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Home Page > News > George Zimmerman says Trayvon Martin shooting was 'God's Plan' in Sean Hannity exclusive interview - VIDEO

George Zimmerman says Trayvon Martin shooting was 'God's Plan' in Sean Hannity exclusive interview - VIDEO

Says sorry but expresses no regret over shooting teen

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Friday, July 20, 2012, 7:53 AM
Updated Friday, July 20, 2012, 10:18 AM

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Attorney Mark O’Mara and George Zimmerman
Attorney Mark O’Mara and George Zimmerman
Photo by Google Images


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George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman accused of murdering unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, told Fox News' Sean Hannity this week that he would not have changed the circumstances leading up to the shooting and that he viewed the entire incident as 'God's plan.'

Zimmerman, speaking with his lawyer Mark O'Mara at his side, was asked by Hannity whether he wished he had done anything differently.

'I do wish that there was something, anything I could have done that would have put me in the position that I wouldn't have to take his life,' Zimmerman told the conservative newsman. 'I'm sorry that this happened. I hate to think that because of this incident, because of my actions, that it's polarized and divided America.'

Earlier Hannity asked Zimmerman if he regretted carrying a gun or getting out of his car to follow Martin and he replied that he didn't.

'I feel that it was all God's plan, and for me to second guess it or judge it,' he said, suggesting the confrontation and shooting was divinely ordained, before trailing off.

Asked if there was anything he might do differently with hindsight he replied, 'No, sir.'

Zimmerman, 28, is currently out of jail on $1 million bond after being charged in April with second-degree murder for killing Martin on February 26 in Sanford, Florida.

Martin's family told ABC they were appalled and angered by his comments, saying their son's death was not God's plan.

'Zimmerman said that he does not regret getting out of his vehicle, he does not regret following Trayvon, in fact he does not regret anything that he did that night,' the family said in a statement through their attorney, Ben Crump. 'He wouldn't do anything different and he concluded it was God's plan.'

'We must worship a different God,' Tracy Martin, Trayvon Martin's father told ABC, 'because there is no way that my God would have wanted George Zimmerman to kill my teenage son.'

Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic, told Hannity he is particularly upset by the racial aspects of the case and media coverage that has followed it.

'I'm not a racist and I'm not a murderer,' he said.

Zimmerman claimed he became suspicious of Martin after spotting the black teen while on an evening errand for groceries. He said Martin didn't look like a resident or a fitness enthusiast out for a run.

He added that Martin spotted him and made movements toward his waistband, as if to suggest the teenager had a weapon.

'I was on the phone with a police dispatcher but I was certain I could see him saying something to me and his demeanor was confrontational,' Zimmerman said.

'He was skipping, going away quickly, but he wasn't running away out of fear,' Zimmerman told Hannity in a statement that conflicts with his earlier recorded description to police, when he said he didn't remember the manner in which Martin ran away.

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29 Comments

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seanomelb | Jul 25, 2012, 07:30 PM EDT
BigDaddy and his irrelevant racist rant, trying to justify the unjustifiable.

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eiriamach | Jul 24, 2012, 11:11 AM EDT
No, BigDaddy, not based on emotion but based on the known facts of the case, and not on your imaginings. In your 8:05 posting, you've backed down from your earlier claim that a minority teen with attitude deserves death. Now you're claiming that death is just a natural, predictable outcome of the teen's attitude. But that's simply absurd when the assailant has fired a gun to extinguish the teen's life. And no "make my day law" in Florida or elsewhere can ever justify it or excuse it. You also hint that Martin's parents may be to blame for his death. Come off it! Trayvon Martin was not looking for suicide by neighborhood watch when he walked back to his temporary residence with an iced tea and a bag of candy. Zimmerman stalked him and grabbed an opportunity to shoot him. It was a "n___ keep out" moment for Zimmerman. THAT mentality, THAT bigotry, not the teenager's attitude or social media persona or parental neglect, was the the killing impulse. THAT is the problem we need to work on as Americans. And your defense of Zimmerman is completely counter-productive. No, BigDaddy, I do understand everything you've written, and it takes no subtlety of intelligence to understand how wrong you are and how much damage your kind of thinking can do.

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BigDaddy | Jul 24, 2012, 08:05 AM EDT
eiriamach, even though I believe you aren't intelligent enough to understand what I am going to say,I will try and reach out to you. First, there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Everyone is born ignorant, as Ben Franklin noted, but you must work hard to remain stupid. Stop working so hard. You accuse me of racism and wanting to slaughter children based on what? Your emotion? In the real world, where people live together in cooperation, parents teach their children responsibility. If you step out in front of a moving vehicle, what happens? Maybe you are run over. Maybe the person stops in time but the person behind them doesn't which causes an accident which involves the police, insurance companies, insurance claims, etc. Maybe you were on your way to work. But all that changes because some punk decided that he wanted to control your life by making you wait for him without considering the consequences. Fast forward to Sanford, Florida. Maybe, if better parenting had been practiced, Martin wouldn't have acted like a thug. Maybe. Maybe the parents were very good but Trayvon was a creature of his culture. And if the "F**k you" attitude he displayed in his Twtter and Facebook accounts is any indication (No_Limit_Nigga)then it isn't really hard to imagine that Martin played a part in his own demise. Is Zimmerman a hero? Of course not. But why are you so much like him with your over-reaction to questions? But as I said when I started, I don't expect you to understand. Am I wrong?

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BigDaddy | Jul 24, 2012, 07:51 AM EDT
rpannier, if his past is irrelevant, why did his mother erase it? You cannot overlook what this kid had done and been. Being a wanna-be thug and a thief doesn't deserve a death penalty in my world. But I don't run this world. In Florida, the law says if someone causes you to fear for your life you can shoot them if you have permission to carry a gun. Is it right? No. Is it crazy? Certainly. But to think that Trayvon Martin was an angel who played no part in this is naive. And from what I've read here, there are a lot of people who like to jump to conclusions because someone asks a question they are uncomfortable with. Get a grip, folks. You may not like to believe it but you ARE George Zimmerman. Someone expressed an opinion that you didn't agree with and you went ballistic without even asking a pertinent question. You assumed I was for the insane law that allowed this to occur and you opened fire without so much as a second thought. And you condemn Zimmerman. Neither of you knew what was really going on and yet you opened fire because you "felt" threatened.

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eiriamach | Jul 23, 2012, 04:58 PM EDT
BigDaddy is doing it again! Even IF it were true, as you say, that "there are young black children who confront the world with an attitude that says,'F**k You, deal with me' while crossing a busy street against the red light daring someone to hit them," why would you imagine that such behavior gives anyone an excuse for homicide? Slaughtering a teenager who taunts motorists is not self-defense; it's murder. And if you did it in my town, you'd be murdering white teenagers. They're the ones who mock motorists and block heavy traffic where I live. You're a "I'm in charge here" white bully looking for any paltry excuse for your racism. I'm still offended. You're still offensive. And putting more words to your attitude only solidifies the impression.

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rpannier | Jul 23, 2012, 01:04 AM EDT
BigDaddy his past is irrelevant to this case unless you can prove that Zimmerman knew about it. As to Zimmerman returning to his car, that is the newest part of his story. I would also question why you believe a man (and his wife) who lied to a judge -- hence the bail being upped to one million dollars and him having to be monitored

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BigDaddy | Jul 22, 2012, 07:30 PM EDT
McNamara, Martin wasn't going to his father's home. It was the home of his father's girlfriend. Trayvon's mother had sent him to live with his father after he was found to have female jewelry in his school locker (along with a screw driver for prying open other people's lockers?) and other violations of school rules. He was a troublemaker; at least to the point that his mother gave up on him. The No Limit Nigga nickname was the one he chose for himself. Now he is described as a church-going, God-fearing boy. My best guess is that you have very little in the way of facts at your disposal but you are overflowing with opinions. Your personal attacks on me are those of someone who believes that any death is unfair; even if your own actions may have helped contribute to your death. Zimmerman didn't chase him down and confront him. He lost sight of Martin and when he started back to his car, he was confronted by a teenager with an attitude. You may find it appalling but there are young black children who confront the world with an attitude that says,"F**k You, deal with me" while crossing a busy street against the red light daring someone to hit them. The police patrol the street I live on to keep them from obstructing traffic when school is in session. They seem to think it is a sign of bravado. But how dare someone point out that it is very likely that Martin confronted Zimmerman thinking he was going to kick his ass. I see it every day. Yet there are people who think the problem is talking about it in real terms. I could go on but why bother? You aren't listening, are you?

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BigDaddy | Jul 22, 2012, 07:03 PM EDT
eiramach, how dare you call me a racist! That name that so easily offends you is the one Martin chose to call himself. That's right; that is how young Trayvon identified himself. And I have no doubt that I am part of a minority. You have an opinion but no idea of the facts except that a person is dead.

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McNamara31 | Jul 22, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT
BigDaddy... Martin was walking home to his father's home within this gated Florida community. What was it that made Zimmerman think that Martin "looked" suspicious? If your child was walking home, do you think this armed vigilante had the right based on his (poor) judgement to chase down, confront and murder him? The only "story" you are hearing is the one from the killer of an unarmed teenager. And your statement about "to make an informed judgment about the situation" My opinion is based on the facts of the case, not some clueless,ignorant, biased, opinion which you have formed from a dead teenagers facebook page.

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eiriamach | Jul 22, 2012, 04:11 PM EDT
BigDaddy's racism is offensive! He writes, "it is not your fault that you are ignorant of Martin's past since his family have scrubbed his Facebook and Twitter accounts clean. If people had as much knowledge about Martin, a/k/a No_Limit_Nigga, as they do about Zimmerman, they might not change their opinion of Zimmerman but they would surely have a better chance to make an informed judgment about the situation. As long as the media portrays Martin as an 11 year old in a Hollister shirt carrying Skittles and an ice tea, people like you will express outrage. You cannot do otherwise because his parents have erased his past actions so as to leave the impression he was a choir boy." <------- And if he's not a choir boy, is it then alright for Zimmerman to stalk him and kill him? Look around you, BigDaddy, you are a minority in this world, and most of humanity moved beyond your Neanderthal mentality a very l o n g time ago.

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BigDaddy | Jul 22, 2012, 11:58 AM EDT
I'll take that as a "I know nothing", then. Fact is, it is not your fault that you are ignorant of Martin's past since his family have scrubbed his Facebook and Twitter accounts clean. If people had as much knowledge about Martin, a/k/a No_Limit_Nigga, as they do about Zimmerman, they might not change their opinion of Zimmerman but they would surely have a better chance to make an informed judgment about the situation. As long as the media portrays Martin as an 11 year old in a Hollister shirt carrying Skittles and an ice tea, people like you will express outrage. You cannot do otherwise because his parents have erased his past actions so as to leave the impression he was a choir boy. I wonder if you've ever expressed outrage at the inability of your local police to deal with crime in your neighborhood? If you have, you might want to keep that in mind when you judge Zimmerman. Did the police respond faster to the 9-1-1 call that a possible burglar was in the neighborhood or the one that said "there's been a shooting"? How often have you wanted to take matters into YOUR own hands when the police seemed to lack the will to do it? Just a few thoughts to ponder.

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seanomelb | Jul 22, 2012, 12:02 AM EDT
The problem is that there are millions of Wyatt Earp's in the USA with a siege mentality and every dark night or theatre is an OK corral.

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seanomelb | Jul 21, 2012, 07:58 PM EDT
McNamara that's the problem with America there's millions of Wyatt Earp's with a siege mentality and only gun control can freeze their trigger happy fingers.

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McNamara31 | Jul 21, 2012, 04:38 PM EDT
BigDaddy I'll tell you something about his future; he doesn't have one. All because Zimmerman thought he was Wyatt Earp.

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BigDaddy | Jul 21, 2012, 02:27 PM EDT
McNamara You seem to have sussed out George Zimmerman, what do you know about Trayvon Martin's past?

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