George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman acquitted in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, was in trouble again Monday, detained by police after he threatened his recently estranged wife and her father with a gun, officials said.
Zimmerman was held for several hours by cops in central Florida after an incident at the home of his in-laws.
He was later allowed to leave without being arrested after Shellie Zimmerman, who last week filed for divorce, declined to press charges, officials said.
Police in Lake Mary, Fla., said they were called to a house on Sprucewood Road after a report that Zimmerman was involved in an altercation.
The home had been Zimmerman’s secret hideaway for more than a year, officials said.
“He is in his car and he continually has his hand on his gun, and he keeps saying, ‘Step closer,’ ” Shellie told a 911 dispatcher.
“He’s just threatening all of us with his firearm, and he’s going to shoot us.”
She later told the dispatcher, “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really scared.”
The home belongs to Shellie Zimmerman’s parents, David and Machelle Dean.
A police spokesman told the Orlando Sentinel that cops were investigating a “possible domestic battery.” He said a gun was present at the home, and police were trying to determine if it was used.
“We’ve only heard one side of the story so far,” Lake Mary Police Chief Steve Bracknell said.
Shellie Zimmerman is asking that her husband pay for a permanent life-insurance policy — with her named as the beneficiary, according to a divorce petition made public last week.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that aired Friday, she said her husband left her with “a bunch of pieces of broken glass” after his acquittal.
She said he had stayed in their house only three or four nights since the murder trial ended in July and they’d tried counseling. But she moved out Aug. 13.
“I have a selfish husband and I think George is all about George,” she said.
Zimmerman’s brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., responded on Twitter: “We’ve learned from GZ case not to ‘jump to conclusions,’ to wait for facts, & to avoid speculation. ‘News’ is a business — not your friend.”
The Zimmermans have been married for six years.