The Florida police chief that is actively investigating a confrontation between George Zimmerman, his wife and his father-in-law says someone is lying: either George Zimmerman or his lawyer.
Both the Lake Mary Florida Police Chief, Steve Bracknell, and the department’s spokesman Zach Hudson confirmed to ThinkProgress that George Zimmerman told officers at the scene that he did not have a gun on him during the incident. This directly contradicts what ZImmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara, told CNN:
O’MARA: He acted appropriately. He never took the weapon out. The only thing he really did, which is what he told the police, was on the outside of his shirt, he made sure the gun wasn’t moving anywhere and didn’t do anything because [Zimmerman’s father-in-law] Mr. Dean was sort of coming at him, that can sort of be seen in the video.
COOPER: So he had the gun actually on his person not like, in the glove box of his car?
O’MARA: That’s correct.
Bracknell acknowledged the contradiction, telling ThinkProgress “Who is telling the truth? Good question.” He added that O’Mara was “on scene providing legal advice to hid [sic] client.” Bracknell appeared to suggest that O’Mara was well-informed of the facts of the case and had little reason to invent facts — like Zimmerman having a gun — that would be damaging to his client.
Zimmerman’s wife Shellie told a 911 operator that George Zimmerman “continually has his hand on his gun and he keeps saying step closer and he is just threatening all of us.” After consulting with her lawyers, she recanted her story.
The mystery may be solved by iPad footage that Shellie recorded of the confrontation. According to O’Mara, George Zimmerman smashed the iPad into pieces before the police arrived. The police are attempting to recover the video from the broken iPad. They are still considering filing charges against one or both Zimmermans.
Shortly after his appearance on CNN, O’Mara announced that he would no longer represent Zimmerman in the case.
Update:
Zimmerman’s wife, through her lawyer, says she believes he did have a gun during the altercation but hid it in his truck before the police arrived: