Jacksonville, FL – Two brothers were allegedly murdered over a “Free Zimmerman” bumper sticker on one of their trucks last weekend. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is being accused of covering up a hate crime after they denied that the brothers’ Sunday night murder was related to the Trayvon Martin trial.
At around 8:45pm Sunday night, 24-year-old Andrew Austin Bohannon and 19-year-old Matthew Ryan Bohannon were sitting in their truck in a Golden Corral parking lot when they were approached by another car with multiple occupants inside.
After “some type of conversation” between the two parties, multiple shots were fired at the Bohannons. One was killed instantly, and the other was pronounced dead shortly after at a local hospital.
This week, rumors began to spread that the murders were a retaliation over the Trayvon Martin verdict. On Saturday night, George Zimmerman was found “not guilty” of second degree murder in the controversial case .
The two brothers had a “Free Zimmerman” sticker on their truck.
The Sheriff’s Office has denied a link between the murders and the Zimmerman trial, saying in a statement:
“We are confident to say where we are in the investigation that this is not the case at all. There is NO link at all between these cases, nor did we ever suspect one.”
As the story has slowly spread through social media this week, many critics have charged the JSO with covering up a hate crime.
“Nice way to try to cover up a hate crime JSO. Unfortunately the public knows better,” wrote one Facebook user.
“Definitely had to do with the Zimmerman case,” opined another.
The unknown shooters are still at large.
What do you think? Were the Bohannonn brothers murdered over their “Free Zimmerman” sticker in some sort of retaliation killing? We’ll keep an eye on this story and report on further developments.
[Image: Ildar Sagdejev ]