NewsNation   |  March 19, 2012

911 calls released in deadly Florida shooting

Students from several Florida universities protested outside the Seminole County court house over the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed when he was killed last month by a neighborhood watch captain. Clint Van Zandt shares details from the investigation.

Share This:

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> now to the outrage that's reaching a boiling point in florida as more people join in protest over the handling of the murder of trayvon martin.

>> justice, justice, justice.

>> students from several florida universities protested outside of the seminole county courthouse today. a spokesperson told them it will take several weeks to review this case. 17-year-old trayvon martin was unarmed when he was killed last month in sanford by a neighborhood watch captain. he said he shot in self-defense. his mother said she is certain her son did not provoke the attack.

>> i'm pretty sure my son tried to get away. he didn't know who this guy was. he seen him as a stranger. he was trying to just get away from the situation.

>> joining me now nbc analyst. just a short time ago at the white house briefing jay carney said the white house is aware of the incident and they understand that local fbi office has been contacted with local authorities monitoring the situation. carney went onto say the thoughts and prayers go out to his family but they're not going to weigh in to a local law enforcement matter. you've got local law enforcement saying they need more time to review. we're almost on a month since he was shot and killed. why would it be taking this long?

>> this is case where it shouldn't. the facts seem to be pretty cut and dry. whether there's a stand your ground law or not, the shooter didn't stand his ground. he's carrying a gun. he has a past history of assault on a police officer . number two, he's described as a self-appointed neighborhood watch person. number three, when he calls in to the police department to report he sees somebody he doesn't recognize in the neighborhood, the police say stay where you're at. stay in your car and don't follow this guy and he defies. he does exactly the opposite of what police do. there's a confrontation that takes place, a fight that take place. we ve a 17-year-old boy carrying candy and a grown man carrying a 9 millimeter pistol. a gun always trumps candy.

>> the stand yo your ground law meets force with force if he or she believes it's necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm. let me play the 911 phone that he made to authorities right before the confrontation.

>> this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. he's got his hand in his waistbands. and he's a black male.

>> are you following him?

>> yep.

>> we don't need you to do that.

>> he's yelling help?

>> yep.

>> gunshots.

>> you hear the gunshot there. you have the operator saying don't follow him and he says okay we don't need you to do that. we don't need you to follow this individual. there's so many questions. you're an fbi profiler. when you look at zimmerman's background, he's this neighborhood watch guy. i don't want to paint anyone as a bad person and that's not the issue. this is about justice and what the law says here. what does his profile say especially being a neighborhood captain where neighbors say he was the person that wanted to go out and confront.

>> well, unfortunately, there's a lot of want to bes out there. want to be police officers even though he assaulted a police officer seven years ago. what troubles me is he wasn't tested for drugs and alcohol right at the time of the shooting. this is something you would norally do in any type of situation. his voice on the phone sounds slurred like there's something going on. he may have been intoxicated. there's a lot of issues in this shooters background not with standing confrontational issues that says he shouldn't have been out there. number two, he shouldn't have con fronted this young man in this way. the last thing he should have done was pulled a gun. he should have stayed in his car with the door lock and waiting for the legitimate police to arrive.

>> thank you so much. we'll keep our audience up to date as the pressure mounts for charges to be filed in this one. thank you.