UPDATE: The auction has been pulled from gunbroker.com, according to CNN.
Earlier:
May 12–A post reportedly made by George Zimmerman on a gun-auction website claims to be selling the 9mm pistol he used to kill Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Zimmerman, a former Sanford neighborhood watch volunteer, seemed to verify the post Wednesday during a recorded phone call with FOX-35 News, saying he just got the gun back from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“They took it after my trial, after I was exonerated,” he told FOX-35 News.
The post on GunBroker.com lists the gun as a Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol and describes it as an “American firearm icon” that was used to “defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin.”
Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013 of killing Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old. He said he was defending himself when he shot Martin.
In the auction post, which is signed “Your friend, George M. Zimmerman,” the seller says the gun “currently has the case number written on it in silver permanent marker.”
The seller also says the “purchaser is guaranteed validity and authenticity of the firearm,” the post reads.
The auction listing also says a portion of the proceeds will go towards fighting violence against law enforcement by the Black Lives Matter movement and to stop anti-firearm rhetoric made by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The poster also wants to end the career of Angela Corey, who led the prosecution against Zimmerman.
During the call with FOX-35 News, Zimmerman said if he doesn’t sell it, the gun will go in a safe and “never be used or seen again.”
He said he’s received death threats and has decided not to cower.
He also said he thinks its “time to move past the firearm.”
“I’m a free American,” he told FOX-35 News. “I can do what I want with my possession.”
The auction is set to begin at 11 a.m. with bidding starting at $5,000.
As of about 8 a.m., the listing had been viewed more than 100,000 times.
Martin’s family released a statement saying the Trayvon Martin Foundation is focused on ending “senseless gun violence.”
“We are laser focused on furthering that mission. As such, the foundation has no comment on the actions of that person that murdered Trayvon,” the statement reads.
Zimmerman hasn’t been reached to verify the post.
Read the full FOX-35 report here.
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