Youth burning a United States flag during demonstration against the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin. Demonstrations were held across the country., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
November 18, 2013 5:12 PM
George Zimmerman arrested after his girlfriend alleges he threatened her with a shotgun
By Julia Dahl
Updated at 10:14 p.m. ET
(CBS) - George Zimmerman is being held without bail on charges that he threatened his girlfriend with a shotgun.
Zimmerman, 30, was taken into custody Monday afternoon following a disturbance call at a home in Apopka, Fla., about 15 miles from Orlando, according to Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma of the Seminole County Sheriff's office.
In July, Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
In a 911 call released later Monday, Samantha Scheibe told police that Zimmerman had smashed a glass table, broken her sunglasses and pointed a shotgun in her face.
"You put your gun in my freaking face," Scheibe is heard telling Zimmerman on the call. "Get out of my house. Do not push me out of my house. Please get out of my house."
Seconds later, she can be heard telling the dispatcher, "He pushed me out of my house and locked me out. ... He knows how to do this. He knows how to play this game."
After police arrived on the scene, Zimmerman placed his own 911 call.
"I have a girlfriend, who for lack of a better word, has gone crazy on me," Zimmerman said.
He said that he never pulled a gun on his girlfriend, and that it was Scheibe who smashed a table at the home. He also told the dispatcher that Scheibe was pregnant with their child and that she had decided she would raise the child on her own. When Zimmerman started to leave, "she got mad," he said.
When the dispatcher asked why Zimmerman had called 911 instead of talking to the police officers who were outside the home, he said, "I just want everyone to know the truth."
Lemma told reporters that the girlfriend told police she is not pregnant.
At a news conference, Lemma said Zimmerman has been charged with aggravated assault, battery, domestic violence, and criminal mischief. No injuries were incurred and Lemma said no one other that Zimmerman and Scheibe, were at home at the time.
"The victim indicated that she and George Zimmerman were having a verbal dispute and at that time she alleged that he had broken a table and pointed a long barrel shotgun at her," said Lemma.
Lemma said Scheibe told police that Zimmerman pushed her out of the home and barricaded the door with furniture as she called 911.
"She's shaken up over this incident," said Lemma of Scheibe.
On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, who was 17 years old and unarmed at the time of his death. It took several weeks for police to arrest Zimmerman for the shooting, setting off waves of protests across the nation. Zimmerman, who was acting as a volunteer neighborhood watchman at the time of the shooting, claimed he shot Martin in self-defense during an altercation.
On July 13, Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder by a six-person jury.
Since the acquittal, Zimmerman has had several run-ins with law enforcement. He was stopped for speeding in Texas about two weeks after his acquittal, and pulled over twice more in Florida (once for speeding and once for overly tinted windows and improperly displayed tags) over the next few months. And in September, police were called to the home of his estranged wife, Shellie, after she told a police dispatcher that he threatened her with a gun. No charges were filed in that incident.
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