So here's the 911 call of someone by where the shooting took place. The person yelling for help is Martin:
And here's the 911 call of Zimmerman where he says the teen is "suspicious" and "looking at houses", complaining that "these assholes always get away", and confirms he got out of his vehicle to pursue and confront Martin:
Zimmerman also may have said "fucking coons" on the 911 call under his breath, although it's hard to make out. Obviously this hasn't gone to trial yet, but the self-defense claim seems like baloney. Zimmerman was far larger than Martin, was armed, and it's unlikely that Martin would have been screaming for help if he were in the process of endangering Zimmerman's life.
Looking at it as a hate crime at this point doesn't seem so strange. The shooter can be heard saying what sounds like a racial epithet directed toward Martin during the 911 call. If it turns out that the much smaller, unarmed Martin was not in fact a danger to Zimmerman's life, then the motive for the homicide perpetrated could fairly easily be demonstrated to be racial. Zimmerman, they'd say, is a self-empowered community watch person, tired of "those assholes" who always get away, and "fucking coons" walking around looking at houses suspiciously. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands. That's hardly a story that would shock people.
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