FBI Releases Report Regarding If Race Was An Issue In George Zimmerman Shooting Of Trayvon Martin

[Dave]

It would seem that Eric Holder, our beloved AG already has one knock against any potential Civil Rights proceedings against George Zimmerman. The Federal Government would need to show that Zimmerman showed some sort of malice or hate toward Trayvon.... it would appear in this report that it would be tough to find such evidence. If this was some sort of local study looking into Zimmerman's race feelings then Holder would probably look over it without any problem but when its coming from the FBI, that's gonna be a hard one not to seriously take a look at.

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The FBI found that because of Trayvon Martin’s hoody, George Zimmerman mistook him for a member of local gangs known as the Goons.

George Zimmerman wasn't a racist, but instead a bit "overzealous" and emboldened by a "little hero complex."

That was the conclusion of the Sanford, Fla., Police Department's lead investigator of Zimmerman's fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, shows an FBI report posted on the Smoking Gun website Monday.

POOL/REUTERS

Sanford police Officer Chris Serino said George Zimmerman’s actions were more motivated by Trayvon Martin’s hoody — and not race.

RELATED: TRAYVON MARTIN SUPPORTERS TAKE TO THE STREETS ACROSS THE U.S.

During an interview with the FBI, Sanford cop Christopher Serino said he'd found no evidence that the fatal encounter between the vigilant neighborhood watchman and unarmed teen was motivated by race.

POOL/REUTERS

Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda uses Sanford police Officer Chris Serino to demonstrate one sceanario of the fight between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin during Zimmerman’s trial.

"Zimmerman's actions were not based on Martin's skin color [BUT]rather based on his attire, the total circumstances of the encounter and the previous burglary suspects in the community," an FBI agent wrote in a report dated March 5, 2012 - a week after Zimmerman, 29, shot Martin, 19.

RELATED: GEORGE ZIMMERMAN WILL GET HIS GUN BACK

Pool/Getty Images

George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder Saturday night in Sanford, Fla.

Serino added that there had been five burglaries in the complex that Zimmerman guarded in the last year and a half. The area had also been plagued by local gangs, referred to as Goons, who dressed in black and wore hoodies.

"When Zimmerman saw Martin in a hoody, Zimmerman took it upon himself to view Martin as acting suspicious," the FBI agent wrote in the report.

Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS

People have rallied nationwide in support of Trayvon Martin, the slain 17-year-old.

PHOTOS: PROTESTS OVER GEORGE ZIMMERMAN VERDICT

Serino even checked with sources in white supremacist groups asking if they knew Zimmerman. But that line of inquiry led nowhere, he said.

Still, Serino couldn't help but note one feeling he got from his many interviews of Zimmerman: "[HIS] story appeared 'scripted' as in Zimmerman knew the right things to say to the police. For example, he said he feared for his life, claimed self-defense, etc."

RELATED: NYC TEEN ENVISIONS CONSTANT DEATH THREAT POST-ZIMMERMAN

Zimmerman, who reportedly now aspires to be a lawyer, was acquitted of second-degree murder of Martin on Saturday. The verdict has triggered protests nationwide and left Zimmerman fearing for his life.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/george-zimmerman-called-ov...

[XLFD]

The article mentions Martin was 17 y.o. and 19 y.o.  I've heard 17 elsewhere, but which is the truth (include citation please)?

[Dave]

I suspect the 19 was a typo.. he was definitely 17 when he was killed.

[easymoney]

White on black murder: who really is killing whom?

by James S. Robbins

Posted: July 15, 2013 10:01 pm

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OUTRAGEOUS

TYPICAL

INSPIRING

ENLIGHTENING

NAACP president Benjamin Jealous said that the verdict in the George Zimmerman case is a sign that African-Americans face “times of great peril.” However, if there is a peril, Mr. Jealous should look to his own community for the cause. Most of the time when a murder victim is black, the perpetrator is not a “creepy ass cracker.”

Mr. Jealous wants people to believe that the isolated incident in Sanford, Florida proves there is an epidemic of white (or white-Hispanic) -on-black violence. He said blacks “feel it every time we see one of our young sons … walk out the door and pull his hoodie up.” But black parents should not primarily be worried about white people gunning down their kids. According to the most recent (2011) FBI statistics, of the 2,695 murders in which the victim was black, 91% were committed by people of the same race. Whites and white-Hispanics were the perpetrator in only 193 (7%) cases. Odds are if the victim was wearing a hoodie, the perp was too.

The same pattern of intra-racial violence holds for whites. Eighty-three percent of white murders in 2011 were within-race killings, and only 14% were black on white. These data tell us that murder in America is decidedly not a matter of racial hatred.

Explicitly racially motivated murders can and do occur. SiriusXM radio host Joe Madison called the killing of Trayvon Martin “nothing more than a modern day lynching.” But racial hate killings are exceedingly rare in this country. According to FBI hate crime statistics, there was only one murder or negligent manslaughter in 2011 that could be traced to anti-black sentiment. Just one. This is not exactly the wave of racial animus some commentators and social activists have warned us about.

But these same activists are spurring a wave of racially-charged violence, justifying it by the Zimmerman verdict. Blacks beat an innocent Hispanic man in Balitmore saying it is “for... Protestors in Los Angeles and Oakland blocked major thoroughfares. Twitter has been buzzing for weeks with people threatening to start riots over the verdict if it didn’t go the way they wanted. If Americans are in great peril it will be because of these hooligans, and the irresponsible race-baiters who cheer them on.