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Father: Arrest crime watch volunteer who killed my son

By Rene Stutzman, The Orlando Sentinel –

ORLANDO, Fla. — The father of a 17-year-old who was shot to death in Sanford, Fla., by a crime watch volunteer held a news conference in Orlando Thursday, demanding that the shooter be arrested and charged with murder.

Trayvon Martin, a high school junior from Miami who is black, was killed Feb. 26, as he walked back from a 7-Eleven with Skittles that he had bought for a 13-year-old friend. He was unarmed.

Sanford police have interviewed George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old shooter who is white, several times and had him re-enact what happened, Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee Jr. said Thursday.

Both sides agree that Martin and Zimmerman scuffled before the shooting.

Police are still investigating, trying to determine whether Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter, according to department records. He told them he acted in self defense, and there’s some evidence to corroborate that, the police chief said.

Police Thursday released an incident report that gave new clues that support Zimmerman.

When police arrived and found the body, they also found Zimmerman bleeding from the nose and back of his head, according to the report. Also, the back of his shirt was wet and had grass clippings on it, as if he’d been on his back on the ground.

And an officer overheard Zimmerman complain, “‘I was yelling for someone to help me but no one would help me,’’’ according to the report.

One of the things on which police are focusing is the background noise in a 911 call, the chief said.

“You can hear the struggle and the gunshot,” he said.

Police want to enhance the background noise to better hear what went on, he said.

Detectives should complete their investigation next week at the latest, the chief said, and will let the state attorney’s office decide whether to file criminal charges.

At the family’s news conference in Orlando, lawyers for Martin’s family accused Zimmerman of racial profiling.

One of the family’s attorneys, Benjamin Crump of Tallahassee, called Zimmerman a “loose cannon” and accused him of shooting Martin in “cold blood.”

Zimmerman had spotted Martin in his gated community about 7:15 p.m. and called Sanford police on a non-emergency number, saying he had just seen a suspicious person, both sides agreed.

That call then ended and police dispatched an officer. Before he arrived, however, the department got several other 911 calls, people complaining about two men fighting and a gunshot.

At the news conference, Crump and Orlando attorney Natalie Jackson said there was nothing suspicious about the 17-year-old. There was no reason for Zimmerman to follow him.

Martin was an invited guest, visiting his father’s fiancee and her family for a few days, they said. He had visited there before, and it was a community with black and minority residents.

After Zimmerman called police, Crump and Jackson said, he should have backed off. He should not have confronted the 17-year-old and had no business patrolling his neighborhood, like a cop, with a gun, they said.

The teen’s father, Tracy Martin of Miami, called his son’s death a “tragic, senseless killing. … We feel justice hasn’t been served.”

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