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Documents shed new light on Trayvon Martin killing
Updated 9:44 PM ET
(CBS/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart at close range. George Zimmerman had a broken nose, bruises and bloody cuts on the back of his head.
The lead investigator in the case wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter in the weeks after the shooting but was overruled.
CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports the released evidence covers 183 pages. It includes dozens of audio recordings: mostly interviews, surveillance videos, and reports about physical evidence. And it tells the story of a struggle just before the fatal shot.
The last images of Martin were from a surveillance video taken at a 7-11 store in Sanford, where the 17-year-old bought Skittles and a can of iced tea before heading back to the townhouse subdivision where he was staying with family. Twenty minutes later, he would be dead, shot fatally once in the chest by Zimmerman.
Thursday's document release includes crime scene photos, including one of Zimmerman's 9-millimeter gun, the first time it's been seen.
Yet it's still unclear what exactly happened and whether it was racially motivated.
Evidence suggests struggle before Trayvon Martin shotTrayvon Martin shooting: Timeline of events
Zimmerman: Martin's last words were "it's over"
The evidence supports Zimmerman's contention that he was being beat up when he fired the fatal shot. At the same time, it bolsters the argument of Martin's parents that Zimmerman was profiling Martin and that the whole confrontation could have been avoided if not for Zimmerman's actions.
Many of the pertinent questions remain unclear: What was in Zimmerman's mind when he began to follow Martin in the gated community where he lived? How did the confrontation between the two begin? Whose screams for help were captured on 911 calls? And why did Zimmerman feel that deadly force was warranted?
Injuries to the back of George Zimmerman's head
/ AP/State Attorney's OfficeAnother opportunity for answers isn't likely to come until a hearing later this year in which Zimmerman is expected to claim the shooting was justified under Florida's "stand your ground" law. Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, didn't return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.
The evidence supporting Zimmerman's defense includes a photo showing the neighborhood watch volunteer with a bloody nose on the night of the fight. A paramedic report says Zimmerman had a 1-inch laceration on his head and forehead abrasion. (At left)
"Bleeding tenderness to his nose, and a small laceration to the back of his head. All injuries have minor bleeding," paramedic Michael Brandy wrote about Zimmerman's injuries in the report.
Whether Zimmerman was injured in the Feb. 26 altercation with Martin has been a key question. The 28-year-old has claimed self-defense and said he only fired because the unarmed teenager attacked him.
George Zimmerman's injuries
Zimmerman was not arrested for weeks because he invoked Florida's "stand your ground" law, which does not require a person to retreat in the face of a serious threat. He was released on bail and is in hiding while he awaits trial on a second-degree murder charge. He has pleaded not guilty.
Other evidence supports the contention of Martin's parents that Zimmerman was the aggressor.
The investigator who called for Zimmerman's arrest, Christopher Serino, told prosecutors that the fight could have been avoided if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement. He said Zimmerman, after leaving his vehicle, could have identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and talked to him instead of confronting him. The report was written on March 13, nearly a month before Zimmerman's eventual arrest.
He said there is no evidence Martin was involved in any criminal activity as he walked from a convenience store to the home of his father's fiancee in the same gated community where Zimmerman lived.
The lawyer for Martin's parents seized on the investigator's recommendation.
"The police concluded that none of this would have happened if George Zimmerman hadn't gotten out of his car," said attorney Ben Crump. "If George Zimmerman hadn't gotten out of his car, they say it was completely avoidable. That is the headline."
The release of evidence did little to clear up whose voice is screaming for help in the background of several 911 calls made during the fight.
Since first hearing the calls in early March, Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, has been unequivocal in saying that it was her son's voice on the tapes.
But Serino wrote in a report that he played a 911 call for Martin's father, Tracy, in which the screams are heard multiple times.
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I strongly dislike the rap/hip-hp/baby-daddy culture of the black community. What hate crime you say? Just wait until I accidentally run my shopping cart into a black woman at Walmart. What WAS the absent minded action of a preoccupied 51 Y.O. white male is about to BECOME a hate crime, MY HATE CRIME. "...your Honor, Mr. Imlistening has a history of racist attitudes and behaviors, we believe the defendant went to Walmart with the intention of seeking out a black person to assault with a shopping cart and we want this hateful felon put away forever. Absurd? Just wait.
GO FISH!
Theres no clear reason for him to have been in the gated community. They didnt live there and the father said he was seeing his girlfriend who lived around there, but never confirmation that it was in that area. The father said he was 100 yards away. If Trayvon was worried about who was following him, 100 yards at a jog to get home would of took all of what? 30 seconds. Leads you to wonder why, if his father is only 100 yards away, that he didnt hear the commotion and come out to see what was up. Trayvon was a John doe for a while ... and his parents was approached and told there son was dead, and not the parents looking for him and found him dead.
Even now they continue to portray his 12 year old picture, although they acknowledge it was a picture taken when he was 12 now. Why do you think they dont show an up to date pic? Cause they dont look too good. He has what is called a Golden Grill. All of his bottom teeth was gold and his 2 upper canines was gold. And in most of the pics ive seen of him, he is portraying the picture of tough young ghetto hood, same one they show on reality TV.
Trayvons school records for this year was very bad. The jewerly part was particularly bad. You have 2 kinds of people. Those that can go into someones house no problem, and those that get the creeps being in someone else house. That jewerly and the way it went down, leads me to believe him to be the first kind.
The Tape... that is pivotal. I believe it to be Zimmerman, mainly based on the fact that we have the tech to look at this from a scientific point of view. Im sure that although all voices have a simular wave pattern, i bet there is distinct differences in the races/nationalitys and where the person is from that come through in the wave pattern. If there was any chance it was an african american voice, that would of been brought to light already. The 2 experts that looked at it, looked at what? Then gave it a 49% chance its zimmerman. Which was no better then a guess by what he said. Didnt rule out zimmerman, but didnt say it was him. If we have the tech to id a person half way around the world on a cell phone and put a missle on him.... we can id who is calling for help.
Zimmerman is a decent person trying to look out for his nieghbors and has paid a hefty price for stepping up when things looked grim. It takes heart to put yourself in harms way when it dosnt directly affect you.
I think the most important fact among all is that Zimmerman ignored 911 operator's warning to stay in car to wait for cops. And an unarmed teenager got killed as the result.
Sounds pretty complicated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin
This is the opinion of a scumbag moron. There is NO DOUBT. How about I stop you on the street O'Mara, and get in your face screaming, and when you push back, its OK for me to now shoot you dead.
Unless there is evidence to disprove this, it must be believed so far as "innocent until proven guilty" is concerned.
How does he know that? His 2 daughters don't look alike
Is he trying to say all blacks look alike?
At this point, it looks like Zimmerman is competely innocent of any wrongdoing.
I don't think a judge will even allow this case to proceed!