So this is starting to pick up traction in the news now, even though it technically happened back in February, although after listening to the police recording (below), it seems pretty cut and dry to me – a self-appointed neighborhood watchman sees somebody he thinks looks suspicious, follows him after being told not to by the police, and ends up shooting the kid in cold blood.
Racial epitaphs aside, overambitious paranoia aside, this guy pursues someone against the direction of the authorities who he’s called to report his concerns and ends up murdering his own suspect. I don’t understand how self-defense or even our absolutely ridiculous Stand Your Ground law even applies in this case when Zimmerman was the one who instigated the encounter in the first place. He did his “watchmanly task” of reporting suspicious behavior to the cops, despite it sounding like he was overzealous in that regard (46 calls to the police in 15 months?! I’ve made about 3 calls to the police in my entire LIFE!), but this all would’ve ended there had he not taken it upon himself to continue following and end up shooting the 17 year-old who was just out for a candy run and taking his life.
I don’t even care if there was a confrontation before the shooting – if you’re just walking through a neighborhood minding your own business and some stranger chases you down wanting to know what you’re doing there, aren’t you going to get a tad defensive?! Talk about worry of crazies walking around – I’ve never been in a true fight myself, but I’ve often times heard the mantra, “You may only get one punch, so make it a good one…” and if some guy walks up to you questioning your intentions with a gun at his hip, are you going to just stand around waiting to see if he’ll pull the trigger???
You do have Florida’s Stand Your Ground law for protection when you feel your life is in imminent danger, you know! 🙄
This is a disgraceful story and I hope the newfound media attention forces the Sanford Police Dept. to get off their asses and actually charge this guy with the murder that he’s clearly responsible for. I’m certainly in favor of people having the right to defend themselves, but when you’re out patrolling the neighborhood with a pistol at your side, ready to take the law into your own hands, it needs to be clear that you’ve overstepped the bounds of what Stand Your Ground was really intended for.
If someone breaks into my house and threatens my family – yes.
If I see somebody walking down the street, don’t like the way they look, and proceed to chase them – not so much.