ORLANDO, Fla. — Police investigating a possible domestic violence incident involving George Zimmerman and his wife told reporters Tuesday afternoon there may be video of what happened on an iPad.
However, the tablet was smashed and “is in multiple pieces,” Lake Mary, Fla., police spokesman Zach Hudson said.
Police are still investigating to determine whether Shellie or George Zimmerman should be charged with domestic-violence battery.
It’s also possible George would be charged with destruction of evidence, if police confirm Shellie’s complaint that George broke the iPad.
“It’s been pretty badly damaged,” Hudson said.
It’s in “several pieces,” he said and at mid-day was at the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, where computer experts were trying to salvage the video she recorded Monday as the dispute unfolded.
That video, he said, would be a “key component” in his agency’s charging decision.
George Zimmerman says Shellie struck him in the back, Hudson said.
Hudson said an arrest is possible, depending in large part on what the iPad video shows.
George Zimmerman did not appear to be home mid-day, although news crews again lined the street out front.
Hudson said police knew the whereabouts if both George and Shellie but did not disclose them.
He said he did not know if George Zimmerman spent the night in the house.
Hudson told reporters it was up to police — not to the Zimmermans — to determine whether domestic violence charges are warranted against either of them.
“In Florida when it comes to domestic violence, the person in question doesn’t have the right to press charges or not press charges,” Hudson said, adding that police investigate and “we either forward charges (to the State Attorney’s Office) or make an arrest on scene.”
Hudson also confirmed that police do not believe a gun was involved in the incident, even though Shellie Zimmerman in her 911 call described her husband making threats with his hand on one. George Zimmerman’s lawyer has also said repeatedly that he was carrying a holstered firearm during the incident.
Shellie Zimmerman and her father never actually saw the gun, Hudson said. She saw him place his hand on his body near where he sometimes carries a gun and assumed he had reached for a weapon, he said.
“We searched him … there was no weapon,” Hudson said, adding later: “As of right now, a gun is not a part of the equation.”
Zimmerman’s wife called 911 on Monday afternoon to report that her husband was threatening her family with a gun, but she later declined to press charges.
Hudson said Shellie Zimmerman called 911 before 3 p.m., saying George Zimmerman was threatening her and her father with a weapon.
In the 911 call, Shellie Zimmerman tells a dispatcher that her husband had “his hand on his gun and he keeps saying step closer.”
“Step closer and what?” a dispatcher asks.
“And he’s going to shoot us,” Shellie Zimmerman replies.
But Shellie Zimmerman told officers who responded to her call that she never saw a weapon, police chief Steve Bracknell said. Zimmerman and her father, David Dean, signed paperwork stating they didn’t want to press charges, Bracknell said Monday.
According to Hudson, George Zimmerman described his wife and her father as the aggressors.
His defense attorney Mark O’Mara said “emotions are running very, very high” between George and Shellie Zimmerman, and “nobody should be facing charges” in Monday’s incident.
“They need to just sort of stay away from each other, keep things cool and work through their attorneys,” he said.
Bracknell said police would document the incident thoroughly in case Shellie Zimmerman or her father change their minds about pursuing charges.
On Monday, officers were also reviewing surveillance video from the house that may have captured what happened.In the 911 call, Shellie Zimmerman says her husband punched her father, leaving a mark on his face.
“He’s shaking; he says he feels like he’s going to have a heart attack; his nose might be broken,” she said.
“I’m really, really afraid,” Shellie Zimmerman said. “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really, really scared.”
