Archive for the ‘George Zimmerman’ Category

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.

USA TODAY

George Zimmerman's auction of Trayvon Martin gun taken down a second time

"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.

USA TODAY

After death of son, mother stands with Black Lives Matter

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

Gun George Zimmerman Used to Kill Trayvon Martin Up for …

The gun that George Zimmerman used to kill unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin is up for auction again after one company delisted the weapon from its site.

United Gun Group decided to post the gun after being contacted by Zimmerman. The company said in a statement that "as long as Mr. Zimmerman (or any other UGG member) is obeying the letter of the law, his personal firearm sale will be permitted on our network."

The original listing on GunBroker.com was removed within one hour of live bidding. Zimmerman, who was acquitted of second-degree murder, shot Martin on Feb. 26, 2012.

"The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin," Zimmerman wrote on GunBroker.com before the post was removed. "Many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. This is a piece of American History.

The Smithsonian Museum quickly rebutted this claim in a tweet, saying it "never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmerman's firearm."

The sale has also attracted the attention of Hillary Clinton, who tweeted a message of support to Martin's mother.

In an interview with FOX station WOGX-TV in Ocala, Florida, Zimmerman confirmed that he put the firearm used in the killing of Martin on the auction block.

"I'm a free American, I can do what I like with my possessions," he said, adding, "it's time to move past the firearm, and if I sell it and it sells, and I move past it."

The GunBroker.com auction went live at 11 a.m. ET today with bids starting at $5,000. Nearly 50,000 people visited the page before the listing was taken down.

It has been more than four years since the fatal confrontation took place in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. Martin, 17, was returning to a relative's house after leaving a convenience store when he was shot by Zimmerman.

Prosecutors accused Zimmerman of profiling Martin as a criminal, possibly because of his race, and following him with a loaded gun. Zimmerman maintained that he shot Martin in self-defense after he was knocked to the ground and Martin was banging his head against the pavement. Zimmerman has a Hispanic mother and a white father. Martin was black.

A Florida jury found Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in July 2013.

The trial sparked rallies across the country and created a national debate over law enforcement deaths of black men and boys.

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Gun George Zimmerman Used to Kill Trayvon Martin Up for ...

George Zimmerman says he’s selling gun used to shoot and …

An online gun auction website yanked GeorgeZimmerman'sad to sell the pistol he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, saying it wanted no part in the deal, but a second site offered to post it.

A listing for the weapon was removed from the GunBroker.com site Thursday morning, minutes after the auction was to begin, as negative traffic about the sale exploded online. In a statement posted on its website, GunBroker.com said listings are user generated, and that the company reserved the right to reject listings at its discretion.

Zimmermannever contacted anyone at the site and no one there "has any relationship withZimmerman," the company wrote in its statement.

It added, "We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving."

Hours later, United Gun Group tweeted that it would postZimmerman'sad. The new link was posted, along with a statement fromZimmerman. However, the site apparently went down a few minutes later. The site calls itself a "social market place for the firearms community."

Critics called the planned auction an insensitive move to profit from the slaying.

Zimmermanhad told Orlando, Florida, TV station WOFL that the pistol was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Martin's 2012 shooting death.

The auction for the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol was to begin at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday and end 24 hours later.

Zimmerman'slisting said a portion of the proceeds would go toward fighting whatZimmermancalls violence by the Black Lives Matter movement against law enforcement officers, combatting anti-gun rhetoric of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and ending the career of state attorney Angela Corey, who ledZimmerman'sprosecution.

The listing ended with a Latin phrase that translates as "if you want peace, prepare for war."

Zimmerman, now 32, has said he was defending himself when he killed Martin, 17, in a gated community near Orlando. Martin, who lived in Miami with his mother, was visiting his father at the time.

Zimmerman, who identifies as Hispanic, was acquitted in Martin's February 2012 shooting death. The case sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later decided not to prosecuteZimmermanon civil rights charges

Lucy McBath, the mother of another black teenager shot by a white man during an argument at a Jacksonville convenience store in 2012, said the auction reflected a "deplorable lack of value for human life."

"I am deeply disappointed that the man who killed Trayvon Martin is trying to sell the very gun he used to cut that precious life short to raise money," McBath said in a written statement.

The slaying of her son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, by Michael Dunn drew parallels at the time to the Zimmerman-Martin case. Dunn told police he had felt threatened by Davis. UnlikeZimmerman, Dunn was convicted of murder.

SinceZimmermanwas acquitted, he has been charged with assault based on complaints from two girlfriends. Both women later refused to press charges andZimmermanwasn't prosecuted. His estranged wife, ShellieZimmerman, also accused him of smashing her iPad during an argument days after she filed divorce papers. No charges were filed because of lack of evidence. They were divorced in January.

Orlando-based attorney Mark O'Mara has previously representedZimmerman. A receptionist in O'Mara's office said Thursday that he no longer representsZimmermanand had no comment.

Martin's parents declined to addressZimmerman'sactions in statements made through representatives.

Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said through an attorney that she would rather focus on her work with the Trayvon Martin Foundation than respond to "Zimmerman'sactions."

Daryl Parks, whose firm represented the Martin family during the trial, is now chairman of Fulton's foundation. He says Fulton is pushing for policies that protect youth and address gun violence.

Fulton also founded the Circle of Mothers conference, a three-day event to help mothers who have "lost children or family members" to gun violence. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be keynote speaker at the event in Fort Lauderdale starting May 20.

In the auction listing,Zimmermancited strong interest from collectors including "The Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC."

Smithsonian spokesman John Gibbons denied any interest.

"The Smithsonian has never expressed an interest in collecting this firearm and has no intention of collecting or displaying this firearm," Gibbons said.

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George Zimmerman says he's selling gun used to shoot and ...

George Zimmerman’s gun may still be up for auction – cnn.com

The top bidder for a time was one "Racist McShootface," although other bids from a "Tamir Rice" -- the name of a Cleveland child killed by police last year -- also appear in the list of offers for the weapon Zimmerman used in his 2012 Sanford, Florida, confrontation with 17-year-old Martin.

The "Racist McShootface" bids were deleted Friday morning from the United Gun Group auction site, but the trolling prompted one apparently serious bidder to call the trolls "losers" and express hope that their "children get murdered."

"Obviously the jury didn't think it was murder," the bidder identified as Brez Morrell posted of Zimmerman's 2013 acquittal. "He did nothing wrong."

The $65 million bid was later replaced by one from a user named Craig Bryant. It was unclear if that bid was serious.

Zimmerman -- seen by some as a national pariah and by others as a hero -- announced plans to sell the Kel-Tec PF-9 weapon on Wednesday. The 9mm pistol carries a suggested price of $356.36 on the manufacturer's website.

On Friday afternoon, United Gun Group posted a statement to Twitter expressing condolences to Martin's family, but appearing to support the continuation of Zimmerman's auction.

"Unless the law has been violated, it is the intention of United Gun Group to allow its members to use any of the available features," the statement read.

On February 26, 2012, Zimmerman called 911 to report a "suspicious person" in his neighborhood. Police told him not to get out of the car or approach Martin, but he disregarded the instructions and a confrontation ensued.

Zimmerman said Martin attacked him and he shot the unarmed teenager in self-defense. The case shined a spotlight on Florida laws allowing the use of deadly force and on issues of race.

In his post introducing the auction, Zimmerman said he was "honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon."

He said some of the proceeds would be used to fight Black Lives Matter violence against police, and to "ensure the demise of (State's Attorney) Angela Correy's persecution career and Hillary Clinton's anti-firearm rhetoric."

Zimmerman had first tried to sell the pistol through a site called GunBroker, but the website sent out a message Thursday afternoon saying it had rejected the idea.

"Our site rules state that we reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing," a GunBroker statement said. "We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving."

Zimmerman told CNN he moved the auction to another website, giving a different reason than GunBroker did.

"Unfortunately, (the site) was not prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm," Zimmerman said in a text. "It has now been placed with another auction house."

That site, United Gun Group, put out a statement Thursday night saying the gun would not be sold on its site, but the auction appeared to proceed anyway.

After initially saying the site would not allow the auction, founder Todd Underwood said in an email to CNN that an official response would be released Friday.

"I recently received it back from the Department of Justice," he said. "They took it after my trial, after I was exonerated."

Zimmerman told the station he has had death threats since he put the gun up for sale.

"What I've decided to do is not cower," he said. "I'm a free American. I can do what I want with my possessions."

In posting the weapon for auction, Zimmerman described the weapon as a "piece of American History."

"The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012," Zimmerman apparently wrote in the posts.

"The pistol currently has the case number written on it in silver permanent marker," he wrote.

Zimmerman said museums such as the Smithsonian Institution have "expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm."

But the Washington-based Smithsonian denied it has any interest in the weapon.

"We have never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmerman's firearm, and have no plans to ever collect or display it in any museums," it said in a statement.

Family attorney Benjamin Crump told CNN's "New Day" Friday that Zimmerman "keeps appearing to reopen the wounds again and again."

"It's like he is shooting and killing Trayvon all over again four years later with this attempt to auction off this gun like it's some kind of trophy," Crump said. "I mean, it's offensive, it's outrageous and it's insulting."

The gun sale is not Zimmerman's first effort at auction.

CNN's Elan Bird, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Shawn Nottingham, Polo Sandoval, Justin Lear and Ralph Ellis contributed to this report.

Excerpt from:
George Zimmerman's gun may still be up for auction - cnn.com

George Zimmerman reportedly sells gun he used to kill Florida …

George Zimmerman has reportedly said he's sold the pistol he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin during an altercation.

Zimmerman told Las Vegas TV station KTNV on Friday that he's accepting a bid for $250,000 after an auction for the gun closed this week.

A Daytona Beach, Florida, bar owner told the News-Journal newspaper that Zimmerman had accepted his bid for $150,000 but instead backed out for the higher bid. Denny Honeycutt told the paper that Zimmerman said the buyer was a woman who was giving the gun as a birthday present to her son.

"I thought he was a man of his word," Honeycutt told the paper.

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Sanford police officer Timothy Smith holds up the gun that was used to kill Trayvon Martin while testifying during George Zimmerman's murder trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Florida, June 28, 2013.

Reuters/Joe Burbank/Pool

On Wednesday, the former neighborhood watch volunteer - who was acquitted in the 2012 slaying - said on his blog that the sale was successful, though he gave no details and said the buyer may choose to remain anonymous.

Details of the auction are unclear. The website believed to be the venue, United Gun Group, later said in a tweet that there were two auctions running simultaneously, one for pre-qualifed buyers and a "fake" one for the public. Bids on the fake site visible to the public went as high as $138,900 before it was deleted about midday Wednesday.

Zimmerman had set the minimum bid at $100,000. Zimmerman had told Orlando, Florida, TV station WOFL that the pistol was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Martin's 2012 shooting death.

Critics had called the auction an insensitive move to profit the slaying.

Zimmerman, who identifies as Hispanic and is now 32, has said he was defending himself when he killed Martin, 17, in a gated community near Orlando. Martin, who lived in Miami with his mother, was visiting his father at the time.

Zimmerman's acquittal sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later decided not to prosecute Zimmerman on civil rights charges.

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