Posted on 03/20/2012 9:36:58 PM PDT by marktwain
A Sanford neighbor of George Zimmerman and fellow neighborhood watch captain in their gated community came to his defense Tuesday, saying that he shot Miami teenager Trayvon Martin after numerous burglaries at The Retreat at Twin Lakes.
Frank Taaffe pointed out the circumstances that he believes led his 28-year-old neighbor to react the way he did on the night of Feb. 26: eight burglaries within 15 months, most done by young black males, he said.
"The stage was already set. It was a perfect storm,” Taaffe said. “I think any time you use a weapon, there are certain anger issues working.”
NBC 6 could not immediately confirm the burglary statistic Taaffe cited in a phone call to Sanford Police Tuesday night.
Martin, 17, picked up Skittles and iced tea from a 7-Eleven that Sunday, then headed back towards his father’s girlfriend's home on a rainy, drizzly night. Martin put on his hoodie and ran to take cover. Zimmerman spotted him, got out of his car and followed him.
In Trayvon Martin's final phone call with his own girlfriend, according to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, he could be heard saying “Why are you following me?” and Zimmerman replying “What are you doing around here?”
Their confrontation ended with Martin getting shot in the chest.
“This guy looks like he’s up to no good … he looks black,” Zimmerman told a police dispatcher from his car. His father has said that Zimmerman is Hispanic, grew up in a multiracial family, and is not racist.
Twin Lakes’ population is ethnically mixed. A few residents said there is tension within the gated community.
“I think he had fed-up issues. He was mad as hell and wasn't going to take it anymore,” Taaffe said of Zimmerman.
He insisted, however, that Zimmerman cared about all his neighbors.
"George is a congenial, amiable, admirable person,” he said. "He had a passion and a care for this neighborhood to ensure the safety of everybody here. And, furthermore, George is no Rambo."
Taaffe said that Zimmerman actually was appointed as a watch captain, despite reports that he appointed himself to the post.
He said he believes his neighbor acted in self-defense. That is what Zimmerman told police.
Zimmerman has not been charged, despite growing calls for his arrest.
"It’s really sad that he's already been convicted in the public media and has already been sentenced to the gas chamber,” Taaffe said. “Let's let justice do its job."
At the same time, Martin’s death is “devastating,” he said.
”It's a tragic event – we can’t bring that boy back,” he said. “I wish we could.”
The Dems probably would like that. A long hot summer where Republicans and conservatives are attacked as racist, with the increasing promise of riots if Obama loses.
You can't just chase someone around with a gun and shoot them ~ not even in Florida.
Their standard is that if you were there you are guilty.
I'd have to see what Mr. Martin's school district's actual practice was first.
Zimmerman has an earring.
Has anyone seen this video from Fox news? It was done the day after the shooting and they interview a witness who clearly says that Trayvon Martin was on top of Zimmerman punching him.
Pretty clear cut predator/prey situation. I think you got jurors who'd understand that quite well.
It's like this ~ maybe Hispanics are an endangered species in Florida but they aren't around here. Some drunk Hispanic runs down a bunch of elderly nuns and kills one, dude is going to go to hard times jail here. The Hispanics are simply not endangered and don't need to be treated that way.
Keep your eye on the victim ~ he was not wanted for anything, and there was no report of crime involving "black male wearing hoody eating Skittles" out.
Zimmerman had no legitimate interest in the goings and comings of this kid.
Zimmerman told the 911 clerk what he was doing ~ he was following the guy around. He then shot him. Those are pretty big facts and well documented BY THE PERP HIMSELF.
If that is the case it looks like Mr. Zimmerman was defending himself.
I don't blame you one bit. Vigilance requires such behavior. I'd rather be a "racist" than a victim.
I think you accurately point to the culprit here.
I was active in our local community watch program. My advice to everyone was, watch and report and under no circumstances confront unless someone is breaking into your residence and you are home.
Cuban Heritage?
Put him under oath.
And you know the Florida "Self Defense Law.?
Look all I am saying is there is probably more to the story than we are being told. Too may times we believe everything the MSM tells us only to find out something entirely different occurred.
The MSM, then never admits they made a mistake. Just keep an open mind about this. Remember Richard Jewell, yes he was weired but he had nothing to do with the Atlanta Bombing incident, however the MSM convicted him.
Some time ago I read an interesting post about “Don’t tsalk to the police”. I agree. Call 911 if you want, state your wanting a cop and hang up.
Well you could say he did act when he was attacked.
The event was February 26, in the evening ~ 64 degrees, extensive rain ~ hoodies in fashion I suppose. I see guys wearing them around here when it rains.
Only a FR "newbie" wouldn't!
Now, about self-defense, somebody is armed. They're following you around. They get close. You are entitled to defend yourself.
Remember, this is a case where the victim ~ Mr. Martin ~ was NOT reported to have been doing anything other than going to and from a local store on foot and he had the evidence of that trip on him at the time of his death ~ to wit, Skittles and tea.
ON THE OTHER HAND the killer actually reported on his own activities to the 911 clerk.
Under the circumstances Mr. Martin was clearly entitled to defend himself!
Now, imagine the impact on Tourism In Florida if it were determined that armed people can always follow unarmed people around and shoot them.
Nope, sure wouldn't ever go to that state again for anything!
As of yet we do not know who attacked first.
Consider how many times a night a neighborhood watch prevents a crime from being committed.
Also consider how many times guns are used to stop a crime.
Do we really want to continue down the road of setting public policy based on a very small sample of carefully selected incidences?
That night there were probably as many times over cases where a neighborhood watch prevented a crime or a gun was justifiably used to defend themselves, but those don’t meet the media narrative so they are ignored in favor of this incident.
If you get out of that car and approach me ~ that's all I need. YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS getting inside my comfort zone. If I'm up against a wall there's no choice but to attempt in anyway I can to get away from you even if it means bowling you over.
It is a fair presumption that if I am encountering a young Hispanic male at night who I do not know, and he's trying to stop me from doing what I want to do, that he means me NO GOOD, and that he's probably armed and may kill me.
Fur Shur neighborhood watch folks should not behave like your typical armed robber out for a stickup.
We have a neighborhood watch ~ had it for 3 decades. This is a multi-ethnic area with people from 35 different countries. We've never had a killing on the street.
I do believe I heard on the news you can hear the boy begging for his life on the 911 call.
Something like that ~
And gone to prison. Martin was 17, you can't get CCW until 21, so he would have been illegally carrying.
My take is that Zimmerman was hunting with an itchy finger.
Comfort zone are you kidding me?
Needless to say, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (the SHT, my local NYT-owned paper) has been short-stroking this all morning, with the spin equally on "yet another case of black victimization" along with "Stand Your Ground" laws baaaaaaad.
I haven't followed this enough to know exactly what to make of this whole incident, but none of that matters in how the "news" paper "reports" it anyway.
Not necessarily. It depends who initiated the contact - if Zimmerman was the initial aggressor (in the words of the Florida statutes, if he "initially provoke[d] the use of force against himself"), he cannot then use deadly force and claim self-defense, even if Martin had the upper hand in the fight.
Also, if Zimmerman was the initial aggressor, that effectively nullifies the "Stand Your Ground" law (e.g., if he was the initial aggressor, then even if he was in imminent danger of death, he could not use deadly force unless he had first "exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger")
YES REPORTED BY THE MSM. . . .
Why are you so quick to condemn with just a few facts?
Why not wait until we get a full report from BOTH sides?
The guy (shooter) may be guilty, and I won't have any apology to make because I am waiting for ALL the evidence before I crucify anybody. . . .
Rambo was a vet looking up his old squad mates when a out of control local police force decided to “make an example” of him. His actions may have appeared, to an outside observer, to be wildly out of control, but from someone reading the book, they had it coming.
That'd been the end of that as well as Br'r Zimmerman's little reign of terror.
Alas, we are talking about a 17 year old kid buying Skittles and tea ~ not a hardened, experienced person who does not trust ANYONE following him down the street in a car ~ NO ONE!@
I think Zimmerman is toast. He was stalking his victim. Encountered him. Shot him. The rest of it is just window dressing.
To Main Stream Media,George Zimmerman is Hispanic
By Angel, on March 21st, 2012
George Zimmerman the man who shot the young teen Trayvon Martin in Florida well likely face manslaughter charges rather than first or second degree murder, due to a Florida law that is called “Stand Your Ground’....
http://pushbacknow.net/2012/03/21/to-main-stream-mediageorge-zimmerman-is-hispanic/
The standards in the law are pretty specific.
In the ensuing struggle, you are on top of the guy pummeling him. You get off and start walking away, but decide to come back and kick him in the head a few more times. Instead, you take a 9mm round to the chest and die...
Yep. Perfectly lawful. On Zimmerman's part.
I disagree. Zimmerman had every right as a member of the neighboorhood watch to follow someone he thought was acting suspicously in his neighborhood. If the suspicous person then turns and assaults him of course he has the right to defend himself. I’m not sure where your strongly held “feelings” come from, but it doesn’t appear to be based on the known facts of the case.
In a news report on Fox News this morning, Zimmerman was identified as “white.”
He’s Hispanic according to his Father. Who’d know better? The Media or his Progenitor?
1. After Zimmerman called 911 and described the location, description and activity, he should have waited for police. Neighborhood Watch or not, the responsibility is report and observe.
2. Leaving his vehicle put him in the position of aggressor. If no crime was in progress or witnessed, he had no business initiating a confrontation.
3. The evidence will produce the facts, however, the tapes, and Zimmerman ignoring the 911 operator NOT to follow, is going to get Zimmerman a Manslaughter charge at the least.
The 'stand your ground' laws in FL are not a license to act on your own, UNLESS your life or the life of others is in immediate danger. Intiating the confrontation, and some of the things Zimmerman says on the tapes show he was looking for trouble and pushed this.
He was unarmed.
The law said he could use LETHAL FORCE only if he felt in fear of his life, and, lo and behold when he was accosted by an armed Hispanic male on a dark rainy night he would certainly have been allowed by Florida law to KILL Zimmerman.
No doubt you'd had your pistol out and would have been pumping round after round into Zimmerman if you'd been put in the same position.
BTW, that law does not say that ONLY the guy with the gun has the right of self-defense.
Fox is funny. They think Juan Williams is white too!
He was there lawfully and doing nothing unlawfully. He was unarmed. He was a minor.
You do not have a license to track down and kill people on an imagined trespass.
BTW, if you want to use Florida trespass law to cover what Zimmerman did, you will first have to demonstrate that he has some property right there where he killed the kid (not just that he's a member of some neighborhood watch somewhere). That law allows you to call the cops.
You can, in fact, evict someone from a trespass on a permanent basis just by telling them to get out. On the other hand, if they were invited there you can't actually do that, so trespass doesn't count.
Neither does "stand your ground". If you invite them in you can't shoot them just for the heck of it.
You can read all about Florida law on the net. Look up Florida Tresspass Statutes, Florida Self Defense statutes, Florida Stand your Ground statute, Florida this and that and other things laws.
None of them say you can walk up to an unarmed person who is not knowingly violating any law and shoot them. On the other hand those same laws say that they can physically assault you to defend their life against a perceived or believed threat.
You really have to look at each party and see how the law applies.
Maybe they know something the MSM isn't reporting?
That is wannabe behavior to the max. He wanted to be important. He wasn't. He wanted to help the Police, he didn't.
He got himself into a confrontation with an unarmed and innocent 17 year old eating CANDY - and then thought the skinny kid who he outweighed significantly was a threat to his life - so he killed him.
If the skinny kid was a threat to the fat wannabe’s life - he shouldn't have continued chasing him down and harassing him for being black, and thus “suspicious” to the wannabe.
Maybe he rounded Cape Horn under sail.
Yeah 911 knows everything. Police are there to write reports if they show up. The police are not there to protect you or your community.
There are people (we call them leftwingtards) who really do believe the “stand your ground” law allows an armed assailant to shoot and kill an unarmed victim ~ and walk away from the crime.
"No doubt you'd had your pistol out and would have been pumping round after round into Zimmerman if you'd been put in the same position"
Stick to making wild unfounded accusations toward news stories rather than to fellow freepers. Unlike the individuals in this story I am able to refute you.
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