Trayvon Martin: Spike Lee retweets wrong George Zimmerman address; Florida couple in hiding
A photograph of Trayvon Martin is held at a news conference at City Hall today in New York City where City Council members and others called for justice in the teenagers Feb 26 killing.
Oh, brother.
The Orlando Sentinel reports today that a Florida couple are in hiding after a Twitter campaign — endorsed by filmmaker Spike Lee — incorrectly gave their address as the home of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman.
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Public outrage at the decision by police not to arrest Zimmerman after he shot the 17-year-old has only grown in the month since the killing.
The newspaper said the woman, 70, and her husband, are in a hotel until the danger dies down.
The mother had a son named William George Zimmerman who lived with her until 1995 but bears no relation to the George Zimmerman who acknowledged firing the shot that killed Martin, the newspaper said. William Zimmerman told The Sentinel that some public records bore his name.
The Smoking Gun reported yesterday that the original tweet had been sent last week by a Los Angeles man named Marcus Davonne Higgins, who addressed his post to celebrities including Lee with the words “EVERYBODY REPOST THIS.”
In a Facebook post, Higgins also posted the address and wrote: “FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AND TOUCH HIM” and the subsequently “MY PEOPLE OUT THERE IN FLORIDA JUST TOLD ME GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS NOT AT HIS HOUSE THEY OUT THERE RIGHT NOW,” according to The Smoking Gun.
The Huffington Post said Lee had sent the repost out to 240,000 followers but has since deleted it. The Hollywood Reporter said a Lee representative was unavailable for comment.
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According to HuffPost, George Zimmerman’s middle name is Michael.
On his Twitter feed, Higgins has acknowledged the error and promised to apologize in writing to the couple:
LIKE I SAID EARLY I APOLOGY AND GOING TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE ELDER PEOPLE ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE. I AM SORRY…
— MARCUS D.HIGGINS (@MACCAPONE) March 28, 2012
See our complete Trayvon Martin case coverage.