George Zimmerman testifies in a Seminole County courtroom on Sept. 13, 2016 during the trial of Matthew Apperson, the man who tried to shoot him last May. (Photo: Red Huber/ Orlando Sentinel)
While on the stand at a jury trial for the man who tried to shoot him, George Zimmerman got into a verbal sparring match with the defense attorney, leading the former neighborhood watch volunteer to condemn the controversial group Black Lives Matter as “terrorists,” The Orlando Sentinel reports.
The attorney for the gunman on trial, Mathew Apperson, asked Zimmerman if he thought that his client was associated with Black Lives Matter.
Zimmerman, the man acquitted for shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin back in 2012, said no, adding, “They are terrorists. I see them as terrorists.”
However, when Zimmerman was selling the gun he used to kill Martin to raise money, he mentioned in an ad post that Apperson was a “BLM sympathizer.”
On the stand, he talked about why he sold the Kel-Tec PF-9.
“I spent $2.5 million defending myself from the prosecution, so if I sold the gun for $250,000 that’s really not making any money,” said Zimmerman.
The strange relationship between Zimmerman and 37-year-old Apperson was marked by several encounters eventually culminating in the shots fired from Apperson’s gun though the window of Zimmerman’s truck while the men were driving on Lake Mary Boulevard on May 11, 2015.
Apperson and Zimmerman’s first encounter was on Sept. 9, 2014, also while the two men were driving down the road in separate vehicles. During this random meeting, from his window, Apperson told Zimmerman that he “should have shot that little black boy.”
Zimmerman responded by saying that the defendant “didn’t know what he’s done for the African-American community.”
Apperson, of Winter Springs, FL, faces multiple charges including attempted second-degree murder with a firearm, shooting into an occupied vehicle and aggravated assault with a firearm. His attorneys claim that he acted in self-defense, and Apperson told investigators that Zimmerman was the one who pulled a gun first.
However, police at the scene said that due to Zimmerman’s illegally tinted windows, it would have been impossible for Apperson to see inside the vehicle. Additionally, police reports said that Apperson was “fixated” with Zimmerman and that he was admitted to a mental health facility in the past.
More details on this bizarre trial in the video below.
If there was ever anyone who needs to pack up everything but his history and move to a remote Island in the Pacific Ocean, it’s George Zimmerman,,,, he’s like OJ, he just can’t stop talking to the media, can’t stop being involved in highly publicized incidents and can’t seem to just “GO AWAY”
Zimmerman was an idiot for starting the confrontation but that doesn’t justify being physically attacked. If Trayvon Martin hard responded verbally instead of physically, he wound still be alive. Good lesson there for young hot heads. Use your words fellas! If you attack someone, you might get shot!
To jzpatrol and others believers. Why anyones comments that still believe two planes took down the twin towers another hit pentagon and still another was heroically crashed into a field in Pa. To propagate a war for economic reasons should be taken seriously is as ridiculous as All those sheeple who believe it. Your rant is ridiculos sir
I personally don’t weigh in on these types of things because if you look at these comments below or above lol, it obviously brings out the ignorance in people. I’m all about free speech, but these people are not terrorists, I DONT AGREE WITH THEM, but everyone in this country has seen what real terrorism is. Has black lives matters shot up a night club? Flew planes into landmarks, murdered innocent people for no reason? No I didn’t think so, and I think that’s insulting as FUCK to all the people who have lost someone they love or lost there life defending us from REAL TERRORISTS. Call them what you will, but let’s not blow things out of proportion. Exercise your freedom of speech intelligently.
To jzpatrol Well ,well ignorance is truly bliss for some and used as excuses by others. To weigh in on BLM, they are not a group of terrorists. That label seems to be thrown around these days like confetti toward anyone or any group whos ideas dont fit the propaganda being spewed forth by the powers that be. As fat as the “terrorist” acts committed on 9/11 its obvious to anyone who researches the evidence and i mean truly researches it , it becomes evident that no plane could have ever taken down the twin towers by themsrlves. Show me the wreckage at pentagon. It is absolutely impossible to fly a jet liner at ground level into the pentagon. Have you ever been to D. C. ? I have and worked there drove by pentagon daily. I have a farm adjacent to the firld in Pa that a jet liner supposedly crashed into also no wreckage but alot of bulshit debris but NO actual plane wreckage SHOW IT TO ME PLEASE. There have been numerous high rises that have burned for more than 24 hours but never collapsed the building research it before eating the garbage put forth by a govt controlled media. Half the execs from major news outlets work directly with the whitehouse how is objectivity obtained from that? Furthermore a consortium of over 600 top mechanical engineers electrical engineers architecs metalurgists ( of which i am) including the architec of the twin towers say it would have been impossible for any one plane to take it down. I know alot of young ppl lost their lives fighting a war that was completly fabricated and more still have been maimed. I had two son in laws and one daughter in that fricked up mess, they didnt come back whole so i have a vested interest in this terrorisst bulshit. In 2001 afghanistans opium production was 11% of worlds supply in 2013 it was 91% of the worlds supply. So i guess in our efforts to eradicate the opium supply that terroists were using to fund their ops we neglected to actually target the opium fields or we ignored them which one i wonder ? Because the media keeps telling us that we are getting the opium fields lol im not a smart man but the one thing i have learned is to not believe a single word spewed forth by the powers i actually look into it myself. Uh have you ever read the entire 9/11 com report ? I have and i also attended the conference which was ignored by the media of the above mentioned professionals to deny the reality put forth by the whitehouse. We better wake up and understand what is actually occuring. We are labeling anyone with radical or opposing views as terrorists ( free speech anyone) and incarcerating them without trial WTF? There was a constructed effort to gain social control due to the events of 9/11 uh patriot act ? the DOD ACT signed at 11:40 pm on new years eve 2011 i suggest that for reading as well. I suggest to my friends to make their own koolade through research into ALL events of today before swallowing the govt provided free koolade. You will be surprised at the knowledge to be obtained if only we all got the FACTS for ourselves instead of acquiring it through govt controlled spittle
One of co-workers sons was stationed in Afghanistan. His duties, “PROTECT” the poppy fields ??????? When he questioned his company commander, Was told that is your duty ?????? When his tour was up, he served Honorably for 8 years, he got out of the army!!!!!
i suggest your frustration snd anger be expressed toward the real problems facing us as a species instead of using colorful metaphors (fuck) and name callung (ignorant, insulting) to express it. Read my second reply sir. Insulting to who you ? I suggest taking some of the time dealing with anger and frustration be spent on FACT FINDING the issues of the day and perhaps that anger and frustration would be exhausted on the real culprits of harm instead of an honest response from a well intentioned individual. Personally i believe zimmerman was wrong in shooting martin and agree with others here that he got an butt kicking from someone who had no weapon and tesponded by killing him. What has transpired since with zimmerman is a result of who he really is not from what happened “to him” if thats true than everyone who has had a bad experience in life ,child abuse,rape, domestic violence hey irs audit ha! should be given a pass on their behavior after their “bad experience”as well. My. Daughter lost a leg in iraq ! My son in law lost one eye and yet another has ptsd from afghan and iraq. I can speak on the truths of war without being told im insulting to anyone.
So, dumb question to the above, why is everyone commenting??????????????????
George Zimmerman started a fight with a kid after being told by the police that they were on the way and to stand down. Then, after taking an ass whipping, Zimmerman murdered this kid. These are the facts and I don’t need to know any other aspects of this case to call this a murder by a vigilante. I don’t care what the kid was, or may have been doing, Zimmerman is not a cop, judge or jury. Did this kid not have the right to stand his ground when being harassed in his own neighborhood? So it’s all hearsay and comes down to who had a gun.
The right to carry for self protection should never give one the right to start a fight and then kill someone when you are loosing. Stand your ground laws should not be an open invatation for vigilantism. I personally will no longer support any origination that supports the actions of George Zimmerman. As this was found to be a legal killing I can no longer support stand your ground, which is unfortunate because I do agree with the intent of the law, if not the actual written law itself.
No one can legislate common sense.
Keep it real. Black Lives Matter protestors are not terrorists. Many American Servicemen died protecting our right to free speech. Let’s honor that right, and these servicemen, even when we don’t agree with what someone is protesting.
Sincerely,
– Deplorable, Irredeemable, Patriotic, Freedom Fighting, Infidel, Tom
WHAT ABOUT HIS RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH NO MATTER IT SOUND TO YOU??????
Say what you like –hes correct on this,they are terrorists and should be rounded up
THEY ARE TERRORISTS!!!! It seems that ALL of them are convicts or al sharpton/jesse jackson wanta bes! If thats not terrorists who is?
“Everyone look at me again! I need attention”
-Zimmerman, paraphrased.
Zimmerman is an idiot. People who love him are idiots also. Trayvon Martin died by his own hands (under Florida Law). That’s what the jury decided (footnote: Floridians also kicked Angela Corey out of office…the prosecutor who should never have brought the case to court).
Why would anyone want to read what Zimmerman has to say. Why not just watch the grass grow instead.
Stop littering our website with coverage of this scum of a person! We are better than this! Though he may share a single thought that some of us support regarding BLM, we shouldn’t be an avenue for such a deplorable person to express his views.
He defended himself!!! FROM A P.O.S. THAT TRYED TO BEAT HIM AND WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE. THAT’S A FACT !
THE COURT A QUITE HIM, THE SCUM IS DEAD , GREAT !
ONE LESS P.O.S….
GET OFF YOUR “HOLDER THAN THOU”ATTITUDE.
YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR NAME TO HILLARY……
PLEASE DO ME JUST ONE FAVOR…WALK THROUGH A
LOW INCOME BLACK PROJECT ABOUT 10 PM
WITHOUT PROTECTION….
Learn to spell!!
i do every night in the streets of brooklyn get off your trump crap people are not dying like you think on are streets
Using all caps. Check.
Misspell a TON of words. Check.
Bring up Hillary or another Liberal’s name (I’m really surprised you didn’t use Obama). Check.
That’s an Ignoramous’ Hat Trick! You are no longer relevant. And not worthy of talking to.
YOU MUST BE A HILLARY SUPPORTER, SINCE ANYONE WITH A DIFFERENT VIEW IS DEPLORABLE.
If this guy was normal, he’d want privacy and he’d avoid these kinds of interviews. It’s unfortunate that, in the United States, justice is financially out of reach for many people. (Maybe a carry-over from the British landed gentry ‘caste system’?) How much did he really spend? How did he afford it? And, how does an interview or news headlines contribute anything but a drop in the bucket to his apparent debt?
The guy’s nuts. And, he’s just feeding the crazy, liberal agenda simply by being alive. He needs to find a safe, comfortable place and stay away from the media.
He is a little right, we have been putting up with the BLM (criminals for to long). His life is ruined for shooting someone in self defense who attacked him, I would probably be a little weird after that also. I agree with some above, I dont know if it belongs on the forum.
Agreed
Everyone keeps forgetting the facts of this case, Zimmerman initiated this confrontation. It’s really easy to say the kid attacked him when the kid is unable to tell his side of the story because he was murdered. The police told Zimmerman they were on the way and not to confront the boy, Zimmerman took it upon himself to start trouble. Who can say how it went from there, the kid obviously got the upper hand but the fact is Zimmerman started it. Stand your ground should NOT mean start a fight then kill someone when you are losing. Unfortunately according to Florida law that’s ok.
I am bit confused as to why you are giving this murderer a forum. He is a useless piece of crap whose only claim to fame is that he murdered a young black man. Joe has no credentials no value and yet he wastes valuable space on this page.
And oh to those who say the courts acquitted this a**hole – the courts also acquitted OJ. They were wrong in both cases.
George Zimmerman did not murder anyone. Trayvon Martin left him with no choice but to use deadly force in order to protect himself from Trayvon’s attack.
Has Zimmerman murdered someone, he would be sitting in prison. The jury heard the evidence and rendered its verdict: not guilty of the charge of murder.
George is RIGHT !!! He’s always been right. I don’t mind him getting press coverage at all.
Repeal the full-auto ban of 1986 and the sporting clause of the NFA !!!
Repeal every gun law from NFA ’34 to the present! It’ll be so much fun watching the snowflakes suck their thumbs and whimper under their beds with the dust bunnies and used prophylactics!
ZIMMERMAN FOR PRESIDENT!!
If Civil War is your objective then okay, but REALLY??????
Why are we as the NRA giving this scum (Zimmerman) an avenue to express his thoughts? We have many more intelligent people we can post articles on, besides such a deplorable person as this. We are already typecasted as Ultra conservative, wild west gun toters, I refuse to be grouped with bigots and racists like this guy. So he may share this single thought regarding BLM that a lot of us share, we have to be more selective in who we let speak for us or be the face of our thoughts. NRA-we are better than this despicable human being and can continue to thrive just fine without glorifying his perverted mentality.
OK, Hillary, we know how you feel now. It would’ve been better if the evil White Hispanic had let that poor black child beat him to death.
He is a poster child for what can happen to people who defend themselves in this climate of gun hate. I think he is suffering from PTSD from the incident, however his character is suspect in the way he has chosen to live his life of late. Perhaps we should all have to walk a mile in his shoes before condemning him?? He was totally raped by the media and justice system.
I wouldn’t walk a mile to put him out if he was on fire! Even if his first incident was skewed and used as fodder for the media, this is not an excuse for his lifestyle and ultimately his true character that he displayed afterwards..domestic violence, threats etc.
Trayvon Martin case aside…..this guy should NEVER get another headline……ever. Not saying he’s right or wrong. He just doesn’t need to be in the news……for anything.
I have the feeling Mr. Zimmerman would be quite happy to never be mentioned again by the media.