Shooting of Trayvon Martin

On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenager, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in Sanford, Florida. Martin was unarmed, walking home from a convenience store. Zimmerman, who had called police to report Martin as suspicious, was not immediately arrested under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. His acquittal on July 13, 2013 prompted Alicia Garza to write a widely shared social media post that Patrisse Cullors described as "a love letter to Black people," from which the phrase "Black Lives Matter" emerged.