Timeline of a Murder
July 14, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From 6:54 pm to 7:12 pm on February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was on the phone with Rachel Jeantel, a friend in Miami, as he walked to his father's home in Sanford, Florida, where he was staying. Trayvon was carrying candy and a soft drink. Their call was dropped after 18 minutes, and they began trying to reconnect.
At 7:09:34 pm, George Zimmerman called Sanford police and told them he saw someone acting “real suspicious”—this person was Trayvon Martin, who had entered the neighborhood where his father lived. Two and a half minutes into the call, Zimmerman told the police dispatcher that the person he saw was “running.” He is asked if he's following the person, and replies that he is. The dispatcher says “we don't need you to do that,” and that police were on the way. Zimmerman replies “OK,” but continues to follow Trayvon. He told the dispatcher the person he saw was a “fucking punk,” and said “these assholes, they always get away.”
Between 7:12 and 7:13, Rachel Jeantel and Trayvon were able to reconnect their call. Rachel testified in court that during this call Trayvon told her he was being stalked by a strange man—a “creepy-ass cracker,” as she said Trayvon called him. She told the court that Trayvon told her he was going home, and never said he was going to confront the man following him.
Shortly after 7:13, Zimmerman told the dispatcher he didn't know where Trayvon was; at 7:13:41, the call was ended. Zimmerman got out of his vehicle in pursuit of his “suspect,” despite instructions not to. He was carrying a loaded 9mm handgun. Zimmerman gave purposely misleading information to the dispatcher. Zimmerman claimed he didn't know what street he was on, despite the fact that there are only three streets in the closed-in community for which he was neighborhood watch captain. He also said he couldn't find a street number, despite the fact that he was only feet from a building with a street address lit up by a house light. Finally, he told the police just to call him when they arrived.
Between 7:16 and 7:17, Trayvon told Rachel Jeantel that he was still being followed. She testified in court that Trayvon told her he was being followed, and continued, “He said the man kept watching him. He kept complaining that a man was just watching him.” Rachel said she advised Trayvon to run. He replied he was walking fast. Rachel said the last thing she heard Trayvon say was “get off, get off.” Then their connection cut off. Rachel Jeantel, as she told the court, was the last person to speak to Trayvon Martin.
At 7:16:11, a woman in the neighborhood made the first call to 911, reporting that she heard a fight. A voice is heard screaming for help on the recording.
At 7:16:55 a gunshot is heard on a 911 call.
At 7:17:40, the first officer of the Sanford Police Department arrived at the scene. Trayvon Martin was lying face down on the ground, bleeding to death from the one blast from George Zimmerman that tore Trayvon's heart open.
More police soon arrived. The dead body of Trayvon Martin was tested for drugs; Zimmerman never was. Zimmerman was taken into police custody and questioned by Doris Singleton, who failed to make a video recording of his testimony. Zimmerman referred to Trayvon Martin—an unarmed 17-year-old carrying candy and a soft drink—as “the suspect” in his first statement to the police. And on this, he was never questioned. Why did Zimmerman think Trayvon was a “suspect”? No crime had been reported, or in fact committed—what was he supposedly a “suspect” for? Zimmerman also told another cop who questioned him that the voice on the 911 call “doesn't even sound like me,” although he claimed he was yelling for help.
About five hours after he shot and murdered Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman was released by Sanford police with no charges filed. The next morning, Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, was notified that his son had been killed the previous night.
These are facts established by the public record, documented by phone logs and recordings, corroborated by the testimony of key witnesses, in particular Rachel Jeantel. George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin, picked up his gun, got out of his car looking for the “fucking punk” he didn't recognize. Then he found Trayvon, and shot him dead.
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