Zimmerman tells Hannity: 'No regrets' over his actions in Trayvon Martin shooting

theGRIO REPORT - The neighborhood watch volunteer who shot a Miami teenager to death in February, triggering national protests, says he has no regrets over his actions...

joyannreid

Jul 18, 2012

Zimmerman said that after exiting his vehicle, he was never more than 100 feet from his car, which was parked on the front side of the town houses along the gated community’s main road. The confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin took place in the back yard area of the homes — a place from which Zimmerman’s car would not have been visible.

He denied following Martin, despite telling a police dispatcher “yes” when asked if he was following the teen, saying he was attempting to look for a street address.

Asked about the part of the call to the Sanford non-emergency line where Zimmerman can be heard saying “he’s running,” Zimmerman told Hannity he did not believe it was possible that Martin could have been running away from him out of fear. In fact, Zimmerman told Hannity that Martin wasn’t running at all.

“Is there any chance in retrospect as you look back on that night and what happened, and the nation obviously is paying a lot of attention to this … trying to maybe get into the mind-set, because we also have learned that Trayvon was speaking with his girlfriend supposedly at the time — that maybe he was afraid of you, didn’t know who you were?” Hannity asked.

“No,” Zimmerman said.

When Hannity reminded Zimmerman that he “said he’s running” on the taped call to police, Zimmerman said Martin as “like skipping, going away quickly. But he wasn’t running out of fear.”

“So he wasn’t actually running?” Hannity reiterated.

“No sir.”

“O.k. because that’s what you said to the dispatcher,” Hannity said, “that you thought he was running.”

Zimmerman also denied that he could be heard out of breath on the dispatch tapes, or that he was running — presumably in pursuit of Martin — that night. Hannity didn’t press him.

Zimmerman recited the now-familiar version of events he told police, saying Martin surprised and attacked him, and after punching him and breaking his nose, began banging Zimmerman’s head on the concrete walkway, then covered his mouth, all the time telling him to “shut up” and that he was going to kill him.

Hannity asked Zimmerman to recall the moment when he said he felt that his life was in danger and that he may have to use deadly force to get Martin off of him. “I realized it wasn’t my gun, it wasn’t his gun, it was the gun,” Zimmerman said. “He yelled, ‘you’re going to die tonight.’ That’s when I felt his hand leaving my mouth, going toward my waist for the gun. And I realized I didn’t have any more time.”

Next: Zimmerman ‘didn’t think Martin was hit’