George Zimmerman Recounts Trayvon Martin Killing: 'I Didn't Think I Shot Him' (VIDEOS)
George Zimmerman was videotaped reenacting the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin just hours after it happened, and the tape was released to the media recently. Zimmerman recounted exactly what happened, giving new details to the ongoing case.
George Zimmerman's first claim had to do with the dispatcher, who said "we don't need you to do that" when he told the person he had been following Trayvon. In the video, he claimed to have lost sight of the 17-year-old, and was instead walking across the Sanford, Fla. neighborhood to rendezvous with police.
Soon after that, Zimmerman claimed he was ambushed by an angry, aggressive, and violent Trayvon.
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"He said 'You got a problem now.' And then he was here, and then he punched me in the face," Zimmerman told police in the video. The 28-year-old also claimed he tried to escape Martin, but that the teen overpowered him, and dragged him to the ground.
"I started screaming, 'Help, help!' as loud as I could," said Zimmerman, seemingly going back to still-fresh incident. The tussle, he said, began with Martin on top of him, beating him with his fists and banging his head on the ground.
"My body was on the grass, my head was on the cement. … He just kept slamming me and slamming me," said the neighborhood watch leader. "It felt like my head was gonna explode."
When Martin's body was examined by coroners later, they would find only one abrasion on his left ring finger below the knuckle, according to reports.
Then, Zimmerman foggily remembered an eyewitness who came outside to see what happened, and could not recall whether or not the person called 911. Soon, his attention was diverted, however, as he claimed Martin saw his gun, and reached for it.
"You're gonna die tonight, mother-----" Martin swore, according to Zimmerman's account. After that, though, things again get fuzzy. The man said he shot Trayvon once, who then said something to the effect of "you got me."
"I didn't think I [shot] him," Zimmerman claimed.
A later autopsy of Martin's body would show that the bullet of Zimmerman's gun pierced both the teen's lung and lodged in his heart simultaneously.
From there, Zimmerman also couldn't remember how he got on top of him, but he did admit to restraining him because he didn't know he shot Trayvon.
After the approximately 15-minute explanation in the video, officers said they had no more questions for Zimmerman.
Currently, Zimmerman is being held in custody. His second bond hearing is June 29.
