George Zimmerman wants a normal life. He makes the revelation during an interview with the Spanish-language station Univision, the Daily News reports.
He says he lives in fear for his life after being acquitted last summer in the death of Trayvon Martin, but believes he did the right thing, according to a preview of an interview in Spanish with the Univision television show "Aquí y Ahora" (Here and Now), which is scheduled to air Sunday at 7 p.m. (ET).
The timing couldn’t be worse for Zimmerman to make a sympathy plea. Late Saturday, a jury failed to convict Michael Dunn on a murder charge in the death of Jordan Davis, who, like Trayvon, was unarmed when he was shot down. Although Dunn was convicted of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing a deadly missile, the verdict has prompted a loud public outcry from civil rights leaders and social media users, who say he got away with murder.
For his part, Zimmerman justified the shooting, saying that Trayvon attacked him and threatened to kill him. Besides suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from the incident, he is homeless and has accrued $2.5 million in debt from the trial, despite receiving $350,000 from an online fundraiser to help pay for his defense.
"He [Trayvon] saw my gun and told me he would kill me, and I knew he was telling the truth. I mean, was not playing," he told the station. "I asked him to stop … And the young man did not care. Continued attacking … I knew he would not stop even though I knew that someone had seen [the fight] and the police are coming. He did not care."
But Zimmerman declined to respond when asked if he should have waited for the cops, saying that the case is under a federal Department of Justice investigation.
"Honestly, I [would] love to live a calm life without being in the press. I’d like [to be treated like] any American citizen—have a ticket … or an argument … [and] not have everyone aware," he said. "But that … that's my life and I do not understand why that is, but I'm living my life as I have always lived, " he said.
Read more at the Daily News.