PHOTO: George Zimmerman mug shot from a 2005 arrest. Zimmerman is the neighborhood watch participant who shot a teenage, Trayvon Martin, in a gated community in Sanford, Florida.
By Matt Gutman, Candace Smith, Pierre Thomas
ABC News
11 April 12 - George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who admits he shot unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, was charged with murder today and has been taken into custody.
The charge of second degree murder was announced by Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey at a news conference this evening.
Corey said that "Mr. Zimmerman has turned himself in," but would not say where he was being held in custody for his protection.
ABC News has learned, however, that Zimmerman is being held in the Orange County jail in Orlando.
Corey opened the news conference by saying that she had spoken with Martin's parents and "we told those sweet parents" that they would get answers.
The prosecutor's ruling is certain to provoke controversy in Sanford, Fla., where shooting took place and across the country.
Zimmerman, 28, a white Hispanic neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed Martin, who was 17 and black, on Feb. 26 after following the teenager for several minutes.
Martin's father, Tracy Martin, attended a news conference with Rev. Al Sharpton this afternoon before Corey's decision was announced.
"I feel confident in Miss Corey," the father said.
The special prosecutor's ruling came one day after Zimmerman's legal team quit because they had lost contact with him, and suggested that the pressure of the case had "pushed him over the edge."
The lawyers said that Zimmerman had left Florida, but he has been taken into custody, ABC News has learned.
Earlier this week, Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett said his city has become a "kindling box" due to the high emotions surrounding the case, and that he would "plan for the worst and hope for the best."
The mayor has planned a news conference in Sanford following Corey's announcement.
The case gained national prominence with rallies across the country demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder. Zimmerman and his supporters say that the shooting had nothing to do with race and that he shot Martin in self-defense.
The U.S. Justice Department is also carrying out an investigation into the shooting.
Attorney General Eric Holder indicate today that the feds will have a higher bar to establish that the shooting was a hate crime.
"For a federal hate crime we have to prove the highest standard in the law it is something that was reckless, that was negligent... We have to show that there was a specific intent to do the crime with the requisite state of mind," Holder said.
The city of Sanford has been getting increasingly tense as the decision neared. Six shots were fired into an empty police cruiser earlier this week in the neighborhood where Martin was killed.
The New Black Panther Party offered a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman and his lawyers said Zimmerman had received death threats.
The New Socialist Movement, a white supremacy group, said they were patroling Sanford to protect whites, and racists comments about the shooting have sprung up on social media sites.
Debate over the shooting became so widespread that even President Obama commented, saying if he had a son he would have looked like Trayvon Martin.
On his website, Zimmerman released a statement about the shooting this week, calling the incident a "life-altering event."
"As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately my entire life," he wrote.
In a written statement to police on the night of the shooting, Zimmerman said that he'd called 911 to report a suspicious man and that as he returned to his car, Martin attacked him. Zimmerman said that Martin punched him in the nose and knocked him down, slammed his head on the ground and tried to take his gun.
The police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose. His lawyer said later that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose.
After Zimmerman received medical attention, it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford police station for questioning. He was not arrested.
No comments:
Post a Comment