Archive for the ‘George Zimmerman’ Category

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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George Zimmerman Explains His Rationale for Auctioning …

Amid a storm of outrage and criticism, George Zimmerman on Monday explained publicly for the first time why he auctioned off the pistol he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin during an altercation in 2012.

The former neighborhood-watch volunteer, who was acquitted of second-degree murder in July of 2013, said he auctioned off his 9-mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol for $250,000. He promised to use some of the proceeds to push back against the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter, which has risen in popularity in the wake of the deaths of Martin and other unarmed black victims of gun and police violence.

A Black Lives Matter community Facebook page has over 130,000 "likes" and uses as its cover page an illustration of an activist wearing a black hood, symbolic of the protests that erupted after 17-year-old Martin was killed by Zimmerman near his Florida home.

Speaking Monday to ABC Las Vegas affiliate KTNV-TV via Skype between puffs from a thick cigar, Zimmerman struck a pose of defiance, discussing the process of auctioning the gun and accusing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton of pandering to the black community to get votes.

"I was tired of Hillary Clinton's anti-gun rhetoric," Zimmerman said of his rationale for auctioning off the pistol. "She has been stumping around for a false campaign for the Trayvon Martin Foundation. She lied, saying that I killed him when he was walking home in his daddy's neighborhood. Which if anyone watched more than seven minutes of the trial, they would know that is false."

The unarmed Martin was visiting his father's fiancee's neighborhood and was returning from a convenience store before the deadly encounter with Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense.

Zimmerman said he would use some of the proceeds to help police who were targeted by violence.

"I am going to donate to officers such as the deputy in Texas that was shot in the head at point-blank range for no other reason than he was in uniform," Zimmerman said, referring to Alden Clopton, a police officer who was shot four times ambush-style and survived.

"No one can replace his life. No one can replace the service he was doing to his community. My goal is to attempt to make his family as whole as possible again."

The gun's auctioneer did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for confirmation of the sale price.

Zimmerman has been savaged by critics from the moment he announced his desire to auction off the pistol. Shaun King, a prominent civil rights activist and surrogate of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, penned an op-ed in The New York Daily News calling Zimmerman "injustice in the flesh."

"He is the living, breathing, walking, talking personification of injustice. He is injustice in the flesh. It nauseates us. It infuriates us. It takes us somewhere, emotionally, where we don't want to go, but we can't help it," King wrote.

This is not the first time Zimmerman has provoked outrage since being acquitted of murdering Martin. In 2015 he generated headlines for retweeting an image of Martin's corpse.

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George Zimmerman Explains His Rationale for Auctioning ...

George Zimmerman Smokes Cigar, Rips Hillary, ‘Racist’ Obama …

George Zimmerman sat down for a lengthy half-hour interview with Las Vegas news station KTNV about the furor over his decision to auction off the gun he used to fatally shoot Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

And boy, was this quite something (and not just because he smoked a cigar during various points of the interview).

He ranted about the gun website that pulled the auction before going off on Hillary Clinton (saying repeatedly shes lying about him), the #BlackLivesMatter movement (pansies), and Barack Hussein Obama, whom Zimmerman called a racist several times.

He said that the president allowed the Black Panthers to put a bounty on his head, but the worst that happened was a white guy tried to kill him.

Zimmerman believes that Obama is igniting racial tensions in America, aided by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the attorney who represented Martins family (who Zimmerman said capitalized off of Trayvons death).

At one point during the interview, Zimmerman likened himself to the Founding Fathers and said, I could do as our forefathers: put it on the line and say I want to do whatever it takes to make this country right again.

You can watch the entire interview above, via KTNV.

[image via screengrab]

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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George Zimmerman arrested on aggravated assault charge – CBS News

George Zimmerman, the acquitted shooter in the death of Trayvon Martin, faces a Seminole circuit judge Nov. 19, 2013, in Sanford, Florida.

Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty Images

Last Updated Jan 10, 2015 1:32 PM EST

MIAMI -- Florida authorities say George Zimmerman, whose acquittal of murdering an unarmed black teen sparked a national debate on race and self-defense laws, has been arrested for allegedly throwing a wine bottle at his girlfriend.

George Zimmerman is seen in this booking picture released Jan. 10, 2015.

Seminole County Sheriff's Office

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said the 31-year-old Zimmerman was arrested for aggravated assault in Lake Mary about 10 p.m. Friday and booked into the John E. Polk Correctional Facility.

During a court appearance Saturday morning, Zimmerman's bond was set at $5,000 and he was ordered to avoid contact with the woman who was not identified.

According to the sheriff's office, Zimmerman posted bond and was released at 12:25 p.m. Saturday.

Judge John Galluzzo gave few details of the incident, but said a wine bottle was involved and that the alleged assault happened at Zimmerman's home. Prosecutors questioned whether substance abuse treatment was needed, but the judge said that didn't seem to be a factor.

After the brief hearing, Zimmerman's attorney, Don West, told the Orlando Sentinel his client was arrested after allegedly throwing a wine bottle at his girlfriend several days ago.

Zimmerman was also told by the judge to stay out of Volusia County, where the woman lives.

The judge ordered Zimmerman to pack up any personal belongings his girlfriend may have left at Zimmerman's home and give them to his lawyer.

Zimmerman, who wore blue scrubs and handcuffs, appeared calm during the brief hearing. At one point, he laughed and joked with an officer as he signed paperwork.

Although the incident didn't involve a firearm, the judge ordered Zimmerman to surrender any weapons out of an abundance of caution.

Zimmerman is scheduled to appear back in court on Feb. 17.

No further details about the alleged assault were released. A message left for Seminole County Sheriff officials seeking further information about the incident was not immediately returned Saturday morning.

Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013 of a second-degree murder charge for shooting an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin.

Since his acquittal, Zimmerman has had several brushes with the law:

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George Zimmerman Emerged From Hiding to Rescue Family …

George Zimmerman, who has been in hiding since he was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, emerged to help rescue a family who was trapped in an overturned vehicle, police said today.

Zimmerman was one of two men who came to the aid of Dana and Mark Gerstle and their two children, who were trapped inside a blue Ford Explorer SUV that had rolled over after traveling off the highway in Sanford, Fla. at approximately 5:45 p.m. Thursday, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The crash occurred at the intersection of I-4 and route Route 46, police said. The crash site is less than a mile from where Zimmerman shot Martin.

By the time police arrived, two people - including Zimmerman - had already helped the family get out of the overturned car, the sheriff's office said. No one was reported to be injured.

Zimmerman was not a witness to the crash and left after speaking with the deputy, police said.

It's the first known sighting of Zimmerman since he left the courtroom following his controversial acquittal last week on murder charges for the death of Martin. Zimmerman, 29, shot and killed Martin, 17, in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2012. The jury determined that Zimmerman shot Martin in self-defense.

READ MORE: 'Justice for Trayvon' Rallies Bring Martin's Family to the Fight

The acquittal prompted dozens of protests across the country this past weekend and his lawyers have said that Zimmerman has been the subject of death threats. His lawyers said Zimmerman has been wearing a bullet-proof vest when he ventures out in public.

Zimmerman's parents told ABC News' Barbara Walters they too have received death threats and have been unable to return to their home.

Zimmerman's Parents in Hiding from 'Enormous Amount of Death Threats': ABC News Exclusive

"We have had an enormous amount of death threats. George's legal counsel has had death threats, the police chief of Sanford, many people have had death threats," Zimmerman's father, Robert Zimmerman said."'Everyone with Georgie's DNA should be killed' -- just every kind of horrible thing you can imagine."

An indication of the animosity toward Zimmerman is the number of threatening phone calls being received by a woman in Winter Park, Fla.

Lori Tankel told ABCNews.com that someone had incorrectly posted her cell phone number online thinking it was Zimmerman's. She said she started receiving threatening calls within an hour after the jury had reached a verdict on July 13.

"They were saying things like, 'Zimmerman? Is this George? We're going to get you, we're going to kill you,'" she said.

Her cell phone number is only one digit off from Zimmerman's, she said.

Tankel said she received at least 80 phone calls within one day of the jury's not guilty verdict. While the threats died down during the week, she said they ramped right back up again on Friday and continued through the weekend.

"Those phone calls were extremely malicious," she said. "I think at that point, they kind of knew it wasn't George Zimmerman's number, but they were still going to harass me."

Tankel said she initially reported the threatening calls to the the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, but was told to follow up with law enforcement in Orange County, Fla., where she lives, to file a report, she said.

But Tankel she said she won't be changing her number anytime soon.

"I'm a sales representative for several different horse-related companies, and I have five states in my territory," she said. "To change business cards and contact everybody, it's not that simple."

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