Joseffy, here's my theory on what happened.
Neighborhood watch vigilante with a gun is pissed off about a rash of unsolved crimes. He sees a black kid in a hoodie, which automatically registers "drugged-out gangsta" in his mind.
He starts trailing him, calling 911 and all that. 911 tells him not to follow, but no way is the vigilante going to let this one get away, so he disregards what 911 told him to do.
Vigilante gets out of his car and confronts Trayvon. Whether the vigilante approached Trayvon first, or whether Trayvon noticed first that he was being followed and goes up to the car, I can't say. Heated words are exchanged, and a fight breaks out. Too bad for Trayvon, he brought Skittles to a gun fight, and now he's the one shot.
Cops come and take statements. They can't identify the victim yet, so they call him "John Doe." They take statements from Zimmerman (the vigilante) and nearby witnesses. They all seem to support Zimmerman's story of self-defense. The victim wasn't armed, but that doesn't preclude the possibility of him being a mugger.
Much later, they finally identify the victim as Trayvon Martin. No criminal record and nothing to support the notion that he was wandering in the neighborhood looking for trouble. That was the point where police should have doubted Zimmerman's self-defense story and opened up an investigation. But from what I've read, they didn't bother for days.
That's the part I have trouble with. That and, of course, the notion of neighborhood watch people being overzealous and trying to act like cops themselves. Neighborhood watch is meant to "observe and report," not act like the Wild West.
In any case, that's my opinion, and I reserve the right to change it and change it often.
Tenchusatsu |
