George Zimmerman kills Trayvon Martin in Florida gated community

George Zimmerman shoots and kills Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. Zimmerman says he acted in self-defense after following Martin through a gated community. The killing draws national attention to racial profiling, stand-your-ground laws, and the treatment of Black youth as suspicious in public and private spaces. After public pressure, Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. Trayvon Martin's death becomes a defining modern racial justice case and helps shape the movement language that later becomes Black Lives Matter.