Feds, Fla. probe teen’s shooting
Associated Press
SANFORD, Fla.
An unarmed black teenager shot to death by a neighborhood-watch captain told his girlfriend moments before he was killed that he was being followed, a lawyer said Tuesday as federal and state prosecutors announced they would investigate.
“‘Oh, he’s right behind me, he’s right behind me again,’” 17-year-old Trayvon Martin told his girlfriend on his cellphone, the Martin family’s attorney said.
The girl later heard Martin say, “Why are you following me?” Another man asked, “What are you doing around here?”’ attorney Benjamin Crump said.
The phone call that recorded Martin’s final moments was disclosed as the U.S. Justice Department opened a federal civil-rights probe into the Feb. 26 shooting and the local prosecutor convened a grand jury to investigate. A grand jury will meet April 10 to consider evidence in the case, said Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger.
The neighborhood-watch captain, George Zimmerman, has not been charged and said he shot Martin, who was returning to a gated community in Sanford after buying candy at a convenience store, in self-defense after Martin attacked him. Police say Zimmerman is white; his family says he is Hispanic.
“She absolutely blows Zimmerman’s absurd self-defense claim out of the water,” Crump said of Martin’s girlfriend, whose name was withheld.
The case has ignited racial tensions in this Orlando suburb of 53,500 people, sparking rallies and a protest in Gov. Rick Scott’s office Tuesday. The Rev. Al Sharpton was joining Sanford city leaders at a town-hall meeting later Tuesday to discuss the investigation.
More than 350 people packed into the wood- paneled sanctuary of the Allen Chapel AME Church, located in a traditionally black neighborhood of Sanford.
Residents attending the town-hall meeting cheered and jumped to their feet when local NAACP leader Turner Clayton Jr. suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice shouldn’t just review the investigation but it should take over the Sanford Police Department.
“This is just the beginning of what is taking place,” Clayton said. “We’re going to make sure justice prevails.”
Crump told reporters Tuesday it was Martin who cried out when a man bearing a 9mm handgun came at him.
Police said Zimmerman was bleeding from his nose and the back of his head and told police he had yelled out for help before he shot Martin.
Martin, who was in town from Miami to visit his father in Sanford, called his 16-year-old girlfriend in Miami several times Feb. 26, including just before the shooting, Crump said.
The discovery of the lengthy conversations, was made over the weekend by Martin’s father by checking his son’s cellphone log, Crump said.
After Martin encountered Zimmerman, the girl thought she heard a scuffle “because his voice changes like something interrupted his speech,” Crump said. The phone call ended before the girl heard gunshots.
The last call was at 7:12 p.m. Police arrived at 7:17 p.m. to find Martin lying face-down on the ground.
Zimmerman was handcuffed after police arrived and taken into custody for questioning but was released by police without being charged. Police have interviewed Zimmerman two times since then.
Crump called the treatment patently unfair and asked if Martin would have received the same treatment if he had been the shooter.
Crump said he plans to turn over information about the call to federal investigators; a grand jury in Seminole County is also likely to subpoena the records.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also involved in the state case.
Former federal prosecutors said there are limitations to a Justice Department civil-rights probe, which typically would involve a sworn law-enforcement officer accused of abusing his authority.
In this case, they said, it’s not clear whether Zimmerman had any actual law-enforcement authority or if the Sanford Police Department did anything improper.
Zimmerman had a permit to carry a gun, but it was not required for his neighborhood-watch patrol.
Authorities may be hamstrung by a state “Stand Your Ground” law that allows people to defend themselves with deadly force and does not require a retreat in the face of danger.