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AIBU?

Where is the fucking justice for Trayvon Martin? a 17 year old INNOCENT CHILD shot to death simply because he was walking in his father's gated community.

939 replies

chewchewmeaw · 17/03/2012 19:10

Why in gods hell has that MURDERER not been arrested?

Are they looking for riots? they will happen if Zimmerman is not brought to justice. I am so sickened by this.

I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard this story yet - very slow in reporting it.

He was begging for his life': Family's anger as police finally play 911 calls made by neighborhood watch captain who shot black teen

Trayvon Martin,17, was shot dead by George Zimmerman, 28, last month, who claims the killing was self defense and has not been charged
Police finally gave into mounting pressure on Friday and released eight 911 calls
The teen's family say the calls show Zimmerman was the 'aggressor' not Trayvon

The police have finally released the 911 calls made in relation to the killing of an unarmed black teenager who was shot by a white neighborhood watch captain.
George Zimmerman, 28, had called 911 to report a suspicious man and can be heard pursuing Trayvon Martin, 17, on foot against the dispatcher's advice causing the teen to run away.
Moments later the police are bombarded with calls from terrified neighbors as a voice in the background can be heard desperately screaming for help before the sound of two gun shots.
When police arrived at Florida's Retreat at Twin Lakes Townhomes they found Trayvon, who had been returning from a store with candy for his younger brother, had been shot dead by Zimmerman.
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Trayvon Martin, 17, left, was killed by George Zimmerman, 28, right, after the neighborhood watch captain pursued him as walked in a gated community
Zimmerman had called 911 after spotting the teen walking through the gated community.
'This guy looks like he is up to no good. He is on drugs or something,' Zimmerman told the dispatcher from his SUV.
He added that the black teen had his hand in his waistband and was walking around looking at homes.

More...
Teenager's death gives life to others: Organs donated by girl, 16, who died in crash provide new hope for the desperately ill
'These a---. They always get away,' Zimmerman said on a 911 call.
During Zimmerman's initial call, he told the dispatcher he was following Martin and the dispatcher told him, 'You don't need to do that.'
But Zimmerman sounds as if he continues to pursue the teen saying: 'He ran.'
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In Zimmerman's 911 call he said Martin, pictured, looked like he 'up to no good' and on drugs as the teen returned home with skittles for his brother
He then refuses to meet police officers at an agreed location and asks for them to call him on arrival instead so he can tell them where he is.
Sanford police officials, who have not charged Zimmerman after accepting his claim that his actions were in self defense, finally released eight 911 calls on Friday after mounting pressure.
Martin's family had demanded the release of the calls to help better understand how Martin died while walking home from a convenience store last month.
'He was yelling for help, and no one could help him. He saw his life being taken away from him,' the teen's father Tracy Martin said.
He said they will continue pushing for charges to be filed against Zimmerman.
'We?re hoping this doesn?t happen again to another family, and that America opens their eyes ... even though this won?t bring Trayvon back,
we don?t want there to be another Trayvon,' Mr Martin said.
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The teenager's parents; mother Sabrina Fulton, right, and father Tracy Martin, left, are said to be devastated after hearing the 911 calls of their son's last moments

Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Martin's family, said that the 911 calls show that the teenager spent the last few moments of his life terrified and Zimmerman should be charged
After listening to recordings of 911 calls, Martin's family said they're more convinced than ever that the Zimmerman should be charged with a crime.
'You hear a shot, a clear shot, then you hear a 17-year-old boy begging for his life,' said Natalie Jackson, the family attorney. 'Then you hear a second shot.'
The case has been turned over to the State Attorney's Office which can decide whether to file charges or present evidence to a grand jury.
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is also representing the family, told reporters outside Sanford City Hall that Martin's parents both broke down and cried as they listened to the recordings.
'They are completely devastated, and they are in unbelievable grief,' Crump said. 'The last seconds of his life were in absolute fear.'
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Martin was visiting his father and stepmother in Sanford where they live at The Retreat at Twin Lakes, pictured, when he popped out to buy snacks for his younger brother
He added that a third witness has come forward saying it was the boy who was crying for help.
Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, previously sued to have the recordings released. A hearing for the case had been scheduled for Monday.
Moments after Zimmerman's initial call, dispatchers were bombarded by seven 911 calls from frantic neighbors describing a fight between two men, screaming and then a gunshot.
'There is somebody screaming outside,' one female caller said, as an unknown male voice can be heard crying in the background. Then a shot is heard.
A male caller described a physical altercation between Martin and the shooter.
'I just heard a shot right behind my house,' The caller said. 'They're wrestling right behind my porch. The guy is yelling 'Help.' I'm not going outside.'

By the time police officers arrived, unarmed Trayvon, who had been carrying Skittles and soda, was dead on the ground from a single gunshot
Another woman said a man in a 'white top' was on top Trayvon.
Earlier on Friday, Martin's parents called on the FBI to take over the investigation, saying they no longer trusted the Sanford police department.
Sanford police Sgt. David Morgenstern said the department stands by its investigation but welcomes help from any outside agency. FBI agent David Couvertier said the agency has been in contact with Sanford police and is monitoring the case.
'We are committed to having somebody review this to see if we made a mistake,' said Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett. 'If we made missteps and there is something there, we will act accordingly'

Trayvon's family believe Zimmerman should be charged and brought to justice for shooting their young son
Several Sanford residents who spoke to The Associated Press said they think there would have been an arrest already if the shooter had been black and the deceased had been white.
They said blacks and whites in this city of 53,000 residents were pretty much in agreement that an injustice had been done with no one arrested, and that there was no racial divide in how the case is being perceived. The city is 57 percent white and 30 percent black.
Zimmerman's father delivered a letter to the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday, saying the way his son is being depicted in the media is cruel and misleading.
He also says his son has received death threats and moved out of his home. George Zimmerman is Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family, the statement says.

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chewchewmeaw · 17/03/2012 19:17

Trayvon Martin

?He said that Tray was gone.? That?s how Sybrina Fulton, her voice full of ache, told me she found out that her 17-year-old son, Trayvon Martin, had died. In a wrenching telephone call, the boy?s father, who had taken him to visit a friend, told her that Trayvon had been gunned down in a gated townhouse community in Sanford, Fla., outside Orlando.

?He said, ?Somebody shot Trayvon and killed him.? And I was like, ?Are you sure?? ? Fulton continued in disbelief. ?I said ?How do you know that?s Trayvon?? And he said because they showed him a picture.?

That was Feb. 27, one day after Trayvon was shot. The father thought that he was missing, according to the family?s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, but the boy?s body had actually been taken to the medical examiner?s office and listed as a John Doe.

The father called the Missing Persons Unit. No luck. Then he called 911. The police asked the father to describe the boy, after which they sent officers to the house where the father was staying. There they showed him a picture of the boy with blood coming out of his mouth.

This is a nightmare scenario for any parent, and the events leading to Trayvon?s death offer little comfort ? and pose many questions.

Trayvon had left the house he and his father were visiting to walk to the local 7-Eleven. On his way back, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain, who was in a sport-utility vehicle. Zimmerman called the police because the boy looked ?real suspicious,? according to a 911 call released late Friday. The operator told Zimmerman that officers were being dispatched and not to pursue the boy.

Zimmerman apparently pursued him anyway, at some point getting out of his car and confronting the boy. Trayvon had a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. Zimmerman had a 9 millimeter handgun.

The two allegedly engaged in a physical altercation. There was yelling, and then a gunshot.

When police arrived, Trayvon was face down in the grass with a fatal bullet wound to the chest. Zimmerman was standing with blood on his face and the back of his head and grass stains on his back, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

Trayvon?s lifeless body was taken away, tagged and held. Zimmerman was taken into custody, questioned and released. Zimmerman said he was the one yelling for help. He said that he acted in self-defense. The police say that they have found no evidence to dispute Zimmerman?s claim.

One other point: Trayvon is black. Zimmerman is not.

Trayvon was buried on March 3. Zimmerman is still free and has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

Yet the questions remain: Why did Zimmerman find Trayvon suspicious? Why did he pursue the boy when the 911 operator instructed him not to? Why did he get out of the car, and why did he take his gun when he did? How is it self-defense when you are the one in pursuit? Who initiated the altercation? Who cried for help? Did Trayvon?s body show evidence of a struggle? What moved Zimmerman to use lethal force?

This case has reignited a furor about vigilante justice, racial-profiling and equitable treatment under the law, and it has stirred the pot of racial strife.

As the father of two black teenage boys, this case hits close to home. This is the fear that seizes me whenever my boys are out in the world: that a man with a gun and an itchy finger will find them ?suspicious.? That passions may run hot and blood run cold. That it might all end with a hole in their chest and hole in my heart. That the law might prove insufficient to salve my loss.

That is the burden of black boys in America and the people that love them: running the risk of being descended upon in the dark and caught in the cross-hairs of someone who crosses the line.

The racial sensitivity of this case is heavy. Trayvon?s parents have said their son was murdered. Crump, the family?s lawyer, told me, ?You know, if Trayvon would have been the triggerman, it?s nothing Trayvon Martin could have said to keep police from arresting him Day 1, Hour 1.? Even the police chief recognizes this reality, even while disputing claims of racial bias in the investigation: ?Our investigation is color blind and based on the facts and circumstances, not color. I know I can say that until I am blue in the face, but, as a white man in a uniform, I know it doesn?t mean anything to anybody.?

Zimmerman has not released a statement, but his father delivered a one-page letter to The Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the statement said that Zimmerman is ?Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family.? The paper quotes the letter as reading, ?He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever? and continues, ?The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth.? And disclosures made since the shooting complicate people?s perception of fairness in the case.

According to Crump, the father was told that one of the reasons Zimmerman wasn?t arrested was because he had a ?squeaky clean? record. It wasn?t. According to the local news station WFTV, Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for ?battery on a law enforcement officer.?

Furthermore, ABC News reported on Tuesday that one of the responding officers ?corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.? And The Miami Herald published an article on Thursday that said three witnesses had heard the ?desperate wail of a child, a gunshot, and then silence.?

WFTV also reported this week that the officer in charge of the scene when Trayvon was shot was also in charge of another controversial case. In 2010, a lieutenant?s son was videotaped attacking a black homeless man. The officer?s son also was not initially arrested in that case. He was later arrested when the television station broke the news.

Although we must wait to get the results from all the investigations into Trayvon?s killing, it is clear that it is a tragedy. If no wrongdoing of any sort is ascribed to the incident, it will be an even greater tragedy.

One of the witnesses was a 13-year-old black boy who recorded a video for The Orlando Sentinel recounting what he saw. The boy is wearing a striped polo shirt, holding a microphone, speaking low and deliberately and has the heavy look of worry and sadness in his eyes. He describes hearing screaming, seeing someone on the ground and hearing gunshots. The video ends with the boy saying, ?I just think that sometimes people get stereotyped, and I fit into the stereotype as the person who got shot.?

And that is the burden of black boys, and this case can either ease or exacerbate it.

?

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