My Take on the Shooting in Florida

By now, most people have heard about how George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin one night down in Sanford, Florida.  Some of the facts are available, some aren't.  911 calls show that Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin walking around the neighbourhood after dark.  Other calls reveal gunshots, sounds of a struggle, and cries for help.  The call from Martin to his girlfriend shows that he was worried about the guy following him through the darkness. 

One witness claims to have seen Martin on top of Zimmerman, punching him.  Zimmerman even had a wound on the back of his head and a bloody nose.  These wounds tend to confirm the witness statement.

Now, Zimmerman is claiming it was an act of self-defense.  This is where the whole thing gets murky.  The available evidence is inconclusive either way.  The whole thing hinges on whether Zimmerman instigated the fight or if Martin attacked first.  Depending on who attacked whom, the case can go from a legitimate self-defense to manslaughter, possibly murder.  A grand jury is being convened to review the evidence and see if there is probable cause for a murder investigation/trial.

Those are the facts as I'm aware of them.  Now for my opinion.

There are many things that could've (and should've) been done to avoid the necissity for this shooting.  Zimmerman could have remained in his truck and shadowed Martin until the police arrived.  Zimmerman could've shadowed on foot, if he felt the need to keep Martin in view while waiting.  Either one of these would've kept Zimmerman far enough out of reach that an escalation could've been avoided.

In my opinion, based on what little evidence we've seen, I think this is a bad shoot.  A man deliberately escalated a situation to a point where he was forced to pull his concealed pistol and shoot an unarmed teenager. 

Now, just because I think he's guilty, I don't think we should string him up under the nearest tree.  He should be given every bit of due process that we expect for anyone else.  The grand jury is the first step of this process.  If the grand jury returns an indictment, arrest him.  Try him in front of a jury of his peers.  If the jury of his peers can be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this was a bad shoot, then lock him away as the menace to society that he is.  If none of these end up happening, then drop it.  Leave him alone. No death threats.  No outraged press releases by hate mongering hypocrits like Al Sharpton. Yes, that link goes to the wikipedia entry for Tawanda Brawley - it's a classic example of Sharpton's bigotry and hypocrisy.

As horrible as this event is for the community and both families, the national media and other people are turning it into a media circus.  There are several groups saying that it's a hate crime.  White on black killing just because the boy was "walking while black".  National media and even local papers keep referring to Zimmerman as a white man.  Funny, Zimmerman is Hispanic.  Strange that media sources leave that out of their narrative.

To wrap up this wall o' text, it was a bad event.  It's going to haunt Trayvon Martin's family for a long time.  I'm sure that it's going to be a night that George Zimmerman will never forget.  Lay off the racist hatemongering in the press.  Lay off the death threats to Zimmerman.  Remember that, though the wheels of justice turn slowly, they inexorably turn to show the truth.  If Zimmerman did murder Martin, it will come out and he will suffer for it.  But that's up to a jury to decide, not a racist militia or an agenda driven media to decide.

-- Sham