Police Car Shot Near Scene Of Trayvon Martin Shooting In Sanford, Fla.

A police car was shot through several times with bullets last night near the gated community where Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla.

According to authorities, the police cruiser was shot around 4:30 this morning. Witnesses told CBS News that they heard six gunshots last night. At least two bullets struck the empty police cruiser, which was parked in front of an elementary school at the Twin Lakes apartment complex. At least one bullet destroyed the car's window. No one was injured in the shooting, which is under investigation.

The 17-year-old Martin was killed on Feb. 26 after an altercation with a neighborhood watch member who told a police dispatcher that the teenager looked suspicious. Martin was unarmed. George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch member, claimed self-defense, and local police declined to arrest him or bring charges against him. Protesters around the country have called for an arrest, and the case has become a flashpoint in the national debates over racial profiling and gun laws. The Sanford Police Department has also faced withering criticism for its handling of the early investigation into the case.

The car's shooting came not long after a group of several protesting students blocked the doors of the Sanford Police Department headquarters yesterday, which forced the department to temporarily close.

Some of the students, who called themselves the Dream Defenders, walked for 40 miles over three days from Daytona Beach to Sanford. The students called for the Zimmerman's arrest, and for elected officials to step down.

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Comments

[cunningjoseph]

03:24 AM on 04/12/2012

No violence please!!!!!!

[mikecrt]

07:00 PM on 04/11/2012

I'm pretty sure the car looked suspicious. After all, I understand you hardly see any in that part of town anymore.

[kwoodberryesq]

05:12 PM on 04/11/2012

In about 3 months they might begin to investigate this...

[LeftRightCenter]

10:47 AM on 04/11/2012

the car was shot in SELF DEFENSE

[S W A T]

11:15 AM on 04/11/2012

The shooter will not be laughing when he's caught and sent to prison!

[William A]

03:14 PM on 04/11/2012

Like Zimmerman?

[S W A T]

10:29 AM on 04/11/2012

***A person is arrested when he has actually been placed under restraint or taken into custody by an officer or person executing a warrant of arrest, or by an officer or person arresting without a warrant***

When Sanford police placed handcuffs on Zimmerman and into a squad car and transported him to the P.D. along with his liberty of being able to leave, he's arrested! The Police brought him to the P.D. for questioning ,but as soon as the States Attorney refused a complaint, the Police had to let Zimmerman go ! So people stop blaming the Police and learn the law and procedures!

[kareemachan]

11:35 AM on 04/11/2012

I think the Sanford police should learn about police procedures.

[S W A T]

11:44 AM on 04/11/2012

Are you trained or knowledgable in law and procedure? Not!! Prove your self!

[S W A T]

11:44 AM on 04/11/2012

What part of an arrest don't you understand!!

[USAFVET77]

03:42 AM on 04/12/2012

You are correct SWAT to a certain extent...I would go as far to say you are affiliated with the law somehow...
With that being said...I know we cover our own as a creed, but you and I both know they dropped the ball with this one.
You also asked about the Marine...
It was 3 years ago you may be able to pull it up by searching in San Angelo...
I was stationed at Goodfellow AFB at the time (Texas) I'll do a search and post the link if I can find it. It was a big deal there... Black people made it a racial thing of course, but I just used it to show the way some of the laws work in different areas.
If I am not mistaken some in Some States if someone breaks into your home and you have a way out you have to use it...

[eavesdrips88]

02:12 AM on 04/11/2012

Police Car Shot Near Scene Of Trayvon Martin Shooting in Sanford, Fla.

Which also happens to be near where Zimmerman lived.

[Chrispenn]

11:41 AM on 04/11/2012

zimmerman lives on the other side of the community,i saw the map and zimmermans house, the house where trayvon was going were outlined. besides zimmerman is not there

[USAFVET77]

01:04 AM on 04/11/2012

So tired of this...A black man in Texas got 15 years for shooting a white man who actually broke into his home and had a crow bar. He did not even kill him. The man just lost a leg. But they put a black Marine Vet in Jail for true self defense in his own home....
This whole thing should really call for a look at some new laws...

[isfturtle]

01:47 AM on 04/11/2012

Unfortunately there's only so much laws can do to fix racism.

[LeftRightCenter]

10:49 AM on 04/11/2012

Apparently there's NOTHING laws can do 2 fix racism

[IsaiahG17]

03:53 PM on 04/12/2012

Laws can only censor racism, never fix it.

[GravitonX]

08:01 AM on 04/11/2012

US laws are not designed to primarily protect Blacks.

[S W A T]

12:14 AM on 04/11/2012

Cops always win! The ones that shot the squad car, watch your backs?

[S W A T]

12:09 AM on 04/11/2012

It's not hard to figure out what type of group did this!

[jambatrumpet]

01:50 AM on 04/11/2012

Obviously a person angry and disgruntled with the Sanford PD....I highly doubt it was a "group"...tough for multiple people to operate a firearm...

[Gaaltero]

09:06 AM on 04/11/2012

neoNazis

[S W A T]

11:17 AM on 04/11/2012

Ignorant person!

[mark1966]

09:13 PM on 04/11/2012

Neo-nazis are white,Im sure it was a black person who shot at the police car

[SuperHeretic]

12:08 AM on 04/11/2012

We don't have any proof that police car was shot due to the Trayvon Martin case.

It's not like a police car was never vandalized before. For all we know it was the Neo-Nazi's doing. They might be trying to start an incident.

[Gaaltero]

09:07 AM on 04/11/2012

Yep. They have a history of cowardice.

[SuperHeretic]

03:55 PM on 04/11/2012

That they do.

The Neo-Nazi's are fearful, hateful cowards. Every one of them.

Why do you think the wear the sheets?

[S W A T]

05:11 PM on 04/11/2012

It wasn't? Now that's funny! The new black panthers are most likely responsible!

[SuperHeretic]

06:57 PM on 04/11/2012

Really? Which of the THREE or is that four members of the Black Panthers were they?

With all the crowds of Neo-Nazis and KKK walking around Florida, and most of them armed, you idiots are still going on about the dreaded Black Panthers?

Did you know that there are at LEAST 1018 hate groups in the United States as reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Most of them are White Supremacist groups.

If you're that terrified of black people, well, on some level you must think that each one of those members must be the equal of, or superior to, the claimed CROWDS of armed Neo-Nazis and KKK marching through Florida. That MUST mean, that in your eyes, black people are superior.

I'm just making fun of your idiotic fear. But on some level, you must believe it's true.

On a side note: Did you know that the Black Panthers were originally formed to protest and fight against police brutality?

[joyce628]

12:00 AM on 04/11/2012

I think that they need to check out the new "law enforcement in Sanford, patrolling the area and protecting white people', the Nazi Group dressed in black and well armed with their guns strapped to their bodies. They are twitching to start some riot.

The student marched before and there was no gun shots, it was always peaceful, now we have a shave self proclaimed "White Civil Rights" group in town armed with guns known as some Nazi group and bam we this incident.

[ReverendBlood]

07:07 AM on 04/11/2012

1) For the love of all that is sacred, use grammar. 2) The "New Black Panther Party" is offering a reward for Zimmerman, dead or alive, which is completely illegal, and to top it off, their "leader" was just arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. So, it's ok for a group of black people to do something, but when a group of white people do it that's wrong? That thinking is why there's still racism in this country.

[joyce628]

12:52 PM on 04/11/2012

their "leader" was just arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
==================================================================

[strobelight487]

07:11 AM on 04/11/2012

"They are twitching to start some riot."
I guess the New Black Panther idiots arent doing the same thing? Al and Jessie wouldnt try to create an uproar in the community. I see white ppl that had nothing to do with this having to defend themselves from the one that truely want a riot. I didnt hear the white ppl putting out 10G hits on anyone on national TV-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZhljU6vioM&feature=share-I dont see the Justice depart acting on that. Lets see, conspiracy, conspiracy to commit a crime, conspiricy to commit murder, murder for hire, kidnapping,ect....

[kareemachan]

11:39 AM on 04/11/2012

I think your brain is strobing....

[6465billy]

11:51 PM on 04/10/2012

And we are left to wonder why it was necessary for George Zimmerman to have to patrol his neighborhood. Thank God for men like him.

[PAposter]

12:15 AM on 04/11/2012

Yeah, okay...now find the data to support that this gated community has a high crime rate...and make sure you include all the "recent break-ins" touted by Zimmerman and his sympathizers. BTW, the police are there protecting the neighborhood from the white supremacist militia surrounding the community.

[strobelight487]

07:13 AM on 04/11/2012

Maybe thats why there is no data to post.

[ReverendBlood]

07:36 AM on 04/11/2012

Start with the documented 911 call on 2Feb and work your way back from there. Just because you're too lazy to look up the facts, doesn't make it necessary to bash someone based on your opinion of them.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/zimmerman-neighbor-rash-robberies-young-black-men-trayvon-145647987.html

[isfturtle]

01:53 AM on 04/11/2012

Does it occur to you that because of everything going on with this case, that people are angry, and things that may not normally be happening are happening?
And really, "thank God" for someone who follows a kid despite a 911 dispatcher telling him he shouldn't, and then, after some altercation (the details of which are unclear), shoots the kid? I do not have sufficient evidence to decide whether Martin did indeed attack Zimmerman, but Zimmerman put himself in the position for that altercation to happen.

[Jimmy0373]

11:49 PM on 04/10/2012

These people are getting ridiculous, They break the law by shooting into a patrol car, which in Florida the law for just shooting a gun in protest is like 5 years prison. Hmmmm, They are so smart they want to go to jail. What point are they trying to make, because the way they are headed their will be a lot more SYG claims.

[PAposter]

12:07 AM on 04/11/2012

Wow, just shooting a gun.....up to five years. Putting a bullet through the chest (or back) of an unarmed teenager......justifiable homicide protected under the Stand Your Ground Law.....even when you pursue the victim and admit to the killing. Bizarro World ain't got shiiiiiit on the South.

[Chrispenn]

12:01 PM on 04/11/2012

you are soooo f&f

[terroristmd]

12:08 PM on 04/11/2012

wow just shooting a police cruiser, not just "shooting a gun". But gloss over the facts since it doesn't have Trayvon as the victim.

[jambatrumpet]

01:55 AM on 04/11/2012

Desperate people do desperate things...

[meanjoker]

11:42 PM on 04/10/2012

Cop violence is trending up.

[S W A T]

12:16 PM on 04/11/2012

Prove your facts!!

[bascombe]

11:36 PM on 04/10/2012

did anyone ask the neo not sees who were patrolling tha area?