George Zimmerman was arrested and charged in connection with threatening girlfriend Samantha Scheibe with a gun Monday after Florida authorities responded to a disturbance call at the woman’s home.
George Zimmerman, 30, has been charged with felony aggravated assault, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal mischief, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said during a press conference Monday in Sanford, Florida.
He was arrested in Apopka, roughly 15 miles northwest of Orlando.
Samantha Scheibe told a 911 operator and deputies that she and George Zimmerman were having a “verbal dispute,” and she alleged that he broke a table and pointed a long-barreled shotgun at her, Dennis Lemma said.
Both Samantha Scheibe and George Zimmerman separately called 911 – one from inside the house and one from outside – and police have released audio of the calls.
Samantha Scheibe can be heard shouting at George Zimmerman: “You just broke my glass table, you just broke my sunglasses, and you put your gun in my f——’ face, and told me to get the f— out!”
She can then be heard pleading with George Zimmerman to leave her house, before telling a dispatcher: “He just pushed me out of my house and locked me out!”
Samantha Scheibe also alleged that George Zimmerman barricaded the front door with furniture, according to Dennis Lemma.
Moments later, she tells a dispatcher: “He knows how to do this. He knows how to play this game.”
When asked what kind of weapon her boyfriend displayed, Samantha Scheibe said it was a “shotgun,” adding that “he has all of his guns inside, both the shotgun and his AR” as well as “two handguns.”
Looking to clarify, the 911 operator asks Samantha Scheibe if George Zimmerman has an “AR-15 ” – an assault rifle – and she replies: “Yeah.”
In the other audio recording, George Zimmerman tells a dispatcher: “My girlfriend has, for lack of a better word, gone crazy on me.”
When asked why he’s calling, George Zimmerman replies: “I just want everyone to know the truth.”
George Zimmerman also denies brandishing any weapon at his girlfriend.
“She’s got a 9 millimeter. I have my firearms. She was throwing my stuff out. And in one of the bags was one of my firearms. I never pulled a firearm. I never displayed it. When I was packing it, I’m sure she saw it. I mean, we keep it next to the bed.”
Later in the call, George Zimmerman can be heard saying: “I just wanted to leave.”
He adds: “She’s pregnant with our child and she told me it was better if we co-parented and she raised the child on her own. That’s fine. I said, <<Are you sure this is what you want to do?>> She said, <<Yes>>. As soon as I started to pack up my stuff and leave, she just completely changed…”
The dispatcher asks: “When you said she changed, what did she do?”
George Zimmerman replies: “At first she was letting me pack my stuff so that I could go – we could go our own ways amicably. When she changed, she just started smashing stuff, taking stuff that belonged to me, throwing it outside, throwing it out of her room, throwing it all over the house.”
He also disputed the allegation that he broke the table: “She broke a glass table because she threw something on it – I don’t even know if it was mine or hers, whatever it was.”
Dennis Lemma later said that “the victim has disclosed that she is not pregnant.”
Police also said no one was hurt and nobody else was at the house when sheriff’s deputies arrived. The deputies got inside the house using a key given to them by Samantha Scheibe.
George Zimmerman was booked into Seminole County Correctional Facility at 1 p.m. He is scheduled to make an appearance in front of a county judge Tuesday afternoon. The judge is expected to determine what, if any, bond is appropriate.
George Zimmerman is currently being held under “no bond status,” Dennis Lemma said.
Police are also requesting a search warrant for the home so they can look for weapons – they believe there are at least two weapons in the house, Dennis Lemma said.
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