Summary: George Zimmerman has been shot at in a possible case of road rage.
It may be gospel truth that if you live by the sword you will die by the sword, and if we update the dictum to pertain to guns, it may not seem all too surprising that George Zimmerman has been shot at while visiting his mother for Mothers’ Day in Central Florida. Only, in fact, the case is entirely bizarre, involving road rage with a man Zimmerman had a previous encounter with, one Matthew Apperson who, last time, claims Zimmerman threatened to kill him, asking “Do you know who I am?”
Not only must he by now “know who” Zimmerman is, but wished further to return the favor of a threat on his life by first following Zimmerman, making a U-turn at the same time as Zimmerman, and then pulling up, leveling a gun, and firing.
“As they were headed the other direction, [Apperson] pulled up alongside George’s vehicle, pulled a gun, and fired a shot into the interior compartment of the vehicle,” said Zimmerman’s lawyer, Don West.
“It was terrifying,” he continued, saying Zimmerman was “almost killed.”
“There’s really no explanation, I don’t think, for what this guy did. I don’t know what his intent was.”
Not that the befumed motorist explained his misdeeds, since he invoked his right to silence.
Zimmerman was not hit by any bullets, but did get cut up on shattered glass. Zimmerman did not brandish his gun or fire it, but was concerned only with escaping.
Mark NeJame has been hired to represent Apperson, and said “I was contacted by the family and we immediately sent word out to law enforcement and State Attorney’s Office that we were invoking his right to remain silent, his constitutional right, which is protocol and appropriate.”
As to the ongoing dispute between these two feudants, it isn’t clear what it all amounts to, if much of anything. Nevertheless, it is clear enough that Zimmerman’s notoriety, after killing unarmed black youth Trayvon Martin in 2012, which raised national attention about Stand Your Ground laws and has invited endless political commentary from across the country, will follow him going forward.
Or as West said, “Since the Trayvon Martin incident, he’s always had reason to be afraid. I was hoping after the federal government chose not to pursue the civil rights charges that it would sort of quietly go away and that he would be able to live a more normal life. But obviously that’s not the case.”