Fury In US After Black Teen Shot Dead The US Justice Department has opened an investigation into the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a neighbourhood watch vigilante who escaped arrest. The killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has provoked nationwide outrage and rallies have been held to protest at the failure to arrest George Zimmerman, who shot him. Trayvon was shot and killed on February 26 while walking through a gated community in Sanford, where he was visiting his family. Mr Zimmerman, 28, who police have described as white but his family say he is Hispanic, claims he shot him in self-defence. But witnesses claim they heard Trayvon screaming in distress before the sound of a shot seemed to silence him. One of the witnesses made a 911 call in which the sound of screaming can be heard in the background before gunshots punctuate the call. Lawyers for the family claim Trayvon was shot in cold blood and want his killer arrested and investigated by the FBI, claiming! they can no longer trust the local police. They claim the teenager was walking to a convenience store to buy sweets. He was only found to have been carrying a bag of Skittles candy. More than 435000 people, many alerted by tweets from celebrities like movie director Spike Lee and musician Wyclef Jean, have signed a petition on Change.org, a social action website, calling for Mr Zimmerman's arrest. Police have so far refused to cave in to the calls to arrest him. Speaking before the investigation was ...
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