Zimmerman at center of firestorm for fatally shooting unarmed teen Trayvon Martin last month
Comments (391)By Matthew Lysiak In Sanford, Fla. AND Helen Kennedy / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 11:06 PM
Trayvon Martin was shot along a dark walkway just behind Cheryl Brown's
apartment while her son Austin was walking the family dog in Sanford,
Fla.
CNN.COM
Robert Zimmerman, Jr., the brother
of George Zimmerman, on CNN
Thursday night.
Kevin Hagen for New York Daily News
Cheryl Brown, the mother of 13-year-old
shooting witness Austin Brown,
speaks
about her son's experience outside their
home on Thursday in
Sanford, Fla.
George Zimmerman was fired from his job as an under-the-table security guard for “being too aggressive,” a former co-worker told the Daily News.
Zimmerman, at the center of a firestorm for shooting an unarmed black
teenager a month ago, worked for two different agencies providing
security to illegal house parties between 2001 and 2005, the former
co-worker said.
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“Usually he was just a cool guy. He liked to drink and hang with the
women like the rest of us,” he said. “But it was like Jekyll and Hyde.
When the dude snapped, he snapped.”
The source said Zimmerman, who made between $50 and $100 a night, was let go in 2005.
“He had a temper and he became a liability,” the man said. “One time this woman was acting a little out of control. She was drunk. George lost his cool and totally overreacted,” he said. “It was weird, because he was such a cool guy, but he got all nuts. He picked her up and threw her. It was pure rage. She twisted her ankle. Everyone was flipping out.”
The year 2005 was a bad one for Zimmerman: he was arrested for fighting
with a cop trying to arrest his friend for underage drinking, and he
and his ex-fiancée took out protective orders against each other.
The former co-worker, who is no longer in touch with Zimmerman, said he
was shocked to hear what happened Feb. 26 in a gated community in
Sanford, Fla.
“He definitely loved being in charge. He loved the power. Still, I could never see him killing someone. Never,” he said.
Zimmerman, who was working as an insurance agent and liked to patrol his neighborhood, killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin
after calling 911 to report a suspicious person. The teenager, who was
staying with his father, went out to buy a bag of Skittles and an iced
tea.
Zimmerman claimed self-defense and was not arrested. He has gone into hiding.
Zimmerman’s father, a former magistrate judge, came forward Wednesday
night to defend his son, alleging that Trayvon said “you’re going to die
now” before decking Zimmerman and battering his head into the sidewalk.
He discounted newly revealed video shot in the police station that night showing his son free of bruises, blood or bandages.
“I know his nose was broken and his scalp was cut in two different places. They may have cleaned him up, I don’t know,” Robert Zimmerman told the Fox affiliate in Orlando.
Zimmerman lawyer Craig Sonner also played down the video, saying George Zimmerman’s wounds had been cleaned up.
His older brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., told CNN’s Piers Morgan that his sibling acted in self-defense.
“He prevented his firearm from being taken from him and used against him,” he said. “That’s called saving your life.”
In another twist, the Daily News learned that a key witness whose
account has been used to back Zimmerman’s story saw less than has been
attributed to him.
Police have said that Austin Brown,
13, who went out to walk his dog near where Trayvon was shot, saw
Zimmerman lying in the grass crying for help just before the slaying.
But Austin’s mom, Cheryl Brown,
told The News that when cops interviewed her son eight days after
Trayvon’s death, he told them he saw only one person lying in the grass
and he couldn’t tell who it was because it was too dark.
“He said he couldn’t see the race or anything. He never saw a second person,” Brown said.
“Then they asked him if he saw what the man was wearing. They gave him a
multiple-choice question and gave him three colors. He said, ‘I think
it was red.’” Zimmerman was wearing a red and black jacket. Trayvon was
wearing a gray hoodie.
“Knowing my son, I believe he felt pressured to give the color,” Brown said.
A new witness interviewed on CNN cast doubt on Zimmerman’s story,
saying that he looked out his window, glimpsed two men scuffling in the
dark, heard “an excruciating kind of yell” and saw what he thought was
Zimmerman on top of Trayvon.
“After the larger man got off, then there was a boy, obviously now dead, on the ground, facing down,” the witness told CNN.
“After the shot, one man got up,” the man said. “He was walking towards
where I was watching and I could see him a little bit clearer, and see
that he was a Hispanic man and he was, you know, he didn’t appear hurt
or anything else, he just seemed very worried.”
Meanwhile, filmmaker Spike Lee paid off Elaine and David McClain,
the elderly Florida couple who were terrorized when he mistakenly
tweeted their address as George Zimmerman’s. Lee called them to
apologize and paid them an undisclosed sum for “the disruption to their
lives,” his lawyer said.
The McClains, in their 70s, had to flee their home for a hotel due to
harassment from people angry that George Zimmerman remains free.
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