George Zimmerman injured in 'road rage' shooting

George Zimmerman suffered a minor facial wound during a road rage incident in an Orlando, Fla., suburb Monday, according to media reports. 

The man who called 911 to report he was involved in a shooting with George Zimmerman appears to be the same person involved in a road rage incident with the former neighborhood watch volunteer last year.

Lake Mary Police Officer Bianca Gillett said during a news conference Monday that Matthew Apperson called 911 to report the shooting. She said Zimmerman was not the shooter.

Last September, Apperson said Zimmerman threatened to kill him, asking "Do you know who I am?" during a confrontation in their vehicles. Apperson decided not to pursue charges, and police officers were unable to move forward without a car tag identified or witnesses.

A bullet missed Zimmerman's head, but he wasn't seriously hurt, his attorney said.

In the latest of a string of incidents since he was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman was sprayed with glass from his vehicle's windshield and other debris in the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary, said the attorney, Don West.

"His injuries would be considered minor," West said. "The bullet missed his head. I think it broke a window and lodged in his vehicle."

Zimmerman was released from a hospital.

West said before the news conference that Zimmerman thought he knew who was responsible for the shooting and is cooperating with authorities.

Zimmerman was acquitted in the 2013 killing of Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in a case that sparked protests and national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later announced it was not bringing a civil rights case against Zimmerman.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported:

Zimmerman encountered the 17-year-old on a rainy February evening and, suspecting him of being a criminal, pursued him into the back of a darkened condo complex. When Trayvon punched and straddled him, Zimmerman pulled out his gun and shot the teenager once in the chest, killing him. A state-appointed prosecutor later indicted Zimmerman, and a year later a six-person jury acquitted him on self-defense grounds.

Zimmerman’s act and trial raised questions in America about liberalized self-defense laws that critics say seem to allow vigilantism against young black men.

But for many in the gun community, Zimmerman had done nothing wrong, and had, in fact, become a poster boy for the responsible but beleaguered gun owner protecting his neighborhood, and himself, under the law. Last March, he drew well-wishers to an autograph signing at an Orlando gun show, and in 2013 he toured a factory of the gunmaker that made the pistol he used to kill Martin.

Since then, Zimmerman has had several brushes with the law, including:

— He was charged with aggravated assault after being accused of throwing a wine bottle at an ex-girlfriend, Brittany Brunelle. The case was dropped in January after she recanted her story and refused to cooperate.

— Following another domestic confrontation, he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief after his then-girlfriend said he pointed a gun at her face during an argument, smashed her coffee table and pushed her out of the house they shared. Samantha Scheibe decided not to cooperate with detectives, and prosecutors didn't pursue the case.

— Zimmerman was accused by his estranged wife of smashing an iPad during an argument at the home they had shared. Shellie Zimmerman initially told a dispatcher her husband had a gun, though she later said he was unarmed. No charges were filed because of a lack of evidence. The dispute occurred days after Shellie Zimmerman filed divorce papers.

___

Schneider reported from Orlando. Curt Anderson contributed from Miami.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to George Zimmerman injured in 'road rage' shooting
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0511/George-Zimmerman-injured-in-road-rage-shooting
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe