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George Michael Zimmerman is an American who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquit…
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Investigate this subjectGeorge Michael Zimmerman (born October 5, 1983) is an American who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder in Florida v.
George Michael Zimmerman is an American who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder in Florida v. George Zimmerman. After his acquittal, Zimmerman was the target of a shooting stemming from a road rage incident, the perpetrator of which was convicted of attempted murder.
George Michael Zimmerman (born October 5, 1983) is an American who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder in Florida v. George Zimmerman. After his acquittal, Zimmerman was the target of a shooting stemming from a road rage incident, the perpetrator of which was convicted of attempted murder.
After the shooting, Zimmerman continued to generate controversy, such as painting the Confederate flag, mockingly posting images of Martin's body, selling the gun he used to kill Martin, and a number of other statements described as racist and Islamophobic.
George Michael Zimmerman was born on October 5, 1983, in Manassas, Virginia. He is the third of four children, and his siblings include a brother, Robert Jr., and two sisters, Grace and Dawn. His mother, Gladys Cristina (née Mesa) Zimmerman, was born in Peru. His maternal great-grandfather was of Afro-Peruvian descent. His father, Robert Zimmerman Sr., is a U.S. Army veteran with a military career of 22 years, first as an Army sergeant and then 10 years at the Department of Defense. Before retiring to Florida in 2002, Zimmerman Sr. had served as a magistrate in Fairfax County's 19th Judicial District.
Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic on voter registration forms. Zimmerman's family was known for being devoutly religious. He was raised as a Catholic and served as an altar boy from age 7 to 17. Zimmerman attended All Saints Catholic School in Manassas before going to public high school. At age 14, Zimmerman joined an after-school Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program because he had wanted to become a Marine. When Zimmerman was 15 years old, he held three part-time jobs on nights and weekends to save up for a car. Zimmerman graduated from Osbourn High School in 2001. According to the Seminole County voter records, Zimmerman registered as a Democrat in 2002. According to his brother Robert, Zimmerman voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Zimmerman later became a critic of Obama.
After graduating from high school, Zimmerman moved to Lake Mary, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, where he was employed by an insurance agency. Zimmerman took classes at night to obtain a license to sell insurance. It was during this time when he became friends with Lee Ann Benjamin, a real estate agent, and her husband John Donnelly, a Sanford attorney. Benjamin and Donnelly would both testify on his behalf at his trial in the death of Martin.
Zimmerman married Shellie Dean, a licensed cosmetologist, in 2007. Two years later, they rented a townhouse in the Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman had previously been employed at a car dealership and a mortgage audit firm. Zimmerman enrolled in Seminole State College in 2009 and was working on an associate degree in criminal justice. In December 2011 he was allowed to participate in a school graduation ceremony, although he was a course credit shy of his degree. He was completing that credit at the time of the shooting. Zimmerman was employed as an insurance underwriter. In early 2011, Zimmerman participated in a citizen forum at the Sanford City Hall to protest against the beating of a black homeless man by the son of a white Sanford police officer. During the meeting, Zimmerman claimed he witnessed "disgusting behavior" while participating in a ride-along program with local police. However, the police department said later that it did not know when, if ever, Zimmerman was in that program.
On February 26, 2012, Zimmerman fatally shot 17-year-old African-American high school student Trayvon Martin in The Retreat at Twin Lakes community in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch coordinator in his gated community; Martin was temporarily staying there at the time. The Twin Lakes Neighborhood Watch program was not registered with the National Neighborhood Watch Program, but was administered by the local police department. Following an earlier call from Zimmerman, police arrived within two minutes of a gunshot during an altercation in which Zimmerman fatally shot Martin, who did not possess any weapons. Zimmerman was subsequently taken into custody, treated for head injuries, and questioned for five hours.
The police chief said that Zimmerman was released because there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's claim of having acted in self-defense. Under Florida's stand-your-ground statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest. The police chief said that Zimmerman had a right to defend himself with lethal force. As news of the case spread, thousands of protesters across the United States called for Zimmerman's arrest and a full investigation. Six weeks after the shooting, amid widespread, intense, and in some cases misleading media coverage, Zimmerman was charged with murder by a special prosecutor appointed by Governor Rick Scott.
Zimmerman's trial began on June 10, 2013, in Sanford. On July 13, a jury acquitted Zimmerman of the charges of second degree murder and manslaughter. For three years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigated Zimmerman on civil rights charges. In February 2015, the DOJ concluded there was not sufficient evidence that Zimmerman intentionally violated the civil rights of Martin, saying the Zimmerman case did not meet the "high standard" for a federal hate crime prosecution. After DOJ said it would not charge him with a hate crime, Zimmerman said he felt free to speak his opinion "without fear of retaliation". Zimmerman criticized the government and President Obama. He believed Obama inflamed racial tensions. "He by far overstretched, overreached, even broke the law in certain aspects to where you have an innocent American being prosecuted by the federal government," Zimmerman said.
According to Zimmerman's brother, Robert Jr., in 2014, in the year following the trial, Zimmerman was both homeless and jobles
Source: George Zimmerman (CC BY-SA)
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