Trayvon Martin

On the evening of February 26, 2012, Trayvon Benjamin Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenager, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, in the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community in Sanford, Florida. Martin was unarmed, carrying a bag of Skittles and an Arizona Iced Tea, and was walking back to the home of his father's fiancée after visiting a nearby convenience store.

The case became a defining moment in the national conversation about racial profiling, gun violence, stand-your-ground laws, and the value of Black lives in America. It preceded and helped lay the groundwork for the Black Lives Matter movement, which was founded in 2013 in direct response to Zimmerman's acquittal.

Trayvon Martin was born on February 5, 1995, in Miami Gardens, Florida, to Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. He was a junior at Dr. Michael M. Krop High School in Miami-Dade County. He was visiting his father's fiancée in Sanford during a school suspension at the time of the shooting.

[George Zimmerman called the Sanford Police Department's non-emergency line at 7:09 p.m. to report a "suspicious" person walking through the neighborhood.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/27/trayvon-martin-shooting-timeline) Zimmerman, who had made at least 46 calls to police regarding suspicious persons in the preceding years, told the dispatcher: "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something." When the dispatcher asked if he was following Martin, Zimmerman confirmed he was. The dispatcher told him: "We don't need you to do that."

What happened next was the subject of intense dispute. Zimmerman claimed that Martin confronted him, punched him in the nose, and repeatedly slammed his head against the concrete sidewalk, and that he shot Martin in self-defense. There were no other eyewitnesses to the initial confrontation. A witness reported seeing two people on the ground, with one on top. Zimmerman had injuries to his nose and the back of his head consistent with his account, though medical testimony at trial indicated the injuries were not severe.

The Sanford Police Department did not arrest Zimmerman, accepting his claim of self-defense under Florida's stand-your-ground law, which provides immunity from prosecution for individuals who use deadly force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm. The decision not to charge Zimmerman provoked national outrage.

Martin's parents and their attorney, Benjamin Crump, launched a public campaign demanding Zimmerman's arrest. A petition on Change.org collected over two million signatures. [President Barack Obama addressed the case, stating: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon/) Rallies and demonstrations were held across the country.

On April 11, 2012, after the appointment of special prosecutor Angela Corey, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder.

The shooting of Trayvon Martin became a cultural touchstone that exposed deep divisions in American society regarding race, policing, and the right to self-defense.

George Zimmerman's trial began on June 10, 2013, in Seminole County Circuit Court before Judge Debra Nelson. The prosecution, led by Assistant State Attorneys Bernie de la Rionda and John Guy, argued that Zimmerman had profiled, pursued, and confronted Martin, and that Zimmerman was the aggressor in the encounter.

The defense, led by attorneys Mark O'Mara and Don West, argued self-defense, presenting evidence of Zimmerman's injuries and testimony that Martin was on top of Zimmerman during the physical altercation. The defense did not invoke the stand-your-ground immunity hearing, instead proceeding to trial with a traditional self-defense argument.

[On July 13, 2013, after approximately sixteen hours of deliberation, the jury of six women found Zimmerman not guilty of both second-degree murder and the lesser included offense of manslaughter.](https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial/index.html)

[The verdict sparked protests in cities across the United States. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was created by activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/03/black-lives-matter-history/), growing into one of the most significant social movements of the twenty-first century.

In 2012, Martin's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Retreat at Twin Lakes homeowners' association, which was settled for a reported one million dollars. No civil suit was filed directly against Zimmerman.

[The Department of Justice conducted a separate federal investigation into whether Zimmerman violated Martin's civil rights but announced in February 2015 that it would not bring federal charges](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/02/24/388827555/justice-department-closes-civil-rights-probe-into-trayvon-martin-shooting), stating there was insufficient evidence to prove racial motivation beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case led to nationwide scrutiny of stand-your-ground laws, with opponents arguing that such statutes disproportionately enable violence against Black individuals.