The weapon George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin will likely be returned to him, if he requests it.
Shawn Vincent, an aide to defense attorney Mark O’Mara, told NBC News on Sunday that the Keltec 9mm handgun Zimmerman used to shoot and kill Martin on Feb. 26, 2012 will be returned, but said he did not think authorities have released the weapon yet.
“It’s something that will happen, but I don’t think it has happened,” Vincent said.
Vincent cast doubt on reports that the weapon has already been returned to Zimmerman, who was acquitted late Saturday of second-degree murder in Martin’s death by a Florida jury.
“I’m not sure that’s accurate,” he said.
Thousands of Trayvon Martin supporters from across the country took to the streets after a Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder for the 17-year-old’s shooting death. NBC’s Kerry Sanders reports.
Florida law bars people “convicted of a felony in the courts of this state” from possessing “firearms, ammunition, or electric weapons or devices unlawful.”
But because Zimmerman “is not a convicted felon, he can keep his gun,” University of Florida law professor Darren Hutchinson told NBC News on Sunday.
However, matters could get murkier if federal prosecutors file charges against Zimmerman and he is convicted of a federal felony, Hutchinson said.
The Justice Department began reviewing the case less than a month after the shooting in Sanford, Fla., and on Sunday the NAACP launched a MoveOn.org petition calling for civil rights charges.
A statement released by the Justice Department on Sunday said that there is “an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin.”
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