Police say iPad may prove key in Zimmerman marital altercation case
Zimmerman's wife calls 911 on him
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- "Unfortunately, the iPad is in several pieces," police spokesman says
- Shellie Zimmerman placed 911 call and said she and her father were threatened
- No gun was found in Monday's alleged incident
"Unfortunately, the iPad
is in several pieces," police spokesman Zach Hudson told reporters about
the device, which he said George Zimmerman had damaged.
The incident comes two
months after Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was acquitted of
second-degree murder in the shooting death in nearby Sanford of Trayvon
Martin, a 17-year-old unarmed youth.
Police have sent the pieces of the iPad for analysis, Hudson said. "We want to get all the information, the footage, off it."
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It was not clear who, if
anyone, would be charged in the case, he said. "It depends on what the
iPad has on it," he said. "What that footage looks like."
No charges were filed
after the incident on Monday afternoon, when police answered a 911 call
from Shellie Zimmerman during which she said her husband had threatened
her and her father with a gun.
"There was no gun found,"
Hudson said. "There was no weapon, nor was there any weapon involved.
Nobody ever saw a gun. A gun is definitely not part of any evidence in
this particular case."
Shellie Zimmerman's reference to a gun during her call to 911 is not likely to result in any charges, he said.
"Any time you have a
divorce, emotions are going to run high," Hudson added. "In this case,
obviously, that was happening and, unfortunately, you had an incident.
We need to find out and determine if a crime was committed during that
incident."
No one was injured at the house, he said. "They put hands on each other. I don't know if that was fists or pushing."
Shellie Zimmerman and
her father, David Bryant Dean, had gone to the house she had shared with
George Zimmerman to pick up some of her belongings.
The Zimmermans had
texted Monday morning, and she told him she was going go the house,
according to a person with whom the family shared the texts.
George Zimmerman and a
friend also went to the house, where he got into a heated discussion
with Dean, Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, told CNN on Monday. Police
said it was then that Zimmerman broke the iPad.
"There was heightened
emotion, and a disagreement took place," O'Mara said Monday. He added
that Shellie Zimmerman no longer lives at the house, which is owned by
her father.
O'Mara has since announced that he will no longer represent Zimmerman.
Shellie Zimmerman's divorce filing last week in Seminole County came after she pleaded guilty to perjury on August 28
for lying about the couple's finances during a bond hearing in April
2012. She had said she and her husband were broke, when they had
collected about $135,000 in donations from supporters.
Since his acquittal on
July 13, George Zimmerman has returned several times to the headlines.
In late July, he helped a family escape from an overturned SUV. And he
has been pulled over in traffic twice. The first time, he was given a
verbal warning for a traffic violation in Texas
and reportedly told officers he had a firearm in his glove compartment.
The second time was in Florida last week, when he was issued a $256
ticket for speeding.
Under Florida law, it is up to police to decide whether to press charges for domestic battery.