March 20, 2012 - It was a rainy night at about 7 PM on February 26, a crime watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, 28, was patrolling his neighborhood in his sport utility vehicle when he spotted a young Black male, Trayvon Martin, 17 walking the street wearing a sweatshirt, with the hood draped over his head. 

Zimmerman contacted Sanford Police?s (Sanford, Florida) 911. He stated to the 911 dispatcher, ?Hey, we?ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there?s a real suspicious? This guy looks like he?s up to no good or he?s on drugs or something.  It?s raining and he?s just walking around looking about? He looks Black." Zimmerman said the guy was wearing a dark hoody like a grey hoody and either jeans or sweatpants and white tennis shoes. 

?He?s here now he was just staring? looking at all the houses? Now he?s just staring at me? Yeah, now he?s coming towards me? He?s got his hand in his waistband. And he?s a Black male? he?s got a button on his shirt? Late teens?. Um hum, something?s wrong with him. Yeap, he?s coming to check me out.  He?s got something in his hands.  I don?t know what his deal is?. Can you get an officer over here?... Ok. Fucken coon! These assholes they always get away. He?s running down towards the ah other entrance of the neighborhood. 911 police dispatch: Are you following him? Zimmerman: Yeah. 911 police dispatch: Ok, we don?t need you to do that."

Moments later a voice could be heard crying for help and then a gunshot. Zimmerman told the police that he had shot Trayvon in self-defense with his 9-millimeter pistol after the two got into a fight and Mr. Zimmerman wound up on the ground yelling for help. It was reported that the unarmed young Black man had just come back from the local convenience store where he bought Skittles and a can of iced tea and was returning back to his father's home.

There have been no arrests in the case. Sanford Police have stated that they believed the voice crying for help was Zimmerman?s and they do not have enough evidence to dispute Mr. Zimmerman?s claim that he acted in self-defense. However, Trayvon?s parents believe the voice calling for help was the voice of their son. 

Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon?s mother said, ?There is no question in my mind that is his voice.? ?I listened to the tapes and it just broke my heart again to hear him screaming out for help and pleading for his life, and he was still murdered.? Sgt. Dave Morgenstern, a spokesman with the Sanford Police Department, said, ?That is the circumstance we are dealing with. If we arrest, we open ourselves to a lawsuit. I would have to say I don?t think we have conducted a racially biased investigation at all.?

ABC News reported a source inside the police department informed them that a narcotics detective, not a homicide detective, first approached Zimmerman and peppered him with questions, possibly leading his story. And that another officer reportedly corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.

		The officer told the woman that it was Zimmerman who cried for help, not Martin. Trayvon Martin's parents have called on the FBI to take over the investigation, saying they no longer trusted the Sanford police department.  Public records search shows that Zimmerman was arrested in July 2005 for assaulting an Orange County police officer and resisting arrest with violence. The county prosecutor on June 15, 2006 allowed Zimmerman to enroll into Pre-Trial Diversion program. Zimmerman told the police ?he had stepped out of his truck to check the name of the street he was on when Trayvon attacked him from behind as he walked back to his truck.? ?He said he feared for his life and fired the semiautomatic handgun he was licensed to carry because he feared for his life.? Martin weighed 140 pounds. Zimmerman weighs 250 pounds.

When Zimmerman completed the program his arrest record was expunged which allowed him to legally have a gun license and carry a 45. Zimmerman is currently studying criminal justice. Zimmerman has called the police 46 times in total since January 2011, regarding open windows, break-ins, disturbances and other such incidences in the area. 

The Justice Department on March 19, has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. In a statement released Monday night the Justice Department said its Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would investigate the death of this young man. ?The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,? Xochitl Hinojosa, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement. ?The department also is providing assistance to and cooperating with the state officials in their investigation into the incident.?

According to a local newspaper, Zimmerman would often go door to door in the neighborhood warning residents to be careful of young Black males. Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the family, told reporters that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's parents both broke down and cried as they listened to the 911 tapes, "They are completely devastated, they are in unbelievable grief." On March 19, Seminole County Sheriff's Office released more 911 calls made by George Zimmerman. In four of the recordings Zimmerman called police to report "suspicious" persons all of whom were black in or near the Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood.

Trayvon Martin had no criminal record, an A/B student in the 11th grade, an athlete with aspirations of becoming an aviation mechanic. He was suspended from his Miami high school for 10 days in February, which is the reason he was visiting his father. The family said the suspension was not for violent or criminal behavior but for a violation of school policy.  Martin?s English teacher described him as ?as an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness.? Brian Tooley, Sanford?s prior police chief was forced from office in 2011, following a scandal involving a lieutenant?s son, Justin Collison, 21, who was captured on video attacking a homeless Black man. Police officers did not make an arrest until a video of the attack surfaced on YouTube. When Bill Lee took over as police chief in May, he promised to clean up the police department after many Black residents had lost trust in the department.

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee has defended the police handling of the case, "The hysteria, the media circus, it's just crazy. It's the craziest damn thing I've ever seen, and it's sad. It's sad for the city of Sanford, the police department, because I know in my heart we did a good job." Zimmerman?s account is completely different from what witness have stated and what could be heard on the 911 recordings. There is no way Zimmerman can claim self-defense as Zimmerman was clearly the aggressor.  He followed and chased the young man even after police told him not to, outweighed 17 year old Trayvon Martin by 100 LBS and was heavily armed with a 45 against a child carrying Skittles and iced tea.

Turner Clayton, president of the local NAACP, stated,  ?There has been tension between the Black community and the police for a long time. When Chief Lee first started, it seemed that things would get better, but with this Martin case, it seems we're dealing with the same old Sanford regime.?

		As we know Trayvon Martin did not return home after going to the local convenience store. His father concerned thought maybe he stopped off at a friend?s home. A few hours turned into days. Trayvon?s father called the police, they could not provide him with any information. Soon he called 911. After sitting in the morgue for three days the police finally showed up at the house with a photo of a child lying dead on a morgue stretcher with a toe tagged that stated ?John Doe?. Trayvon Martin had a cell phone in which it held his family?s phone numbers. At no time did police attempt to call anyone on his cell phone. Moments before the shooting, Trayvon was talking with an unidentified female on his cell phone. Trayvon stated to this friend that he was being stalked by some man. The friend suggested that he run. "I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run. Thinking that he'd managed to escape but suddenly the strange man was back, cornering Martin."
Phone records indicate the time of the girl's call with Trayvon Martin before his death.

"Trayvon said, 'What, are you following me for,' and the man said, 'What are you doing here.' Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the head set just fell. I called him again and he didn't answer the phone." The line went dead.

On March 20, state attorney Norm Wolfinger stated this case will go before a grand jury. "I share in the desire of the family and the community to accurately collect and evaluate all the facts surrounding the tragic death of Trayvon Martin. The public is entitled to no less than a thorough, deliberate, and just review of the facts. We intend to honor that commitment." The Seminole County Grand Jury will be called to session on Tuesday, April 10, 2012.

A civil rights group has called on the state to suspend the concealed carry permit of George Zimmerman. However, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, whose agency oversees concealed weapons permits, stated he can't do anything unless criminal charges have been filed or a felony conviction.  

Because State law prevents Putnam's agency from identifying individuals who have applied for or received a gun permit, he unable to discuss this matter as it relates to George Zimmerman. "My office is legally bound to fiercely protect the privacy of concealed weapon permit holders. There are specific legal triggers that result in suspension or revocation." The Florida Civil Rights Association has planned a Wednesday protest at the department's regional licensing office in Orlando. 

Florida state law states the state can suspend or revoke a gun permit holder's license under the following conditions. 

The department shall revoke a license if the licensee has been found guilty of, had adjudication of guilt withheld for, or had imposition of sentence suspended for one or more crimes of violence within the preceding three years. 

The department shall suspend a license if the licensee is arrested or formally charged with a felony. The suspension will last until the case is over. 

The department shall suspend a license if the licensee is issued an injunction that restrains him or her from committing acts of domestic violence or acts of repeat violence. 

Other grounds for suspension/revocation include sustaining a physical disability that makes handling a weapon safely impossible and being committed to a mental institution.

Florida Senator Oscar Braynon has called for hearings into the "Stand Your Ground" law, also known as the Castle Doctrine. Gun-rights groups reject the need for hearings and the need to repeal this law. 

A Castle Doctrine is an legal doctrine that designates a person's abode (or, in some states, any place legally occupied, such as a car or place of work) as a place in which the person has certain protections and immunities and may in certain circumstances attack an intruder without becoming liable to prosecution. Typically deadly force is considered justified, and a defense of justifiable homicide applicable, in cases "when the actor reasonably fears imminent peril of death or serious bodily harm to himself or another".