The family of a young Black U.S. Air Force airman gunned down by a Florida sheriff’s deputy is represented by a prominent civil rights lawyer.

Court documents say the man accused of firing the first shots at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally told authorities he felt threatened, while a second man said he pulled the trigger because someone was shooting at him.

The Black Lives Matter movement turns 10 years old on Thursday, marking the day in 2013 that the man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin was acquitted in his death.

The man at the center of the case that brought Florida’s Stand Your Ground law to the national conversation said he doesn’t think the law applies to a Marion County woman accused of manslaughter.

A Florida sheriff says detectives must investigate self-defense claims before any criminal charges can be brought against a white woman who fatally shot her neighbor last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2½-year feud.

A new, 63-page IRS tax filing shared exclusively with The Associated Press shows the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc. ended its last fiscal year with nearly $42 million in net assets.

In an exclusive interview, Patrisse Cullors, the former leader of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, tells The Associated Press that neither she nor anyone else in leadership has misused millions of dollars in donations.

The mother of Trayvon Martin is marking the 10th anniversary of her son’s death by thanking those who sought justice for her family and urging them to continue to fight.

Before Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and other Black people died at the hands of white police officers or self-appointed vigilantes, there was Martin Lee Anderson.

Florida civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump recalls being in court in early 2012 when he received a phone call from a fellow lawyer whose relative had been fatally shot in Sanford days earlier.

Ten years ago when Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, Florida was one of the few states with “stand your ground” laws that eased use of deadly force in the face of danger.

February is not only Black History Month, but also the month the 17-year-old was born—and the month he was killed. And since his death, Sanford Police Department has instilled changes for the betterment of the community.

Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida, when the 17-year-old Black teen was fatally shot Feb. 26, 2012, during a confrontation with George Zimmerman.

The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media.

A judge in Florida has dismissed a defamation and conspiracy lawsuit former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman had filed against the parents of Trayvon Martin, the teen he fatally shot almost a decade ago.

42-year-old, Matthew Apperson, the man sentenced for the attempted murder of George Zimmerman, is set to get a new trial.

Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, is stepping down as executive director of the movement's foundation.

Many Black men and women in the U.S. are keeping tabs on what’s unfolding in the televised murder trial of white former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, taking in what they can before turning away to allow their anger and hurt to subside.

In this image from Minneapolis city surveillance video, Minneapolis police are seen attempting to take George Floyd into custody May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minn. Floyd’s name is more widely known than Chauvin, but calling it the “Floyd trial” would wrongly imply that the victim was the one on trial. Most called it the Chauvin trial. CourtTV called it “The Death of George Floyd Murder Trial.” ABC said it was the “Derek Chauvin Trial, 10 Months After George Floyd’s Death.”For some of the specialty networks, the trial offers a rare opportunity to increase viewership, both on the air and online. CBS' website will carry its own coverage, along with that of the network's Minneapolis affiliate, he said.

The 15-member “Race, Equality, Equity and Inclusion" group will be made up of residents, people who work in Sanford and business owners, the Orlando Sentinel reported. AdThey're being asked to deliver a report detailing its findings to the city commission in about eight months. Martin's death helped lead to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. Today, two of the city's commissioners, the police chief and city manager are Black. The city will provide the committee with up to $35,000 to pay for technical assistance, conducting surveys and other costs.

This marks the first time in the movement’s nearly eight-year history that BLM leaders have revealed a detailed look at their finances. The foundation said it committed $21.7 million in grant funding to official and unofficial BLM chapters, as well as 30 Black-led local organizations. In its report, the BLM foundation said individual donations via its main fundraising platform averaged $30.76. “Because the BLM movement was larger than life — and it is larger than life — people made very huge assumptions about what our actual finances looked like,” Cullors said. Leaders at the BLM foundation admit that they have not been clear about the movement’s finances and governance over the years.

MIAMI – A section of road that leads to the South Florida high school that Trayvon Martin attended now bears the name of the Black teenager whose 2012 death sparked a movement for social justice. The road became Trayvon Martin Avenue during a brief ceremony on Thursday morning near Dr. Michael K. Krop Senior High, where the teen was in 11th grade when he was killed. “Our students every morning will come out here and see the road that bears Trayvon’s name. Martin, 17, was shot dead while visiting his father in Sanford in 2012. Zimmerman’s acquittal under Florida’s self-defense law in July 2013 sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Black Lives Matter saved us, because we had nobody,” said Jones. Now, BLM’s influence faces a test, as voters in Tuesday’s election consider candidates who endorsed or denounced the BLM movement amid a national reckoning on race. Enter Black Lives Matter. Across social media platforms, the Black Lives Matter movement boasts a following of millions. “Black Lives Matter,” as a slogan, elicited “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” responses from foes.

Trust between the community and the police was broken and the world was watching to see what would happen next. In 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman during a struggle after Zimmerman followed Martin, believing Martin was suspicious. “One of the things we constantly heard is we don’t have people who look like us, sound like us, or understand us or are from our community,” Smith said. FPCA Chair Chief Anthony Holloway of the St. Petersburg Police Department said the FPCA is “serious” about its work. The Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) is the nation’s pre-eminent law enforcement professional association, speaking for more than 900 of Florida’s top law enforcement executives, and providing guidance and leadership for the future of law enforcement and our communities, according to the FPCA.

Black Lives Matter leader states, If U.S. doesnt give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. Hawk Newsome has no relation to the Black Lives Matter Global Network, Scales said. Reached by phone Thursday night, Newsome said Black Lives Matter Greater New York is now under the leadership of Black women. He also said Black Lives Matter is not a movement over which anyone can claim ownership. In Washington, D.C., the mayor ordered the words Black Lives Matter painted across a street near the White House, which also has been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.

This image released by Lionsgate shows co-writer/directors Christopher Renz, left, and Gerard Bush on the set of "Antebellum." Filmmakers Bush and Renz planned to release their feature-length debut film, Antebellum, in the spring of 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic exploded internationally. In Antebellum, Mone gives moviegoers a modern Black heroine who takes charge of her own liberation without a male-dominated cavalry. Their path to feature-length films with a racial justice message has been a long time coming, Bush and Renz said. Even as they anticipate finding box office success with Antebellum, Bush and Renz are already at work on their second feature-length script, under a newly formed production company, Gloaming Pictures.

The fund includes $6 million in donations to support Black-led grassroots organizing groups. Two weeks ago, it unveiled a separate $6.5 million fund for its network of affiliate chapters. Color of Change, one of the largest online racial justice organizations, didn’t quantify how much donations have increased over the past few weeks. The fund, called the “The Emergency Fund For Racial Justice” is in partnership with the Amalgamated Foundation. Michael Jordan pledged $100 million over the next 10 years to organizations dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the group behind the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, has established a more than $12 million fund to aid organizations fighting institutional racism in the wake of the George Floyd protests. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)NEW YORK – The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has established a fund worth more than $12 million to aid organizations fighting institutional racism, in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Although there are many groups that use “Black Lives Matter” or “BLM” in their names, only 16 are considered affiliates of the global network. The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2013 amid anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. “I’m really proud of the work we’ve been able to do in the last seven years,” Patrisse Cullors, co-founder and chairwoman of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, said in a statement.

MIAMI – The mother of Trayvon Martin joined hundreds of demonstrators at a rally in downtown Miami on Sunday, demanding racial equality following the death of George Floyd last month at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota. At one point, demonstrators lined up U.S. flags that spelled out “RESIST” on a blocked-off downtown street. Nearby at a separate protest, dozens of police supporters waved flags and chanted “We support the police!” at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. At one point, about three dozen officers on bikes rode by the protesters and gave high-fives to supporters who applauded and took photos. The Miami Beach protest was led by Egyptia Green, a rising eighth grader who also led another protest last week.

MIAMI The mother of Trayvon Martin joined hundreds of demonstrators at a rally in downtown Miami on Sunday, demanding racial equality following the death of George Floyd last month at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota. At one point, demonstrators lined up U.S. flags that spelled out RESIST on a blocked-off downtown street. Nearby at a separate protest, dozens of police supporters waved flags and chanted We support the police! at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. At one point, about three dozen officers on bikes rode by the protesters and gave high-fives to supporters who applauded and took photos. The Miami Beach protest was led by Egyptia Green, a rising eighth grader who also led another protest last week.

Black Lives Matter has gone mainstream and black activists are carefully assessing how they should respond. Its very name enraged its foes, who countered with the slogans Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter." Black Lives Matter has gone mainstream and black activists are carefully assessing how they should respond. When we started Black Lives Matter, it was really to have a larger conversation around this country about its relationship to black people, said Patrisse Cullors, one of three black women who founded the Black Lives Matter Global Network, with chapters throughout the U.S. and in Britain and Canada. Last week, longtime Sacramento Kings TV broadcaster Grant Napear resigned after tweeting ALL LIVES MATTER when asked his opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement.

The footage of Arbery’s death was not the only thing that rattled the nation’s conscience. “The slothfulness and inaction of the judicial system, in this case, is a gross testament to the blatant white racial privileges that permeates throughout our country and our institutions." A Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement said the McMichaels confronted Arbery with two firearms and that Travis McMichael fatally shot Arbery. While likening Arbery’s death to a lynching may seem like an apt comparison, doing so isn’t sufficient for understanding why the man’s death is a tragedy, said Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative. The organization has cataloged more than 4,400 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. that took place between Reconstruction and World War II.

George Zimmerman has filed a lawsuit against Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren, after he claimed both candidates damaged his reputation while paying tribute to Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman claims the candidates were attempting to “garner votes in the black community,” Newsweek.com reported. We need to end gun violence and racism. https://t.co/9lXXlRnvzL — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 6, 2020According to Zimmerman’s lawsuit, both Warren and Buttigieg falsely connected Martin’s death with gun violence, even though he claims he acted in self-defense on the night of the shooting. Warren and Buttigieg’s tweets were used as a part of their “political agenda to garner votes in the black community,” the lawsuit added.

In this undated photo made available by the Modell family, Ryan Modell, right, visits Paris with his father Sandy Modell. Sandy Modell is asking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to reopen the investigation into his son's 2016 shooting death during an altercation at Ryan Modell's Fort Myers, Fla., condominium complex. Local prosecutors declined to charge the shooter, Steve Taylor, citing the state's "stand your ground" law, a decision Sandy Modell wants reversed. (Modell family via AP)

In this undated photo made available by the Modell family, Ryan Modell, right, visits Paris with his father Sandy Modell. Local prosecutors declined to charge the shooter, Steve Taylor, citing the state's "stand your ground" law, a decision Sandy Modell wants reversed. (Modell family via AP)FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – In a case involving Florida's controversial “stand your ground” law, Gov. In both the Martin and Modell slayings, prosecutors cited the “stand your ground” law in deciding, at least initially, not to prosecute. In the Modell case, O'Mara argues that “stand your ground” does not apply.

POLK COUNTY, Fla. – George Zimmerman is suing Trayvon Martin’s family, prosecutors and others for $100 million. Zimmerman, a Sanford neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012, was acquitted of homicide in the fatal shooting of Martin, who was 17 years old. The lawsuit, filed in Polk County, where Zimmerman now lives, cites information in a documentary about the case that accuses the Martin family of engineering false testimony. According to the newly filed lawsuit, Zimmerman cites a documentary about the case accusing Martin’s family of lying about a witness who testified. Zimmerman filed a defamation lawsuit against NBC News several years ago, claiming the media company had maliciously edited phone calls Zimmerman placed to 911 shortly after he shot and killed Martin.

The Seminole County man previously acquitted of killing an unarmed teenager accepted a plea deal in an unrelated stalking case. That and the ongoing statewide election recount are the top local and trending stories for Tuesday, Nov. 13, as seen on ClickOrlando.com and News 6. However, Seminole County Judge Mark Herr admonished Zimmerman to understand that "words matter." The judge expressed hope that Zimmerman would avoid making future appearances at the Seminole County Courthouse. It also marks the second launch in under 12 hours from the East Coast from different NASA launch pads.

The number of people demonstrating outside of the Seminole County Courthouse on Saturday swelled to its largest number since the George Zimmerman trial started.

George Zimmerman’s wife was arrested Tuesday afternoon for allegedly lying at his bond hearing about the couple’s finances.