It's Watch!... Neighborhood Watch. Not shoot.

I'm going to wildly stereotype here and assume that a gun owner/neighborhood watch captain has been secretly dreaming for years of the day he got to shoot a teenager and get away with it.

 

Here's another thing from that CBS story that might give one pause about the chances of a conviction:

But Allen County, Indiana prosecutor Karen Richards, who has prosecuted cases involving claims of self-defense, says that the new laws simply "solidify what juries were feeling anyway. If you're in a place where you have a right to be and you have a reasonable belief you need to use deadly force, juries don't think you need to retreat."

 

I think the police immediately going into the four-corners offense with the investigation is going to get this guy off, or at least get the charges greatly reduced.

Sickening.

 

My estimation of what happened:

Guy has been suspicious because of all the recent burglaries. Wants to use his gun. Sees a black kid alone and decides he's going to have big balls and stop the burglary, except there isn't one to stop. He probably approached the kid in a very brash manner, something like "What do you think you're doing/Where are you going" or some other question he had no business asking. The kid is from a city (I think Miami?) and probably has a thick-enough skin to have his guard up when approached like that - as he should. Probably said "Fuck you" or tried to shove the guy out of the way, and Captain America didn't like that. That's when the scuffle ensued. Heat of the moment, fear, panic and his pre-conceived notion that this kid was going to steal things led to him shooting.

The most telling witness quote was the woman who said she saw him over the body "with his hands on his head in the universal 'I screwed up'" pose.

 

How can a bag of skittles be mistaken for a gun?
What's the worst that could have happened if the guy took the time to find out whether or not is was a gun or skittles?

I'm sorry, I'm not buying the idea that the guy thought if he took the time to make that determination, it may have been too late if it had been a gun.

And as I said, some wingnuts are going to think he's a hero.

 

I think this guy committed cold-blooded murder. But that Florida law is so vague, Zimmerman could "reasonably" state he felt threatened. Plus, the police are dragging their feet to protect a "good citizen." Plus, as the Indiana prosecutor stated, there are plenty of jurors who believe in the principle of shoot first, ask questions later. Now they have legal cover for their belief. So now the prosecutor's job is 1,000 times more difficult. Thanks NRA!

 

The photo circulating of Zimmerman is a mug shot, so I don't know if he fits the bill of good citizen. I haven't yet seen what he was arrested for.

 

Maybe this is just my interpretation of the timeline and it hasn't been laid out this way, but if there was a fight, wasn't the theory that it happened well before the shooting? The kid was in a neighbor's backyard when he was shot, but that isn't where Zimmerman first confronted him.

I also wonder about the injuries -- guy easily could have roughed himself up or had someone else do it to sell his story. Just by having the gun out there it was pretty clear he was out for blood.

 

911 tapes show Zimmerman calling to report a suspicious lurker and lamenting that "the assholes always get away."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/16/2697604/trayvon-martins-parents-criss.html

Also:

In an interview this week with the Miami Herald, Police Chief Bill Lee said the 911 calls would prove the incident was not a case of racial profiling, because when asked whether the suspect was white or black, Zimmerman did not know. However the recording clearly shows that when asked, Zimmerman said, “He looks black.” And then a few moments later, “He’s a black male.”

More and more it seems like the police are in the tank for the guy. I'd start looking for some family connection or good friend on the force.

 

Jesus.

articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-16/news/os-trayvon-martin-shooting-911-call-20120316_1_deadly-shooting-dispatcher-shot

In one call, placed by the shooter George Zimmerman, he actively pursues the teen before the deadly shooting.

"Are you following him," an emergency dispatcher asks after Zimmerman describes Trayvon as a black male who was acting suspiciously.

Zimmerman responds: "Yeah."

"OK, you don't need to do that," the dispatcher says.

***

In one of the eight calls, screaming can be heard in the background as a woman tries to get help. That call is punctuated by two gunshots.

"You hear a shot, a clear shot, then you hear a 17-year-old boy begging for his life," said Natalie Jackson, another family attorney. "Then you hear a second shot."