Latest developments in the Trayvon Martin case
theGRIO REPORT - Here are the latest developments in the shooting death of 17-yar-old Trayvon Martin and the ongoing search for information on the man who killed him, George Zimmerman...
11:36 P.M. – Nearly 1,000 people marched on Saturday in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, near the offices of the state attorney assigned to the Trayvon Martin case, Angela Corey. The marchers made it clear they are expecting justice to be done on Corey’s watch.
People at the rally wore Skittles on their clothing as creative protests.
7:25 P.M. – A new, more recent photo Zimmerman emerges.
4:58 P.M. – Here are the latest developments in the shooting death of 17-yar-old Trayvon Martin and the ongoing search for information on the man who killed him, George Zimmerman.
A Florida man was arrested for allegedly sending a threatening email to Sanford, Florida police chief Bill Lee. According to the Associated Press, the man, John Carnduff Stewart of Melbourne Beach, sent the email Friday, saying Lee and his family should be killed.
Meanwhile, NBC News reports that a small group of New Black Panthers members turned up at the housing development where Trayvon Martin died. Fewer than a dozen members of the group chanted and spoke out about Zimmerman, who is the subject of a $10,000 bounty offered by the group for his “capture.” And the group said it hoped to mobilize “10,000 black men” to search for Zimmerman, in the surrounding towns near Sanford or in Jacksonville, where he reportedly worked.
So far, there has been no violence associated with the Trayvon Martin case, and far from 10,000 men, the New Black Panthers were only able to mobilize nine people for their protest Saturday.
Zimmerman’s most recent employer, a Maitland, Florida company called Digital Risk, issued a statement saying the company “echoes the sadness and heartache expressed by so many, this is an absolute tragedy,” but saying that the firm’s policy is not to comment on the status of its employees or their employment history. However, the company confirmed that since the shooting, Zimmerman had not been at the company and would not be. Zimmerman was a “loan review analyst” for the mortgage risk assessment firm, according to the Tampa Times.
We’re also learning more about George Zimmerman, whose father, Robert Zimmerman, is a retired Virginia Magistrate, now living in Lake Mary, a town adjacent to Sanford. According to CNN, George Zimmerman attended Osbourn High School in Manassas, Virginia, and in 2008, attended a four-month law enforcement program at the Seminole County sheriff’s office, as confirmed by a sheriff’s office spokeswoman. In his application for that course, Zimmerman expressed a desire to one day become a police officer.
Zimmerman was attending Seminole State College, but since the incident, the school has asked him to leave, for the safety of other students, given the death threats against him.
It has also emerged that Zimmerman’s father is white, and his mother, Gladys, is Peruvian, and is a former interpreter for the Virginia court system. Zimmerman’s father has attempted to emphasize his son’s Hispanic roots, to try and quell depictions of him as a racist.
