Trayvon Martin
‘Did you see what he was wearing?’ asked the voice of the 911 operator. ‘A dark hoodie, like a gray hoodie,’ George Zimmerman told the 911 operator, moments before he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, whom he described as ‘real suspicious.’
Zimmerman, a 28-year-old mixed race Hispanic man, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his gated community where Martin was visiting his relatives at the time of the shooting. Zimmerman shot Martin, who was unarmed, during a physical altercation between the two.
Zimmerman, injured during the encounter, claimed self-defense in the confrontation. In a widely reported trial, Zimmerman was charged with murder for Martin's death, but acquitted at trial on the grounds of self-defense and Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law. The incident was reviewed by the Department of Justice for potential civil rights violations, but no additional charges were filed, citing insufficient evidence.