Character of Florida shooter pondered

10:18 PM, Mar. 21, 2012  |  

SANFORD, FLA. — George Zimmerman once took criminal justice classes at the community college and was practically a one-man neighborhood watch in his gated part of town, calling police close to 50 times over the past eight years to report such things as slow-driving vehicles, strangers loitering in the neighborhood and open garages.

Now, suddenly, people are wondering if the 28-year-old Zimmerman is an earnest if somewhat zealous young man who was just looking out for his neighborhood, or a wannabe cop who tried to take justice into his own hands.



He has been at the center of a growing furor over vigilantism, self-defense and racial profiling since he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager who was walking through his neighborhood Feb. 26 carrying only a bag of Skittles and an iced tea.   READ MORE

Florida shooting renews debate over 'stand your ground' laws

A Florida law allows people to defend themselves
with violence in many situations.

By Michael Pearson, CNN

updated 9:22 PM EDT, Tue March 20, 2012

 

(CNN) -- In the months after the Florida Legislature passed a law in 2005 allowing residents to use deadly force to protect themselves no matter where they were, gun-control advocates plastered the state with fliers bearing warnings to tourists.

Be careful, the fliers said. Florida had become a "shoot first" state.

The issue has remained in the news, on and off, ever since, but perhaps never so much as now in the aftermath of the shooting death of an unarmed teen in Sanford, Florida.

A neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, has claimed self-defense in the February 26 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed while walking back to the house of his father's fiancee after a trip to a convenience store.

Lawyer: Phone records cut self-defense claim

Florida's "stand your ground" law appears to be central to the case.

The law allows people to use deadly force away from their homes -- where such force has long been allowed -- if they have reasonable fear an assailant could seriously harm them or someone else.

It also eliminates a longstanding "duty to retreat" in the face of imminent harm, asserting that would-be crime victims have the right to "stand their ground" and "meet force with force" when attacked as long as they are in a place they have a right to be, are not engaged in unlawful activity and believe that their life and safety was in danger.

It won with the strong endorsement of the National Rifle Association, or NRA, which at the time said it put the law "on the side of law-abiding citizens."

Justice Department, FBI to probe Florida teen's death

  READ MORE