SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who fired a gun at George Zimmerman’s vehicle during a road-rage confrontation was convicted Friday of attempted second-degree murder.
Jurors also found Matthew Apperson, 37, guilty of shooting into a vehicle and aggravated assault with a firearm, local news organizations reported. He faces sentencing Oct. 17.
Apperson testified that he acted in self-defense last year. He said he fired at Zimmerman during the confrontation because Zimmerman flashed a gun.
Zimmerman testified earlier this week that he was driving to a doctor’s appointment on May 11, 2015, when he noticed he was being pursued by a vehicle whose driver later pulled up, exchanged words and fired one gunshot at him that missed.
“I heard a bang and my ears started ringing,” Zimmerman, 32, told the jury. The trial opened Tuesday in the Seminole County Courthouse.
Last year’s confrontation was not the first encounter between Apperson and Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012. Apperson alleged in September 2014 that Zimmerman threatened him in a road-rage encounter but did not press charges at the time.
Apperson’s attorney, Michael LaFay, said that Zimmerman was the aggressor and brandished a gun in both incidents, but prosecutor Stewart Stone said there was no way Apperson could have seen a gun through the tinted windows of Zimmerman’s vehicle.
In the Martin case, Zimmerman claimed self-defense and was acquitted of charges in the shooting, a verdict that sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. Martin was black, and Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic.
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Unless the windows were lowered or the windows were shot out, Zimmerman wouldn’t have had ringing ears. The windows were probably lowered so that is how the gun was seen.
Fla. Tourism PR - Visit the Sunshine State. Come to see Disney’s Mouse and stay to watch justice stand on its head." Really, they have no idea what they are doing.
Florida is the land of selective prosecution. The laws are worded so terribly that you could shoot at just about anyone and not be prosecuted. If someone flashes a gun then for sure I’d be in fear of my life.
I’d come down hard on this guy, no mercy : TWO full months of target practice.
Granted this person is responsible for his own actions, but it seems too many people in Zimmerman’s orbit end up suffering. Either shot dead, imprisoned, or victims of domestic violence.
Actually similar to Trump’s dignity wraiths in a sense. No one leaves Trump’s orbit whole either.