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

Agreed.Finally the definitive story.It only took 5 weeks. Assuming that this story is accurate, its pretty amazing as to how many facts other news organizations left out.

I did not realize that Zimmerman was married, nor did I realize that he was only 5'9" 170lbs.

Article mentioned that the police took pictures of Zimmerman's injuries and that he was treated by a doctor the next day.

 

Knowing this, do you feel like Zimmerman needed to shoot Martin to save his own life?
I still don't.

 

No I don't either, but again who knows what he thought. From Times article it does seem like there
are more witnesses than has been mentioned in past.

The Times reporting was extraordinary in it's detail as opposed to the haphazard way the the FLA papers told the story.

 

www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/04/george_zimmerman_killing_trayvon_martin_has_ruined_what_little_reputation_sanford_fla_had_.html

 

Even if there was a struggle, you get your ass kicked and you move on. You don't shoot an unarmed person. I guarantee you if Martin had shot Zimmerman, this farce wouldn't be going on. LOCK ZIMMERMAN UP NOW!!!

 

If Zimmerman's last name was Gonzalez, this story would be on the back page. If that.

 

If Zimmerman's last name was Gonzalez and Trayvon was Conner, Gonzalez would be facing the death penalty.

 

It's one of problems of the untrained carrying a gun around. Perhaps Zimmerman was concerned that Martin would take his gun and shoot him.

 

I believe the Sheriff's department pamphlet you posted several pages ago specifies that "Neighborhood Watch" participants not go armed.

Another argument worth having is why George Zimmerman was licensed to carry a handgun.

 

It's a good question. Was he carrying as a private citizen or in his duty as neighborhood watch captain?

Either way that gated community is in for one hell of a civil suit. Won't bring back Martin though.

 

Saw some confusion about this: probable cause is the standard for arrest, and it is certainly not needed to simply question someone. Cops can temporarily detain someone only on reasonable suspicion, which is an incredibly lenient standard.

On that point, I have a hard time buying the police's reason for the slowness of everything. I'd have to go back and read the entire FL statue, but I'd be shocked if it said anything about police not arresting someone simply on a declaratory statement of self-defense. If you have PC to arrest someone, then do it. You don't fail to arrest someone simply because they proclaim self-defense. If that was the case, police could hardly arrest anyone.

 

One thing that strikes me that may have played in Zimmerman's favor in the eyes of the police is that he did not lawyer up right away. It goes against all conventional wisdom but it might have shown that he had nothing to hide.

The Times story said that the police had photos of Zimmerman's injuries. That may have been a factor in supporting his story as well.