Did I excuse him? I said I understand his motivation. I also am trying to point out that both people misunderstood the others intention.
Also the fact that Zimmerman had a bloody nose and was bleeding from the back of his head shows that more went down than just a kid getting shot over skittles. But people seem to keep forgetting that fact. Yes I know that profiling is what started the events to take place. But it is not why the boy was shot. Something else happened which is all I was responding to. But sure, we should just ignore the facts of this case because you want this to be about a bigger issue of racial profiling problems in this country. Yes it is a problem but there is more to this case than just that.
I see where you're coming from, but people also seem to be forgettingt:
1) Zimmerman was not an official member of the neighborhood watch.
2) Zimmerman has a past history of aggression, including a domestic dispute with his ex-fiance which resulted in a restraining order being placed on him.
3) A history of calling 911 (46 calls during the course of a single year), with more than just a few of those calls specifically targeting young black males or "strange vehicles" driven by "suspicious" looking people.
4) That Zimmerman's 911 call firmly establishes his confrontational mood. Comments like, "These assholes always get away," and "Fucking >blank<" definitely say to me that he wasn't in the mood to rationally, and reasonably talk this situation out with Trayvon.
5) Zimmerman isn't psychic. He couldn't have possibly known about Trayvon's past any more than Trayvon could have known about Zimmerman being a part of the neighborhood watch.
6) Zimmerman didn't listen to the 911 dispatcher when they told him not to follow the "suspicious" person, and to just meet up with the police. Instead, Zimmerman told them to "have them call me, and I'll tell them where I'm at." Why didn't he stay where he was? Why didn't he just wait until the police showed up, and then pointed in the direction the "suspicious" person went when they arrived?
7) By Zimmerman's own admission, the "suspicious" black kid that "looks like he is up to no good. He is on drugs or something," noticed Zimmerman following him in an SUV and started to run away. I don't know about you, but I've been walking down the street at night on my way home, and I've been unnerved by slowmoving vehicles riding up along beside me while I was walking. It's fricking scary. Thinking back to when I was 17, I would have been scared shitless and apprehensive, and maybe even bolted myself. When you are being followed by a complete stranger, it's completely reasonable for you to flee if you are uncomfortable. That's not the fault of the person being followed. Just because Zimmerman's racial bias made him interpret Trayvon's fleeing as a sign of guilt isn't Trayvon's fault, nor is it justification for Zimmerman pursuing him with his firearm.
8) For a man that felt his life was in danger enough to pull out his gun and shoot an unarmed kid, and that his bloody nose and scratched head were enough to warrant pulling out the gun, he refrained from being admitted to the hospital.
9) Neighborhood Watch members are prohibited from carrying firearms. Even so, Zimmerman was the type who felt the need to be armed at all times. This is, in my opinion, a recipe for trouble. Paranoia and firearms simply don't mix, no matter what side of the gun debate you reside on.
10) If it's true that the fatal altercation happened in between houses, that completely refutes Zimmerman's claim that he was "jumped from behind" by Trayvon while going back to his car. It implies that Zimmerman chased Trayvon through the buildings, and an altercation broke out.
11) Trayvon's girlfriend, who was talking to Trayvon at the time of the incident, claims she heard Zimmerman ask him what he "was doing here," then the call abruptly ended. She called him back, but got no answer. This claim also contradicts Zimmerman's claim of being jumped. He can't be jumped if he was talking to Trayvon.
I think there has been plenty of information concerning the beginning and end of the incident. Some of the in between events are muddied, but that's what a proper police investigation would have uncovered, if the Sandford PD wasn't so quick to chalk it up to "self defense," run drug tests on Trayvon (and not he shooter who killed him), and call it an open and shut case, not even bringing in Zimmerman for questioning.
I may be upset by this situation, but I'm certainly not calling for blood. I think there's plenty for us to go on to draw some reasonable, non-emotionally, or even racially motivated conclusions here. It's ultimately not up for us to decide the fate of Zimmerman, but it's pretty clear where his mindset was at that night (looking at his prior interactions with the police).
Again, I understand what you're saying, but I don't think those that are calling foul on Zimmerman are doing so without plenty of information from various sources (one being Zimmerman himself on the 911 call).
What I'm interested in is learning what Trayvon's 911 call contained. Just the fact that he called 911 himself calls into question Zimmerman's "self defense" claim. I can't remember a time when the aggressor, the person that jumps you from behind to get into a fight, would call 911 before hand...
