George Zimmerman was found not guilty in Trayvon Martin’s killing 8 years ago this week

Protests broke out across the country eight years ago this week after George Zimmerman was declared not guilty in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman fatally shot the unarmed, black 17-year-old on February 26, 2012, in Sanford.

He was acquitted of all charges on the evening of July 13, 2013.

“He killed a young 17-year-old. He didn’t have to die like that. He should be in prison for life,” Sanford resident Mattie Aikens, 30, told a reporter as protesters chanted “no justice, no peace” outside the Seminole County courthouse on that Saturday night, as word of the verdict spread.

Protests broke out across the United States after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder for the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, in Sanford, Florida. The protests were part of the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

[Pictured: People demonstrate in Washington on July 20, 2013, following acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.]

(NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

“So you’re telling me he’s gonna walk home? … This is not even fair! Are you serious?”

“NOT GUILTY,” read the banner headline on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel the next morning, July 14, 2013.

A photo showed Zimmerman, clad in a suit and tie, being congratulated by his defense team, who wore joyful smiles.

Trayvon, who was from South Florida but was staying with his father in Sanford, was shot to death during a struggle with Zimmerman.

The teen was in the gated community where his father’s girlfriend lived as he served a 10-day suspension from school for being found with a baggie with traces of marijuana.

In celebration of Juneteenth, protesters stop their march on Broward Blvd in Ft. Lauderdale Florida on Friday, June 19, 2020 during a rally to defund the police. Broward Dream Defenders, the local chapter of the Florida non-profit Dream Defenders, which was founded after the death of Trayvon Martin, is hosting the rally to honor black freedom and resistance and demand re-allocation of police funding to support for the black community. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Zimmerman, a white crime-watch volunteer, called Sanford police because he said he thought Trayvon looked suspicious.

The two scuffled and Zimmerman shot Trayvon, killing him. A gunshot is audible in the background of one of the 911 calls made by witnesses of the fight.

Sanford police officers arrived to find Trayvon facedown on the ground and Zimmerman standing nearby with a 9mm handgun in his waistband.

Trayvon was pronounced dead at the scene.

Zimmerman claimed he was acting in self-defense.

Cynthia Bradford weeps while sitting with pro Trayvon Martin protesters outside of the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center Saturday, July 13, 2013. George Zimmerman is charged with 2nd-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen, in 2012. (Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel) (Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel)

Trayvon’s teenage girlfriend later said she was on the phone him in the moments before he was shot to death.

Attorney Benjamin Crump said the girl recalled Trayvon telling her he was being pursued by a strange man who stopped and confronted him.

Trayvon was wearing a “hoodie” hooded sweatshirt when he was shot, which has added to the debate about racial profiling.

The teen’s death gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Bystanders and protesters stand in disbelief at the not guilty verdict while outside of the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center on Saturday, July 13, 2013. Zimmerman was charged with 2nd-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen, in 2012. (Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel) (Jacob Langston /Orlando Sentinel)

“I think people are really sick and tired of the same situation. I also think they can relate to our situation because they have young men in their households and it breaks their heart just like it breaks our heart,” Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told The Miami Herald.

Last month, a section of road that leads to the high school Trayvon attended, Dr. Michael K. Krop Senior in North Miami Beach, was renamed Trayvon Martin Avenue.

Orlando Sentinel and Associated Press archives contributed to this report.