NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Florida, where new documents and video released by his attorney detail George Zimmerman's initial interrogations after shooting Trayvon Martin.
By Kerry Sanders, James Novogrod and Elizabeth Chuck
George Zimmerman, the man charged with killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin,?told police he took his "gun, aimed it at him, and fired one shot" after Martin allegedly threw repeated punches at him, according to police video made public?Thursday.
Varying accounts of what happened between Zimmerman, 28, and Martin, 17, inside?the gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26?have trickled out to the public via state prosecutors, lawyers and relatives. But on Thursday morning, Zimmerman's defense team released a trove of information gathered in the initial days of the investigation that includes a never-heard police interview with Zimmerman himself.
The one hour, 11-minute videotaped interview?was conducted?almost exactly 24 hours after the single gunshot fired by Zimmerman pierced?Martin's chest. Police used the interview to perform a computerized voice stress analysis, which detects psychological stress based on voice?patterns,?on Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, had called police to report a suspicious person when he spotted Martin. In the videotape, he?walked officials through what happened next as he approached Martin.
"I reached for my pocket, and I was looking for my phone, and he just punched me in the nose. And I fell backwards, to the side, somehow I ended up on my back. He ended up on top of me and he just kept punching my face and my head," Zimmerman said, adding that he was?"screaming for help" as Martin allegedly pummeled him.
"He told me, 'Shut the f*** up.' I kept yelling for help," Zimmerman told police.
Zimmerman said Martin "took my head and slammed it into the concrete several times."
As they fought, Zimmerman said, his jacket and shirt rose up, revealing his gun. Martin?then said,?"You're going to die tonight," according to Zimmerman.
Martin then allegedly slid his hand down Zimmerman's chest, so "I just pinched his arm and I grabbed my gun and I aimed it at him and fired one shot. He kind of sat back and said, 'You got me here,' 'You got me,' 'You got it,' something like that. And I thought he was saying that he heard the shot and that he was giving up."
But Martin had actually been hit by the gunshot, and died a short time later. An autopsy report confirmed he had been shot at "intermediate range," and also found a small abrasion on his left ring finger, below the knuckle.
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A video re-enactment of the altercation, in which Zimmerman took investigators to the area where he first spotted Martin, was also released Thursday morning.
A Sanford police spokeswoman told msnbc.com that police would not comment on the results of Zimmerman?s voice stress test, as the case was still ongoing.
When police?found Martin dead on the sidewalk on Feb. 26, Zimmerman had claimed he shot him in self-defense. Zimmerman was treated at the scene for cuts and a bloody nose, and then?questioned before police released him hours later without an arrest, believing there wasn't any?evidence to challenge his account.
Authorities said Zimmerman's conduct appeared to be justified under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. But questions began to arise about whether there had been a racial motivation in the case, prompting protests in Florida and nationwide: Martin was black; Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is Hispanic. A special prosecutor took over the case, and Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder on April 11.
Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to the charge. He remains in a solitary cell in?Florida's?Seminole County jail.
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