CHICAGO – George Zimmerman, the Florida man recently acquitted of Trayvon Martin’s murder, has been discovered hiding out in Chicago’s violence-plagued South Side neighborhood, according to reports. Sources say Zimmerman was attempting to delay divorce proceedings initiated by his estranged wife, Shellie, and chose the Windy City as a hideaway because, in Chicago, “shooting black kids is no big deal.”
Larry Wozniacki, a private investigator hired by Shellie Zimmerman, reportedly traced Zimmerman to Chicago, the so-called “Murder Capital” of the United States, where he found the former neighborhood watchman living in an efficiency apartment near Hyde Park. “I confronted Mr. Zimmerman and requested that he return to Florida and face his wife,” Wozniacki said. “But he said he just wants to disappear, and was adamant about staying in Chicago, a town where his having shot and killed a black kid is unlikely to solicit much attention.”
According to lawyers attempting to serve him divorce papers, Zimmerman had been “laying low” since he allegedly threatened his wife and father in law with a gun earlier this month. Members of Zimmerman’s family said they’d been in contact with him, but did not know his whereabouts.
Mark O’Mara, an attorney who represented Zimmerman in the Martin murder case—but has since dropped him as a client—said that he “wasn’t surprised to hear that George had fled to Chicago.” “George is very crafty,” O’Mara said. “If you want to disappear, why not pick a place where your history of shooting and killing a black kid only helps you blend in?”
Indeed, Chicago averaged over one murder per day in the first eight months in 2013, more than any other city in the United States. On Thursday, thirteen people, including a three-year-old child, were injured when gunmen opened fire on a park with automatic assault weapons. Police say Zimmerman is not currently a suspect in that investigation, but admit that they “don’t really care, either way.”
“At least George only killed one person,” O’Mara said. “I mean, in Chicago, that practically makes him a Buddhist.”
