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Police Question George Zimmerman After Confrontation With Wife

George Zimmerman leaves court with his family after a jury found him not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, Fla., on July 14.
Joe Burbank
/
AP
George Zimmerman leaves court with his family after a jury found him not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, Fla., on July 14.

George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin, was questioned by police Monday, after his wife called 911, saying Zimmerman was threatening her with a gun and knife.

The AP reports:

"Shellie Zimmerman called police shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, said Lake Mary Police Chief Steve Bracknell.

"Zimmerman hasn't been arrested and officers were at the house trying to determine what happened, Bracknell said.

" 'We've only heard one side of the story so far,' Bracknell said."

The phone call to 911 was released to the media shortly after the incident. In it, Shellie Zimmerman tells the dispatcher that George Zimmerman punched her dad, slashed her iPad with a knife and threatened to shoot them with a gun several times.

"I'm really, really afraid," Shellie Zimmerman says in the call. "I don't know what he's capable of. I'm really, really scared."

Journalist Matthew Keyes posted audio of the call to Sound Cloud:

Since Zimmerman was acquitted of murder back in July, he has been back in the news because Shellie Zimmerman said she would file for divorce and because he has been stopped a couple of times for traffic infractions.

Update at 7:19 p.m. ET. Won't Press Charges:

The Orlando Sentinel reports on two important developments:

-- Shellie Zimmerman decided not press charges. The Lake Mary police chief told the paper: "We have no victim, no crime."

-- Zimmerman's defense attorney Mark O'Mara said during the confrontation Zimmerman's gun always stayed holstered under his shirt.

"They need to just sort of stay away from each other, keep things cool and work though their attorneys," O'Mara told the paper.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.