Wife says George Zimmerman has changed since trial
MIAMI — Shellie Zimmerman said Thursday that she hasn’t been able to find her estranged husband to serve him divorce papers and that she doesn’t know what he’s capable of because he has changed since he was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
Shellie Zimmerman said on NBC’s “Today” Show on Thursday that she is conflicted over her George Zimmerman’s assertion that he killed the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense. But she said she believes the evidence and respects the jury’s verdict.
Martin, who was unarmed, was fatally shot in February 2012 after getting into a scuffle with Zimmerman as he walked home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla. Shellie Zimmerman later pleaded guilty to perjury for lying about the couple’s finances after her husband’s arrest. She was sentenced to probation and community service.
“After standing by him, he kind of left and I guess kind of went on a victory tour without me,” Shellie Zimmerman said. “I thought I was living a life with him and that we were going to kind of rebuild after all this, and he had other plans for me.”
Zimmerman told Lauer she doesn’t believe her believe her husband profiled Martin, who was black. However, she said she now “doubts” his innocence on the self-defense claim.
Shellie Zimmerman, 26, also said she stands by her account of a Sept. 9 altercation with her husband at the house they shared in Lake Mary. She told a 911 dispatcher that her husband was threatening her with a gun.
The dispute took place just days after she filed for divorce. Shellie Zimmerman, her father and a friend were removing items from the home when her husband showed up and began taking photos.
“I didn’t see a gun, but I know my husband,” she said. “I saw him in a stance and a look in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. His shirt was half-way unbuttoned and he was putting his hand in his shirt and saying, ‘Please step closer, please step closer.’ So I think that just logically I assumed he had a gun on him.”
She added later: “This person that I’m married to and that I’m divorcing, I kind of realize now that I don’t know him and I really don’t know what he’s capable of.”
George Zimmerman hasn’t stayed at the home since then, and his whereabouts are unknown even to his wife and her attorney.
No charges were filed in that dispute, though deputies are still trying to retrieve footage of what happened from an iPad smashed by George Zimmerman during the argument.