Key figures: Trayvon Martin (victim); George Zimmerman (shooter); Angela Corey (special prosecutor); Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi (later founders of Black Lives Matter)
Summary
On the evening of 26 February 2012, in the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community in Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood-watch coordinator, fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old African American who was walking back from a nearby convenience store carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. At about 7:09 p.m. Zimmerman called a police non-emergency line to report a “suspicious” person; a dispatcher advised him not to follow Martin. A confrontation nonetheless ensued, ending when Zimmerman shot Martin once in the chest. Zimmerman told police he had acted in self-defense, and under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” statute the Sanford police released him the same night without charges.
The absence of an arrest drew little national attention for several weeks, but by mid-March 2012 the case had become a nationwide controversy over racial profiling, self-defense law, and the treatment of Black teenagers. A Change.org petition demanding Zimmerman’s arrest gathered more than 2.2 million signatures. Amid sustained protests — many featuring hooded sweatshirts, Skittles, and iced tea as symbols of Martin’s innocence — Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed a special prosecutor, Angela Corey, who on 11 April 2012 charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder.
Zimmerman’s trial opened in June 2013 in Seminole County, Florida. On 13 July 2013 a six-member jury found him not guilty of both second-degree murder and manslaughter. The acquittal triggered demonstrations across the United States and became the immediate catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Significance
The killing of Trayvon Martin became one of the defining social flashpoints of the 2010s in the United States. It thrust “Stand Your Ground” laws — which by 2012 had been adopted in some form by roughly two dozen states — into national debate, and it made racial profiling of young Black men a mainstream political issue during a presidential election year. President Barack Obama, whose 2012 re-election campaign was under way, remarked that “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
The case’s most enduring legacy was the birth of Black Lives Matter. On the night of Zimmerman’s 13 July 2013 acquittal, activist Alicia Garza posted what she called “a love letter to Black people” ending with the words “Black lives matter”; Patrisse Cullors turned the phrase into the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and, with Opal Tometi, built it into an organizing network. The movement grew into a global force after later killings of Black Americans such as Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014. Alongside the year’s other high-profile gun deaths — the Aurora theater shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — the case kept questions of firearms, self-defense, and public safety at the center of American discourse throughout 2012.
Key Facts
- Date of shooting: 26 February 2012, ~7:09–7:17 p.m.
- Location: Retreat at Twin Lakes, Sanford, Florida
- Victim: Trayvon Martin, 17, unarmed
- Shooter: George Zimmerman, 28, neighborhood-watch coordinator (selected September 2011)
- Initial outcome: released the same night without charges under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law
- Charge: second-degree murder, filed 11 April 2012 by special prosecutor Angela Corey
- Verdict: not guilty on all counts, 13 July 2013
- Petition: 2.2 million+ signatures demanding an arrest
- Legacy: catalyzed the #BlackLivesMatter movement following the acquittal
See Also
- Aurora, Colorado Theater Shooting — another 2012 shooting that reshaped the national gun-control debate
- Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting — the year’s deadliest and most consequential shooting
- Barack Obama — 2012 Re-election Victory — the incumbent president who spoke publicly about the case during the campaign