ORLANDO, Fla. — George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted of murder for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, said in an interview released Wednesday that he’s trying to be a good person and he thinks he can help others after what he has gone through.

Zimmerman said in a videotaped interview with his divorce attorneys that he was trying to figure out who he is and that he was doing the interview to “show America who I truly am.”

During the more than 20-minute interview, Zimmerman, dressed in a gray blazer and blue dress shirt, looks directly at the camera as he sits in an office chair. When asked by an off-camera attorney what his daily life is like, Zimmerman said he worries constantly about his safety.

“The only thing consistent is having to always look over my shoulder and be concerned about others around me,” he said.

Zimmerman said he’s trying to be a faithful family man but realizes that everything he does, good or bad, is heavily scrutinized.

Zimmerman was acquitted last summer of all charges for fatally shooting the 17-year-old Martin in a gated community where Zimmerman lived. Since his acquittal, Zimmerman has had brushes with the law following separate confrontations with his now-estranged wife, Shellie, and a former girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe. Neither Shellie Zimmerman nor Scheibe pursued charges against Zimmerman and the investigations ended without an arrest.

The trial over Martin’s death last summer raised questions about race and gun control laws. Martin was black.

– The Associated Press


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