Did George Zimmerman Get Punched In the Face For Bragging About Shooting Trayvon Martin?

George Zimmerman was reportedly punched in the face by a stranger who overheard Zimmerman talking in a restaurant to a group of people about the fatal 2012 incident where Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

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George Zimmerman and a friend called 911 after a man accusing him of bragging about the fatal shooting punched him in the face, authorities said.

Channel 9 obtained the calls made by George Zimmerman and his friend.

911 dispatcher: “What started the argument?”

Zimmerman: “He recognized me. He told me he was going to kill me he told me he’d (expletive) shoot me and he punched me in the face.”

Zimmerman claimed he was explaining to people sitting at a table that he shot Trayvon Martin in self- defense when a large man approached and asked, “You’re bragging about that?” before punching him Zimmerman in the face.

Zimmerman: “This man just punched me in the face.”

Dispatcher: “Is he still there?”

Zimmerman: “Yup. He said he’s going to kill me.  You need to send like three or four cops.”

Witnesses say that Zimmerman was the victim in the incident, but that he may have been bragging about shooting Martin.

The man who punched Zimmerman was not named, and it’s unclear if he’ll face charges.

This is the second time Zimmerman has been attacked in a year. Last year a man tried to murder him and Zimmerman was mildly injured.

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Update: Another version of the incident suggests that Zimmerman was not bragging, but that the people he was talking with had specifically asked him about the shooting and he was merely trying to explain what happened when he was attacked.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Zimmerman walked by several people seated at a table Sunday evening and complimented one man’s Confederate flag tattoos. The man, Joseph Whitmer, thanked him and asked about the Trayvon Martin case.

The Sentinel reported that as Zimmerman explained that he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense, another man confronted him, asking, “You’re bragging about that?”

A man who identified himself as Zimmerman’s friend told 911 dispatchers: “George Zimmerman and I were sitting at a restaurant here eating and four or five guys came up to us and attacked George,” he said. “I tried to film it and they knocked my phone out of my hand and down onto the dock when I was trying to film it.”

Yet another account fleshed the scene out much better. Zimmerman had gone to the restaurant to place a takeout order and complimented a guy’s tattoos when the guy (Whitmer) started talking to him and a biker named Eddie come over, started a confrontation and attacked Zimmerman. Eddied and his friends then left.

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The general consensus seems to be that Zimmerman did not “brag” about the Martin case, but that he was responding to questions when he was attacked. If that is indeed what took place, then the man who attacked him is clearly in the wrong, and Zimmerman did nothing wrong.

Zimmerman has had a very checkered history in the public eye and seems to have impulse control issues, but he has been violently attacked several times for little or no reason at all, and was once in the news for helping accident victims.

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