$138K Bid On Gun Used To Shoot Travyon Martin

SANFORD, FL — George Zimmerman may be about $140,000 richer following the close of an online auction staged to sell the 9mm gun he fired at an unarmed teenager back in 2012.

Zimmerman, the controversial former neighborhood watch captain who made international headlines following the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, attempted last week to sell the gun via a different site. When GunBroker.com started receiving backlash and phony bids, however, the website closed the auction.

After the auction's closing, Zimmerman moved the sale of the gun to the United Gun Group’s website. That auction reportedly went off without any major hitches. As of Monday, Zimmerman had already received a $100,000 bid with verified funds attached. When the auction closed at noon on Wednesday, the high bid was $138,900, according to several media outlets. More than 180 bids were placed for the gun. It remains unclear if the high bid was legitimate.

United Gun Group on Wednesday afternoon reported in a media release that Zimmerman was in the process of vetting several bids. With the auction now closed, the website insisted that its part in the process was over and the company intended to “get back to business as usual.”

“It’s important to understand United Gun Group will always make all decisions solely based on the laws of the United States of America,” the company’s statement said. “Having this stance ensures that every member is treated 100% equal regardless of personal opinions.”

Zimmerman has said part of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to groups that oppose Black Lives Matter and Hillary Clinton. The final amount he will take home remains unclear as the vetting process continues.

Zimmerman wrote the initial auction description for the intended sale via GunBroker.com.

“The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life an end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012,” Zimmerman wrote in the original auction’s description. “It has recently been returned to me by the Department of Justice.”

Zimmerman described the gun as an “American Firearm Icon,” but does admit it has an imperfection that goes along with the story that followed the 2012 shooting: “The pistol currently has the case number written on it in silver permanent marker," the auction description reads.

The intended one-day online auction was for an “as is” weapon with no refund or exchange provided.

The condition listing was, of course, “used.”

See Also:

• Gun Used In Trayvon Martin Shooting Pulled From Auction
• George Zimmerman Retweets Pic Of Trayvon Martin’s Body
• George Zimmerman Blames Barack Obama For Racial Tensions
• Federal Charges Rules Out in Trayvon Martin’s Death
• George Zimmerman Reality TV Show Idea Floated
• George Zimmerman Protests Not Over Yet

At least one of the uses occurred on the night when Zimmerman fired the gun at Martin. Zimmerman was acquitted on second-degree murder charges in 2013, sparking heated racial tensions across the country.

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 retweeted 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 retweet to his 12,000 or so followers. The tweet was taken down, People noted.