Police haven’t arrested unarmed teen’s killer

Florida youth shot while returning home from trip to buy candy

SANFORD, FLA. – Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed a task force on Thursday to investigate the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin as calls grew for charges to be filed against the neighbourhood watch volunteer who killed him.

Also, the state prosecutor who had been handling the investigation will step aside from the probe, Scott said in a statement.

In addition to examining the Martin incident, the task force “will thoroughly review Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law,” Scott said. The 2005 law, which has come under national scrutiny since the Martin killing, allows someone in fear of “great bodily harm” to respond with deadly force, and removes any duty to retreat if possible to avoid confrontation.

Earlier on Thursday, the police chief of Sanford, the town where Martin was killed, announced he would temporarily step down from his job, saying his role in the investigation had become too much of a distraction.

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee had been heading up the investigation into the killing of 17-year-old Martin by neighbourhood watch captain George Zimmerman, 28.

Police have declined to arrest Zimmerman.

Lee, who has been on the job less than a year, said it had become “apparent that my involvement in the matter is overshadowing the process.”

Lee’s decision to step down comes a day after he received a vote of “no confidence” by Sanford’s city commissioners and follows calls for his resignation by civil-rights groups angered over the police department’s handling of the case.

Turner Clayton, president of the Seminole County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said he was relieved to see Lee step aside.

“The city commission made a good start last night,” he said. “Based on that, the chief had no other recourse but to remove himself. We hope it becomes permanent.”

Lee previously said he had no choice under Florida’s controversial Stand-your-ground law but to let Zimmerman go free. The 2005 law allows someone in fear of “great bodily harm” to respond with deadly force, and removes any duty to retreat if possible to avoid confrontation.

On Feb. 26, Martin was returning to a gated community from a candy run at a convenience store when Zimmerman, carrying a licensed handgun in his role as a neighbourhood watch captain, saw him. He called police to report a “suspicious guy” and followed him despite the dispatcher’s advice not to do so.

Neighbours said they heard a scuffle, cries for help and then a gunshot.

JOHN MOORE GETTY IMAGES Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, parents of slain teenager Trayvon Martin, say the family is “looking for justice – the same justice anyone would expect if their son were shot and killed for no reason.”