Sanford, FL – Supporters Of Fla. Shooter Fearful Of Speaking Out

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    A protestor holds flyers during a rally outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Tuesday depicting Travyon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen killed last month.  The case has become a racial flashpoint that has civil rights leaders and others leading  protests in Florida and around the country. (AP Photo/Thomas Allison, Daily Texan)Sanford, FL – Trayvon Martin’s supporters pack churches, swarm rallies and wear hooded sweat shirts in solidarity while friends and family of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot the unarmed teen to death, remain largely out of sight. The few who have defended Zimmerman have done so reluctantly, most fearing public backlash.

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    Zimmerman, 28, has gone into hiding. His version of what happened on the rainy night of Feb. 26 has only trickled out from police and his attorney. Zimmerman said he was pursuing the 17-year-old Martin because Martin was acting suspiciously. He said he lost sight of the teenager and Martin attacked him as he headed back to his sport utility vehicle.

    Zimmerman told police he fired in self-defense and police did not arrest him, touching off widespread public outrage and protests across the country.

    Martin’s supporters believe race played a role in the shooting. Martin was black; Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother is Hispanic.

    “The family has had death threats, the father and mother, George has had death threats. Anything related to George is a target,” said Miguel Meza, who identified himself as Zimmerman’s cousin.

    George Hall, a retired Presbyterian minister, said he was Zimmerman’s neighbor for 20 years in Manassas, Va., until about 2001. Hall said Zimmerman and his brother attended church, and he wrote a recommendation for Zimmerman for a police academy in 2004.

    “Their parents taught them to treat everybody with respect. I’m tired of hearing about this race thing,” Hall said. “It could be an element in it … but I never would have thought of him as being a racist. His father was in the Army and was a white American and his mother was Peruvian. That makes him 50 percent Peruvian. A lot of stuff I hear, it irks me because people are drawing their own conclusions with very little evidence.”

    Meza spoke only briefly over the telephone to a reporter from The Associated Press. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had talked to Zimmerman since the shooting, but he said other relatives are afraid to comment publicly, even though they think he is being treated unfairly.

    “The media has been quick to demonize George, but Trayvon Martin was no angelic boy walking,” Meza said.

    Zimmerman’s attorney, Craig Sonner, has said in more than one interview that his client’s nose was broken during the fight with Martin.

    The Orlando Sentinel, citing anonymous sources, has reported that Martin grabbed Zimmerman’s head and banged it several times against the sidewalk. A statement from Sanford police said the newspaper’s story was “consistent” with evidence turned over to prosecutors.

    Sonner said the gash on the back of Zimmerman’s head probably was serious enough for stitches, but he waited too long for treatment so the wound was already healing.

    Zimmerman said he began crying for help; Martin’s family thinks it was their son who was crying out. Witness accounts differ and 911 tapes in which the voices are heard are not clear.

    Martin was at least 6 feet tall, several inches taller than the 5-foot-9 Zimmerman. Meza said Martin was not the child he appears to be in photos flashed across television and newspapers.

    “George was in a fight for his life,” Meza said.

    Martin’s supporters, including a host of outspoken celebrities and civil rights leaders who have appeared on television for the past two weeks, don’t believe Zimmerman’s story. They want him arrested and prosecuted, and his parents think their son is being painted in a negative light by a police department leaking information to the news media.

    The teenager was suspended from school three times this year. In October, he wrote obscene graffiti on a door at his high school. During a search of his backpack, campus security officers found 12 pieces of jewelry, a watch and a screwdriver that they thought could be used as a burglary tool, according to a school police report obtained by the Miami Herald.

    When campus security confronted Martin, he told them a friend had given him the jewelry, but he wouldn’t give a name. The Miami-Dade Police Department said Tuesday the jewelry could not be tied to any reported thefts.

    Martin had previously been suspended for excessive absences and tardiness and, at the time of his death, was serving a 10-day suspension after school officials found an empty plastic bag with marijuana traces in his backpack.

    His parents spent Tuesday at a forum organized by Congress on racial profiling and hate crimes. They spoke briefly before a Democrats-only congressional panel as cameras clicked noisily in front of them.

    “Trayvon was our son, but Trayvon is your son,” Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother, told the panel. “A lot of people can relate to our situation and it breaks their heart like it breaks our heart.”

    Eric Gross, who was Zimmerman’s classmate in high school in Virginia, said the shooting was surprising because he remembered Zimmerman as a “good guy.”

    “We had a couple classes together. He was just fun-going, got along with everybody that was in our classes,” Gross said.

    Another of Zimmerman’s friends said Zimmerman would tell the teen’s parents he’s “very, very sorry” if he could.

    Speaking Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Joe Oliver said Zimmerman is not a racist and has virtually lost his own life since the shooting.

    “This is a guy who thought he was doing the right thing at the time, and it’s turned out horribly wrong,” said Oliver, one of the few blacks to come forward in support of Zimmerman.

    Victor Rodriguez, who lives in Zimmerman’s neighborhood, said he often saw him walking around, but he didn’t know if that was part of his patrol. Now, he’s not sure what to think.

    “It makes you feel a little bit safe but knowing what happened and everything, it’s kind of like confusing in a way. We don’t want people to be in the neighborhood. You have kids running around. You don’t want robberies going down,” Rodriguez said.


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    30 Comments
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    Bigboy
    Bigboy
    12 years ago

    We had this whole thing recently in England with a football player being accused of racism without any basis. This racism issue is sometimes taken out of hand. It’s better like this then c”v the opposite but sometimes people just go overboard with this. I for one have a strong feeling this Martin isn’t so innocent as he’s made to be but i’ll wait patiently till the courts decide what really happened instead of making own conclusions.

    PMOinFL
    PMOinFL
    12 years ago

    Zimmerman’s supporters were in any way intelligent, they would do the following:

    1. Express disgust with the police department over their incompetence for losing most of the physical evidence.

    2. Demand that a proper investigation take place to ensure that the truth is uncovered.

    That’s all MOST rational people are looking for. Yes, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are doing their usual disgusting race-baiting, but everyone should demand that a proper investigation take place. We should ALL want that. Nobody should be so quickly acquitted (or convicted) without so much as a simple forensic analysis.

    Boochie
    Boochie
    12 years ago

    White people get killed everyday in this country by black people – and it aint self defence, should that be racisim?

    yossele
    yossele
    12 years ago

    Another lynching courtesy of Al Sharpton and co. Anyone remember the Duke Lacrosse team case from a few years back? Those kids were tarred and feathered with no evidence. Rallys, protests… just like now. When they were finally cleared and the real story was exposed, all of the bleeding hearts disappeared and there was not even an apology.

    12 years ago

    Well if a lynching occurs let’s hope it’s not the elderly couple that lives where Spike Lee tweets is zimmermans adress

    Reb Yid
    Reb Yid
    11 years ago

    Why should they be afraid? Everyone knows white are the murderers and Blacks are the innocent victims, no? Because to say otherwise would be a racist statement.

    shlomogabai
    shlomogabai
    11 years ago

    Could anybody explain this? ” his parents think their son is being painted in a negative light by a police department leaking information to the news media.”

    What matters is not if everybody finds out about his past, the question is, is it true? was he a rascal or a good kid minding his own business when he was shot! Was he a thief? or was he just taking a walk! or was he just looking for his next target!
    I hate it when the media, “good for nothing” politicians “don’t let a situation pass without taking advantage of it.” seemingly proclaiming that the real facts don’t matter, but their own fabricated facts are what matters! that goes for uncle al, obama, and all black panthers etc. If he’s innocent, he’s free! if not, there is a rule of law, press charges against him! don’t do what you claim “yo bro” was innocent of!

    11 years ago

    To #5 - I couldn’t agree with you more. Everyday in the USA, there are many homicides, assaults, rapes, and robberies perpetrated by Blacks against whites. The reverse is extremely rare. Yet, there is never any mention of Black racism, by the media.

    11 years ago

    Being threaten with murder is violating Zimmermann civil rights and the FBI ought to get on the cause and anybody like the New black panther should be arrested immediately for agitating murder. Al sharpton should be locked up like he should have been with Tawana Brawley when it was proven it was fraudelent

    LoveHashem
    LoveHashem
    11 years ago

    Is it any wonder witnesses are afraid to come forward? With the black panthers looking for blood, the victim’s family and supporters/race-baiters having played the race card with no evidence whatsoever to support that was the motive, and ignoring how the innocent trayvon broke Zimmerman’s nose and pummeled him into the ground, and of course the grieving mother who already trademarked 2 slogans so she can exploit her son’s death by making money off his name, not to mention the numerous lawsuits all those sharks smell, would YOU want to go up against all that fakery? You can be sure any grand jury/jury will be intimidated into giving the black mobs what they want, lest they start rioting.

    11 years ago

    Firstly ive seen here on VIN the media lies repeated, Babishka wrote that Martin was a small kid 140 lbs when he was a 6’3 160 pound adult that likely knew how to fight viciously..

    Go ahead and discuss this, but to be judge and jury on a case you dont know the details and clearly use incorrect facts ?

    11 years ago

    Three suspensions in one school year is not saintly.
    I am sick of this anti Hispanic bigotry.

    11 years ago

    Sherry is just distorting this and making up facts… its of course fine for you people to know exactly what went down there with limited knowledge.. you know exactly zimmerman’s intentions and travyon’s intentions… you have violated the basic american justice and liberty of trial by a jury of your peers.. after all, you have already found zimmerman guilty because YOU KNOW…

    The torah requires 2 witnesses…we have here 1 witness that that according to the news says zimmerman was defending himself..

    I have not taken a side here, I feel like both are guilty and innocent…

    The real tragedy is closed mnded bigots like sherry who claim to know everything and rush in with racism to lynch a man that hasent had his time in court…

    Shame on you!

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    11 years ago

    Before the public outcry, the police did nothing much. After the public outcry, the police do much. Perhaps the police did the right thing at first and are now doing the wrong thing? So let’s look at the Sanford Police Department’s history. No less than three recent cases of covering up for police family members and groupies. So given that history, I suspect that without the troublemakers yelling and screaming, Sanford Florida would have been very happy to bury another Black person with no public notice.