Feds, Fla. probe teen's shooting by watch captain

By Mike Schneider

Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, March 21 2012 1:25 a.m. MDT

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A group gathers and chants "we want justice", Tuesday, March. 20, 2012, in Sanford, Fla., in support of an unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain in Florida. The case has sparked protests and drawn attention to the growing number of states that allow people to use deadly force if they feel threatened.

Reinhold Matay, Associated Press

Summary

After declaring victories in getting federal and state officials to investigate the case of an unarmed black teenager shot to death by a Florida neighborhood watch captain, civil rights leaders continue to pressure authorities to make an arrest.

SANFORD, Fla. — After declaring victories in getting federal and state officials to investigate the case of an unarmed black teenager shot to death by a Florida neighborhood watch captain, civil rights leaders continue to pressure authorities to make an arrest.

At a town hall meeting Tuesday evening in Sanford, where the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin took place last month, officials from the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Nation of Islam urged residents to remain calm but demand that the shooter, George Zimmerman, be arrested.

Zimmerman has not been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting and has said he shot Martin, who was returning to a gated community after buying candy, in self-defense after Martin attacked him. Police said Zimmerman is white; his family says he's Hispanic.

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