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.”
Rambo was a vet looking up his old squad mates when a out of control local police force decided to “make an example” of him. His actions may have appeared, to an outside observer, to be wildly out of control, but from someone reading the book, they had it coming.
That'd been the end of that as well as Br'r Zimmerman's little reign of terror.
Alas, we are talking about a 17 year old kid buying Skittles and tea ~ not a hardened, experienced person who does not trust ANYONE following him down the street in a car ~ NO ONE!@
I think Zimmerman is toast. He was stalking his victim. Encountered him. Shot him. The rest of it is just window dressing.
To Main Stream Media,George Zimmerman is Hispanic
By Angel, on March 21st, 2012
George Zimmerman the man who shot the young teen Trayvon Martin in Florida well likely face manslaughter charges rather than first or second degree murder, due to a Florida law that is called “Stand Your Ground’....
http://pushbacknow.net/2012/03/21/to-main-stream-mediageorge-zimmerman-is-hispanic/
The standards in the law are pretty specific.
In the ensuing struggle, you are on top of the guy pummeling him. You get off and start walking away, but decide to come back and kick him in the head a few more times. Instead, you take a 9mm round to the chest and die...
Yep. Perfectly lawful. On Zimmerman's part.
I disagree. Zimmerman had every right as a member of the neighboorhood watch to follow someone he thought was acting suspicously in his neighborhood. If the suspicous person then turns and assaults him of course he has the right to defend himself. I’m not sure where your strongly held “feelings” come from, but it doesn’t appear to be based on the known facts of the case.
In a news report on Fox News this morning, Zimmerman was identified as “white.”
He’s Hispanic according to his Father. Who’d know better? The Media or his Progenitor?
1. After Zimmerman called 911 and described the location, description and activity, he should have waited for police. Neighborhood Watch or not, the responsibility is report and observe.
2. Leaving his vehicle put him in the position of aggressor. If no crime was in progress or witnessed, he had no business initiating a confrontation.
3. The evidence will produce the facts, however, the tapes, and Zimmerman ignoring the 911 operator NOT to follow, is going to get Zimmerman a Manslaughter charge at the least.
The 'stand your ground' laws in FL are not a license to act on your own, UNLESS your life or the life of others is in immediate danger. Intiating the confrontation, and some of the things Zimmerman says on the tapes show he was looking for trouble and pushed this.
He was unarmed.
The law said he could use LETHAL FORCE only if he felt in fear of his life, and, lo and behold when he was accosted by an armed Hispanic male on a dark rainy night he would certainly have been allowed by Florida law to KILL Zimmerman.
No doubt you'd had your pistol out and would have been pumping round after round into Zimmerman if you'd been put in the same position.
BTW, that law does not say that ONLY the guy with the gun has the right of self-defense.
Fox is funny. They think Juan Williams is white too!
He was there lawfully and doing nothing unlawfully. He was unarmed. He was a minor.
You do not have a license to track down and kill people on an imagined trespass.
BTW, if you want to use Florida trespass law to cover what Zimmerman did, you will first have to demonstrate that he has some property right there where he killed the kid (not just that he's a member of some neighborhood watch somewhere). That law allows you to call the cops.
You can, in fact, evict someone from a trespass on a permanent basis just by telling them to get out. On the other hand, if they were invited there you can't actually do that, so trespass doesn't count.
Neither does "stand your ground". If you invite them in you can't shoot them just for the heck of it.
You can read all about Florida law on the net. Look up Florida Tresspass Statutes, Florida Self Defense statutes, Florida Stand your Ground statute, Florida this and that and other things laws.
None of them say you can walk up to an unarmed person who is not knowingly violating any law and shoot them. On the other hand those same laws say that they can physically assault you to defend their life against a perceived or believed threat.
You really have to look at each party and see how the law applies.
Maybe they know something the MSM isn't reporting?
That is wannabe behavior to the max. He wanted to be important. He wasn't. He wanted to help the Police, he didn't.
He got himself into a confrontation with an unarmed and innocent 17 year old eating CANDY - and then thought the skinny kid who he outweighed significantly was a threat to his life - so he killed him.
If the skinny kid was a threat to the fat wannabe’s life - he shouldn't have continued chasing him down and harassing him for being black, and thus “suspicious” to the wannabe.
Maybe he rounded Cape Horn under sail.
Yeah 911 knows everything. Police are there to write reports if they show up. The police are not there to protect you or your community.
There are people (we call them leftwingtards) who really do believe the “stand your ground” law allows an armed assailant to shoot and kill an unarmed victim ~ and walk away from the crime.
"No doubt you'd had your pistol out and would have been pumping round after round into Zimmerman if you'd been put in the same position"
Stick to making wild unfounded accusations toward news stories rather than to fellow freepers. Unlike the individuals in this story I am able to refute you.
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