I explained it well (or so I've been told) in another thread. Let me see if I can find it and copy and paste it into this post. Can't find it. Here's what happened: George Zimmerman, who was taking criminal justice classes at community college to become a cop was concerned about a recent string of break ins in his neighborhood, and so decided to be a neighborhood watch captain. So one day, while driving to Target, he saw Martin, seemingly behaving strangely. He called the police, and, in trying to get an address, he got out of his car. Zimmerman was following Martin to observe him, even though the police told him "we don't need you to do that". There was a confrontation, Martin supposedly punched Zimmerman, knocking him to the ground, and proceeded to bash his head into the ground. Zimmerman then pulled out his gun and shot Martin, killing him. The defense argued that Zimmerman was justified, for he surely feared for his life when he pulled the trigger. The prosecution asserted that Zimmerman, a cop wannabe, pursued Martin, confronted him, and ultimately killed him.