Dr. Miller's Son Interviews the Parents of Treyvon Martin for BET television

911, any police, fire, medical?

It's the same old story.

Oh my God, someone's been shot!

An unarmed Black youth presumed guilty.

Hey, we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there's a real suspicious guy. He looks Black. Ah, these assholes, they always get away.

Killed by a protector or a predator.

Are you following him? Yeah. Okay, we don't need you to chase him. So you think he's yelling help? Yes. All right, what is your— There's gunshots.

Every African-American parent's worst nightmare.

I'm so very hurt by this whole situation. It's a nightmare.

I know how she was feeling because that's her youngest. I know how I was feeling because that was my best friend. Tonight, heartbreak—

Yeah!

—outrage—

You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon.

And cries for justice.

Arrest Zimmerman now!

Why did the investigation take so long to begin? Who was the boy in the hood?

And who is the menace to society? A BET News Special: Shoot First: The Tragedy of Trayvon Martin.

Welcome, I'm Emmett Miller. On the rainy night of February 26th, 2012, this peaceful neighborhood in Sanford, Florida became the scene of an unspeakable tragedy, one that left an African-American teenager dead and his killer a free man. Just a short walk to the local 7-Eleven and back, and Trayvon Martin would be home to watch the NBA All-Star Game. That was the plan when the 17-year-old and his father were here visiting from Miami. It should have taken 15 minutes down this stretch of road past clusters of gated communities. It should not have taken his life.

Sanford Police Department. Hey, we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there's a real suspicious guy.

But the vigilant head of a makeshift neighborhood watch program, George Zimmerman, was on patrol that night.

This guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. Okay, and this guy, is he white, black, or Hispanic?

He looks black. Trayvon Martin's silhouette seeking shelter from the rain under a hooded sweatshirt quickly triggered Zimmerman's suspicions. Did you see what he was wearing?

Yeah, a dark hoodie, like a gray hoodie, and either jeans or sweatpants and white tennis shoes. These assholes, they always get away.

What happened that night is best documented in a chilling series of 911 calls that begin at 7:09 PM with the one George Zimmerman made to Sanford Police. Something's wrong with him.

Yeah, he's coming to check me out.

Zimmerman's ugly description of Trayvon to police says a lot about his state of mind.

He's got something in his hands. I don't know what his deal is. He's got his hand in his waistband and he's a black male.

He is beyond suspicious and acting well beyond his authority. It's also clear he's in hot pursuit of the teen, which violates neighborhood watch rules and police instructions. Are you following him?

Yeah. Okay, we don't need you to do that.

Okay. Only George Zimmerman knows why he decided to disregard police and continue to pursue Trayvon, but there's no doubt now That's exactly what happened.

911, do you need police, fire, medical? Um, maybe both, I'm not sure. There's just someone screaming outside. Okay, and is it a male or female? It sounds like a male. And you don't know why? I don't know why. I think they're yelling help, but I don't know.

7 emergency calls made by horrified witnesses within minutes of Zimmerman's own call to the police detail an uneven struggle between the much larger George Zimmerman and the 150-pound teenager. Does he look hurt to you?

I can't see him. I don't want to go out there.

I don't know what's going on. A young voice cries out for help.

So you think he's yelling help?

Yes. Then a gunshot.

All right, what is your number?

There's gunshots and the cries stop.

The person is dead, laying on the grass. Oh my God, it's a young boy or something. I can't imagine. I've never seen anyone killed.

I was walking my dog, and I heard screaming when I walked outside.

13-year-old Austin McClendon heard Trayvon's cries in the night.

I looked and I saw someone laying on the ground, and I heard someone yelling for help.

Two other witnesses, Mary Kutcher and Selma Mora, were in their kitchen when they say they heard pleas for help.

We did not hear any wrestling, fighting, punching, arguing, anything like that. It was just a kid whining, and I say kid because it sounded very young to us. Then we hear a gunshot.

Mary and Selma ventured outside.

I saw him raising, uh, wasn't quite on his knees, kind of raising off the body, but hands still pressed on Trayvon Martin's back. This is Zimmerman on top of him. And that's right.

Where is that exactly?

Can you point that out?

It is right here in between these two townhouses on the opposite side of this sidewalk. And you walk outside directly in front of our window. And yeah, we walked outside and came right here and we spoke to him from here. She called 3 times, you know, what's going on? Everything okay? Each time he looked back, didn't respond, looked back again, didn't respond. The third time he finally said, just call the police.

All through this terrible night, Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, was in the dark about what happened. He returned from dinner with his girlfriend, who lives here, 3 hours after the shooting to find neither Trayvon nor his nephew home.

Finally, you know, I fall asleep. Um, at that point, I assume, okay, they had the movies.

And they're responsible, so you're not thinking— they hadn't been in trouble like that before?

Neither one of them has ever had a run-in with the law.

By morning, Trayvon's dad awoke to find his son still hadn't returned. Police somehow hadn't managed to figure out who Trayvon was or to whom he belonged, even though they'd recovered his cell phone from the crime scene. So Tracy Martin called police to report Trayvon missing. I went downstairs.

I'm standing outside just, uh, waiting on Trayvon to walk up. I know for a fact Trayvon is finna walk into this house. Maybe about 5 or 10 minutes later, I see a patrol car pull up. So I say, okay, I'm gonna file a missing person's report, let them know what he had on, whatever. Two more cars pull up.

Two officers and a chaplain emerge bearing a crime scene photograph.

At that point, you know, I looked at the picture, and it's just like my heart stopped. 'Cause I seen my worst nightmare had came true. You know, my son was laying on the ground dead.

Is your first reaction anger? Is it shock? Is it— Uh, hurt.

Real hurt. Um, because I knew for a fact that I was his protector. That was— that was my best friend. And, um—

I couldn't protect him that day.

After Tracy Martin confirmed to police that the dead boy in the photo was Trayvon, he says they proceeded to give him George Zimmerman's version of the terrible event as though it were fact.

He said that Zimmerman, uh, told him that my son approached him Said that my son came up to his vehicle and asked him, "Yo, what's up?" Zimmerman at that point rolls his car windows up. Trayvon walks off. So he says Zimmerman gets out the vehicle, and as Zimmerman's walking around the building, Trayvon asks him, You got a problem? Zimmerman tells him, no, I don't have a problem. Trayvon tells him, now you do, homie. Zimmerman says he's reaching his hand in his pocket to get his cell phone. Trayvon attacks him.

28-year-old guy, considerably heavier. And this is what the detective is telling you on the very same day.

His exact words was, Trayvon has his hand on Zimmerman's mouth, told him, "Shut the F up," and continues to beat him. Zimmerman at that point fired off a round, shoot Trayvon in the chest. Trayvon falls back and say, "You got me." That's the story I'm told. That's how I was told. My son died.

And you're saying to yourself—

They full of it.

Is there a chance that Trayvon, feeling afraid, turned on him?

I don't think Trayvon was the aggressor. I can tell you that right now. That wasn't his mentality. He definitely wasn't the aggressor. Zimmerman had to say something out the way. He had to. Nobody knows that but Zimmerman and Trayvon. And Trayvon is dead, and they're taking whatever Zimmerman say to be the gospel.

A shaken Tracy Martin now had to make the wrenching call to Trayvon's mother.

I could barely understand what his dad was saying. But he was saying Trayvon was gone. He said, "Somebody shot and killed Trayvon." And I stopped breathing.

I told her that he was gone. Um, told her Trey was dead. And she was like, "Are you sure?" And I said, "Are you sure?

Are you sure that's Trayvon?" And he says, "I seen a picture. That's him." And I couldn't believe it. It was like—

Her heart was just snatched out. That was— that was the— that was one of the worst things I have ever had to do in my life, was to tell her that our son was dead. Mr.

Zimmerman has made the statement. The lack of information coming from Sanford Police didn't make it any easier.

I just felt that it was strange that the police department didn't try to contact us to keep us posted on what was going on with the case. We heard nothing.

George Zimmerman was described by Sanford police as, quote, "squeaky clean." But in fact, he'd had at least 2 previous run-ins with the law. According to police records, Zimmerman was charged in 2005 with assaulting a police officer when the officer attempted to arrest Zimmerman's friend. Also in 2005, Zimmerman's ex-fiancée, Veronica Zuazo, took out a domestic violence restraining order against him. This shooting has brought renewed attention to Florida's so-called Stand Your Ground law. It essentially says if you feel threatened, you can shoot and kill somebody without first having to try to flee. That may have been one reason that police didn't charge Zimmerman after he told them that he felt threatened by Trayvon. It's telling the citizenry, you know, it's okay to pull a gun and Shoot, and it's been called this, shoot first and ask questions later. I mean, that's why some, some critics have it called the shoot first law. Orlando criminal defense attorney David Hill says the law can make it easier to defend deadly force. It's another aspect of self-defense, and I'll use it in the appropriate case. As a citizen, as a father and a husband here in Central Florida, I'm concerned that it It promotes escalation of the use of guns, sort of a Wild West mentality.

We heard this, we saw this, I don't believe it's self-defense, we're worried.

Sometimes people get stereotyped, and I fit into this stereotype as the person who got shot.

Oh, I mean, up in his closet right now he has, you know, 5, 6, 7 hoodies. That's, I think, typical for a 13, 14-year-old kid nowadays. I think it actually scares him to think of walking outside wearing a hoodie. He profiled Trayvon because of the hoodie, because of the color of his skin. And we need to take a step back and just focus on what actually happened and why. If Trayvon had shot a white man, he would be in jail.

So it was about where those people are standing there, huh?

Yeah, it was around that area. Is it hard for you now to walk back through here? It's tough, but it's something that I told myself I have to do, um, because I, I just I feel as though I can't rest until I get justice for him.

Nearly a month after Trayvon was killed near the home he was visiting with his dad, there's no visible evidence of the tragedy. But the exact location of the shooting remains significant. So that would be the gate there that Trayvon may have come through, and this is the clubhouse. Yes. And why do we think this is where Zimmerman may have been?

On the 911 calls, he mentioned something about being around the clubhouse.

He said it's 1111 Retreat View or 111? That's the clubhouse. That's the clubhouse. Do you know what the— he's near the clubhouse right now? Yeah.

In the retreat at Twin Lakes gated community, the clubhouse is here near the main gate, which Trayvon had likely used on his way home from the 7-Eleven. It's where Zimmerman says he first saw him and began pursuing him. And this is the spot where Zimmerman ended Trayvon's life. Just 100 yards or so from where he was staying. While we don't know exactly what happened between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, it certainly appears Trayvon was making a beeline for home when he was killed.

Trayvon was running to get home. He knew that guy was following him. He was running to get home. Justice now!

Justice now! Justice now! His son is your son.

My son did not deserve to die. There's nothing that we can say that will bring him back, but I'm here today to assure that justice is served and that no other parents have to go through this again. Hi, Sybrina, Attorney Crump calling you. I'm calling to see—

When Trayvon's parents realized they were going to get no help from the Sanford Police Department, They hired lawyer Benjamin Crump and began a public campaign seeking justice for their son.

To me and my family, it's a slap in the face to say that your son was murdered and we're not going to do anything about it. Had not we reached out to lawyers who reached out to media, politicians, this would have been, okay, your son's dead. Nothing we gonna do about it.

They launched a whirlwind publicity tour from Florida to New York.

Okay, they said Time Warner Center is where we're supposed to be at.

News conferences, rallies, and TV appearances. Civil rights leaders like the Reverend Al Sharpton came out force. The impact was explosive, especially in social media, as millions expressed their horror and outrage. Across the internet, people showed their solidarity by posting pictures of themselves in hoodies. This time around, the all-too-familiar story of racial profiling with a violent end did did not fade away. Instead, George Zimmerman's attack on Trayvon Martin became a shot heard around the world. Well, the whole world's watching now, and it hasn't slowed down. It's building and building. You're touching a lot of folks. You realize that?

Yes, I do. And it's a purpose, and it's a reason. Trayvon was chosen, and so was my family. God has a purpose in all of this, and we might not know what it is, but you can rest assured his hands is in it on this case.

By late last week, local authorities in Sanford were feeling the pressure of the international campaign for Trayvon Martin. A grand jury was finally ordered to convene to investigate the killing, and the Sanford City Commission passed a resolution of no confidence and Police Chief Bill Lee.

I would ask the chief to step down.

The chief got the message. It is apparent that my involvement in this matter is overshadowing the process. Therefore, I have come to the decision that I must temporarily remove myself from the position as police chief for the city of Sanford. Chief Lee, may I ask you a question, please? Why did the investigation take so long to begin? Are there any questions? There are people that want to know why it is that a grand jury investigation is taking now 6 weeks after the death of Eric Garner. We've presented the facts in this case, and we'll let those stand. What would you have done differently now, in retrospect? What would you have done differently?

[SPEAKING SPANISH] At the Million Hoodie March in New York, to see, actually be there on hand, To walk in that crowd, to shake hands, to hug people that I've never met in my life, and to see the people crying and saying that they are Trayvon and asking for justice for a kid that they don't know, that made me feel, that made me feel Man, I can't describe that feeling. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]