Social Justice
Key witness in George Zimmerman case recants statement
A key witness in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin has changed his story.
George Zimmerman’s neighbor, a key witness in the shooting, who told police Trayvon was straddling George Zimmerman, pinning him to the ground has now recanted his statement saying he’s not sure who was actually crying for help.
Key witness for George Zimmerman
The man, identified in prosecution documents as “Witness 6,” originally said Zimmerman was the person screaming for help as he fought with the unarmed 17-year-old.
Once prosecutors took control of the case, the key witness changed his story from what he initially told police.
“At first, I thought it was the person on the ground, just because, you know, me thinking rationally, if someone was on top, the person on the bottom would be yelling,” he said.
Now, though, he said, “I truly can’t tell who, after thinking about it, was yelling for help just because it was so dark out on that sidewalk. You can’t see a mouth …”
The key witness however, did not change his story that Trayvon was the one on top as he and Zimmerman fought.
“The black guy was on top,” he told FDLE Investigator John Batchelor. “The guy that was on the ground, under him at that point, wrestling, was definitely a lighter color.”
It was dark outside, he said, and at first, he thought he was witnessing a dog fight. When he stepped to the door, he realized it was two people on the ground wrestling.
The person on top was either hitting or pinning the other to the ground, he said. The person on the bottom was struggling to get up.
He yelled at them to stop, he said, “Hey, cut it out,” and thought they would, but they didn’t, so he stepped inside and headed upstairs to call 911.
He heard a loud pop, “like a rock hitting a window,” he said.
It was the gunshot.
When he looked again, the person who had been on top, he said, was “in the grass not moving while the other gentleman has his hands in the air … The one guy that was on the bottom said, ‘I shot the other guy in self-defense. The gun is on the ground.’ “
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