George Zimmerman’s estranged wife called police officers to her father’s house Monday, saying her husband threatened her and her father with a gun.
Shellie Zimmerman called police shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, said Police Chief Steve Bracknell. In the call, she said George Zimmerman punched her father in the nose, grabbed an iPad out of her hand and smashed it, and threatened them both with a gun.
Shellie Zimmerman left the house after being questioned by police. George Zimmerman remained there into early evening, and his attorney denied any wrongdoing by his client.
Shellie Zimmerman, who has filed for divorce, initially told an emergency dispatcher that her husband had his hand on his gun as he sat in his car outside the home she was at with her father. She said she was scared because she wasn’t sure what Zimmerman was capable of doing. But hours later she changed her story and said she never saw a firearm, Bracknell said.
George Zimmerman was not arrested, Bracknell said. He said the estranged husband and wife blamed each other for starting the fight but that Shellie Zimmerman would not press charges.
Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, said his client never threatened his estranged wife and her father with a gun and never punched his father-in-law. Shellie Zimmerman had collected most of her belongings Saturday from the house where they both had been staying until she moved out. But she had returned unexpectedly Monday to gather the remaining items. Emotions got out of control, but neither side is filing charges against the other, said O’Mara.
“I know the (emergency call) tape suggests that Shellie was saying something but I think that was heightened emotions,” O’Mara said. “There may have been some pushing and touching. That happens a lot in divorce situations. … Nobody was injured.”
Her father also declined to press charges, the police chief said.
On the emergency call, Shellie Zimmerman is sobbing and repeating “Oh my God” as she talks to a police dispatcher. She yells at her father to get inside the house, saying Zimmerman may start shooting at them.
“He’s threatening all of us with a firearm. … He punched my dad in the nose,” Shellie Zimmerman said on the call. “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really scared.”
Shellie Zimmerman said in a divorce petition filed last week that she and her husband separated a month after Zimmerman was acquitted of any crime for fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last July in Sanford, just a few miles from Lake Mary. Zimmerman’s acquittal led to protests nationwide.
Shellie Zimmerman was asking that her husband pay for a permanent life insurance policy with her named as the beneficiary, according to the divorce petition.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that aired last Friday, she said her husband left her with “a bunch of pieces of broken glass” after the acquittal. She said he stayed in their house only three or four nights since the trial ended and that they even tried counseling. But she moved out Aug. 13.
“I have a selfish husband, and I think George is all about George,” she said.
George Zimmerman and his lawyers have made no public statements on the divorce proceedings.
Zimmerman has been involved with a domestic case at least once before. In 2005, Zimmerman’s former fiancee filed for a restraining order against him, alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman responded by requesting a restraining order against his then-fiancee.
Since his acquittal, Zimmerman has gotten a speeding ticket in Florida and was pulled over on suspicion of speeding on a highway near Dallas but not ticketed.
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