An alleged eyewitness is backing the 28-year-old gunman at the center of a national firestorm.
A person named “John” told a Fox affiliate in Orlando that he saw an altercation unfold between George Zimmerman and 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, whom he shot and killed on Feb. 26.
Police said Zimmerman called 911 and described Martin as “suspicious.” The two scuffled, and Trayvon wound up dead from a single bullet from Zimmerman’s licensed 9mm semiautomatic, authorities say.
“The guy on the bottom, who I believe had a red sweater on, was yelling to me, ‘Help, help.’ I told him to stop, I was calling 911,” John told the TV station. Zimmerman was wearing red.
“When I got upstairs and looked down, the person that was on top beating up the other guy was laying in the grass. And I believe he was dead at that point,” the eyewitness claimed.
Zimmerman has claimed he acted in self-defense, though he was the one following Trayvon. He has not been charged and has been in hiding since the shooting.
Trayvon’s friends have said the teen was not violent and they could never imagine him getting into a fight.
Zimmerman’s family said race had nothing to do with the incident.
“Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have used this tragedy to further their own causes and agendas,” Zimmerman’s father, George, a retired judge, wrote in the Orlando Sentinel.