Biography
Zimmerman, 31, was born on October 5, 1983, in Manassas, Virginia, and is the son of Gladys (ne Mesa) Zimmerman and Robert Zimmerman Sr.[2] Zimmerman is the third of four children and his siblings include a brother, Robert Jr., and two sisters, Grace and Dawn.[3][4] Gladys Zimmerman was born in Peru and has some black ancestry, through her Afro-Peruvian maternal grandfather.[3] Robert Zimmerman Sr. is an American of German descent and served 22 years in the military working for the Department of Defense for the last 10 years of his military career. Before retiring to Florida in 2002, Zimmerman Sr. had served as a magistrate in Fairfax County's 19th Judicial District.[3][5][6][7] George Zimmerman had identified himself as Hispanic on voter registration forms.[1]
Zimmerman was raised as a Catholic and served as an altar boy from age 7 to 17. Zimmerman attended All Saints Catholic School in Manassas before going to public high school.[6] At age 14, Zimmerman joined an after-school Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program because he had wanted to become a Marine.[3] When Zimmerman was 15 years old, he held three part-time jobs on nights and weekends to save up for a car. Zimmerman graduated from Osbourn High School in 2001.[3][6]
After graduating from high school, Zimmerman moved to Lake Mary, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, where he got a job at an insurance agency. Zimmerman took classes at night to obtain a license to sell insurance. It was during this time when he became friends with Lee Ann Benjamin, a real estate agent, and her husband John Donnelly, a Sanford attorney.[3] Benjamin and Donnelly would both later testify on his behalf at his trial in the death of Martin.[8][9] According to Donnelly, in 2004 Zimmerman and an African American friend opened a satellite office of Allstate Insurance which eventually failed a year later.
Zimmerman married Shellie Dean, a licensed cosmetologist in 2007 and, two years later, they rented a townhouse in the Retreat at Twin Lakes. Zimmerman had also previously been employed at a car dealership and a mortgage audit firm.[3][4] Zimmerman enrolled in Seminole State College in 2009 and was working on an associate degree in criminal justice. In December 2011 he was allowed to participate in a school graduation ceremony, even though he was a course credit shy of his degree. He was completing that credit at the time of the shooting. Zimmerman was employed as an insurance underwriter at that time also.[3][4][10]
In early 2011, Zimmerman participated in a citizen forum at the Sanford City Hall to protest the beating of a black homeless man by the son of a white Sanford police officer. During the meeting, Zimmerman claimed he witnessed "disgusting behavior" while participating in a ride-along program with local police; however the police department said it did not know when, if ever, Zimmerman was in that program.[11][12]
On February 26, 2012, Zimmerman fatally shot 17-year-old African American high school student Trayvon Martin in The Retreat at Twin Lakes community in Sanford, Florida.[3] Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was temporarily staying and where the shooting occurred.[13][14][15] The Twin Lakes Neighborhood Watch program was not registered with the National Neighborhood Watch Program, but was administered by the local police department.[16] Following an earlier call from Zimmerman, police arrived within two minutes of a gunshot during an altercation in which Zimmerman fatally shot Martin, who did not possess any weapons. Zimmerman was subsequently taken into custody, treated for head injuries, then questioned for five hours. The police chief said that Zimmerman was released because there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's claim of having acted in self-defense, and that under Florida's Stand Your Ground statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest.[17] The police chief also said that Zimmerman had had a right to defend himself with lethal force.[18] As news of the case spread, thousands of protestors across the country called for Zimmerman's arrest and a full investigation.[19] Six weeks after the shooting, amid widespread, intense, and in some cases misleading media coverage,[20][21] Zimmerman was charged with murder by a special prosecutor appointed by Governor Rick Scott.[22]
Zimmerman's trial began on June 10, 2013, in Sanford. On July 13, 2013, a jury acquitted Zimmerman of the charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.[23] For three years the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigated Zimmerman on civil rights charges.[24] In February 2015, the DOJ concluded there was not sufficient evidence that Zimmerman intentionally violated the civil rights of Martin,[24] saying the Zimmerman case did not meet the "high standard" for a federal hate crime prosecution.[24] In response to his acquittal Zimmerman said he felt free to speak his opinion "without fear of retaliation".[25] Zimmerman criticized the government and President Obama. He believed Obama inflamed racial tensions. "He by far overstretched, overreached, even broke the law in certain aspects to where you have an innocent American being prosecuted by the federal government," Zimmerman said.[25]
Apart from the 2012 Martin shooting, Zimmerman has had other encounters with the law, including two incidents in 2005, five incidents in 2013 and other incidents in following years.[26]
In July 2005, when he was 21, Zimmerman was arrested after shoving an undercover alcohol-control agent while a friend of Zimmerman's was being arrested for underage drinking. The officer alleged that Zimmerman had said, "I don't care who you are," followed by a profanity, and had refused to leave the area after the officer had shown their badge.[27] The charges were subsequently dropped when Zimmerman entered a pre-trial diversion program that included anger-management classes.[3][28] Also in 2005, Zimmerman's ex-fiance filed a restraining order against him, alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman requested a reciprocal restraining order. Both orders were granted.[3][29] These incidents were raised by prosecutors at Zimmerman's initial bond hearing. The judge described them as "run of the mill."[30][31]
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George Zimmerman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia