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Trayvon Martin, Vigilante Justice

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Dancing David

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Dancing David
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http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/police-man-neighborhood-watch-shoots-kills-teen-vi/nK8LR/

SANFORD, Fla. — A deadly shooting in Sanford has taken a bizarre turn. Police said a man patrolling on the neighborhood watch shot and killed a teenager who was on vacation.

Trayvon Martin turned 17 just three weeks before he was killed at the Retreat at Twin Lakes Townhomes on Sunday night.

...
Police arrived within a minute and found Martin shot dead. Paramedics could not bring him back.

They also found 26-year-old George Zimmerman, who they say admitted right away he had shot the teenager. An eyewitness said Zimmerman appeared to be in shock.

"At that point, Mr. Zimmerman was taken into custody, investigative detention if you will, and got to the station to conduct an interview with him to find out exactly what happened," Sanford police spokesman Sgt. David Zimmerman said.

Police won't say exactly what happened yet, but said Zimmerman was acting in his role as a neighborhood watch member.
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I read this earlier this morning too. A lot of details are missing clearly, but it's strange the PD and Zimmerman are staying mum. The shooting occurred a week and a half ago, so maybe they're trying to quietly build their case and don't want to tip their hand. I don't know how uncommon it is to release redacted police reports or how soon 911 recordings are generally made available.

More details are needed, though it does look fishy. I think it's too early to start shouting cover-up/racism/etc though. I hope it's not a case where there are no other witnesses so they only have Zimmerman's story rely on.
 
The bizzare turn is this, the family alledges that Trayvon had no weapon.
According to another story, the neighborhood watch guy called the police, he then drove to where Trayvon was got out of his car and shot Trayvon defending himself.

http://news.yahoo.com/family-florida-boy-killed-neighborhood-watch-seeks-arrest-044537742.html

As Trayvon returned to the townhome, Sanford police received a 911 call reporting a suspicious person.

Although names are blacked out on the police report, Crump and media reports at the time of the shooting identified the caller as George Zimmerman who is listed in the community's newsletter as the Neighborhood Watch captain.

Without waiting for police to arrive, Crump said, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, who was on the sidewalk near his home. By the time police got there, Trayvon was dead of a single gunshot to the chest.
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So this guy makes the call to the police, then goes out and shoots this kid, I do not think that itw as a case of racism by the police, but a vigilante acting on his own , shot a citizen.
 
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I guess my definition of "bizarre turn" is different from everyone else. <shrug>

Thanks for the additional information. It does sound like exactly what you said, a vigilante shooting someone. Mostly sounds unfortunate.
 
It ain't vigilantism if it is self defense.

It could have been a confrontation between a Jew and a Black, just guessing from their names. Things heated up, a sot fired in self defense. PD is quiet, letting the edge wear of the new-ness, hoping to prevent wide spread emotions.

Or not, perhaps it was an accidental shooting, "I didn't meant to pull the trigger", but the PD is quiet to also prevent wide spread emotions.

Oh well, we'll see.
 
Thanks for the additional information. It does sound like exactly what you said, a vigilante shooting someone. Mostly sounds unfortunate.
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Well, a vigilante would be someone taking the law into their own hands to stop a crime. There is no evidence that the kid did anything more heinous than being black in a gated community. It looks more like a paranoid guy with a gun (redundant in many cases) murdering a kid.
 
autumn1971 said:
Well, a vigilante would be someone taking the law into their own hands to stop a crime. There is no evidence that the kid did anything more heinous than being black in a gated community. It looks more like a paranoid guy with a gun (redundant in many cases) murdering a kid.
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I agree. And I wonder what rationalization the authorities used to apparently file no charges, etc.
 
From what I read there are not enough details as to what actually occurred.

If he (the neighborhood watch guy) was attacked physically, and he was in fear of his life, he MIGHT be let off the hook, but it's doubtful.

If there is no evidence that he was attacked, or in any way had his life threatened, he will end up with 2nd deg. Murder charges.

We'll have to wait and see what comes about. For now, I suspect that this guy was in the wrong.
 
Even if this guy acted in self defence, why did he put himself in a situation where that occured by confronting the guy?
He had already called the police. When we were setting up our block watch we were told in no uncertain terms that the idea was observation, not apprehension. Observe and report. As the officer that was our police liason put it; "This is Block watch, not Block catch.
 
autumn1971 said:
Well, a vigilante would be someone taking the law into their own hands to stop a crime. There is no evidence that the kid did anything more heinous than being black in a gated community. It looks more like a paranoid guy with a gun (redundant in many cases) murdering a kid.
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I'm not going to quibble over the terms I used. Thanks though.

Dancing David said:
I believe that a citizen was shot by another citizen, in an extrajudicial application of force. The question will be the context of the use of force.
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This.
 
autumn1971 said:
Well, a vigilante would be someone taking the law into their own hands to stop a crime. There is no evidence that the kid did anything more heinous than being black in a gated community. It looks more like a paranoid guy with a gun (redundant in many cases) murdering a kid.
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I thought that was only a misdemeanor. :confused:

The news is covering it pretty heavily, down here but I still haven't heard much more details on what happened. I can't help but wonder what exactly constitutes "suspicious".
 
The one thing brought up is that it could have been an accident. Personally i don't understand how anyone who has read word one about gun safety can have an accident like this.

If the person is going to attack you, fire away, if not keep your finger out of the friggen trigger guard, baring a three stooges esque catastrophic malfunction no one is going to get shot. It's not even like you have to keep the gun holstered, just that finger out of the thing that starts it working.
 
sadhatter said:
The one thing brought up is that it could have been an accident. Personally i don't understand how anyone who has read word one about gun safety can have an accident like this.

If the person is going to attack you, fire away, if not keep your finger out of the friggen trigger guard, baring a three stooges esque catastrophic malfunction no one is going to get shot. It's not even like you have to keep the gun holstered, just that finger out of the thing that starts it working.
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What are the requirements for a conceal-carry license Florida? Even if it includes a basic safety course, it might not include any kind of exam in which you have to answer, "Keep my finger off the trigger." I'm not suggesting you're wrong, I'm suggesting that people are ignorant.

Pulp Fiction did a nice job lampooning Hollywood's trope of waving a gun around with your finger still on the trigger when Vincent Vega accidentally shoots Marvin in the backseat. This isn't that, but our Neighborhood Watch guy might have been having a moment of bravado with his finger on the trigger when things went quickly wrong.
 
sadhatter said:
The one thing brought up is that it could have been an accident. Personally i don't understand how anyone who has read word one about gun safety can have an accident like this.

If the person is going to attack you, fire away, if not keep your finger out of the friggen trigger guard, baring a three stooges esque catastrophic malfunction no one is going to get shot. It's not even like you have to keep the gun holstered, just that finger out of the thing that starts it working.
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Claiming it was an accident at the same time as claiming self defense doesn't sound like a genius strategy...

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/family-teen-fatally-shot-neighborhood-watch-leader/nLNq9/
 
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