George Zimmerman, the former Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in 2012, suffered facial injuries today after she was shot at by an unidentified man in Lake Mary, police confirmed. Zimmerman was released from a hospital in Sanford with some kind of facial wound, possibly from a bullet or flying glass. Video showed what appeared to be a bullet hole in the passenger side window of his Honda Ridgeline SUV. Zimmerman's vehicle was towed from the scene by a wrecker. The shooting took place at a trailhead near Lake Mary Boulevard and Rinehart Road. George Paschek, a resident in a neighborhood behind the shooting scene, said he was working on his lawn when he heard what sounded like two gunshots.
"I heard it and I said, 'Boy, that sounds like gunshots,'" Paschek said.
He added that he went back to his yard work, thinking he had mistaken the noise.
"When the helicopters flew over I started looking at the news," he added, before describing his reaction at hearing who was involved: "Zimmerman! Holy smokes!"
Lake Mary Chief Steve Bracknell said Zimmerman did not shoot, but another person — an unidentified person Zimmerman knows — shot at him. Police initially thought the shooting was a road-rage incident, but Bracknell said that might not be true. He said the other man involved is someone Zimmerman knows and has had contact with in the past. Bracknell said that man is cooperating with police. Zimmerman is with his lawyer and is not answering any questions, Bracknell said. Police said the shooting happened at the entrance to the park, which is at Lake Mary Boulevard and Rinehard Road. Zimmerman was accused of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the Feb. 26, 2012 shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford. A Seminole County jury aquitted him in July 2013. Then the U.S. Department of Justice investigated. But it said in February that Zimmerman will not face federal civil-rights charges, citing a lack of evidence. Since his trial, Zimmerman had several encounters with the police. Twice he's been arrested, accused by girlfriends of getting violent during breakups, and in 2013, his estranged wife accused him of threatening her and her father with a gun while they were moving out her belongings. He was arrested Jan. 9, accused by Lake Mary police of aggravated assault, but prosecutors backed away from filing criminal in the domestic-violence case because a woman, initially upset and angry, changed her story.
"I heard it and I said, 'Boy, that sounds like gunshots,'" Paschek said.
He added that he went back to his yard work, thinking he had mistaken the noise.
"When the helicopters flew over I started looking at the news," he added, before describing his reaction at hearing who was involved: "Zimmerman! Holy smokes!"
Lake Mary Chief Steve Bracknell said Zimmerman did not shoot, but another person — an unidentified person Zimmerman knows — shot at him. Police initially thought the shooting was a road-rage incident, but Bracknell said that might not be true. He said the other man involved is someone Zimmerman knows and has had contact with in the past. Bracknell said that man is cooperating with police. Zimmerman is with his lawyer and is not answering any questions, Bracknell said. Police said the shooting happened at the entrance to the park, which is at Lake Mary Boulevard and Rinehard Road. Zimmerman was accused of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the Feb. 26, 2012 shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford. A Seminole County jury aquitted him in July 2013. Then the U.S. Department of Justice investigated. But it said in February that Zimmerman will not face federal civil-rights charges, citing a lack of evidence. Since his trial, Zimmerman had several encounters with the police. Twice he's been arrested, accused by girlfriends of getting violent during breakups, and in 2013, his estranged wife accused him of threatening her and her father with a gun while they were moving out her belongings. He was arrested Jan. 9, accused by Lake Mary police of aggravated assault, but prosecutors backed away from filing criminal in the domestic-violence case because a woman, initially upset and angry, changed her story.
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