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Was Florida shooter a vigilante or diligent neighbor?
AP via Washington Times ^ | M>arch 22, 2012 | Mike Schneider

Posted on 03/22/2012 5:48:28 AM PDT by libstripper

George Zimmerman once took criminal justice classes at the community college and was practically a one-man neighborhood watch in his gated part of town, calling police close to 50 times over the past eight years to report such things as slow-driving vehicles, strangers loitering in the neighborhood and open garages.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: flshooting; zimmerman
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This case is not as clearly anti-Zimmerman as many here on FR seem to believe and the MSM is telling us. FTA:

When police officers arrived, Martin was lifeless, face down on the ground, while Zimmerman was bleeding from his head and his back was covered in grass, as if he had been on the ground, the police report said.

Sanford police issued a statement Wednesday defending their decision not to arrest Zimmerman. They said that when officers arrived, he claimed self-defense, “which at the time was supported by physical evidence and testimony.”

The police chief said Zimmerman claimed he was attacked by Martin after he had given up his chase and was returning to his truck.(my emphasis)

As noted earlier here, at least one witness saw Zimmerman on the ground with Martin on top of him, beating him, and Zimmerman crying for help before Zimmerman shot Martin. This is suported by the police finding of grass on Zimmerman's back and Zimmerman having a head injury, apparently from Martin's beating him. As noted above, Zimmerman says Martin attacked him after Zimmerman "had given up his chase and was returning to his truck." If that's true, then Zimmerman, fool that he may have been for initiating the confrontation, still has a solid self defense case. Indeed, since he's the only direct witness to how he and Martin came into physical contact, that could be a very hard case to disprove.

All in all, we should withhold judgment until this case is fully investigated and it's detemined which of the men inititated the physical confrontation. LSM screechers, like the odious Shepard Smith, should shut their collective pie holes.

1 posted on 03/22/2012 5:48:35 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: libstripper

There’s always two sides to every story. Unfortunately, Zimmerman has already been convicted thanks to lame stream hysterical media who never get the facts in a case.


2 posted on 03/22/2012 5:54:01 AM PDT by kenmcg (How)
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To: libstripper

“This case is not as clearly anti-Zimmerman as many here on FR seem to believe and the MSM is telling us. FTA:”

A few years ago, there were a string of burglaries in our neighborhood and we had the misfortune to be among the victims. It took the police 45 minutes to get here and another time while we were out—after we put in an alarm—almost an hour. Nobody, and I mean nobody now drives a strange vehicle through the neighborhood without the license plate being taken down or if a stranger comes through, someone will “chat” with them to see if it might be friend or foe. I can tell you that if one of the “aliens” would become hostile, I’ll be calling the cops and telling them the “alien” is dead just to get them here in a reasonable aount of time regardless of whether I shot them or not.


3 posted on 03/22/2012 5:55:46 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: libstripper
One thing I'm not particularly clear on...

Did Treyvon's family also live in the gated community?

If not, what was Treyvon doing in it? Most gated communities I know, you have to check in at the gate and be either a resident or the registered guest of one. So if Treyvon was neither, he was just taking a short cut or whatever and didn't bother to check in at the gate. Then he really was "acting suspiciously" and Zimmerman had every right to stop him and ask what he was doing there, as gated communities aren't "public property". At a minimum he was trespassing.

4 posted on 03/22/2012 5:58:56 AM PDT by apillar
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To: apillar
"Then he really was "acting suspiciously" and Zimmerman had every right to stop him and ask what he was doing there,"

Some FReepers will say Zimmerman didn't have that right.

5 posted on 03/22/2012 6:02:07 AM PDT by RabidBartender (The above statement is not meant to be offensive to women. Please don't whine and have me banned.)
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To: apillar

Supposedly, the sperm donor of the 6’3/200lb ‘boy’ lived somewhere thereabouts.


6 posted on 03/22/2012 6:02:47 AM PDT by tomkat (FU.baraq)
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To: libstripper
“As noted earlier here, at least one witness saw Zimmerman on the ground with Martin on top of him, beating him, and Zimmerman crying for help before Zimmerman shot Martin.”

Early on, I recall hearing a 911 tape from a resident inside her home. She called because someone was outside screaming for help, then there was a gun shot. You could hear the whole thing through the phone. At that time, I assumed it was the teen who was screaming. Now, it sounds like it was Zimmerman. Still, Zimmerman could have chosen to avoid a confrontation, was even advised to, so I he will have a hard time convincing anybody he “feared for his life”.

7 posted on 03/22/2012 6:04:20 AM PDT by ryan71 (Dear spell check - No, I will not capitalize the "m" in moslem!)
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To: kenmcg; libstripper

If we go no further than what Zimmerman says to the 911 dispatcher he is in big trouble.


8 posted on 03/22/2012 6:04:57 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: libstripper

.

While the Zimmerman ‘white’ on black killing is covered 24/7 on the MSM with an outpouring of rage and charges of a racial hate crime, where is the concern- where is the rage about the home invasion, torture, beating, rape and murder of the elderly white couple by ‘African Americans’ in Oklahoma just the other day?

The 90 year old war veteran husband was beaten, his jaw broken, shot in the face with a BB gun and now barely clings to life.

The 85 year old partially blind wife was raped and beaten to death.

.

There’s a lot more here than a home invasion and robbery.

WHERE ARE THE CHARGES OF A RACIAL HATE CRIME??

90 year old husband’s jaw broken and shot in face with BB gun?

85 wife year old semi blind wife RAPED and BEATEN to death??

Where is the 24/7 MSM coverage

Where is the outrage?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117695/Brutal-home-invasion-Oklahoma-couple-ends-65-year-romance-meeting-blind-date.html


9 posted on 03/22/2012 6:06:04 AM PDT by patriot08 (TEXAS GAL- born and bred and proud of it!)
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To: ryan71

“Zimmerman could have chosen to avoid a confrontation”

Confrontation is legal. Martin’s right to swing his fist ended at Zimmerman’s nose.


10 posted on 03/22/2012 6:07:15 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to annoy someone, point out something obvious that they are trying hard to ignore)
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To: RabidBartender
Read Florida's own laws on trespassing. An old custom called "posting" is pretty evidently still in place. I used Google.Earth to find if there were actually "gates" and "signs" and couldn't find them. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but they aren't immediately obvious.

Seemed to me this was a formerly gated community that fell on hard times so they laid off the guards.

11 posted on 03/22/2012 6:09:22 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: apillar
You are asking the question that I can still not find an answer too. “Did he live in the gated community? Yes, or no?”

If he lives there, then Zimmy Boy brought this beating on himself and should have not shot him.

If he does not, he should not have been there. He was on Private Property.

12 posted on 03/22/2012 6:09:28 AM PDT by WakeUpAndVote
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To: RabidBartender
"Then he really was "acting suspiciously" and Zimmerman had every right to stop him and ask what he was doing there,"

Some FReepers will say Zimmerman didn't have that right.

And I would agree with them if Treyvon was walking down the sidewalk in the middle of town. But this was a gated community, not "public property". Gated communities by there nature are "private" usually run by a homeowners association and you are expected to abide by the rules if you are on the premises. Now was Zimmerman working "for" the homeowners association in his capacity as Neighborhood Watch Captain and therefore had the right to enforce the rules? I don't know. But if this goes to court, this is what it could hinge on. If the the Association rules say that paid security or volunteer neighborhood watch can challenge anybody they don't recognize, then Zimmerman is on pretty safe ground doing what he did (even though the 911 operator advised him against it).

13 posted on 03/22/2012 6:10:13 AM PDT by apillar
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To: tomkat

Tomkat, I think the donor will be appearing in a new game show on liberal TV, titled “Whose Your Babies Daddy.” Not fiction just reality in the USA


14 posted on 03/22/2012 6:12:32 AM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat
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To: libstripper
““That is crazy. That is totally crazy,” Gaffar said. “Why does he have to carry a gun? Something is totally wrong with that picture.””

What picture? The one of the founding fathers writing the Constitution?

15 posted on 03/22/2012 6:14:18 AM PDT by faucetman ( Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: AppyPappy
I wonder why we just see pictures of this kid's 12 football Photo.

I am sure their are High School pictures of him in his year book and each Football roster I seen tells the height and weight of each player on the team.

Yet the media has chosen not to give out that information.

16 posted on 03/22/2012 6:14:38 AM PDT by scooby321
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To: AppyPappy
Reading through the relevant Florida laws, Zimmerman's right to follow and accost Martin and instill in him fear for his life ended the second he got out of his car carrying a gun and advancing on Martin.

There are two sides to this "stand your ground" issue, and the guy with the gun isn't the only one with rights. You add to that the fact that Florida law does not require CONTACT, it gets a tad murky.

Still, after the killing it was pretty obvious Martin wasn't suspicious at all, wasn't armed, and had been going about his business quite lawfully.

No wonder the local cops were so willing to let Zimmerman go ~ they simply couldn't figure it out. So, time to toss more lawyers on the fire.

My bet is Zimmerman goes to jail.

17 posted on 03/22/2012 6:15:20 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: patriot08
All in due course ~ first, have they caught the perpetrators? If so you have something comparable to the Florida situation if and when the cops let the perps loose. Otherwise it's not the same.

We have a guy who used a gun to kill a fellow he'd been stalking and the cops turned him loose.

18 posted on 03/22/2012 6:18:13 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: libstripper

I agree.

If the kid attacked Zimmerman, he MIGHT have been justified. But as this was not in Zimmerman’s home and the kid was unarmed and appeared to be behaving in a non-suspicious manner, I question Zimmerman’s actions. But am willing to wait and see.

There are legitimate reasons for people to go about armed. I support this. But whnever somebody abuses that right, it creates opportunities for left-wing ideologues like Shppard Smith etc to attack us and that right.

We need to wait and see what more materializes here. Trying people in the press is an insidious abuse of our right to a fair trial by our peers.


19 posted on 03/22/2012 6:20:05 AM PDT by ZULU (LIBERATE HAGIA SOPHIA!!!!!)
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To: libstripper
All in all, we should withhold judgment until this case is fully investigated

Frankly, that's universally good advice. Rarely does a news account of an incident tell enough of the whole story to make an informed decision, and more often than not, only contains one side's views of the event.

20 posted on 03/22/2012 6:21:03 AM PDT by kevkrom (Note to self: proofread, then post. It's better that way.)
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