Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, [insert next]
March 9, 2012 2:46 PM   Subscribe

17 Year Old Shot to Death in Gated Community by Neighborhood Watch Captain in Florida. "(Zimmerman) had a gun, and Trayvon had Skittles."

Seeking arrest of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed Trayvon, the family has filed a lawsuit to get the 911 tapes of the incident released, where Zimmerman is told not to get involved, but does.
posted by cashman (35 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a terrible thing that happened but that doesn't make it a great thread for MetaFilter. -- jessamyn



 
I wouldn't trust many 26-year-olds to be in the position George Zimmerman was in.
posted by michaelh at 2:49 PM on March 9, 2012


I'm not sure his age or his being a volunteer watch captain has that much to do it. I'm sure if he'd been alive since the Civil War, he'd have had the same reaction in the situation.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:51 PM on March 9, 2012


I wouldn't trust any members of a gated community or HOA.
posted by narcoleptic at 2:51 PM on March 9, 2012 [5 favorites]


I wouldn't trust many 26-year-olds to be in the position George Zimmerman was in.

Ehhh, but that kinda shifts the blame to the people who did trust him.

26 is plenty old enough to understand that the neighborhood watch doesn't get to shoot people to death for any reason, let alone for no reason at all.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:52 PM on March 9, 2012 [4 favorites]


Interesting contrast with the preceding post.
posted by TedW at 2:53 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Walking home from the store while black.
posted by phaedon at 2:54 PM on March 9, 2012 [13 favorites]


.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:54 PM on March 9, 2012 [3 favorites]


Ehhh, but that kinda shifts the blame to the people who did trust him.

26 is plenty old enough to understand that the neighborhood watch doesn't get to shoot people to death for any reason, let alone for no reason at all.


Of course. I think that manslaughter or homicide + a civil suit is appropriate here given what we know.

But if I was a member of a gated community, presumably with some say through rules about how members behave, I would definitely regret not putting a stop to his patrolling. I think that's fair.
posted by michaelh at 2:55 PM on March 9, 2012


“For some reason he felt that Trayvon, the way that he was walking or appeared seemed suspicious to him,”

phadeon: "Walking home from the store while black."

Yep, WWB just about covers it.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:55 PM on March 9, 2012


Burhanistan: "It seems the police are already sympathetic, so it might not be surprising if all that happens here is a civil suit."

IANAL, but if there is any evidence that the police or this HOA approved of Zimmerman walking around with his gun acting as a "neighborhood watch" without any sort of training or insurance, the civil suit brought buy the victim's family is going to more more than enough to right this particular wrong.
posted by anewnadir at 2:55 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


the civil suit brought buy the victim's family is going to more more than enough to right this particular wrong.

Ah, so it will raise enough money to bring the victim back to life. Excellent.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:57 PM on March 9, 2012 [24 favorites]


Trayvon Martin's Family Calls For Arrest Of Man Who Police Say Confessed To Shooting

Seriously, calls for arrest? Dude should have been booked that instant. You have no witnesses other than the shooter.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:57 PM on March 9, 2012 [4 favorites]


Walking home from the store while black.

GEE, EVERYBODY, ZIMMERMAN SAID THE KID LOOKED "SUSPICIOUS," I DON'T SEE WHAT RACE HAS TO DO WITH IT.

Except that yeah, race obviously has EVERYTHING to do with it.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:58 PM on March 9, 2012


Lee said that Zimmerman has a legal permit to carry the weapon used in the shooting, and that he told police that he shot Martin in self-defense.

“He felt the need to defend himself,” Lee said. “ I don’t think it was his intent to go and shoot somebody” that night.


If you're driving around your neighborhood with a loaded gun, and you aren't the cops, you aren't intending to start a square dance.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:58 PM on March 9, 2012 [12 favorites]


This is just depressing.
posted by IvoShandor at 2:58 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


the civil suit brought buy the victim's family is going to more more than enough to right this particular wrong.

did someone actually write that above? I can't see it. I can't believe it either.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:59 PM on March 9, 2012


26 years of age is old enough to be a sergeant in the army, an ER doctor, or a 5 year veteran of most police departments. Your reason is flawed gramps.

I'm 28 and had the same opinion when I was 26. I think an army sergeant, ER doctor and police veteran had more training and discipline than this guy, and they still make big mistakes.
posted by michaelh at 2:59 PM on March 9, 2012


There is nothing about the characterization "a 26-year-old college student and self-appointed captain of The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch" that would have inspired me to trust this man with a cap gun.
posted by Countess Elena at 3:01 PM on March 9, 2012 [4 favorites]


They are likely going to sue the HOA. If the HOA knowingly let some armed kid (26 year old, I know) run around as security, they might be in trouble. Security guards, especially armed ones, are typically required to be licensed and trained. Untrained / unlicensed armed guards are asking for trouble.

the civil suit brought buy the victim's family is going to more more than enough to right this particular wrong.

I don't know if the insensitivity is intentional, but it's hard to compensate somebody for the loss of their child. Their child who was going out to buy some candy for his little brother.
posted by jabberjaw at 3:03 PM on March 9, 2012 [3 favorites]


I saw this story earlier this week and I am flabbergasted. How can you shoot someone dead and NOT be arrested? What an embarrassment, nay, an outrage.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:07 PM on March 9, 2012 [3 favorites]


Your reason is flawed gramps.

Fucking kids.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:08 PM on March 9, 2012


How can you shoot someone dead and NOT be arrested?

For fear of inadvertently offending the 1%, I'm not going to say it outright, but I'm going to suggest that the article in the post explains EXACTLY how and that it has something to do with race.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:09 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Of course there was a suspicious person around that night. His name was George Zimmerman, he carried a gun, and he was thirsty for blood.
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:09 PM on March 9, 2012


The link I saw to this last night was to the Gawker story, where the first comment spins a fantasy scenario more or less out of whole cloth that would justify the shooting, and then insists that must have been actually what happened.

It's amazing how consistently this sort of ad hoc hypothesizing appears whenever a politically undesirable conclusion seems unavoidable.
posted by gerryblog at 3:10 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


the civil suit brought buy the victim's family is going to more more than enough to right this particular wrong.
posted by anewnadir at 3:55 PM on March 9 [1 favorite +] [!]


Eponyaccurate.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 3:12 PM on March 9, 2012


.

Inexcusable in all ways.
posted by cmyk at 3:13 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


infinitywaltz: "For fear of inadvertently offending the 1%, I'm not going to say it outright,"

Oh, do we have only 1% of white people in the US? It sure looks like there's a bunch of them walking around.

(Redneck college kid kills black kid - invoke class war. Stay crazy, Metafilter)
posted by falameufilho at 3:13 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


.
posted by XMLicious at 3:13 PM on March 9, 2012


All that can be done (from a public health standpoint) is to ensure that situations like this arent allowed to continue without scrutiny from EVERYONE

Well the core problem in my opinion is that people are walking around with deadly weapons with the intent that they will use deadly force even if their own life is not legitimately in danger. I doubt that's going to change any time soon, especially in states with lax gun laws like Florida. There are very few situations where carrying around a loaded gun would be better than just having a taser or pepper spray or something. I don't really understand why so many people want to put themselves in the position to end someone's life with a pull of a trigger.
posted by burnmp3s at 3:15 PM on March 9, 2012


Florida is a so-called 'Stand Your Ground' state.

Having only one witness to testify as to the events in questions is one of those '"un"intended consequences' of the law.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:16 PM on March 9, 2012


Redneck college kid kills black kid is not charged with or even arrested for any crime invoke class war. Stay crazy, Metafilter)

FTFY
posted by howfar at 3:16 PM on March 9, 2012


I took anewnadir's post to be clumsily phrased, but I don't think he was actually saying the civil suit would make up for the murder. He was saying that the police and/or the HOA is going to be buried with liability and pay through the nose as a result of deputizing this untrained kid, righting THAT (much smaller, so much smaller) wrong.
posted by gerryblog at 3:17 PM on March 9, 2012 [2 favorites]


Guys, Zimmerman studied criminal justice for four years, and he was squeaky clean.

And anybody who's watched any amount of television can tell you that a lot of black people carry weapons, even if this particular child wasn't.
posted by Flashman at 3:18 PM on March 9, 2012


I'm not so sure a lawsuit is inevitable. Property law is weird in Florida and it's unclear to me that African-Americans are able to bring cases. Anyone have a citation for when Florida started allowing that?
posted by allen.spaulding at 3:18 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Oh, do we have only 1% of white people in the US? It sure looks like there's a bunch of them walking around.

I think what I was trying to get at was that the system that allows this to happen is more or less in the hands of the 1%, which also happens to be predominantly white. I wasn't actually trying to invoke a class war, but it's not the people on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, white or otherwise, racist or otherwise, that most benefit from the system OR have the most power to change it.

I probably didn't express that very well, but thanks for calling me "crazy."
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:19 PM on March 9, 2012


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