Tracy Martin called police to report his son Trayvon Martin missing on the morning after he was fatally shot in Sanford, not knowing what had transpired in the gated community where they were staying, NBC News reported.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office released two new phone call recordings in the Martin case. In the first, Tracy Martin called and told a sheriff’s office dispatcher that he needed to file a missing person report because his son was missing.
Tracy Martin said that he and his son were from Miami but staying at his girlfriend’s house in Sanford. He said that his son was 17, and was wearing a gray sweatshirt, light red tennis shoes, and probably slacks.
He said in the phone call – made at 8:39 a.m. on Feb. 27, according to NBC News – that he last saw his son at about 8:30 p.m. the night before.
But Tracy Martin was unaware that his son had been shot and killed after a confrontation at The Retreat at Twin Lakes that night. Trayvon Martin was fatally shot in the chest by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, 28, as he was returning from a 7-Eleven to his father’s girlfriend’s home, police have said.
Zimmerman was eventually arrested and has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the killing of the Miami Gardens teen. Zimmerman claims self-defense.
The shooting actually happened at 7:17 p.m., according to what Sanford Police major crimes investigator Christopher Serino wrote in previously released evidence.
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The first phone call with Tracy Martin ended with the dispatcher saying that she would send someone to respond.
In the second call, another dispatcher called Tracy Martin back and asked for more details. She confirmed the spelling of Trayvon Martin’s name and his date of birth, Feb. 5, 1995.
Tracy Martin told her that his son did not have a driver’s license. She asked if he was white, black or Hispanic, and Martin said his son was black.
The dispatcher asked if Trayvon Martin might have gone to see anybody he knew in the area, such as going to a friend’s house. Tracy Martin said no, and added that he had a nephew in the area, but his son hadn’t been over there.
The dispatcher concluded the call by telling Martin that officers were on the way, but she wanted to get a little further in case police spotted Trayvon Martin on the way.
