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United States News Title: Neighbor: George Zimmerman was nice, respectful of elders MANASSAS, Va. -- Manassas resident George Hall said he was shocked when he heard that former neighbor George Zimmerman is the man behind the now nationally known shooting death of Trayvon Martin. “They had to have the wrong guy,” he recalled saying at the time. Zimmerman, a Osbourn High School graduate, is at the center of a national uproar after police said he, while acting as a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla., shot and killed the 17-year-old Trayvon on Feb. 26. He has not been charged and has admitted he shot the teen, who was returning to a gated community in Sanford after buying candy at a convenience store. The man, whose family moved to Lake Mary, Fla., in the early 2000s, has said he shot in self-defense after Martin attacked him. Martin told his 16-year-old girlfriend he was being followed shortly before the confrontation which killed him, a lawyer said Tuesday as federal and state prosecutors announced they would investigate. Zimmerman told police that Martin attacked him after he had given up on chasing the teenager and was returning to his sport utility vehicle. Hall, a retired pastor, recalled Zimmerman as a quiet but helpful boy whose family lived across the street from him in Manassas for 20 years. “They were always helping me,” Hall said of Zimmerman and his siblings. “If I pulled up in the driveway with groceries, they’d help me carry things in.” He also said the family kept to itself and didn’t cause any problems. “He was very courteous, respectful of elders, and we could trust [him and his family] if we needed help,” Hall said. Hall also said he gave a positive recommendation when Zimmerman applied for a position with a law enforcement agency. Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok said there was no information that Zimmerman applied at the county’s Criminal Justice Academy. Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert knew Zimmerman’s mother, Gladys, well. She worked for years as a translator at the courthouse, he said. Zimmerman’s father, Robert, is white and his mother is Hispanic. Zimmerman has two siblings and has no record of trouble with the law in Virginia. The family attended All Saints Church in Manassas, where George Zimmerman was an altar boy, according to Hall and the Orlando Sentinel. All Saints officials did not respond Friday to a request for an interview. The case has ignited racial tensions in the Orlando suburb of 53,500 people, sparking rallies and a protest in Gov. Rick Scott’s office on Tuesday. “They have to be calm and make no judgment until he goes to court,” Hall said of the public, noting it shouldn’t be a case of racism. In a letter to the Orlando Sentinel, Zimmerman’s father pointed out his son is a “Spanish-speaking minority.” “He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever,” Robert Zimmerman wrote. President Obama and other elected officials spoke on Martin’s behalf in wake of the death. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Obama said, vowing to “get to the bottom of what happened.“ Neighborhood watches nationwide are also looked upon in wake of the incident. Chris Tutko, former Manassas police chief and current director of the Neighborhood Watch program at the National Sheriff’s Association, called Martin’s death “horrendous.” “Nobody should be put in that position, and to put yourself in that position is extremely poor judgment,” he said. Zimmerman’s actions were against national Neighborhood Watch guidelines, according to Tutko. “They are [to be] the eyes and ears, and once they observe something, they make a phone call and let law enforcement do their job,” he said of participants. Tutko said that Neighborhood Watch volunteers shouldn’t carry weapons — guns and mace included. Although Hall said he currently supports his former neighbor, he’d instead side with the courts if Zimmerman did not act in self defense. Hall expressed his condolences to the Martin family. “I’m very sorry for them,” he said. “Being a pastor, I’ve had to comfort people who have been through things like this and it is very difficult.” Hall was concerned about the safety and security of the Zimmerman family in wake of the death and hoped proper precautions would be taken by authorities. Ebert, too, said Zimmerman’s family fears for their safety and has received death threats since the shooting. “It is a fallen family,” Hall said.
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#1. To: A K A Stone (#0)
I knew it. A LEO wannabe. Yeah, and if your Aunt Zeitunia had balls, she'd be your Uncle Omar. But they'd still both be illegal alien parasites.
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