George Zimmerman, whose 2013 acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin sparked the #BlackLivesMatter movement, is suing two leading Democratic White House contenders for defamation.
On Tuesday, Zimmerman and his attorneys filed a lawsuit in Florida’s 10th Judicial Circuit, alleging U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg defamed him in their attempt to “garner votes in the black community.”
The lawsuit said Warren and Buttigieg’s separate tweets Feb. 5, which would have been Martin’s 25th birthday, used the killing “as a pretext to demagogue and falsely brand Zimmerman as a white supremacist and racist to their millions of Twitter followers.”
“Buttigieg and Warren individually defamed and disparaged Zimmerman in separate postings on their Twitter accounts on Feb. 5, 2020,” the lawsuit said. “Buttigieg and Warren defamed Zimmerman for political gain in misguided and malicious attempts to bolster their standings amongst African-American voters, all at Zimmerman’s expense.”
Buttigieg and Warren are battling for crucial African American votes in the race for the Democratic White House nomination.
According to the lawsuit, Warren and Buttigieg falsely tied Martin’s death to “gun violence,” a term that more appropriately describes the “reckless and indiscriminate use of illegally owned firearms." It also claims the tweets defamed Zimmerman by implying he acted out of racism or white supremacy when he shot Martin.
On Feb. 26, 2012, Martin, 17, attacked Zimmerman, then a neighborhood watch volunteer, in a Sanford, Florida, gated community. Martin, who lived in Miami Gardens, was visiting his father.
Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, who was unarmed, and claimed self-defense. More than a year later, a Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman of murder under the state’s Stand Your Ground law.
» PHOTO GALLERY: Courtroom reaction after Zimmerman not-guilty verdict
Zimmerman's trial and acquittal sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later decided not to bring a civil rights case against Zimmerman.
Zimmerman is also suing Martin's family, including the boy's mother, Sybrina Fulton, who is running for a Miami-Dade County commission seat.
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