Posted on 03/20/2012 9:36:58 PM PDT by marktwain
A Sanford neighbor of George Zimmerman and fellow neighborhood watch captain in their gated community came to his defense Tuesday, saying that he shot Miami teenager Trayvon Martin after numerous burglaries at The Retreat at Twin Lakes.
Frank Taaffe pointed out the circumstances that he believes led his 28-year-old neighbor to react the way he did on the night of Feb. 26: eight burglaries within 15 months, most done by young black males, he said.
"The stage was already set. It was a perfect storm,” Taaffe said. “I think any time you use a weapon, there are certain anger issues working.”
NBC 6 could not immediately confirm the burglary statistic Taaffe cited in a phone call to Sanford Police Tuesday night.
Martin, 17, picked up Skittles and iced tea from a 7-Eleven that Sunday, then headed back towards his father’s girlfriend's home on a rainy, drizzly night. Martin put on his hoodie and ran to take cover. Zimmerman spotted him, got out of his car and followed him.
In Trayvon Martin's final phone call with his own girlfriend, according to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, he could be heard saying “Why are you following me?” and Zimmerman replying “What are you doing around here?”
Their confrontation ended with Martin getting shot in the chest.
“This guy looks like he’s up to no good … he looks black,” Zimmerman told a police dispatcher from his car. His father has said that Zimmerman is Hispanic, grew up in a multiracial family, and is not racist.
Twin Lakes’ population is ethnically mixed. A few residents said there is tension within the gated community.
“I think he had fed-up issues. He was mad as hell and wasn't going to take it anymore,” Taaffe said of Zimmerman.
He insisted, however, that Zimmerman cared about all his neighbors.
"George is a congenial, amiable, admirable person,” he said. "He had a passion and a care for this neighborhood to ensure the safety of everybody here. And, furthermore, George is no Rambo."
Taaffe said that Zimmerman actually was appointed as a watch captain, despite reports that he appointed himself to the post.
He said he believes his neighbor acted in self-defense. That is what Zimmerman told police.
Zimmerman has not been charged, despite growing calls for his arrest.
"It’s really sad that he's already been convicted in the public media and has already been sentenced to the gas chamber,” Taaffe said. “Let's let justice do its job."
At the same time, Martin’s death is “devastating,” he said.
”It's a tragic event – we can’t bring that boy back,” he said. “I wish we could.”
At this point if I turn around and become confrontational with neighborhood watch member and proceed to beat him up, I am clearly guilty of assault.
This is exactly what appears to have happened based on the reported facts.
So far I have only heard about one supposed piece of evidence (reported by media with no corroboration from other media outlets) that supports another story and it directly contradicts other testimony of numerous people.
Based on this it's likely Zimmerman's story is the correct one. Emotion laden, conclusion jumping, mind reading, race baiting, "fact" inventing counter stories don't sway me.
Martin, wasn’t doing anything other than walking on a sidewalk. It is not a rational statement to tell a 911 operator that you’re not going to let a law abiding citizen, “get away”. So don’t tell me I’m lying, because it makes you look like an idiot.
That is an irrational statement from Zimmerman.
Yes, if an unknown person comes up to me, acting aggressively and peppering me with questions that are not his business to ask, I would want to get away from that person, especially on a dark street in the middle of the night. If that person continues to come after me, it would be stupid to assume that I am not in danger.
Yes, if anybody is willing to stick around under those conditions as well, I would also consider that person to be stupid as well. No bones about that.
Key statement, “I’m not going to let him get away.” That implies a confrontational intent. I don’t know how anybody can read anything else into that.
You would have to know, with certainty, that the person who is confronting you is part of a neighbourhood watch, otherwise it’s just somebody who is confronting you with an unknown intent, who may be armed.
To assume he did would contradict his statements to the 911 operator. Otherwise, how could he ensure the guy (Martin) wasn’t going to get away, if Zimmerman kept himself at the level of observation. Martin could have just hopped a fence and Zimmerman would have let him get away, so Zimmerman could not have kept himself at the level of observation, yet not let him get away.
“I think the “hoodie” plays a bigger role in this very unfortunate event..”
I don’t own a hoody, but given that it was raining and he had a cell phone earpiece on, I think that it was reasonable for the kid to have the hood on. Not that it matters.
What "facts" support this story, as opposed to an alternate story that Zimmerman approached Martin and became confrontational with him. What evidence is there that Martin initiated the confrontation, as opposed to Zimmerman?
“Following someone and asking them what they are doing is not aggression.”
It is when they are trying to get away from you.
You are changing what he said which in summary was
there is a suspicious individual in the neighborhood. And I am not going to let him get away".
You changing the actual reported conversations is a lie.
So who is the idiot. Are you sure you do not work for the MSM.
Following a suspicious person is not irrational. It is watching out for your community.
A nice summary for you to look at on a different thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2861944/posts?page=47#47
But the practicality of the hoodie, in the given circumstances, should have some bearing on the impression that someone wearing a hoodie can convey. Someone wearing a hoodie over their head/face on a warm & sunny day conveys (or should convey) an entirely different impression than someone wearing a hoodie over their head on a cool & rainy evening. The former may look suspicious; the latter (to me, at least) looks like a guy who doesn't want to get rained on.
No doubt everybody’s psychiatrist would agree with that conclusion.
Add that to the fact Martin had no weapon of any kind and seemed to have merely gone to the 7/11 to buy tea and candy, and there you have it.
Zimmerman did not let Martin get away ~ he went after him with a firearm. He used the firearm.
Florida law does not license folks with guns to hunt down and kill unarmed people.
That’s my general gist of the situation. The fact that Zimmerman got on the losing end of a physical situation didn’t give him the right to pull out a gun and shoot the kid.
BTW: If I see them posting his 13 yr. old pic much longer, I'm gonna scream. They know no bounds in their ideology.
Actually it does. If there was a struggle between the two then Zimmerman acted in self-defense just like he said.
If there was a struggle between the two, Zimmerman was acting in self defense and Martin wasn’t?
Since they both cannot be acting in self defense, I’d be interested in how you determined that Zimmerman is the wronged party?
Both of them have the same rights. If Martin had killed Zimmerman then he would also go free if he claimed Zimmerman attacked him and nobody could prove he didn’t. If Martin planned to stand his ground against the neighborhood watch, maybe he should have been armed too.
To say that they both have the same right as a defender is to place them both also as the aggressor. I don’t recall where a person can simultaneously be considered a perp and a victim. On any charge, it’s either/or.
Just because Zimmerman found himself outmatched doesn’t suddenly make him the victim.
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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.
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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.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2861754/posts?page=46.
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