this lil male grub of a neighbor, That lives a few houses up the street. Squirrels still die in my yard almost every day & the Omaha police department is fine with that.

There are dangerous peeps with guns on the streets 24/7 in every city in America.
Trey ****ed up. He could have just went home. Instead he turned around & went all tough guy & ****ed with the wrong dude. Now hes dead.
You know what Trey was thinking seconds before he struck Zim? I do
I cant wait to tell all my home boys how I kicked the shit out of this dumbass white guy for looking at me wrong.

I've said repeatedly that Trayvon's responsible for over-reacting.

But why are you so sure this is exactly what he was thinking? And convinced that he wasn't thinking: "it's dark, this is a high-crime area, some weird guy is following. I should probably protect myself?" And you're saying all of this as if Zimmerman was some innocent guy that never once said or did anything to escalate the situation (given his track record... that's harder to defend).

And you don't think Zimmerman had a similar motive? Given his behaviors in the past, it was clear he wanted to be a cop. His behavior doesn't strike you as a guy so desperate to prove he's a hero that he will jump at every opportunity to prove it?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by R8ers

I choose the side of the gun law and the way it reads he is innocent. I don't know or care two shits about either involved besides being sad a young man did something stupid that got him killed.

So you support a guy carrying a firearm and then creating and escalating situations where he needs to use it? You support a guy who breaks protocol and decides to do police work when he was clearly instructed not to, and very clearly breaks the protocol to announce to Trayvon Martin who he was so that Martin knew he wasn't just some weird, creepy guy trying to cause trouble?

I don't have a problem with gun law. I have a problem with jerks who create situations where they need to be used. You look at Zimmerman's track record and you knew it was only a matter of time before he got into a situation he wasn't ready to handle.

[KChiefer]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

There are dangerous peeps with guns on the streets 24/7 in every city in America.
Zim ****ed up. He could have just went home. Instead he turned around & went all tough guy & ****ed with the wrong dude. Now hes in jail.
You know what Zim was thinking seconds before someone struck someone? I do
I cant wait to tell all my home boys how I caught this dumbass black kid for looking at me wrong.

FYP

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

It should make everyone uncomfortable if we are promoting people taking police matters into their own hands, ....

In your opinion.

When I saw two of my gf's knocked down getting their heads bashed into a sidewalk in the city by two thugs, I turned my car around and gunned it for them—with the intent to kill.

And when you say "to my knowledge", that is based only on Zimmerman's testimony. The fact is that Zimmerman at one point did clearly pursue in public space and that Trayvon saw that Zimmerman was pursuing him. From there, you have to piece together who did what, but more than likely none of this would have happened if Zimmerman never tried to take matters into his own hands.

Bull. Both of them overeacted. Z might have wound up hurt or dead without a gun. So far as I've seen, based on recall since it's been awhile, Z's testimony has essentially checked out. Z's testimony is evidence too.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

In your opinion.

When I saw two of my gf's knocked down getting their heads bashed into a sidewalk in the city by two thugs, I turned my car around and gunned it for them—with the intent to kill.

Fair statement. I should be a little more clear about what I mean.

I am talking about Zimmerman's creepy history of trying to be the neighborhood's police. We're not talking about him breaking up fights or stopping drug deals. We're talking about a guy who was abusing 911 privileges by reporting petty things, and who had a history of harassing people in the community to the point of following them to their house in pursuit. Even when they didn't appear to be doing anything wrong.

If Zimmerman is going to be his own vigilante police, he has to follow protocol. It was as simple as declaring he is a concerned citizen. That would have stopped everything and the police even said that. Zimmerman didn't do that. He wanted to stop the guy himself, otherwise he would have never strayed that far away from his vehicle and wouldn't have pursued him (as was indicated in a 911 call).

And by the way, just as people believe Trayvon would have bragged about this and gotten street cred.... Most of my opinion is based on Zimmerman's past behaviors. This is a guy who got in a lot of fights, constantly lost his temper, and was deemed to unstable for both police and security work (was fired for overreacting in his security job). So yeah... I think his track record absolutely leads me to believe that he was looking to take matters into his own hands, even if he had the best of intentions.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

Bull. Both of them overeacted. Z might have wound up hurt or dead without a gun. So far as I've seen, based on recall since it's been awhile, Z's testimony has essentially checked out. Z's testimony is evidence too.

I have said many times that both did not do the right thing that night.

But the whole thing was triggered by Zimmerman instigating a situation that never should have been created and would have been avoided if he just followed basic protocol.

[KChiefer]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

In your opinion.

When I saw two of my gf's knocked down getting their heads bashed into a sidewalk in the city by two thugs, I turned my car around and gunned it for them—with the intent to kill.

So it was less about saving your friends from harm and more about trying to kill someone, nice.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

In your opinion.

When I saw two of my gf's knocked down getting their heads bashed into a sidewalk in the city by two thugs, I turned my car around and gunned it for them—with the intent to kill.



Bull. Both of them overeacted. Z might have wound up hurt or dead without a gun. So far as I've seen, based on recall since it's been awhile, Z's testimony has essentially checked out. Z's testimony is evidence too.

By the way, I've said that his testimony in terms of the struggle probably check out and I think he was justified to use his gun in self defense. And Trayvon doesn't get a pass for acting violently, though there's a legit explanation that he may have been acting in self defense.

The rest of Z's testimony relies on a leap of faith that, I'm sorry, is not consistent with how he has handled other situations in the past. He claims he stopped pursuit, but he was clearly pursuing at one point and has history of following people to their homes in the past and being overzealous in monitoring the community. He claims he walked back to his car, but somehow you have to figure out why he was in a courtyard far away from his car. Police already stated he did not follow basic protocol to announce he was a concerned citizen. And his testimony indicates that he handled the situation like a rational human being speaking with reason, when he has a long track record of getting into fights and having an unbelievably short temper.

Z probably won't' be charged with anything, nor do I think he should. But people shouldn't act like he was some innocent victim of a teenager up to no good. He bears a ton of responsibility for what happened.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

Kid had no business being out that late. From what I have read. & its been awhile. Trayvon had been in trouble in & out of school. But hey.In to today's times. The parents are never the problem.

Yeah, how dare a 16 year old be out at 7PM!

And how dare he feel threatened when some random armed man starts following him for no reason.

I'm sure you would have no problem if some strange man followed you "that late" at night.

[R8ers]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

So you support a guy carrying a firearm and then creating and escalating situations where he needs to use it? You support a guy who breaks protocol and decides to do police work when he was clearly instructed not to, and very clearly breaks the protocol to announce to Trayvon Martin who he was so that Martin knew he wasn't just some weird, creepy guy trying to cause trouble?

I don't have a problem with gun law. I have a problem with jerks who create situations where they need to be used. You look at Zimmerman's track record and you knew it was only a matter of time before he got into a situation he wasn't ready to handle.

How do you know that's what happened? Were you there? Or is that what you heard on NBC who is already being sued for doctoring pics and audio to make the guy into a racist.

Bottom line, keep your hands off people and you will live.... I would have done the same thing he did.

[R8ers]

Originally Posted by -King-

Yeah, how dare a 16 year old be out at 7PM!

And how dare he feel threatened when some random armed man starts following him for no reason.

I'm sure you would have no problem if some strange man followed you "that late" at night.

Now how did he know Z was armed? Xray vision?

Man you are dumb.

[Garcia Bronco]

Its been long enough, go re-read the story. The wiki page does a nice job and you'll understand why Zimmerman did what he did. The neighborhood was constantly getting robbed. Zimmerman wasn't wrong for what he did.

[HonestChieffan]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

Its been long enough, go re-read the story. The wiki page does a nice job and you'll understand why Zimmerman did what he did. The neighborhood was constantly getting robbed. Zimmerman wasn't wrong for what he did.

Absolutely

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by R8ers

How do you know that's what happened? Were you there? Or is that what you heard on NBC who is already being sued for doctoring pics and audio to make the guy into a racist.

Bottom line, keep your hands off people and you will live.... I would have done the same thing he did.

Zimmerman's 911 call makes it clear how the situation started. He was in pursuit of Trayvon, which he fully admitted. The police statement says never at any point in time did Zimmerman say who he was or why he was following (e.g. "I am a concerned citizen. etc...) which is basic protocol. The 911 call suggests that Trayvon Martin saw Zimmerman after him and that he started to run.

No, I do not support what NBC did or the mob that went after Zimmerman. And I've said before, I support Zimmerman's right to carry and his act of self defense. But the initial situation clearly started because Zimmerman broke protocol. From there, you have to fill in the blanks of how Zimmerman acted once he hung up the phone. He claims he innocently just walked back to his car and then was jumped. His really long history drives me to the "opinion" that it's highly unlikely he gave up pursuit. Again, this is a short-tempered guy with a history of overzealously monitoring the neighborhood.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

Its been long enough, go re-read the story. The wiki page does a nice job and you'll understand why Zimmerman did what he did. The neighborhood was constantly getting robbed. Zimmerman wasn't wrong for what he did.

If the neighborhood was constantly getting robbed, then you don't see the obvious that Trayvon Martin walking home seeing a suspicious guy that's following him home might think there was a creepy guy trying to murder and rob him?

All Zimmerman had to do was follow basic protocol and none of this would have happened.