Just how innocent was Trayvon?

Trayvon doesn't sound like the angelic little boy he's portrayed.


As George Zimmerman's supporters work to stem the rising tide of public outrage aimed at the neighborhood watchman who shot and killed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin last month, a new picture of the victim—culled from the 17-year-old's Twitter account and witness testimony leaked from local law enforcement—has emerged.

link [news.yahoo.com]

Still sounds pretty innocent to me. The kid was shot and killed while doing absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong.

Some armed vigilante decided he was doing something criminal when he wasn't, followed him, confronted him, started a fight, and ended up shooting the guy he was harassing.

I don't think Zimmerman should have taken the law into his own hands. I do believe this was a hate crime and he should not have approached the boy in the first place.

Maybe he shouldn't have. But, it is a gated community. I wonder if any or how many other blacks live there. If none, then he would naturally be suspicious looking.

Trayvon was living with his father and his fiance who lived in that community. So he was in the right neighborhood according to news reports.

That does read like the kid was a thud, however sticking to the facts of the 911 call and other witnesses it still comes down to zimmerman KNOWING the police were on the way to resolve the matter and yet he still stalked and shot the boy. Had he been a normal person he would have allowed the police to do their job and this case would not have resulted in the murder of a 17 year old doing what most/some 17 year olds have done or do or will do in they're rebellion years.

I think a memo needs to be sent to NFL and NBA since about 90% of those athletes are black and live in upscale gated communities. They have no right to be there and their presence is suspicious. And they wear hoodies too, they have to be up to no good.

I am baffled that someone can think its okay for a man to approach a minor because he is black and start and escalate a confrontation to the point of killing the kid who has no weapon and did not start anything.

Zimmerman started this by being a racist pig, if Martin put his hands on Zimmerman you can bet it was because he was touched first.

You can't start a confrontation and shoot someone and use the no retreat law, as per legal experts.

Now that some of the actual evidence is starting to come out...the picture being painted by the physical evidence is the direct opposite of what many are claiming.

In a neighborhood suffering a minor crime-wave, a community-minded Hispanic man forms an un-official "neighborhood watch".
He often volunteers for such tasks...even tutoring under-privileged minority children for free.

On patrol, he encounters a tall, young man dressed like a wanna-be gang banger.

Witnesses and 9-1-1 tapes show that the two had an encounter.
Witnesses also state that Mr. Zimmerman then walked away and was headed back to his car when Mr. Martin jumped him from behind.
Mr. Zimmerman was punched in the face hard enough to break his nose.
Mr. Martin then knocked him down, according to witness statements, and started pounding Zimmerman's head on the ground.

Somewhere in the scuffle Mr. Zimmerman managed to get his gun out and shoot his attacker.

Police came and took the bleeding Zimmerman to Headquarters for five hours of interrogation.

When the "Press" got the story they only run childhood photos of the young man who assaulted Mr. Zimmerman. Current photos showing Mr. Martin as a tall, lean man with a taste for dressing like a hoodlum are not shown.

Most of the "Press" run only one photo of Zimmerman.
A bad photo of him in an orange shirt (so he looks like a criminal).
Before airing this picture someone photo-shopped it to lighten his skin color and make him appear more Caucasian.
The handful of other photos that appear on-line show a much darker Hispanic man who could blend easily into the crowd in El Paso or Vera Cruz.

Hate Crime?
Based on what?
Mr. Zimmerman has Black family members.
He regularly volunteers to tutor minority children for free.
There is NOTHING in this man's history that points to a racist attitude.
There IS a long history of racial tolerance and understanding displayed by this man.

The way that witnesses and the local police are describing this it sounds like a "Justifiable Shooting".

OK, how did that happen?

Oh yeah, I forgot. Martin was walking home with his skittles and tea while Zimmerman - armed - stalked him in his truck and finally got out to confront him against the urging of the 911 operator.

"An encounter" sounds so... benign compared to this reality.




Headed back to his car? Why was he out of his car? Obviously he was out of his car to confront Martin and start something. Start something he did.

Look, when you arm yourself with a gun and pick a fight with someone walking down the street, accusing them of being a criminal because they're black and clearly don't belong, don't be surprised when the other person fights back.

Starting a fight with someone and claiming it's self defense when you pull your gun and shoot that person dead is absolute madness and contrary to all good sense and law.



"Attacker." What a word to describe Martin. Martin "attacked" the man who stalked him for a while from his truck, then stopped his truck to get out and confront him for being black in the wrong neighborhood.

You make it sound like Zimmerman was just hanging around when he was accosted by this black kid. It was the other way around. This black kid was just hanging around when he was accosted by this armed vigilante cop wannabe just because he was the wrong color.

Now you are just making stuff up.
NOWHERE is there ANY testimony that Mr. Zimmerman confronted Mr. Martin for being Black.
If a White man walked through my neighborhood dressed like a gang-banger I'd label him "suspicious" as well.
You don't know how heated that confrontation was.
What IS know is that Mr. Zimmerman was walking away from it before being attacked.

Should Mr. Zimmerman have confronted the young man?
No.
Poor judgement on his part.

Was Mr. Martin justified in attacking Mr. Zimmerman?
No.
At THAT point it becomes a case of LEGAL self-defense.

The reports that are finally starting to leak out show that this case was thoroughly investigated by the police.
The local District Attorney wanted to bring Man Slaughter charges against Mr. Zimmerman but lacked enough evidence to even file the charges.

A gang banger? He was wearing a hoodie. I have many hoodies and today walked to the store by my house in a hoodie and on the way home I put the hoodie over my head because the wind started to blow and my ears got cold. At the store I bought a dark chocolate candy bar and a bag of treats for my dog. Holy s***, I am a wanna be gang banger.

Exactly and well said. This no retreat law, as they are calling it on CNN, was explained by legal experts and they stated clearly its a law that allows me to defend myself with having to retreat if someone is threatening me or attacking me.

If I approach you and start an altercation, get you to hit me or you hit me back after I hit you, I am not allowed under this law to whip out my pistol and shoot you dead.

I wore a hoodie this afternoon when I was mowing the lawn. I guess I'm lucky that the neighbors didn't shoot me.