UPDATE | George Zimmerman charged with assault, battery
APOPKA, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman was charged today with assault after deputies were called to the home where he lived with his girlfriend, who claimed he pointed a shotgun at her during an argument, authorities said.
Zimmerman pushed the woman out of the house and barricaded the door with furniture, Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said at a news conference hours after the arrest. The girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, provided deputies with a key to the home and they were able to push the door that had been barricaded.
Lemma says Zimmerman was compliant when deputies came to the house.
"The easiest way to describe it is rather passive. He's had the opportunity to encounter this before," he said.
Zimmerman was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, battery and criminal mischief.
"Just when you thought you heard the last of George Zimmerman," said neighbor Catherine Cantrell. She said she had twice seen a man who looked like Zimmerman get out of a truck that's been in the driveway for nearly a month. The truck parked there today appeared to be the same one that reporters have seen Zimmerman drive previously.
"I'm in absolute shock. He was never outside. It's not like he was out flaunting around," she said.