Store: Zimmerman not OK’d as security

ORLANDO, Fla. — The manager of a Florida business where George Zimmerman was questioned by police said Tuesday that Zimmerman was never hired to provide security, despite his claims otherwise to authorities.

DeLand police report that two officers spotted Zimmerman and his dog parked behind Pompano Pat’s, a motorcycle and gun store, on Sunday shortly after midnight and approached him.

Zimmerman, acquitted last summer in the shooting of the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, told officers that the owner gave him permission to be there to provide security after a recent burglary, according to the police report. Officers attempted to confirm that but couldn’t reach the owner.

No citations were issued because, “There was no evidence to support that a crime had occurred or was about to occur,” officer Jessica Mayo wrote in the report.

Zimmerman “in no way, shape or form” is employed by the store, Pompano Pat’s manager Sam Porter said in a phone interview Tuesday. Owner Pat Johnson didn’t immediately return a phone message.

Porter said that Johnson knew Zimmerman and had a friendship with him but wouldn’t elaborate further.

Zimmerman became a national figure during his second-degree murder trial last year for fatally shooting Martin during an altercation in Sanford, Fla., in February 2012. Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, was acquitted last July in the shooting of Martin, who was black.

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