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Video: George Zimmerman Re-Enacts Fatal Shooting Of Trayvon Martin For Cops
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 21, 2012
Modified Jun 22, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 21, 2012
Modified Jun 22, 2012
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New video and audio evidence involving George Zimmerman—the man who is charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26—has been released. That evidence includes video and audio of the first time Zimmerman explained to investigators his version of what happened that rainy night—and also the video below, of a bandaged Zimmerman walking police through the evening by re-enacting it, the day after the shooting.
The video, which was shot by Sanford police the day after the shooting, was released by defense attorney Mark O'Mara this morning. In it, Zimmerman tells officers that he had lost sight of Trayvon, and was walking back to his vehicle when the teen appeared behind him. He says Trayvon yelled at him, "'Do you have a problem?' I said, 'I don't have a problem, man'…He said, 'You've got a problem now'…He punched me in the face." Zimmerman said he fell, and Trayvon then got on top of him: "I think I stumbled. I fell down. He pushed me down, somehow he got on top of me."
"That's when I started screaming for help," he said. "He grabbed me by the head and tried to slam my head down…My head was on the cement…It felt like my head was going to explode. I thought I was going to lose consciousness…I tried to squirm off the concrete." A neighbor appeared, but ran back inside. Zimmerman said Trayvon spotted his gun: "He said, 'You're going to die, mother-*****.' I grabbed it, I grabbed my firearm and shot it." Trayvon sat up after he was shot, and said something along the lines of "you got me." Zimmerman then pushed him off.
You can compare that account with the interview he gave police that same day, hours after the shooting. Sanford Police Investigator Chris Serino speaks for much of it, and asks Zimmerman at one point: "You know you're gonna come under a lot of scrutiny under this, the profiling aspect of this. You understand that, right?" He brought up Trayvon's background too: "I got to ask that. Like I said this child has no criminal record whatsoever. Good kid. Mild-mannered kid."
Trayvon's parents’ attorney Ben Crump wrote on his Twitter feed: “Everyone should review Zimmerman’s objectively written statement in comparison to the 911 tapes which were previously released.” Read a partial transcript here, and watch/listen to the entire thing in the video below.
Tagged
death
fatal shooting
florida
george zimmerman
police
sanford
trayvon martin
trial
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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