Mayor Of City Where Trayvon Martin Died Carjacked

Sanford, FL — The small Florida city cast into the national spotlight following the 2012 shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is once again making headlines.

This time, it’s Sanford's own mayor, Jeff Triplett, at the center of the story. Triplett was reportedly carjacked at gunpoint on Saturday while visiting a friend.

Triplett’s three attackers approached him from behind, two armed with guns around 2:14 a.m. The trio took the keys to Triplett’s Mercedes-Benz, his wallet, $300 and his mayor’s badge before driving off in the stolen ride.

Two of the three have since been arrested: Jermine Horne, 18, and a 17-year-old boy.

Horne was charged with armed carjacking, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to Seminole County Jail records. He remained in jail Monday without bond. The 17-year-old also faces armed carjacking and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges, to the police department.

See also:

• George Zimmerman Auctions Off Gun Used To Kill Trayvon Martin

As the search for the third accused attacker continues, Triplett is speaking out about the harrowing experience.

“Being a victim of a crime is unnerving, yet it was reassuring to witness both speed and diligence from the Sanford Police Department,” Triplett said following the crime. "It is disheartening when this type of crime takes place in the city of Sanford.”

Sanford was the town at the epicenter of the 2012 Trayvon Martin shooting case. In that incident, Martin, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acquitted on second-degree murder charges in 2013, sparking heated racial tensions across the country. The gun used in Martin’s shooting was recently auctioned off by Zimmerman with some of the proceeds reportedly going to groups that oppose the Black Lives Matter movement and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

In the years following the acquittal, Zimmerman has been in and out of the news. He even blamed President Barack Obama for racial tensions that erupted following the 2012 shooting. He was also implicated in a road rage incident and had domestic violence allegations levied against him that were subsequently dropped.

Zimmerman has also found himself the target of a shooter. Last May, he was fired at during an incident that unfolded near Interstate 4 in the Lake Mary area. He suffered minor injuries in the shooting. Matthew Apperson is the accused shooter in that case. He remains in the Seminole County Jail as his attempted second-degree murder case moves through the court system.

Federal civil rights charges in the 17-year-old’s death loomed over Zimmerman until last year. The U.S. Justice Department cited “insufficient evidence” for its February 2015 decision against pursuing further action.

Zimmerman also sparked controversy last September when he re-tweeted a picture that showed the 17-year-old’s dead body. One of Zimmerman’s Twitter followers posted the image of Trayvon Martin with the tweet “Z-man is a one-man army,” People magazine reported. Rather than pass it by, Zimmerman blasted the image out in a re-tweet to his 12,000 or so followers. The tweet was taken down, People noted.

Booking photo courtesy of the Seminole County Jail