Let me just say that this is nothing other than speculation and supposition. However, it's just as probable as anything else that has been put out there.
We live in a neighborhood not riddled with crime. No, it's just your regular working class neighborhood.
We have regular neighborhood association meetings with the police officers patrolling that particular beat.
We, the neighbors, voice concerns and the police tell us if something has been going on and what to be on the lookout for. The police always encouraged us to call in, if we see something or someone out of place. You've heard the phrase: "See something, say something!"
Well, honestly we, personally, don't pay all that much attention and our shades are mostly closed, so we don't really see much of what is going on outside.
One of our neighbors, however, takes this whole "see something, say something" serious. She doesn't call the police frivolously, mind you, and not unless she suspects something seriously shady going on, such as suspected drug dealing.
So, one day another neighbor, a woman of 84 living in a duplex, was having trouble with her next door neighbor; a couple of twenty somethings partying loudly all hours of the day and night. That along with some fighting, arguing, etc. made the elderly lady very uncomfortable and a little scared.
So she tried to speak to her neighbors, who were not at all happy or receptive and basically told her to mind her own business, and telling her in pretty unpleasant terms.
She mentioned her worries and fears to our "Neighborhood watch" person who, at first, tried to intercede by speaking to those disruptive partiers.
Well, obviously that didn't go over to well either, and before long it escalated verbally and ended in a call to the local substation responsible for our area.
As I said, we don't really pay much attention to what goes on outside, but loud, angry voices will bring even us to the window for a peek.
The situation that followed that particular day really made me scratch my head.
The police listened, seemingly bothered by having to be there, and in the end they told our "neighborhood watch" person to mind her own business, go home and stop bothering them with "nonsense" or she could be subject to arrest or some other kind of trouble. The officers loud and boisterous dressing down of our "neighborhood watch" person was in fact loud enough to bring people from down the street out of their houses.
The unruly partiers were only encouraged by this and yelled plenty of nasty "this and that" after her, as she made her way back to her home.
Now, she isn't the kind to be easily intimidated, but she sure was embarrassed, not to mention confused about the whole "Help us keep your neighborhood safe, but don't call us" attitude.
So now she is, what one might call, a little "gun shy" and "see something" has become "see an actual crime in progress".
So much for wanting and getting actual cooperation from people.
Now why am I telling you this story?
Because, I wouldn't doubt that this is pretty close to what took place in Florida.
A man, George Zimmerman, with a gun, laws that allows him to carry that gun concealed, "stand your ground" and a, probably, overworked police force.
A young man, Trayvon Martin, walking down an unfamiliar neighborhood after dark.
This could almost be called "the perfect storm" or "the perfect scenario for a tragedy".
George Zimmerman wanted to "help" the police and was dreaming of, maybe one day, getting recognition as a neighborhood hero for keeping a crime from occurring or catching a perpetrator.
We all know he was a frequent caller to the police for this or that person he deemed suspicious or didn't recognize as "belonging" in the neighborhood.
No doubt in my mind, the police eventually reacted to him much in the same way the police did our "neighborhood watch" person.
"We are sick and tired of coming out here, because you jump at shadows. Halve of the time we get here there isn't even anyone here. Stop calling us for nonsense! We are very busy and don't have time for this. As a matter of fact, the next we come out here for nothing, we'll haul you in for abusing the 911 system!"
Granted, this is how I imagine it went, but I wouldn't be surprised if I am pretty close to the truth.
The night George Zimmerman spotted Trayvon Martin, he was going to make sure that, this time, when the cops came, he was going to present them with a suspicious person.
He wasn't going to let "this one" get away.
He wasn't going to follow the dispatchers order to hang back and wait for officers to arrive.
God knows, by the time the cops show up he, Trayvon, could have left the area, leaving George looking like an idiot, again.
No, this time he was going to hold this person for the police.
Let the cops check Trayvon out and determine whether he belonged in the neighborhood or not.
That night Trayvon Martin, taking a break from watching a ball game, decided he was going to walk to the corner store and get a snack.
On his way back home he noticed a car following him.
He was a 17 year old boy, having been raised in a society where parents caution their children to be on the lookout for adults behaving strangely, such as following them in a car.
He walked away from the sidewalk and the street onto the grass around the back of the apartment building.
His heart pounding heavily as he saw the man, who had followed him in the car, stop and get out to follow him on foot.
Eventually George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin met.
George, thinking a suspicious person is trying to evade him, and Trayvon trying to evade an adult stranger following him.
George Zimmerman probably called out for Trayvon to stop and Trayvon thought to himself "It'll be a cold day in hell, before I stop and let this strange guy grab me!".
George probably pulled out his weapon to show Trayvon he was serious and Trayvon probably thought that he was in serious danger of ending up in the trunk of a car to never be seen again.
There was some pulling, grabbing, tugging, a struggle and then a shot.
With this one shot, one life was taken and another damaged irreparably.
Do I believe George Zimmerman set out that night to kill someone? No.
Do I believe George Zimmerman set out that night to, maybe, hopefully, catch a criminal and become a local hero? Absolutely.
Could this have been prevented? You bet!
The notion that, this could have easily been resolved if Trayvon had not struggled with an adult having pulled a gun on him, is insane.
People out there abducting children use candy and puppies only to get the littlest of kids. Older children or adults are usually coerced with threats of immediate physical harm, grabbed and forced into a vehicle to be whisked away to some dungeon reminiscent of what was discovered after the rescue of three young women in Ohio.
To sum it up:
Civilians make for lousy "cops". They are not trained and don't have, and/or shouldn't have, the authority to detain people.
Allowing folks to arm themselves and "take the law into their own hands" gets people killed or injured.
In Florida the "stand your ground" law not only encourages people to arm themselves, but their are also encouraged to "act" as if they were law enforcement.
Above all this is a tragedy all around and no ones life will ever be the same.
All that is left now, is to hope that the adults in Florida understand that pointing a gun at someone, especially a child, without provocation is going to be interpreted as a threat and will probably be met with resistance. Hey, for all you know, the person you are pulling a gun on is armed as well.
So, do you really want the shoot-outs to begin? I doubt it.