Been watching this a lot and listening to it when I am traveling on my Sirius XM and I got to say, it just strikes me as two people who could not have been worse for each other were put in proximity of each other and now one is dead.
George Zimmerman, law abiding gun enthusiast, cared about his community, started a neighborhood watch, had a lot of interest in law enforcement, wanted to be a lawyer maybe, etc...
Trayvon Martin, young kid, barely old enough to shave, living a street life, hard knocks, not too happy with authority in general, wasn't born into the greatest situation and seems like he knew it...
Zimmerman sees the kid, doesn't like what he sees and given the recent history of break-ins in the neighborhood, decides to follow him to keep an eye on "the stranger" in his neighborhood.
Martin sees he is being followed and takes offense at being followed, doubles back on Zimmerman and surprises him in the dark.
A struggle ensues, the gun comes out and Martin is dead.
All I can think of is
1) If Martin had just kept his cool, let Zimmerman do whatever the local Neighborhood Watch guy wanted to and just kept walking home and ignored Zimmerman, there would have not been any trouble at all. Martin had no weapons, no drugs, nothing at all that would have led anyone to conclude he was up to anything other than getting tea and skittles and walking home.
2) If Zimmerman had stayed in the car and just followed Martin as best he could from there, then no fight would have ensued.
3) Had Zimmerman not been carrying a gun, then no one gets shot. Sure, maybe there's a scuffle, a couple cuts and bruises, but nothing life threatening happens.
Bottom line to me is George Zimmerman honestly believed he was in grave danger when he pulled the trigger, no doubt about it. So there is no reason to convict him of anything, he acted in self-defense. But if you go back through the events leading up to what happened, you can see so many ways this could have been far different an outcome for both if both had only made different choices, like Martin ignoring Zimmerman instead of getting mad at him for following him, or Zimmerman not carrying a gun, or getting out of his car to follow Martin. Little things that would have changed everything.
It's been quite the trial to listen to, but I don't really see how, when you narrow it down to the point where a fight is taking place and Zimmerman pulls the gun and shoots Martin you can really blame him for his actions at that moment. Regardless of the injuries to Zimmerman, which were not particularly grievous, he still could justifiably feel he was in great danger at that moment.
George Zimmerman, law abiding gun enthusiast, cared about his community, started a neighborhood watch, had a lot of interest in law enforcement, wanted to be a lawyer maybe, etc...
Trayvon Martin, young kid, barely old enough to shave, living a street life, hard knocks, not too happy with authority in general, wasn't born into the greatest situation and seems like he knew it...
Zimmerman sees the kid, doesn't like what he sees and given the recent history of break-ins in the neighborhood, decides to follow him to keep an eye on "the stranger" in his neighborhood.
Martin sees he is being followed and takes offense at being followed, doubles back on Zimmerman and surprises him in the dark.
A struggle ensues, the gun comes out and Martin is dead.
All I can think of is
1) If Martin had just kept his cool, let Zimmerman do whatever the local Neighborhood Watch guy wanted to and just kept walking home and ignored Zimmerman, there would have not been any trouble at all. Martin had no weapons, no drugs, nothing at all that would have led anyone to conclude he was up to anything other than getting tea and skittles and walking home.
2) If Zimmerman had stayed in the car and just followed Martin as best he could from there, then no fight would have ensued.
3) Had Zimmerman not been carrying a gun, then no one gets shot. Sure, maybe there's a scuffle, a couple cuts and bruises, but nothing life threatening happens.
Bottom line to me is George Zimmerman honestly believed he was in grave danger when he pulled the trigger, no doubt about it. So there is no reason to convict him of anything, he acted in self-defense. But if you go back through the events leading up to what happened, you can see so many ways this could have been far different an outcome for both if both had only made different choices, like Martin ignoring Zimmerman instead of getting mad at him for following him, or Zimmerman not carrying a gun, or getting out of his car to follow Martin. Little things that would have changed everything.
It's been quite the trial to listen to, but I don't really see how, when you narrow it down to the point where a fight is taking place and Zimmerman pulls the gun and shoots Martin you can really blame him for his actions at that moment. Regardless of the injuries to Zimmerman, which were not particularly grievous, he still could justifiably feel he was in great danger at that moment.
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