GIRLFRIEND: Rachel Jeantel testifies yesterday about her call with Trayvon Martin. (
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SANFORD, Fla. — A girlfriend who was on the phone with 17-year-old Trayvon Martin moments before he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman testified that she heard the Miami teen shout, “Get off! Get off!” before his telephone went dead.
Rachel Jeantel recounted to jurors at Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial how Martin told her he was being followed by a man as he walked through the Retreat at Twin Lakes town- house complex on his way back from a convenience store to the home of his father’s fiancée.
Jeantel is considered one of the prosecution’s most important witnesses because she was the last person to talk to Martin before his fatal encounter with Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012.
She testified that Martin told her that a “creepy-ass cracker” was following him but that he thought he had evaded him. But she said a short time later, Martin let out a profanity.
Martin said the man was behind him, and Jeantel heard Martin ask: “What are you following me for?”
She then heard what sounded like Martin’s phone drop into the grass and she heard him say, “Get off! Get off!”
The phone then went dead, she said.
Zimmerman, 29, has claimed self-defense, saying he fired after the teen jumped him and slammed his head on the sidewalk.
Jeantel’s testimony came after two former neighbors of Zimmerman testified yesterday about hearing howls and shouts for help in the moments before the shooting.
Jayne Surdyka told the court that immediately before the shooting, she heard an aggressive voice and a softer voice exchanging words.
And Jeannee Manalo testified that she believed Zimmerman was on top of Martin, saying he was the bigger of the two based on pictures she saw of Martin on television after the fight.