17yr old black kid shot and killed for walking in white suburbia?

[Willie Escalade]

Chargers!

[giovanni_hotel]

The latest.....!

Evidence mixed for Zimmerman's self-defense claim. AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...44ed43b71e48e1

[giovanni_hotel]

From the AP article:


Two acquaintances painted an unflattering picture of Zimmerman in police interviews.

A distraught woman told an investigator that she stays away from Zimmerman because he's racist and because of things he's done to her in the past, but she didn't elaborate on what happened between them.

"I don't at all know who this kid was or anything else. But I know George, and I know that he does not like black people. He would start something. He's very confrontational. It's in his blood. We'll just say that," the unidentified woman says in an audio recording.

A man whose name was deleted from the audio told investigators said he worked with Zimmerman in 2008 for a few months. It wasn't clear which company it was.

The man, who described his heritage as "Middle Eastern," said that when he first started, many employees didn't like him. Zimmerman seized on this, the employee said, and bullied him.

Zimmerman wanted to "get in" with the clique at work so he exaggerated a Middle Eastern accent when talking about the employee, the man said. The employee told investigators that Zimmerman made reference to terrorists and bombings when talking about him.

"It was so immature," said the employee, who ended up writing a letter to management about Zimmerman.

[giovanni_hotel]

New video of Martin buying Skittles before his murder.

[Queens Guy]

This is interesting and probably what we have know way of proving, but I still believe at some point Trayvon and George had separated,( I find it hard to believe in the middle of being pummeled George could get to his 9mm, a situation in which most people at the bottom are either swinging back or using their arms and hands to defend themselves), Zimmerman had the opportunity to pull out his gun.

WHen Zimmerman DID pull out his 9mm, the fight in my mind based on personal experience is OVER. You can take your hardest thug and if you reach on him and he's unarmed, most will 'calm down' within seconds.

I don't think Zimmerman shot Trayvon while he was on top of him. I think the fatal bullet was shot when they were separated.

I disagree with you on your first point. While Zimmerman certainly wouldn't have ignored punches coming from Trayvon, I think he could have held Trayvon off with his left hand/arm while reaching for the gun with his right hand. That would have been my instinct if I was losing the fight.

As far the shot going off when they were separated, you may be right, but they couldn't have been separated by all that much. The autopsy report says the wound was from an 'intermediate' distance, which in their terms is between 1 and 18 inches away. Distances are either 'contact', less than 1 inch, 'intermediate', 1-18 inches, or 'distant', greater than 18 inches.

Unfortunately, the angle of the shot has not been reported. So, we don't know if that fits with Zimmerman's story or not.

[Queens Guy]

As a comparison, if you were carrying pepper spray and you were getting attacked, I think your instinct would be to hold off the attacker the best you could with one arm, and reach for the pepper spray so you could spray it into his eyes and stop the fight.

[InHouston]

nancy grace says he said COON AND AGGRESSOR WAS ZIMMERMAN based on the evidence and court rules

Nancy cuts mic of Zimmerman's friend

I've listened to that tape over and over, and I heard nothing of the kind.

[InHouston]

Contributing to thread drift....

If you 'trespass' into my home and you don't surrender on demand, you will die.

If you attack or assault my wife or I, in or out of our home, and you don't surrender on demand, you will die.

If you threaten my wife or I, in person, we will attempt to move away from you to ease the situation if possible. If you pursue us, and you don't surrender on demand, you will die.

Oh, and yes... my property is worth much more to me than your life is. Remember that if you try to take it.

I have pulled my gun with intent three times in 20 years. 12 years ago, 7 years ago and Tuesday night.

Tuesday night, I was involved in a near miss traffic incident. Both sides partially at fault... him for speeding and my left turn was in an area with partially obstructed vision. Neither vehicle was damaged, just both of us shook up.

After pulling off the road to clear traffic, I got out to check on the other car and driver. He came running down the road toward me, screaming and cussing at me and swinging what turned out to be a socket wrench at me.

When I pulled my gun, it was just amazing how quickly he calmed down. Suddenly, his 23yo 'tough guy punk' attitude in front of his friends didn't mean as much. Fortunately, there were several witnesses to the entire incident. When the deputy showed up, took the witness statements and such, she told the other driver that he was lucky he wasn't shot and asked me if I wished to press charges.

Guns are not the problem.

--

Excellent post! I’ve had to draw my weapon a couple of times on people half my age who feel they can maraud around and victimize citizens. One night at 1:00 am I was showing my girlfriend at the time my house I grew up in. As I turned into the neighborhood, a car behind me blacked out their lights, maneuvered to my driver’s side and tried to force me over. I saw a gang of Hispanics with shaved heads with all their eyes locked on me. I flung my Glock .45 out the window and blinded them with my 300 lumen tactical light. All I heard was “Get the fuck outta here foo, he got a gun!” They punched it passed me, and I made a swift U-turn to put distance between them and I. In my rearview mirror, I saw them crash into the curb and run up on the grass. My gun diffused that situation without firing a shot, and it was over in mere seconds. I can only imagine what would have happened to me and my girlfriend if I didn’t have a gun.

My older brother is poor because he’s a welder and can’t afford to live in a nice neighborhood. He often works night shifts, and was walking through the parking lot of his apartment, and looked over at a group of gang members partying and carrying on in the parking lot. One of them yelled out, “What the fuck you lookin at homes?” My brother said nothing, and just kept heading over to his apartment. 10 of them followed him saying “Let get this bitch”, and my brother made his way to the top of his staircase, spun around and pulled a 357 magnum on them and warned them all to get back. As they retreated they warned him they were going to get him. He called me at 3:00 am, and I stood in his apartment at the window with a .223 assault rifle and stood guard while he unpacked his apartment and moved out that night. He was understandably very angry and upset, because he just wanted to go to sleep and ended up having to stuff everything he owns into his car and abandon his apartment; simply for looking over at someone.

One night I was sitting at a taco stand, all by my lonesome at 9:00 pm, and I watched a suspicious looking person approach my truck from 50 yards down the street, and walked right up to my window. As he neared my truck, I saw him put his right hand in his pocket, look around to see if no one was looking, and when he looked backed at me at my window he had a Glock pointed in his face. Tis tis … he was too slow on the draw, and I told him to get the fuck away from me before I blow his head clean off. Did I over-react? I don’t think so. As I was getting my tacos, he gathered up four of his buddies and they were all throwing gang signs at me from the corner. I pulled my gun again, stood in front of the taco stand, said nothing, stared them down, and they all politely walked away.

The thugs in this country have lost their god-damned minds.

[GroobySteven]

The thugs in this country have lost their god-damned minds.

Yes YOU have. You seem no different. You seem to have a thug mentality.

[InHouston]

For people that supports Zimmerman here's the million dollar comment I will make.
You sit here and try to logically show Zimmerman was right in doing what he did and that is he shot and killed an unarmed man.

For you supporters who support him, HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF HE KILLED YOUR CHILD IN THE SAME INCIDENT WITHOUT NOTHING CHANGING AS HE DID TRAYVON?

I know if it was me it wouldn't sit well as roses I would be one angry motha fucka!!!

If you're hanging around with a hoodie on your head, and loitering around in front of people's houses in a crime-ridden community, you're going to make those citizens nervous because you look and are acting like a lookout. First off, don't take off running because that's what criminals do, and two, don't jump on someone and start beating them up for asking "What are you doing here?" If you look and are not acting right, citizens have the right to confront you to see who you are and what you're doing. Zimmerman already had the call to the police, so he wasn't hunting Treyvon down.

Anyway ... Treyvon's mom should have taught her son not to hang around in the neighborhood looking and acting suspiciously, and draw attention to himself from citizens; especially a Neighborhood Watch Captain. In case you people don't know your American History, that is how the first police department was formed. Citizens had to fend for themselves and keep watch on their own neighborhoods, until crime spiraled out of their control, and the first police department was formed in New York City.

Zimmerman will walk from this case.