‘Regret is a very strong word…Regret implies that your actions – you have culpability in what you did for what happened.’ — Robert Zimmerman Jr. (above), on whether his acquitted brother, George, felt any regret over the killing last year of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. (William Regan)
‘Regret is a very strong word…Regret implies that your actions – you have culpability in what you did for what happened.’ — Robert Zimmerman Jr., on whether his acquitted brother, George, felt any regret over the killing last year of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin (above)
DEATH GUN: George Zimmerman is entitled to get back the Tec-9 pistol (above) he used to kill Trayvon Martin – and his lawyer says that, with all of the fury over his acquittal, he would be wise to carry it. (AP)
George Zimmerman plans to start packing heat again — the same gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin — and he’s going to need it, his lawyer said yesterday.
Defense lawyer Mark O’Mara said Zimmerman’s acquittal by a Florida jury means he’s entitled to get back the Kel Tec-9 pistol he used to fatally shoot Martin last year.
Asked whether Zimmerman, 29, intends to carry the weapon, O’Mara replied “yes.”
“[There’s] even more reason now, isn’t there?” O’Mara told ABC News. “There are a lot of people out there who actually hate him, though they shouldn’t.”
The lawyer’s comments came as Zimmerman’s brother, Robert Jr., said George has no regrets over the deadly confrontation — and nothing to apologize for.
“Regret is a very strong word,’’ Robert Zimmerman told CNN.
“Regret implies that your actions — you have culpability in what you did for what happened. And I think that’s what you’re asking is, ‘Does he share or accept the blame?’ I think that George, outside of the word ‘blame,’ feels and has felt — and I’ve expressed this before — very bad.”
Robert — who has been acting as a spokesman for his embattled family — added that his brother should not apologize for anything.
“I don’t think that people who are forthcoming and forthright in what they do and believe they’re doing the right thing should then go back,” he said.
But Robert also said George “does have emotion about the fact that he had to take a life in self-defense,” before adding, “But that is incompatible with finding culpability in what he did.”
On NPR, Robert Zimmerman said he took “exception” to the notion that Martin was “unarmed” during his struggle with George on Feb. 26, 2012.
“He used the sidewalk against my brother’s head,” Robert said.
Robert told CNN that his brother — who has gotten death threats — “is going to be looking around his shoulder for the rest of his life.”
Zimmerman — who has been in hiding for months and wears a bulletproof vest and a disguise whenever he ventures out — remained in seclusion yesterday.
His not-guilty verdict spurred protests across the nation.
Civil-rights leaders urged the feds to bring charges against Zimmerman for shooting Martin, 17, while on a volunteer neighborhood-watch patrol of his gated community in Sanford, Fla.
In a statement, President Obama called Martin’s death a “tragedy” for the entire country that “has elicited strong passions.”
“And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher,” Obama said.
“But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.”
Obama also said that “the way to honor Trayvon Martin” is to “ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis.”
O’Mara all but dared Martin’s family to file a widely anticipated civil suit against Zimmerman, adding that Zimmerman might be filing lawsuits of his own.
“There are a number of events that happened during this case and the way certain people handled it that we may need to hold responsible. We’ll see,” O’Mara said.
Close friends of Zimmerman told Reuters that he was deeply hurt by the way prosecutors portrayed him as a racist vigilante who targeted Martin simply because he was black.
John Donnelly, who testified for the defense, said Zimmerman told him: “Sometimes, I have to go look at a mirror. They are talking about a totally different human being. They are talking about a racist. I’m not a racist.”
Over dinner recently with Donnelly and his wife, Leanne Benjamin, the one-time cop wannabe said he now hopes to become a lawyer.
“I’d like to help other people like me,” Benjamin quoted him saying.
NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said he had already contacted the Justice Department and pledged that “there will be a federal civil-rights phase” against Zimmerman.
“How is it that young Trayvon Martin could be killed by George Zimmerman and George Zimmerman gets no time, when Michael Vick got 2 1/2 years for killing dogs?” Jealous fumed on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to the African-American NFL star who went to jail for running dog fights.
“There is reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why he targeted young Trayvon,” Jealous said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) vowed that the case wasn’t over yet.
“I think the Justice Department is going to take a look at this. This isn’t over with, and I think that’s good,” Reid said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Still, Reid added: “I support the system. I’ll accept the verdict.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton said federal charges were the next available route in the Martin family’s quest for justice.
“Clearly, there are grounds for civil-rights charges,” Sharpton said on “Meet the Press.”
“The trial happened. The verdict came in. It does not exhaust the legal options of this family and the bigger community issues of civil rights.”
In a prepared statement, the Justice Department said it was evaluating “the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial.”
“Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil-rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate,” the statement added.