Florida “Entrepreneur” Sells Out of Gun Range Targets Meant to Resemble Trayvon Martin

A Florida man sold out of gun range targets featuring a faceless, hoodie wearing figure holding an iced tea and a bag of Skittles obviously meant to represent Trayvon Martin.

“The response is overwhelming,” the seller told Orlando’s WKMG news team over e-mail. “I sold out in two days.” The station did not identify the seller, and said the ad was on a popular firearms auctioning website.

Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, was shot and killed by self appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman as he returned to his father’s girlfriend’s house from a convenience store. Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles, a can of iced tea, and his wallet. The shooting, and the local police’s handling of it, have sparked national protests as well reignited the conversations revolving around racial profiling and gun laws.

The seller said that that his “main motivation was to make money off the controversy.”  and that he was a supporter of Zimmerman, who he thinks “is innocent and that he shot a thug.”

Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney, told the news station that he felt the targets were offensive. “This is the highest level of disgust and the lowest level of civility,” O’Mara said. “It’s this type of hatred — that’s what this is, it’s hate-mongering — that’s going to make it more difficult to try this case.”

Armed Neo-Nazis Patrolling Sanford, Say They Are “Prepared” For Post-Trayvon Martin Violence

Neo-Nazis are conducting armed patrols in and around Sanford, Florida in preparation for any race riots that may occur over the Trayvon Martin case. The patrols are to protect “white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety” says Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement.

“We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it,” he says. “We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over.”

The New Black Panther Party recently offered $10,000 for a citizens’ arrest of George Zimmerman, Martin’s shooter. Schoep said the bounty is a sign that “the possibility of further racial violence is brimming over like a powder keg ready to explode into the streets.”

The patrols are comprised of between 10 and 20 locals and “volunteers” from across the state. He wouldn’t go into specifics on what kind of weapons the patrols were carrying.

“In Arizona the guys can walk around with assault weapons and that’s totally legal,” Schoep said, referring to the group’s patrols of the US-Mexico border. “What I can tell you is that any patrols that we are doing now in Florida are totally within the law.”

Asked if the patrols wouldn’t just make things worse, Schoep insisted they were simply a “show of solidarity with the white community down there” and “wouldn’t intimidate anybody.”

“Whenever there is one of these racially charged events, Al Sharpton goes wherever blacks need him,” Schoep said. “We do similar things. We are a white civil rights organization.”

Schoep said the NSM and the Black Panthers are actually alike in that they are both racial separatists, but sees a double-standard in the government’s treatment of the two groups.

“The Black Panthers have been offering bounties and all that,” he says. “But if we called for a bounty on someone’s head, I guarantee we’d be locked up as quick as I could walk out of my house.”

Schoep was also quick to clarify that he isn’t taking sides in Trayvon Martin’s controversial shooting. “That’s for the courts to decide,” he says. Besides, Schoep says, Zimmerman’s not even white.

“I think there is some confusion going on,” Schoep says. “A lot of people think that this guy who shot Trayvon was white… but he’s half Hispanic or Cuban or something. He certainly doesn’t look white to me.”

To some, armed patrols of Neo-Nazis seems like a sure way to incite, not prevent, a race riot. But Schoep doesn’t believe that is the case.

“We don’t wish for things like that,” he says. “But there have been race riots in Detroit and L.A… So we know those types of things happen.”

“You can either be prepared or you can be blindsided,” he adds. “This way, if something were to touch off a race riot, we’d already be in the area.”

Expert Analysis Says It’s Not Zimmerman Screaming for Help on 911 Call

A couple of the leading experts in the field of forensic voice identification have answered one of the many questions surrounding the Trayvon Martin shooting. Who was it exactly heard screaming for help on the 911 call recording.

Tom Owen, forensic consultant for Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, used voice identification software to come to the conclusion that it was not Zimmerman screaming for help. Another expert, also contacted by the Orlando Sentinel, utilizing different techniques, came up with the same results.

On a rainy night in late February, a woman called 911 to report someone crying out for help in her gated Sanford community, Retreat at Twin Lakes.

Though several of her neighbors eventually called authorities, she phoned early enough for dispatchers to hear and record the panicked cries and the gunshot that took Trayvon Martin’s life.

Zimmerman claims self-defense in the shooting death of Martin and told police he was the one screaming for help.

Owen, a court-qualified expert witness and former chief engineer for the New York Public Library’s Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, is an authority on biometric voice analysis, a computerized process comparing attributes of voices to determine whether they match.

After the Sentinel contacted Owen, he used software called Easy Voice Biometrics to compare Zimmerman’s voice to the 911 call screams.

“I took all of the screams and put those together, and cut out everything else,” Owen says.

The software compared that audio to Zimmerman’s voice, which came back a 48 percent match. In order to obtain a positive match results would have to be higher than 90 percent.

“As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it’s not Zimmerman,” said Owen, but he cannot confirm the voice as Trayvon’s because he didn’t have a sample of the teen’s voice to compare.

The technology Owen used to analyze the recording has been utilized for national security and international policing, he said. In January, Owen used the same technology to identify accused murderer Sheila Davalloo in a 911 call made almost a decade ago.

Davalloo was accused of stabbing another woman nine times in a condo in Shippan, Conn.

She was convicted.

Owen says the quality of the audio in the Zimmerman case is much better than the 911 call in the Davalloo case. Voice identification experts judge the quality based on a signal-to-noise ratio, comparing the usable audio in a clip to the environmental noises that make a match difficult.

“In our world, that’s the home run,” he says.

Ed Primeau, a Michigan-based audio engineer and forensics expert, is not a believer in the technology’s use in courtroom settings.

He relies instead on audio enhancement and human analysis based on forensic experience. After listening closely to the 911 tape on which the screams are heard, Primeau came to the same conclusion as Owen.

“I believe that’s Trayvon Martin in the background, without a doubt,” Primeau says, stressing that the tone of the voice is a giveaway. “That’s a young man screaming.”

Police Video Shows No Visible Injuries on Zimmerman After Trayvon Martin Shooting

Surveillance video footage of George Zimmerman being led from a police car shortly after he fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin does not appear to show any injuries or bloodstains, but his attorney says the video is too grainy to be revealing.

The footage, obtained by ABC News on Wednesday, shows a handcuffed Zimmerman getting out of the police car unaided and walking into the police station where he was taken after the shooting in Sanford, Fla.

It was taken about four hours after the deadly incident.

There are no visible signs of injuries to Zimmerman’s head or blood on his clothes. However, he is wearing a red jacket, which could obscure blood stains. Zimmerman claims Martin broke his nose and slammed his head several times into the ground. He was treated by EMS at the scene but did not go to the hospital.

 

Congressman Removed From House Chamber for Wearing Hoodie in Trayvon Martin Tribute

Showing his support for the growing movement surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) was escorted out of the House chamber after taking off his suit jacket and revealing that he was wearing a hoodie during a speech in tribute to Martin.

Wearing a hood or hat while the House is in session is against House rules.

“Racial profiling has to stop Mr. Speaker,” Rush said while taking off his suit jacket, “Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum.”

George Zimmerman, a self-appopinted neighborhood watch official, admitted to shooting Martin last month. Zimmerman’s representatives say he acted in self-defense, but the incident has sparked various protests due to allegations of racial profiling and the local police’s handling of the investigation.

The Congressional Black Caucus were the first to call for a federal investigation into the case; President Obama and a number of top Republicans eventually lent their support to such action.

Rush continued his speech while the presiding officer, Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS), repeatedly banged the gavel and told Rush to leave the chamber. Rush ignored Harper and continued speaking, a representative from the Sergeant at Arms office approached Rush and walked out with the Congressman.

Martin’s parents were on Capitol Hill Tuesday to attend a briefing with Congressional Democrats to discuss hate crimes in America. The two testified briefly, thanking members of Congress for their support and calling for the arrest of Zimmerman.

Trayvon Martin’s Mother Files for TradeMark’s of Son’s Name

Trayvon Martin’s mother has filed two applications for trademarks of two phrases containing her late son’s name, records show.

Sabrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon,” according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Fulton is seeking the trademarks for use on digital materials such as CDs and DVDs featuring “Trayvon Martin” as well as other products.

Each USPTO application cost $325 and were filed by an Orlando, Florida law firm representing Fulton.

Martin, 17, was shot to death last month by self appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. Martin was walking to his father’s home in Sanford, Florida when he was confronted by Zimmerman after Zimmerman followed him and called 911 reporting the teen for what he described as suspicious behavior. Zimmerman claims that Martin attacked him and he shot him in self-defense.

Gingrich: “Obama’s comments on Trayvon Martin killing are disgraceful”

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said President Obama’s comments about the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin were “disgraceful.”

Martin was gunned down on Feb. 26, by self-identified volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. The killing has sparked protests around the country and reignited the debate over race in America.

In his remarks on the case to reporters Friday, Obama said hoped to see the case investigated properly because “if I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.“

In an interview with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity, Gingrich said he was disturbed by Obama’s comments about race.

“What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful,” Gingrich told Hannity. “It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period.”

“We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background,” Gingrich said of the case. “Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot, that would be OK because it didn’t look like him. That’s just nonsense dividing this country up.”

Gingrich added that he thought it was a “tragedy” that Martin was shot, but he said his sadness about the case had nothing to do with Martin’s race.

“It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian American of if he’d been a Native American,” he said. “At some point, we ought to talk about being Americans. When things go wrong to an American, it is sad for all Americans. Trying to turn it into a racial issue is fundamentally wrong. I really find it appalling.”

 

First Officer to Arrive at Scene of Trayvon martin’s Death, Was Involved in Previous Cover-up

It has been revealed that the first officer, Sergeant Anthony Raimondo, to arrive on the scene of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin was also involved in a police cover-up in 2010. Raimondo was at the center of a controversy surrounding Justin Collison, the son of a Sanford police lieutenant and part of a prominent family, who punched a homeless black man, Sherman Ware, but was not arrested.

Raimondo was the patrol sergeant in charge on the night Collison, who is white, was detained. Raimondo chose not to press charges against Collison at the behest of his superiors.

A video of Collison punching Ware from behind and driving his face into a pole, breaking his nose, was posted on YouTube. Sanford police had this video in their possession but no charges were filed against Collison until local news outlets exposed the cover-up.

One month later, mounting pressure led to Collison’s arrest. He was charged with felony battery, disorderly conduct, and made to pay restitution to Ware for medical bills and personal damages. Collison also made donations to area non-profits at Ware’s request, as part of his compensation.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation into the conduct of the nine officers on duty the night Collison was released without being charged. Ultimately, the scandal led to the retirement of former Sanford Police Chief Brian Tooley.

Currently Raimondo has three validated complaints against him and another one pending.

 

Justice Department, FBI Investigating Shooting Death of Trayvon Martin

Amidst growing public outrage, the Justice Department and the FBI have begun an investigation into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teen, by a neighborhood watch captain who local police declined to arrest.

More than 435,000 people, including celebrities such as movie director Spike Lee and musician Wyclef Jean, signed a petition on Change.org, a social action website, calling for the arrest of the shooter, George Zimmerman.

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The shooting occurred on February 26 when Zimmerman spotted Martin walking home from buying candy and iced tea at a convenience store.

Zimmerman, patrolling the neighborhood in his car, called the 911 and reported “a real suspicious guy.”

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about,” Zimmerman told dispatchers, adding, “These @!$%#s. They always get away.”

The dispatcher, hearing heavy breathing on the phone, asked Zimmerman: “Are you following him?”

“Yeah,” Zimmerman said.

“Okay, we don’t need you to do that,” the dispatcher responded.

Several neighbors subsequently called 911 and reported a scuffle between Zimmerman and Martin. While some of the callers were still on the phone, cries for help were heard followed by a gunshot in the background.

“I recognized that (voice) as my baby screaming for help before his life was taken,” Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told Reuters.

“(Zimmerman) was reacting to the color of his skin,’’ Fulton, said Monday on NBC’s Today show. “He committed no crime. My son wasn’t doing anything but walking on the sidewalk, and I just don’t understand why this situation got out of control.’’

Police declined to arrest Zimmerman. Prosecutors are reviewing it. Police cited Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, enacted in 2005. The Florida law allows a potential crime victim who is “in fear of great bodily injury” to use deadly force in public places.

Ben Crump, the victim’s family lawyer, said Zimmerman should not be protected under the Stand Your Ground law. “It’s illogical, you can claim self defense after you chase and pursue somebody,” he said. “That’s a courtroom defense. That’s not something the police accept on the side of the street.”

Five years after Florida’s Stand Your Ground law was enacted, a 2010 review by the St. Petersburg Times found that reports of justifiable homicides had tripled, and a majority of cases were excused by prosecutors or the courts.