Showing posts with label George Zimmerman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George Zimmerman. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Police recover gun from Zimmerman, 2 guns from other man

By Associated Press, May 11, 2015, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ORLANDO, Fla. • Police officers recovered a handgun from George Zimmerman and took two guns from a man accused of shooting at Zimmerman while both were driving, authorities said Tuesday.

Police also released a 911 call in which the caller says the other man, Matthew Apperson, told him he was forced to fire his gun Monday at the former neighborhood watch leader on a busy street in the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary.

"A guy says he had to shoot a guy through the window and he wants the police to come," the man said on the call. "He had to shoot at somebody ... He said it was George Zimmerman."

Zimmerman suffered minor injuries from flying glass and debris.

Two guns were taken from Apperson's car, including a revolver that had a spent shell casing. Police officers will also execute a search warrant on Zimmerman's pickup truck, said Lake Mary Police Officer Bianca Gillett.

Both men had the guns legally.

Detectives are still investigating and no charges have been filed against Zimmerman or Apperson. She said the investigation could take time. Documents released Tuesday show that detectives are investigating the shooting as a possible aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.


Read:  www.stltoday.com

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Monday, May 11, 2015

What About Baltimore's Black on Black Murders?



By Valerie Richardson, May 10, 2015, Washington Times



Former Baltimore cop Peter Moskos understands the anger over Freddie Gray’s death, but he wishes there were a little more outrage over the deaths of men like Kareen George, Andre Hunt and Tierell Wilder.



The three men are among the 74 black people murdered this year — as of Sunday — in Baltimore, as listed on The Baltimore Sun’s homicide page. Their murders — and the vast majority of the city’s 83 overall homicides this year — have generated no protests, rioting or mass uproar, unlike the death of Gray, 25, who died last month of spinal injuries while in police custody.

So who killed those 74 people? In all likelihood, other black people. 

A 2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows that most murders are intraracial: From 1980 to 2008, 93 percent of black homicide victims were killed by other blacks, while 84 percent of the white victims were killed by other whites.

What frustrates Mr. Moskos and others is that the lopsided focus on police-caused deaths has obscured a far deadlier threat to the black community, namely black-on-black homicide.



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Police: George Zimmerman involved in Florida shooting

By Mariano Castillo and Anne Claire Stapleton, May 11, 2015, CNN

(CNN) George Zimmerman -- acquitted by a Florida jury over the death of Trayvon Martin -- was involved in a shooting in Lake Mary, Florida, on Monday, police spokeswoman Bianca Gillett said.

Zimmerman apparently suffered a minor gunshot wound, CNN affiliate WESH-TV reported, citing the police chief.

The affiliate spoke with one witness, Ricardo Berrare, who also said Zimmerman's injuries didn't look serious.

"He walked normally into the ambulance, so he wasn't being helped or nothing," Berrare told WESH.

The shooting is under investigation, but it appeared to be some type of road rage incident, Gillett told CNN.

Police said there were no fatalities in the shooting and said the department would not release additional information until a briefing planned for Monday afternoon.

It is the latest headline-grabbing incident for Zimmerman since his acquittal in July 2013 on a murder charge in the death of Martin, a 17-year-old African-American.

Zimmerman fatally shot Martin on February 26, 2012.

On that day, Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida, called 911 to report "a suspicious person" in the neighborhood.

He was instructed not to get out of his SUV or approach the person, but Zimmerman disregarded the instructions. Moments later, neighbors report hearing gunfire.

Zimmerman was pulled over for speeding in northern Texas in July 2013, a few weeks after he was acquitted of Martin's death.


Read the full story:  www.cnn.com

Related:  www.wftv.com

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Thursday, December 18, 2014

By Larry Elder, Dec. 18, 2014

In 2012, according to the CDC, 140 blacks were killed by police. That same year 386 whites were killed by police. Over the 13-year period from 1999 to 2011, the CDC reports that 2,151 whites were killed by cops -- and 1,130 blacks were killed by cops.

Police shootings, nationwide, are down dramatically from what they were 20 or 30 years ago. The CDC reported that in 1968, shootings by law enforcement -- called "legal intervention" by the CDC -- was the cause of death for 8.6 out of every million blacks. For whites the rate was was .9 deaths per million.

By 2011, law enforcement shootings caused 2.74 deaths for every million blacks, and 1.28 deaths for every million whites. While the death-by-cop rate for whites has held pretty steady over these last 45 years, hovering just above or below the one-in-a-million level, the rate for blacks has fallen. In 1981, black deaths by cop stood at four in a million, but since 2000 has remained just above or below two in a million.

So what's driving this notion that there is now an "epidemic" of white cops shooting blacks when in the last several decades the numbers of blacks killed by cops are down nearly 75 percent?

Where's the evidence suggesting race had anything to do with the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, who was pointing a pellet gun at bystanders before being shot and killed by police?

What's the racial nexus to the death of Eric Garner, the large, obese man who died after being taken down by several NYPD cops?

While the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case became another racial thermometer of America, the jury found Zimmerman not guilty, and several jurors later said that during jury deliberations "race never came up."

The Ferguson, Missouri, shooting of Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson is yet another case where there is absolutely no evidence that whatever happened occurred because of Michael Brown's race. Did officer Wilson display racial animus? Does anyone know if this officer Wilson had some racist background? With the desire by media for a scalp, such information would have long ago been made public by somebody.

This white-cop-out-to-get-black-civilian narrative advances the interest of many. The media loves what Tom Wolfe called the "Great White Defendant" -- a bad white guy everybody can agree to dislike. For the Democrats, it furthers their assertion that race remains a major problem in America, that Republicans/tea partiers/black conservatives are out to get them, and you must vote for us. For "activists" like the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and local wannabes, it gives them continued relevance.

That this "epidemic" is imaginary can be demonstrated by the recent stories that never became national news.

In Mobile, Alabama, a black cop shot and killed an unarmed white teenager. As with Michael Brown, the Alabama teen was later found to have been under the influence of marijuana at the time of the shooting. The teen had also recently taken a hallucinogen, and was so stoned he thought he was on fire ?- and literally took his clothes off. Nude -- and obviously unarmed -- he was still later shot by the cop. Despite public pressure, a Mobile grand jury decided not to indict the black police officer, believing he acted in self-defense. Not national news.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, just two days after Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, a "not white" cop shot and killed an unarmed 20-year-old man whose race has been described as Hispanic. The family of the dead man believes that the cop is a murderer. Not national news.

In Pennsylvania, a state trooper named Kelly Cruz was accused in 2009 of stomping on the head of a handcuffed suspect laying on the ground, resulting in facial fractures, a broken nose and damaged teeth. The trooper, at the time, was attached to a local drug task force and was part of a raid on a suspected meth lab. One of the men inside escaped during the raid, and the victim -- who, according to another officer, was seen running from the scene and found five houses away -- was thought to be the meth lab escapee. Turns out the victim was not a meth lab escapee. The local grand jury decided not to indict the trooper. The feds, however, filed civil rights charges against the cop. He was found not guilty by the federal jury. Not national news.

It is rare for a cop to shoot and kill any civilian. Excluding practice on the gun range, 95 percent of officers never discharge their firearm while in the line of duty, including those who work for big-city departments. The first time -- and only time -- officer Darren Wilson used his firearm while on duty was in the Michael Brown case. The facts do not support the narrative that there is an epidemic of white cops shooting unarmed blacks.

We are being manipulated.



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Thursday, December 11, 2014

By Larry Elder, Dec. 11, 2014

The recent "rash" of police officers killing blacks is prompting "civil rights activists" to describe America -- despite the election and re-election of a black president -- as still a simmering caldron of racism. Never mind that according to the CDC, in 2012 (the most recent year with available data) 140 blacks were killed by cops -- versus 386 whites killed by cops.

This dreary movie scene comes from a film about inner-city black teens called "Menace II Society." A black high school teacher speaks to two former students: "Being a black man in America isn't easy. The hunt is on, and you're the prey! All I'm saying is ... all I'm saying is -- survive! Alright?" In case the identity of the alleged "hunter" is unclear, we hear a police siren in the background. Cops are out to get young black men.

Ridiculous.

But that gloomy narrative tracks closely with Attorney General Eric Holder's assertion that America suffers from "pernicious racism." And a few weeks after the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting happened, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, "Blacks are under attack."
Absurd.

In 1997, CNN and Time conducted a poll that asked white and black teens about "racism." Question: Is racism a major problem in America? Both black and white teens said, "yes." But when black teens were asked if racism is a "big problem," a "small problem" or "no a problem at all" -- in their own lives -- 89 percent called racism a "small problem" or "not a problem at all" for themselves.

In fact, 17 years ago, not only did black teens see racism as an insignificant problem in their own lives, but nearly twice as many black teens than white teens called "failure to take advantage of available opportunities" a bigger problem than racism.

What damage do "activists" inflict by convincing young black men that cops -- or, for that matter, Republicans, tea party members and black conservatives -- are out to get them? This emotion-based paranoia has real-world consequences. Fear and paranoia hurt potential and careers.

In the '60s, University of Pennsylvania professor Martin Seligman developed the theory of "learned helplessness" -- when a person learns to believe and act helpless when, in fact, they do have control over their own negative circumstances but fail to exercise it. He then devoted most of his studies to "positive psychology" and the effect of happiness and optimism in people's lives. He produced an equation, H=S+C+V, where a person's genetic capacity for happiness (S), plus their circumstances (C) and factors under their voluntary control (V) equal their happiness (H).

His extensive research discovered that a low "C" -- adverse circumstances like poor health or poverty -- matters very little if a person has a high "V," a positive, optimistic outlook and a belief in himself. For example, he found that an upbeat wheelchair-bound factory worker often leads a happier life than a robust, wealthy CEO.


Psychologists called this the "emotional quotient" factor, or EQ: a measurement of a person's ability to monitor his or her emotions, cope with pressures and demands, control his or her thoughts and actions, and one's ability to assess and affect situations and relationships with other people. Salesmen, for example, with "high EQ" for a strong positive outlook outsold those with higher traditional aptitude, but with lower EQ. High EQ people engage in positive behavior, which leads to positive results.

George Foreman, the former heavyweight boxing champion, is one of the most successful pitchmen of our generation. A spokesperson for products ranging from Meineke mufflers and Doritos to his own low-fat indoor grill, which earned him $138 million when he sold the grill's naming rights in 1999, Foreman has an estimated net worth of $250 million. A high school dropout, Foreman recently wrote this about the value of optimism:

"This life, this country, is about HOPE.

"My first two jobs were about selling: Four hours of putting out sale papers, on doors, cars and handed out. Then at a fruit stand. Texas watermelon season was the best. Competition was great -- we had to (as boys) have a variety of melons and a lot of charm.

"The ability to sell is about the best asset one can pass on to a generation to come. And the most critical and influential product anyone can deal or trade is 'Hope.'

"No matter who we lose, every young doctor is optimistic we will win this one. And many a time we do. Not a whole lot is new, just the same old Hope. ... When things go wrong in this life our sole obligation to our children is to sell them on Hope. Sure, beating our head against the wall is an option. But time and life must proceed. Anger and disappointment bring more dark clouds. Oh, but HOPE is the sunshine that every child needs for play. ...

Teach them Hope. And BELIEVE there is Hope.

"It's our duty."



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