Screams on recording almost certainly not from man who claims to have shot in self-defence, voice experts tell Florida newspaper
Analysis of the emergency phone call made just before the unarmed African American teenager Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida, have cast further doubt on the story of George Zimmerman that he carried out the shooting in self-defence.
Zimmerman has claimed that the voice screaming on the 911 call was his own. He told police that Martin attacked him, punched him to the ground and bashed his head against the pavement before Zimmerman pulled the trigger.
But voice experts contacted by the Orlando Sentinel told the newspaper that in their opinion the screams were almost certainly not made by Zimmerman, but were more likely to have come from Martin.
Since the shooting on 26 February, information leaked from the police inquiry has purported to show that Zimmerman was acting in self-defence. He has yet to be charged, having claimed immunity under Florida's controversial "stand your ground law". But in the past few days details have emerged that cast doubt on this version of events.
The Sentinel asked Tom Owen, a forensic consultant, to analyse the 911 call that had been made by a woman in the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community in Sanford where the shooting happened. Using voice identification technology, he said he had found a 48% match between the recording and a separate tape of Zimmerman's voice.
But given the clarity of the recording, Owen estimated that a 90% match should have been achieved.
"As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it's not Zimmerman," Owen told the paper, adding that he could not confirm the screams came from Martin because he had no tape of the teenager's voice with which to compare.
The shooting continues to inflame community feeling in Florida and beyond. On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched through Sanford led by the activist Al Sharpton.