It came from Zimmerman's black, 9mm semiautomatic hand gun. The bullet went into Martin's left chest and lodged there. Police headed to the neighborhood after Zimmerman's initial call, but didn't arrive until after the fatal shot. They found Martin "face down in the grass. A sergeant checked and couldn't find a pulse.
For the next six minutes, he and another police officer teamed up to conduct CPR on the teen. A plastic bag, brought by a neighbor, was used to seal his chest wound. Aside from a small scratch on one finger, that gunshot wound was the only apparent injury the teenager suffered. A medical examiner's report later found trace elements of THC, an element of marijuana, in his system, though experts pointed out the challenge in equating the levels found with Martin's level of intoxication at the time of his death.
One officer who lifted Martin's shirt at the scene "felt a large, cold can in the center pocket" of the teen's hoodie, which was the iced tea he'd bought just minutes before.
A witness told police that, after the gunshot, she saw a "larger" man standing over Martin. Police who arrived described the shooter, Zimmerman, as compliant in answering their questions and willingly putting on handcuffs. He had blood on his nose -- with one officer saying it appeared "broken," while noting "swelling" of his face -- and, as photographs showed, blood on the back of his head. His back was wet and soiled, as if he'd been in grass. Zimmerman claimed that Martin had attacked him, hitting him in the nose and knocking him back into the pavement.
It was only then, in self-defense, that he'd taken out his gun and shot the teen, he said. Tests, the results of which were made public Thursday, would show evidence of Zimmerman's hands on the firearm, but not Martin's.
An analysis of scrapings from underneath the teenager's fingernails did not contain any of Zimmerman's DNA, as might rub off in the case of a prolonged struggle.
At the scene, Zimmerman declined to be transported to the hospital despite his apparent injuries. A police officer reiterated that offer after Zimmerman complained his head hurt and he felt lightheaded while being driven to the Sanford Police Department.
But again he turned it down. While at the police station, Zimmerman requested some tissues, water and to go to the bathroom, but little else. He ended up turning over his clothes to police but, after being questioned and putting on a change of clothes brought in by his wife, he headed home. Tracy Martin, meanwhile, didn't know where his son was. He filed a missing person's complaint on the morning of February 27, telling authorities that his son hadn't returned from going to the store the previous evening.
In a fast-paced world of hour cable news and nonstop social media, what happened that night has become both common knowledge and a blur of unattributed rumor accepted as fact. A controversial police report incited conspiracy theories and failed to definitively resolve what everyone wants to know: Who picked the fight?
Armchair crime scene investigators around the nation insist on access to the evidence, and millions more demand an arrest in a case now being looked at by at least three agencies, including the FBI. The protagonists in the saga gripping the nation are Zimmerman, a man with a history of going after suspects in hot pursuit, and Trayvon, a chronically tardy teenager who liked aviation, was making plans for college and got suspended for having a small empty plastic bag containing marijuana residue.
Their story begins when Zimmerman got out of his vehicle and pursued Trayvon on foot. But in the tale pieced together from calls, witnesses, police, Zimmerman's family and the girl who was on the phone with Trayvon in the last minutes of his life, a key one-minute gap remains a mystery that may never be solved: Who approached whom?
Who threw the first blow? And the key question a special prosecutor in Jacksonville is now tasked to investigate: Did Zimmerman justifiably take Trayvon's life to save his own? Trayvon, a junior at Dr. Michael M. Krop High, was a lot like most teenagers: He spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone. On that Sunday, he talked for nearly five hours. It started raining harder as he walked, so he pulled up his hood and sought shelter at one of the buildings in the townhouse complex, the girlfriend he was chatting with on the phone told attorneys.
Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? At p. There had been a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood attributed to young black men, and Zimmerman was wary of someone he did not recognize walking along the path that goes through the back of the townhouses, his father later told a local TV station.
Zimmerman called police. Records show it was the fifth time in a year that he had alerted authorities to the presence of a black male he found suspicious. This one, he said, looked high and had something in one hand while he kept the other in his waist as he peered at houses.
It's raining, and he's just walking around looking about. A T-Mobile phone log provided by the family's attorney shows Trayvon's girlfriend called him again at p. At , two minutes into Zimmerman's call, he tells the police operator: "S, he's running. A beeping sound is heard, indicating that he has opened his car door.
Zimmerman went after Trayvon and, out of breath, muttered profanities. He lost sight of him. Zimmerman spent almost two more minutes offering directions to the operator. He said he'd meet police by the mailboxes and then, just before hanging up, apparently thought the better of it.
At , he hung up. Lawyers for Trayvon's family say Zimmerman's decision not to wait for police by the mailboxes and instead be reached by phone proves he planned to keep looking for the teen instead of simply waiting for a patrol car.
The two met up along a dark paved path that runs between the back of two rows of townhouses. The girl on the phone told Crump that she heard the two exchange questions, like "Why are you following me? Zimmerman's father told an Orlando TV station that it went more like, "Do you have a fing problem? Zimmerman, a married insurance underwriter who studied criminal justice at Seminole State College, told police that Trayvon approached him from behind as he was returning to his car.
He told police, his family and his attorney that Trayvon decked him in the nose hard, causing him to hit the ground. Then, he says, Trayvon started punching him and slamming his head on the concrete.
The girl who said she was talking to Trayvon told the attorney that she heard a scuffle until the line went dead. Her four-minute call ended at Although the Sanford police would not reveal the times, from tapes it is known that the first of the calls from residents came while Zimmerman and Trayvon were still fighting.
Desperate wails are heard in the background of at least one call. Two witnesses have said they saw the encounter, but their stories contradict each other. One man interviewed by a local Fox news station, who asked to be identified only as John, said he saw the man wearing a red jacket — Zimmerman — on the ground, being beaten by someone on top of him — Trayvon.
I got upstairs and looked down. The person that was on top beating up the other guy was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point," he said. But last week another unidentified man told CNN that he saw a larger man on top and a boy underneath. Although Martin had identified his son to police on Monday, February 27, and asked Serino the next day to issue police clearance for releasing the body, not until Wednesday was a funeral director permitted to drive it back to South Florida.
There was nothing else I could do as a mother. The family held a viewing on Friday, March 2. The memorial service and interment were Saturday. The painful work of laying Trayvon to rest was complete.
Now would begin the more difficult search for justice. Martin turned to Patricia Jones, his sister-in-law. On Tuesday, February 28, Crump was at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, about miles north of Sanford, arguing that public records should be released in civil litigation over Antonio Cooks. During a break in the hearing, Crump noticed messages from Tyrone Williams, another attorney he knows, and Jones.
They urgently asked for his help. Soon Jones put him in touch with Tracy Martin. Of course they are going to arrest him just for that. He took the case pro bono. Her mother lives in Sanford. Now Crump and Jackson needed a media strategy. On March 5, Jackson brought in Ryan Julison, a publicist who had worked with her on a number of high-profile cases. After speaking with Tracy Martin, Julison said he also took the job for free and went to work pitching the story to national media.
Crump knew from his experience on the boot-camp case that publicity could force officials to act, but it would require persuading two people who had never stood before a television camera to withstand the spotlight. There was only one problem. Julison pitched the story to a long list of media contacts. A media firestorm had begun. They have been broadcast unceasingly ever since. Markets Updated. By Daniel Trotta 16 Min Read.
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