Florida Shotting Nataion Wide

[Hot Wing]

Florida shooting raises question: vigilante or good neighbor?
By Mike Schneider / The Associated Press
Published: March 22. 2012 4:00AM PST advertisement: 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.

Zimmerman, a light-skinned Hispanic, has claimed self-defense in the slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and has not been charged, but many black leaders are demanding his arrest, and state and federal authorities are investigating. Florida’s Stand Your Ground law on self-defense gives people wide latitude to use deadly force.

Attorneys for Martin’s parents say Zimmerman is a “loose cannon.”

“He’s a wannabe police officer,” lawyer Benjamin Crump said. “Why did he have a gun?”

But some neighbors welcomed his vigilance, at least before the shooting.

Samantha Leigh Hamilton, an auto-dealership employee who has lived on Zimmerman’s street for about a year, said that she once left her garage door up and Zimmerman noticed it while out walking his dog. He notified another neighbor, who


This is a real mess .

Left wing press going nuts on this .

I dont think this is a good shoot at this point .

Thouhts please

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[zonker1986]

neighborhood watch in Florida is the eyes and ears of the LEO.....not judge, Jury and executioner. This man has done more harm to the good that neighborhood watch programs do than can
ever be recovered. He has once again given the ant's ammo against those of us that responsibly carry a firearm for self defense every day.

I was recently a member of a neighborhood watch team south of Orlando.

1. No firearms allowed while working for the neighborhood watch.
2. If you see suspicious activity, call LEO and wait for them to do their job.
3. Never, ever confront or try to detain an individul. Not a licensed LEO and have no right to do so as a neighborhood watch anything.

Obviously, Zimmerman failed to obey the simple rules of being part of a neighborhood watch, and in the long run, he is going to pay. 911 tapes are showing that this shooting did not need to take place, and is going to fall on Zimmermans shoulders, and my guess is at least a manslaughter charge. The Sanford, FL PD totally screwed the investigation from the beginning, and heads will roll at this department as a result.

[JD]

Multiple threads running on this all ready.
Zimmerman: Self defense or murder?
First salvo at the “Stand Your Ground” law.