Bids in George Zimmerman gun auction up to $65M
After it was halted by two websites on Thursday, the auction for the gun that George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin was back up on one website Friday morning. USA TODAY
This file photo image provided by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office taken on June 2, 2012 shows George Zimmerman as he poses for a mugshot photo following his surrender to authorities at John E. Polk Correctional Facility (JEPCF) in Sanford, Florida.(Photo: HANDOUT, AFP/Getty Images)
Bidding in an online auction for the gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin was upto$65million Friday morning as Internet trolls appeared to drive the offersto astronomiclevels.
Bidding on the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol began at $5,000 and reached more than $65 million earlyFriday.Thetop bidder at one point used the screen name Racist McShootface. That account was later deleted. Another bidder used the name Tamir Rice, which is the name of a 12-year-old boy shot by police in Cleveland while carrying a toy gun.
The most recent bid topping $65 million is by someone identified as Craig Bryant.
The United Gun Group website began hosting the auction after another website, GunBroker.com, halted bidding. ButUnited Gun Group briefly pulled the listing Thursday night, sayingthe auction was not in the organization's best interest.
Our mission is to esteem the 2nd amendment and provide a safe and secure platform for firearms enthusiasts and law-abiding citizens; our association with Mr. Zimmerman does not help us achieve that objective," the organization wrote.
However, the auction was back up andrunning on the companys website early Friday and the bid clock says it will be open for four more days.
GunBroker.com stopped the auction on its site Thursday and said Zimmerman never contacted anyone at the firm about the listing.
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"We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving," it said in a statement.
Zimmermantold theOrlando Sentinelthat GunBroker.comwas not "prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm. It has now been placed with another auction house."
Zimmerman told Orlando TV station WOFL that the gun was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department after he was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in 17-year-old Martin'sdeath in 2012.
Zimmerman, 32, saidhe plannedto use the proceeds from the sale of the gun, which he described as "an American Firearm Icon," to fight "Black Lives Matter" violence against law enforcement officers and to counter"Hillary Clinton's anti-firearm rhetoric." He also said money would be used to "ensure the demise of Angela Correy's (sic) persecution career." Corey was the special prosecutor appointed to investigate Martin's death.
The listing ended withif you want peace, prepare for war in Latin.
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Zimmerman, then a neighborhood watch volunteer,shot and killedMartin in February2012,in a confrontation as the unarmed teenager washeading back to a relative's house inSanford, Fla.,after buying snacks at a convenience store.
Tracy Martin, the boy's father,issued a statementThursdaythrough his lawyer, Benjamin Crump, saying a foundation in his son's name is focusing onending senseless gun violence and "has no commenton the actions of that person that murdered Trayvon."
Zimmerman has had several run-ins with the law since Martin'sshooting, including domestic abuse chargesand an alleged road rage incident.Ina conversation with Fox35in Orlando, he said if he doesn't sell the firearm, it willgo in a safe and "never be used or seen again."
A file picture date June 25 2013 shows the hands of Diana Smith, crime scene technician for the Sanford Police Department, showing the jury Zimmerman's gun, which was collected as evidence at the crime scene, during Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Florida.(Photo: GARY W. GREEN / POOL, EPA)
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Bids in George Zimmerman gun auction up to $65M