by The Decider for Global Grind Staff
Ben Crump, the lead attorney for the Trayvon Martin family has been fighting from day one to get justice for the 17-year-old high school junior who was shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26th.
In an interview with News 10, Crump stands behind his assessment that the Sanford police treated Trayvon like he was the suspect, as opposed to the victim.
NEW YORK – The father of a black Florida teen killed in February by a neighborhood watch captain says his son’s death shouldn’t be a race issue, and that his family is looking for a peaceful resolution in the case.
Speaking to Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera on his show “Geraldo at Large,” Tracy Martin, father of slain teen Trayvon Martin, said though the family is seeking justice, they are also promoting peace.
“First and foremost, me and my family, as well as my attorneys are promoting non-violence in this issue,” he said. “We just want a peaceful resolution – we’re promoting peace. We’re not responsible for anybody’s actions.”
“AC360°” teams up with a child psychologist to see what factors contribute to children’s opinions on race. Could these same factors have shaped how you view race? Tune in the special report “Kids on Race: The Hidden Truth” all this week on CNN, beginning at 8 p.m. ET today.
(CNN) — Fresh questions emerged Monday as to who can be heard screaming on a 911 call during the confrontation that ended in Trayvon Martin’s death, as well as whether a police detective recommended the arrest of the Florida teen’s shooter — only to be overruled.
George Zimmerman has claimed he fatally shot Martin in self-defense, saying the 17-year-old accosted him after he had called police to report the teenager walking around his Sanford, Florida, neighborhood.
Several neighbors phoned 911 before and after the shooting, with the sound of someone yelling evident on one such call. Authorities have not said definitively if they believe those screams came from Zimmerman, who has told police that Martin had punched him and slammed his head into a sidewalk, or Martin, the teenager who had a bag of Skittles candy and an iced tea at the time of his death.
Audio experts Tom Owen and Ed Primeau, who analyzed the recordings for the Orlando Sentinel using different techniques, told CNN that they don’t believe it’s Zimmerman who can be heard yelling “help” in the background of one 911 call. They compared those screams with Zimmerman’s voice, as recorded in a 911 call he made minutes earlier describing a “suspicious” black male, who ended up being Martin.
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By Michael Isikoff, NBC News
SANFORD, Fla. — FBI agents on Monday were questioning potential witnesses in the Trayvon Martin shooting, confirming to NBC News that the agency had begun a “parallel investigation” that focuses on whether the teen’s civil rights were violated.
Agents are seeking information on George Zimmerman’s background and whether he was racially motivated when he pursued Martin after calling a 911 police dispatcher about his presence in the community, an FBI official told NBC.
The agents were at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, where Martin was shot dead by Zimmerman, the gated community’s neighborhood watch captain.
The state of Florida is conducting its own investigation in the shooting and that one is being overseen by a special prosecutor.