George Zimmerman, who acquitted of murder in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, has been arrested on charges he pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend.
George Zimmerman, 30, has been jailed in Seminole County, Florida.
The Florida man was charged with felony aggravated assault, battery, domestic violence and criminal mischief, a sheriff’s office spokesman said.
In July, a jury cleared George Zimmerman of the February 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, 17.
Since then, George Zimmerman has had other brushes with police, including an incident in October when he was briefly detained following a domestic disturbance at the home of his estranged wife, Shellie.
On Monday, a spokesman for the Seminole County sheriff’s department said George Zimmerman was arrested on Monday morning and confined to a single-person 64 sq ft cell – standard treatment for “high-profile” defendants.
About 12:30 local time, sheriff’s deputies responded to an emergency call at a house in Apopka, Florida.
George Zimmerman’s girlfriend said they had argued, and he had broken a glass table in the living room, then retrieved a shotgun and pointed it at her. He then pushed her out the front door and barricaded himself inside, police said.
She was not injured, police said.
The sheriff’s office spokesman said investigators believed George Zimmerman and his girlfriend had lived together since August and had been arguing about breaking up.
He said George Zimmerman was not armed when police arrived and did not resist arrest.
George Zimmerman’s acquittal of second-degree murder over the killing of Trayvon Martin sparked a fierce debate about racial profiling and gun culture in the US.
He shot dead Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed and walking at night toward his father’s house. He said the boy had attacked him.
Following the verdict, protest marches were staged across the US including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington and Atlanta.
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