- Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:27 am
#27431
After interviewing nearly three dozen people in the George Zimmerman murder case, the FBI found no evidence that racial bias was a motivating factor in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a 300 page FBI report released Thursday show.
The lead detective in the case, Sanford Det. Chris Serino, told agents that he thought Zimmerman profiled Trayvon because of his attire and the circumstances — but not his race.
Federal agents interviewed Zimmerman’s neighbors and co-workers, but none said Zimmerman had expressed racial animus at any time prior to the Feb. 26 shooting of Martin, a black teen, in a confrontation at a Sanford housing complex. As Sanford police investigated the circumstances of Martin’s death, the FBI opened a parallel probe to determine if Martin’s civil rights had been violated.
Several co-workers said they had never seen Zimmerman display any prejudice or racial bias in fact they reported that Zimmerman had mentored two black troubled black male teens as a big brother to help them back on the right track.
In all, the FBI interviewed 35 people about Zimmerman, from current and former co-workers to neighbors and an ex-girlfriend and concluded there was no evidence he was a racist or that the incident was race related.
Attorney General Eric Holder says the killing of Trayvon Martin was a tragic, unnecessary shooting and that the 17-year-old's death would be further investigated by the Justice Department to determine whether criminal civil rights charges are warranted. When asked about the investigation by the FBI finding no evidence any prejudice or racial bias by Zimmerman, Holder explained "I don't feel the FBI investigation dug deep enough, plus at the time we didn't devote the resources that we should have looking into civil rights violations that I feel deeply did happen. The FBI report is incomplete, the investigation will be reopened and no resources spared to find justice for Trayvon Martin."
