Trayvon Martin Will Receive Posthumous Degree From Florida Memorial University

FILE - In this July 15, 2013 file photo Jaylen Reese, 12, marches to downtown Atlanta during a protest of George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin. The shooting of a... FILE - In this July 15, 2013 file photo Jaylen Reese, 12, marches to downtown Atlanta during a protest of George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin. The shooting of an unarmed black teen by Ferguson, Mo., police over the weekend has drawn comparisons to high-profile racially charged deaths of black men and teens around the country. When Zimmerman was acquitted the next year, authorities braced for rioting. Yet while many voiced their frustration, including the nation's first black president, the reaction was overwhelmingly peaceful. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) MORE LESS

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A university will award Trayvon Martin a posthumous Bachelor of Science Degree in aviation five years after the black teenager was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in a central Florida neighborhood.

An announcement on Florida Memorial University’s official Facebook page says Martin’s parents, Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, will accept the degree during a May 13 commencement ceremony. Fulton graduated from the Miami Gardens university and, along with Tracy Martin, co-founded the Trayvon Martin Foundation.

The university’s statement says it will honor the steps Martin, who was 17 when he died in 2012, took toward becoming a pilot.

George Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense as the teen returned to his father’s home after a trip to a convenience store. A jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder in 2013.

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