George Zimmerman's Black Roots: Trayvon Shooter Had A Great-Grandfather Who Was 'Afro-Peruvian', New Report Reveals

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 All you need is
All you want is
All you need is love.
All you need is
What you want is
All you need is love.
Oh...

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Lay it down on me
What you’ve got
Lay it down on me

Pick me up, love
Lift me up, love
Pick me up, love
Everyday...

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As a teenager: George Zimmerman is pictured as a senior in an Osbourn High School yearbook in 2001.

By Reuters Reporter
 
PUBLISHED: 17:34 EST, 25 April 2012 | UPDATED: 19:40 EST, 25 April 2012

George Zimmerman was known as a trusted aid to most of his black neighbours in the gated community of Sanford, Florida that was plagued by a string of burglaries in the weeks leading up to the shooting of Trayvon Martin, according to an investigation by Reuters.

It reveals that the community, previously a family-friendly, first-time homeowner community, had been devastated by the recession that struck Florida, and transient renters began to occupy some of the 263 town houses in the complex.

During that time, it was Zimmerman, who emerged as a sympathetic figure, offering his and his wife's support to any homeowners who had been robbed or felt fearful.

Twin Lakes is about 50 percent white, with an African-American and Hispanic population of about 20 per cent each, roughly similar to the city of Sanford, according to the U.S. Census.

Zimmerman was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather.

The Reuters investigation reveals how on August 3, Olivia Bertalan was home with her infant son while her husband was at work. 

She watched from a downstairs window as two black men rang her doorbell before entering her home through a backyard sliding door. 

Police arrived just as the burglars fled out a back door.

After police left Bertalan, George Zimmerman arrived, giving Mrs Bertalan his contact numbers on an index card and invited her to visit his wife if she ever felt unsafe. He returned later and gave her a stronger lock to bolster the sliding door that had been forced open.

'He was so mellow and calm, very helpful and very, very sweet,' Bertalan told Reuters last week. 'We didn't really know George at first, but after the break-in we talked to him on a daily basis. 

Though civil rights demonstrators have argued Zimmerman should not have prejudged Martin, one black neighbor of the Zimmermans said recent history should be taken into account.

The neighbour, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters: 'There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood. That's why George was suspicious of Trayvon Martin.'

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S BLACK ROOTS REVEALED

A pit bull named Big Boi began menacing George and Shellie Zimmerman in the fall of 2009.

The first time the dog ran free and cornered Shellie in their gated community in Sanford, Florida, George called the owner to complain. 

The second time, Big Boi frightened his mother-in-law's dog. Zimmerman called Seminole County Animal Services and bought pepper spray. 

The third time he saw the dog on the loose, he called again. An officer came to the house, county records show.

'Don't use pepper spray,' he told the Zimmermans, according to a friend. 'It'll take two or three seconds to take effect, but a quarter second for the dog to jump you,' he said.

'Get a gun.'

Student: George Zimmerman is pictured making a pizza in a home economics class at Osbourn High School in Manassas, Virginia in 2000

That November, the Zimmermans completed firearms training at a local lodge and received concealed-weapons gun permits. 

In early December, another source close to them told Reuters, the couple bought a pair of guns. George picked a Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm handgun, a popular, lightweight weapon.

By June 2011, Zimmerman's attention had shifted from a loose pit bull to a wave of robberies that rattled the community, called the Retreat at Twin Lakes.

The homeowners association asked him to launch a neighborhood watch, and Zimmerman would begin to carry the Kel-Tec on his regular, dog-walking patrol - a violation of neighborhood watch guidelines but not a crime.

Few of his closest neighbors knew he carried a gun - until two months ago.

On February 26, George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in what Zimmerman says was self-defense. 

Mixed race: Zimmerman was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather

The furore that ensued has consumed the country and prompted a re-examination of guns, race and self-defense laws enacted in nearly half the United States.

During the time Zimmerman was in hiding, his detractors defined him as a vigilante who had decided Martin was suspicious merely because he was black.

After Zimmerman was finally arrested on a charge of second-degree murder more than six weeks after the shooting, prosecutors portrayed him as a violent and angry man who disregarded authority by pursuing the 17-year-old.

But a more nuanced portrait of Zimmerman has emerged from a Reuters investigation into Zimmerman's past and a series of incidents in the community in the months preceding the Martin shooting.

Based on extensive interviews with relatives, friends, neighbors, schoolmates and co-workers of Zimmerman in two states, law enforcement officials, and reviews of court documents and police reports, the story sheds new light on the man at the center of one of the most controversial homicide cases in America.

The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate.

He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him.

A criminal justice student who aspired to become a judge, Zimmerman also concerned himself with the safety of his neighbors after a series of break-ins committed by young African-American men.

 

 Family photos: Zimmerman is pictured in Virginia in 1996, below, and in 1988, above

 

Though civil rights demonstrators have argued Zimmerman should not have prejudged Martin, one black neighbor of the Zimmermans said recent history should be taken into account.

'Let's talk about the elephant in the room. I'm black, OK?' the woman said, declining to be identified because she anticipated backlash due to her race.

She leaned in to look a reporter directly in the eyes. 'There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood,' she said. 'That's why George was suspicious of Trayvon Martin.'

RAISED IN A MIXED RACE HOUSEHOLD

George Michael Zimmerman was born in 1983 to Robert and Gladys Zimmerman, the third of four children. Robert Zimmerman Sr. was a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam in 1970, and was stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, in 1975 with Gladys Mesa's brother George. 

Zimmerman Sr. also served two tours in Korea, and spent the final 10 years of his 22-year military career in the Pentagon, working for the Department of Defense, a family member said.

Youth: Zimmerman dons a bomber jacket in this 1989 family handout photo

In his final years in Virginia before retiring to Florida, Robert Zimmerman served as a magistrate in Fairfax County's 19th Judicial District.

Robert and Gladys met in January 1975, when George Mesa brought along his army buddy to his sister's birthday party.

She was visiting from Peru, on vacation from her job there as a physical education teacher. Robert was a Baptist, Gladys was Catholic.

They soon married, in a Catholic ceremony in Alexandria, and moved to nearby Manassas.

Gladys came to lead a small but growing Catholic Hispanic enclave within the All Saints Catholic Church parish in the late 1970s, where she was involved in the church's outreach programs.

Gladys would bring young George along with her on 'home visits' to poor families, said a family friend, Teresa Post.

'It was part of their upbringing to know that there are people in need, people more in need than themselves,' said Post, a Peruvian immigrant who lived with the Zimmermans for a time.

Post recalls evening prayers before dinner in the ethnically diverse Zimmerman household, which included siblings Robert Jr., Grace, and Dawn. 'It wasn't only white or only Hispanic or only black - it was mixed,' she said.

Zimmerman's maternal grandmother, Cristina, who had lived with the Zimmermans since 1978, worked as a babysitter for years during Zimmerman's childhood.

For several years she cared for two African-American girls who ate their meals at the Zimmerman house and went back and forth to school each day with the Zimmerman children.

'They were part of the household for years, until they were old enough to be on their own,' Post said.

Zimmerman served as an altar boy at All Saints from age 7 to 17, church members said.

'He wasn't the type where, you know, 'I'm being forced to do this,' and a dragging-his-feet Catholic,' said Sandra Vega, who went to high school with George and his siblings. 'He was an altar boy for years, and then worked in the rectory too. He has a really good heart.'

George grew up bilingual, and by age 10 he was often called to the Haydon Elementary School principal's office to act as a translator between administrators and immigrant parents.

Secondary education: Zimmerman attended Osbourn High School in Manassas, Virginia, and graduated in 2001

At 14 he became obsessed with becoming a Marine, a relative said, joining the after-school ROTC program at Grace E. Metz Middle School and polishing his boots by night.

At 15, he worked three part-time jobs - in a Mexican restaurant, for the rectory, and washing cars - on nights and weekends, to save up for a car.

After graduating from Osbourn High School in 2001, Zimmerman moved to Lake Mary, Florida, a town neighboring Sanford.

His parents purchased a retirement home there in 2002, in part to bring Cristina, who suffers from arthritis, to a warmer climate.

THE YOUNG INSURANCE AGENT

On his own at 18, George got a job at an insurance agency and began to take classes at night to earn a license to sell insurance.

He grew friendly with a real estate agent named Lee Ann Benjamin, who shared office space in the building, and later her husband, John Donnelly, a Sanford attorney.

'George impressed me right off the bat as just a real go-getter,' Donnelly said. 'He was working days and taking all these classes at night, passing all the insurance classes, not just for home insurance, but auto insurance and everything. He wanted to open his own office - and he did.'

In 2004, Zimmerman partnered with an African-American friend and opened up an Allstate insurance satellite office, Donnelly said.

Then came 2005, and a series of troubles. Zimmerman's business failed, he was arrested, and he broke off an engagement with a woman who filed a restraining order against him.

Slow progression: An undated photo shows Zimmerman smiling, before the shooting, left, his booking photo after he was charged with second-degree murder, centre, and when he first appeared in court April 12

That July, Zimmerman was charged with resisting arrest, violence, and battery of an officer after shoving an undercover alcohol-control agent who was arresting an under-age friend of Zimmerman's at a bar.

He avoided conviction by agreeing to participate in a pre-trial diversion program that included anger-management classes.

In August, Zimmerman's fiancee at the time, Veronica Zuazo, filed a civil motion for a restraining order alleging domestic violence.

Zimmerman reciprocated with his own order on the same grounds, and both orders were granted. The relationship ended.

In 2007 he married Shellie Dean, a licensed cosmetologist, and in 2009 the couple rented a townhouse in the Retreat at Twin Lakes.

Zimmerman had bounced from job to job for a couple of years, working at a car dealership and a mortgage company.

At times, according to testimony from Shellie at a bond hearing for Zimmerman last week, the couple filed for unemployment benefits.

    

Out: Zimmerman was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans and carrying a paper bag. It's not known where he will stay until his trial in the murder of Trayvon Martin

Zimmerman enrolled in Seminole State College in 2009, and in December 2011 he was permitted to participate in a school graduation ceremony, despite being a course credit shy of his associate's degree in criminal justice.

Zimmerman was completing that course credit when the shooting occurred.

On March 22, nearly a month after the shooting and with the controversy by then swirling nationwide, the school issued a press release saying it was taking the 'unusual, but necessary' step of withdrawing Zimmerman's enrollment, citing 'the safety of our students on campus as well as for Mr. Zimmerman.'

A NEIGHBOURHOOD GRIPPED BY FEAR

By the summer of 2011, Twin Lakes was experiencing a rash of burglaries and break-ins.

Previously a family-friendly, first-time homeowner community, it was devastated by the recession that hit the Florida housing market, and transient renters began to occupy some of the 263 town houses in the complex.

Vandalism and occasional drug activity were reported, and home values plunged. One resident who bought his home in 2006 for $250,000 said it was worth $80,000 today.

At least eight burglaries were reported within Twin Lakes in the 14 months prior to the Trayvon Martin shooting, according to the Sanford Police Department.

Yet in a series of interviews, Twin Lakes residents said dozens of reports of attempted break-ins and would-be burglars casing homes had created an atmosphere of growing fear in the neighborhood.

In several of the incidents, witnesses identified the suspects to police as young black men. 

National outcry: Zimmerman, left, was arrested on April 10 after the February shooting of Trayvon Martin, right

Twin Lakes is about 50 percent white, with an African-American and Hispanic population of about 20 percent each, roughly similar to the surrounding city of Sanford, according to U.S. Census data.

One morning in July 2011, a black teenager walked up to Zimmerman's front porch and stole a bicycle, neighbors told Reuters. A police report was taken, though the bicycle was not recovered.

But it was the August incursion into the home of Olivia Bertalan that really troubled the neighborhood, particularly Zimmerman.

Shellie was home most days, taking online courses towards certification as a registered nurse.

 

Getting situated: George Zimmerman took to the witness stand for the first time on Friday

On August 3, Bertalan was at home with her infant son while her husband, Michael, was at work.

She watched from a downstairs window, she said, as two black men repeatedly rang her doorbell and then entered through a sliding door at the back of the house.

She ran upstairs, locked herself inside the boy's bedroom, and called a police dispatcher, whispering frantically.

'I said, 'What am I supposed to do? I hear them coming up the stairs!'' she told Reuters. Bertalan tried to coo her crying child into silence and armed herself with a pair of rusty scissors.

Police arrived just as the burglars - who had been trying to disconnect the couple's television - fled out a back door.

Shellie Zimmerman saw a black male teen running through her backyard and reported it to police.

After police left Bertalan, George Zimmerman arrived at the front door in a shirt and tie, she said.

He gave her his contact numbers on an index card and invited her to visit his wife if she ever felt unsafe. He returned later and gave her a stronger lock to bolster the sliding door that had been forced open.

'He was so mellow and calm, very helpful and very, very sweet,' she said last week. 'We didn't really know George at first, but after the break-in we talked to him on a daily basis.

People were freaked out. It wasn't just George calling police ... we were calling police at least once a week.'

In September, a group of neighbors including Zimmerman approached the homeowners association with their concerns, she said. Zimmerman was asked to head up a new neighborhood watch. He agreed.

'IF YOU'VE BEEN A VICTIM OF CRIME, CONTACT ZIMMERMAN'

Police had advised Bertalan to get a dog. She and her husband decided to move out instead, and left two days before the shooting. Zimmerman took the advice.

'He'd already had a mutt that he walked around the neighborhood every night - man, he loved that dog - but after that home invasion he also got a Rottweiler,' said Jorge Rodriguez, a friend and neighbor of the Zimmermans.

Sprung: George Zimmerman leaves the Seminole County Jail after posting bail in Sanford, Florida

Around the same time, Zimmerman also gave Rodriguez and his wife, Audria, his contact information, so they could reach him day or night.

Rodriguez showed the index card to Reuters. In neat cursive was a list of George and Shellie's home number and cell phones, as well as their emails.

Less than two weeks later, another Twin Lakes home was burglarized, police reports show. Two weeks after that, a home under construction was vandalised.

The Retreat at Twin Lakes e-newsletter for February 2012 noted: 'The Sanford PD has announced an increased patrol within our neighborhood ... during peak crime hours.

'If you've been a victim of a crime in the community, after calling police, please contact our captain, George Zimmerman.'

'THERE'S A REAL SUSPICIOUS GUY'

On February 2, 2012, Zimmerman placed a call to Sanford police after spotting a young black man he recognized peering into the windows of a neighbor's empty home, according to several friends and neighbors.

'I don't know what he's doing. I don't want to approach him, personally,' Zimmerman said in the call, which was recorded.

The dispatcher advised him that a patrol car was on the way. By the time police arrived, according to the dispatch report, the suspect had fled.

On February 6, the home of another Twin Lakes resident, Tatiana Demeacis, was burglarized.

Two roofers working directly across the street said they saw two African-American men lingering in the yard at the time of the break-in.

A new laptop and some gold jewelry were stolen. One of the roofers called police the next day after spotting one of the suspects among a group of male teenagers, three black and one white, on bicycles.

Walking out: Zimmerman's ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety and it is very likely outside of Florida

Police found Demeacis's laptop in the backpack of 18-year-old Emmanuel Burgess, police reports show, and charged him with dealing in stolen property.

Burgess was the same man Zimmerman had spotted on February 2.

Burgess had committed a series of burglaries on the other side of town in 2008 and 2009, pleaded guilty to several, and spent all of 2010 incarcerated in a juvenile facility, his attorney said. He is now in jail on parole violations.

Three days after Burgess was arrested, Zimmerman's grandmother was hospitalized for an infection, and the following week his father was also admitted for a heart condition. 

Zimmerman spent a number of those nights on a hospital room couch.

Ten days after his father was hospitalised, Zimmerman noticed another young man in the neighborhood, acting in a way he found familiar, so he made another call to police.

Ride: Zimmerman met a man in a white BMW and drove away from the jail to an unknown location

'We've had some break-ins in my neighbourhood, and there's a real suspicious guy,' Zimmerman said, as Trayvon Martin returned home from the store.

The last time Zimmerman had called police, to report Burgess, he followed protocol and waited for police to arrive. They were too late, and Burgess got away.

This time, Zimmerman was not so patient, and he disregarded police advice against pursuing Martin.

'These a**holes,' he muttered in an aside, 'they always get away.'

After the phone call ended, several minutes passed when the movements of Zimmerman and Martin remain a mystery.

Moments later, Martin lay dead with a bullet in his chest.

Related Reading:

A National Travesty

Picture of the Day: If Obama Had A Son, He Would Not Look Like Trayvon

What Would Atticus Do?

Playing With Racial Fire

George Zimmerman's Black Roots:  Trayvon Shooter Had a Great-Grandfather Who Was "Afro-Peruvian," New Report Reveals 

Sympathy For The Devils, Race-Pimps, Grievance-Mongers, & Great, White Guilt-Trippers? 

From Tragedy to National Travesty

Pictures of the Day:  If Barack Obama & George Zimmerman's Maternal Great-Grandfathers Had Sons 

 

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Love it up on everyday

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I'm gonna take my chances on everyday

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Good love fight for everyday
Jump in the mud, mud
Get your hands filthy, love
Give it up, love
Everyday

All you need is
All you want is
All you need is love.
All you need is
What you want is
All you need is love.
Oh...

What you’ve got
Lay it down on me
What you’ve got
Lay it down on me

All you need is
All you want is
All you need is love.
All you need is
What you want is
All you need is love.

Everyday
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Oh, Everyday...

Pick me up love
Lift me up love
Pick me up love
Everday...

Up from the bottom, everyday
Up to the top love, everyday
Pick me up love
Lift me up love
Pick me up love
Everyday