Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Will the media which splashed this yesterday make the correction today?




LAKE MARY, Fla - Lake Mary Police are now questioning the validity of several statements Shellie Zimmerman made when she told 911 dispatchers her estranged husband, George Zimmerman, threatened her and her father at gunpoint Monday afternoon.
"We did not find a gun, did not locate a weapon," said Zach Hudson, public information officer with the Lake Mary Police Department.  "Nobody ever saw a gun. A gun is not part of this story."
Still, a gun was at the crux of the account Shellie Zimmerman provided to 911 dispatchers when calling for help.
"He continually has his hand on his gun and he keeps saying, 'Step closer.'  He is just threatening all of us,"  Shellie can be heard telling dispatchers. 

Hudson told ABC Action News Shellie provided a written statement Monday night saying she never saw a gun and only assumed her estranged husband was carrying a weapon because he touched his stomach.
Shellie called police to her father's home on Sprucewood Road around 2 p.m.  She claimed George punched her father in the face and threatened both of them with a gun.
"He accosted my father and then took my IPad and then smashed it and cut it with a pocketknife. I don't know what he is capable of. I am really really scared," Shellie told dispatchers.
According to authorities, Shellie's father did not have any visible injuries.
In the 911 call, Shellie asked the dispatcher to send paramedics because her father's nose looked like it was broken. 
There are also other inconsistencies police pointed to on the 911.
Shellie told dispatchers that officers arrived and had their guns drawn.  She said George was sitting in his car.  Fearing George would start shooting, she told the dispatcher her and her father were going inside.
According to police, George was not in his car when they arrived but was standing in the yard.  They say he was also very cooperative and allowed police to search his person.
After being questioned by police, Shellie left the home with her attorney.
Police explained that George has been living in his father-in-law's home.  It was just last week that Shellie Zimmerman filed for divorce.
Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, said Monday's incident stemmed from the couple dividing up property.
"Silly stuff like pots and pans and dishes gets so emotionalized that it overflows and that is what really happened here," said O'Mara.
The home was previously used as a meeting place to divvy up possessions.  However, O'Mara said Shellie turned up at the home Monday afternoon unannounced.
"This is all miscommunication," O'Mara said.
O'Mara explained that this is just more fallout from Zimmerman's acquittal in the murder of Trayvon Martin, 17.
That occurred nearly two months ago, and since that time, Zimmerman has been in the media spotlight for various reasons including speeding and helping people during a traffic crash.
In this case, both Zimmerman and his father-in-law have declined to file charges.
However, multiple media outlets are incorrectly reporting that Zimmerman and his wife has also declined to press charges.  According to police, because this is a domestic violence case, it is up to the state attorney's office to decide whether charges are warranted.  They must first find out who was the primary aggressor, if there was one at all.
And while no charges have been filed, police say that could change at any minute.

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