So many people still forming all of their opinions on this under the impression that Zimmerman "confronted, attacked, attempted to detain, pursued, caught up with, overtook, tackled" etc etc...
It's amazing how disconnected it is from the reality of what happened.
For a very long time I've been completely convinced, based on the evidence from that night (timeline, layout, witnesses, item locations) and based on Trayvon's history and texts, social media, etc that AT NO TIME that night was Trayvon ever *afraid* of Zimmerman in the way people conceive.
I believe in order to understand his actions and everything about what happened, you have to think in context of a kid with a chip on his shoulder who was absolutely sick of being busted, held to account, caught with things... I think he had just had it with authority figures of any kind. Suspended yet again, unable to sell weed at school as a result. Parents starting to crack down on him at least to some degree, sending him away from his social circle and usual contacts... school cop confiscating a very large and valuable haul of stolen jewelry, father searching him for weed and leaving him with only a small baggy he seems to have been able to hide for his entire time in Sanford...
So I think people must stop thinking in terms of little 12 year old cherub terrified of the big scary man.
No, this was serial delinquent and budding lifelong criminal irritated at a string of situations where he'd been thwarted in his criminality to one degree or another. Jeantel herself just told Piers Morgan within the last week that in this context "creepy ass cracka" meant someone "actin' like they police, or a security guard" which means that, if she's right... Trayvon fully understood what capacity GZ was acting in. He was yet another agent of consequence and trouble for him. And I do fully believe he had items on him when he ran that were no longer on him when he was shot.
This fits perfectly with Brandi Green's "he was sittin' out here on the porch" the very next morning, which of course she's never been questioned about... not that she'd tell the truth if she was.
It fits perfectly with the 3 stooges at 7-11 taking cash from Trayvon to buy him blunts the clerk wouldn't sell him due to him being 17... yet those not being on him (though he could have smoked during the very long gap between leaving 7-11 and getting home, he'd probably at least still have his baggy with whatever weed remained)
Maybe even fits with this "slim jim" thing they found in the bushes by Manalo's house. I'm not sure on that one. It's at least possible he had it down his pant leg, which could help explain why his "run" was more like "skipping" until he'd been able to ditch that.
People really criticize thinking of him as a thug, but I believe thinking of him in that context, through that prism, is honestly the most powerful tool for understanding the truth of what happened. It's all entirely based and rooted in the facts of how he was living his life, too.
I believe there was a decision point as he stood on Brandi Green's porch, ready to go back inside. I believe he noticed GZ up at the "T" junction thanks to his keychain flashlight and he had a choice to make. Go inside and make his lean/smoke his remaining blunt or whatever... or go do a lil' "whoop ass" as Rachel called it.
But in case the guy's an undercover cop or some sort of security guard, or for other reasons attacking him looks like less of a good idea once he's actually face to face with him... best to be safe and drop off anything incriminating on the porch so that the option is there to act all indignant and just tell the guy off, rather than attack him, if for instance other people are around walking dogs or the officer arrives...
That was the fateful moment, when Trayvon decided to return to the "T" to get his payback for having had an eye kept on him.