Trayvon Martin

A 17 year old boy named Trayvon Martin was killed last month

All he was carrying was a bag of Skittles, a Tea Drink, and his phone.

The killer, George Zimmerman, said he looked suspicious, followed him and confronted him. 

A shot was fired.

Shot in the chest, Trayvon laid face down on the sidewalk, dead.

CNN reported on this issue with a video containing 911 calls and an interview with the father.  (<click to watch)

"I think that's an issue that Mr. Zimmerman himself considers as someone suspicious -- a black kid with a hoodie on, jeans, tennis shoes," Martin said. "Thousands of people wear that outfit every day, so what was so suspicious about Trayvon that Zimmerman felt as though he had to confront him?"

Zimmerman actually chose to not listen to the operator on the 911 call. He was advised not to approach Trayvon. The operator asked him if he was following Trayvon. Zimmerman said yes. 


Another call was from a woman inside of her house, to afraid to leave because of the yelling going on outside. She said, and you can hear, that someone was yelling help multiple times (believed to be Trayvon) before a single and deadly gun shot was heard. 

"It's heartwrenching, because those actually were my son's last words," he said.

 "And to hear his last words being cries of help, is devastating. 

It tears me apart as a father." 

Trayvon Martin                 George Zimmerman

thegrio.com gave the follow list of facts that people should know about this case:

1. Zimmerman called the police to report Martin's "suspicious" behavior, which he described as "just walking around looking about."

Zimmerman was in his car when he saw Martin walking on the street. He called the police and said: "There's a real suspicious guy. This guy looks like he's up to no good, on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around looking about... These a**holes always get away" [Orlando Sentinel]

2. Zimmerman pursued Martin against the explicit instructions of the police dispatcher:

Dispatcher: "Are you following him?"
Zimmerman: "Yeah"
Dispatcher: "OK, we don't need you to do that."

[Orlando Sentinel]

3. Prior to the release of the 911 tapes, Zimmerman's father released a statement claiming "[a]t no time did George follow or confront Mr. Martin." [Sun Sentinel]

4. Zimmerman was carrying a a 9 millimeter handgun. Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. [ABC News]

5. Martin weighed 140 pounds. Zimmerman weighs 250 pounds. [Orlando Sentinel; WDBO]

6. Martin's English teacher described him as "as an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness." [Orlando Sentinel]

7. Martin had no criminal record. [New York Times]

8. Zimmerman "was charged in July 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer. The charges appear to have been dropped." [Huffington Post]

9. Zimmerman called the police 46 times since Jan. 1, 2011. [Miami Herald]

10. According to neighbors, Zimmerman was "fixated on crime and focused on young, black males." [Miami Herald]

11. Zimmerman "had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics" [Huffington Post]

12. A police officer "corrected" a key witness. "The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, it was Zimmerman who cried for help, said the witness. ABC News has spoken to the teacher and she confirmed that the officer corrected her when she said she heard the teenager shout for help." [ABC News]

13. Three witnesses say they heard a boy cry for help before a shot was fired. "Three witnesses contacted by The Miami Herald say they saw or heard the moments before and after the Miami Gardens teenager's killing. All three said they heard the last howl for help from a despondent boy." [Miami Herald]

14. The officer in charge of the crime scene also received criticism in 2010 when he initially failed to arrest a lieutenant's son who was videotaped attacking a homeless black man. [New York Times]

15. The police did not test Zimmerman for drugs or alcohol. A law enforcement expert told ABCthat Zimmerman sounds intoxicated on the 911 tapes. Drug and alcohol testing is "standard procedure in most homicide investigations." [ABC News]

The Martin case had been turned over to the Seminole County State Attorney's Office. Martin's family has asked for the FBI to investigate.

This whole thing is just really screwed up. How can it be possible for the police to let Zimmerman be free, no drug or alcohol test, no holding for interrogation, no punishment at all? There is a dead 17 year old boy, with no justice given to him. And there is a 26 year old murderer, comfortably living at home, as if nothing happened. How can this be okay, in any way? No mater how you look at it, it is wrong.  

We Should Work Together to Provide Justice for Trayvon