john martin, shot by a neighborhood watch captain in a central florida gated community. tonight the outrage has come full circle. it has come home. you're looking at a rally tonight in sanford, florida. people gathering from all around the country, not far from where on the 26th of february trayvon martin was returning to his future stepmother's home with a bag of candy and iced tea. that evening george zimmerman, armed with a 9 millimeter automatic, pursued him, allegedly confronted him and shot him dead. today after weeks of withering criticism about his department's handling of the case and a vote of no confidence by sanford's city commission the police chief temporarily stepped aside. he did not step down. nor did sanford's city manager fire him even though he has the power to do so. in a moment we'll ask him why. first john zarrella who is at tonight's rally. >> reporter: anderson, some of the late developments today is that governor rick scott, florida's governor, has appointed a special task force to also contribute to this investigation. and it's being headed by state attorney angela cory from the northern district of florida. we assume she'll get her group together and panel that task force pretty quickly on. we are here at this rally, as you know. many thousands of people here. we just heard from the reverend al sharpton. we are now hearing from trayvon martin's parents. they are speaking right now. earlier today they met with the members of the department of justice, the fbi and the u.s. attorney for the middle district of florida. in those meetings they were told, look, please, give us patience. have patience. this is going to take time. and they were also told that the investigation by the federal government, the department of justice, civil rights violations investigation that they are just getting started, just beginning the fact-finding and they do not at this point have all the facts or anywhere near all the facts. anderson? >> all right, john zarrella, thanks very much. keep in mind that civil rights investigation really may hinge on whether or not george zimmerman uttered a racist slur on that 911 tape. we're going to play you an enhanced audio recording of that 911 tape. we ran it through with our best audio engineer here at cnn. we played it for you last night. we'll replay that for you because it's critically important in terms of the federal investigation and the possibility of federal charges in this. it is worth starting tonight with police chief lee's own words. let's listen. >> i stand by the sanford police department, its personnel and the investigation that was conducted in regards to the trayvon martin case. it is apparent that my involvement in this matter is overshadowing the process. >> chief lee says he stands behind the investigation, but at almost every stop along the way, keeping him honest, both his statements and the course taken by his department have come into question. it begins the night of february 26th when george zimmerman says he shot trayvon martin in self defense acting properly he says according to florida's stand your ground law. looking at the police report you can see at least initially police suspected the shooting may have been a crime. take a look at the upper left-hand corner in the offense section. it reads homicide, negligent, manslaughter. unnecessary killing to prevent unlawful act. zimmerman was taken to police headquarters after the shooting. further down the responding officer writes, zimmerman was placed in an interview room at spd where he was interviewed by investigator d. singleton. his gun was kept as evidence. but zimmerman was allowed to leave. we don't know anything about how the interview was conducted. sanford city manager norton bonaparte said he was questioned extensively and made to reenact the shooting. whatever police did, we do know they concluded that zimmerman was in the clear and there wasn't even probable cause to hold him on suspicion. yet they already had one key piece of evidence that should have been very suspicious, evidence in george zimmerman's own words that called into question his claims of self defense. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay. we don't need you to do that. >> okay. >> police had access to that 911 tape from the very beginning. they only made it public last friday under very heavy pressure from the martin family three weeks after the fact. earlier this week, chief lee publicly downplayed it, seeming to take zimmerman's side, calling what the 911 dispatcher said, quote, not a lawful order that mr. zimmerman would be required to follow. legally that is absolutely true, but it was unusual for the chief to say so given how quiet his department has been about answering any questions concerning the case. let's get back to the investigation. the family's attorney says police never asked neighbors if anyone was missing a child, which could suggest they suspected at least at the time that trayvon was an intruder, not a kid visiting his dad in the neighborhood. nor did they check trayvon's cell phone. they say his phone was locked and they are waiting for records from the phone company. as of yesterday they still hadn't contacted the last person to speak to trayvon alive. he was talking to his girlfriend just seconds before his killing. the martin family, on the other hand, did uncover the cell phone records, trace the girlfriend. she gave the family attorney a statement. he said this man was watching him so he put his hoodie on and said he lost the man. she went on i asked trayvon to run and he said he was going to walk fast. i told him to run but he said he was not going to run. she said the man caught up to trayvon. trayvon said what are you following me for? and the man said what are you doing here? next thing i hear is somebody pushing and somebody pushed trayvon because the headset just fell. so at the end of the day here's what we have. at least two key pieces of evidence casting suspicion on george zimmerman's self defense claim. allegations the sanford police department did a sloppy job, a vote of no confidence. a justice department investigation, a rally tonight and a national uproar. all of it, 25 days and counting since trayvon martin headed home from the store with a bag of skittles and iced tea and his whole life ahead of him. given all of that, given the national attention, the intense local pressure, a lot of people are asking not just at tonight's rally for two things, the arrest of george zimmerman and the firing of chief lee. he just stepped down today. one man tonight has the absolute power to do one of those things, fire the chief. he's not exercising it. sanford city manager norton bonaparte. earlier tonight i asked him why and why george zimmerman is not in custody. mr. bonaparte, i heard you do an interview with al sharpton this evening on msnbc and you said you want justice for the, quote, murder of trayvon martin. you used the word "murder" which is not a word one would use to describe an act of self defense or justifiable homicide or anything under the stand your ground law. if you believe trayvon martin was murdered, why hasn't the man that shot him been arrested? >> what i have been told, anderson, and this is a law enforcement matter, that when the police arrived, they handcuffed mr. zimmerman, they took him to the police headquarters, they questioned him, they brought him back out to the scene, they asked him to reenact what happened. and based upon what they heard from him and based upon the evidence that they saw at the scene and based upon some information from witnesses, they could not uncorroborate the fact that he said it was self defense. what they have determined, at least at the scene, is that because of the florida state statutes, they could not arrest him. >> so do you believe trayvon martin was murdered, though? >> i believe that he was certainly killed and it was unfortunate and it was a tragedy. no parent wants to have their child killed. whether it's murder, accident or anything like that. i think we need to look at how to get justice and we're looking to the state's attorney to look at the evidence the sanford police has provided along with the evidence they'll get from the florida department of law enforcement and the grand jury. >> so your use of that word "murder" was not to indicate that you believe it was not self defense? >> i believe that's up for the state's attorney and the justice system to look at. i am not going to be prejudging. we have a judicial system and i'm looking forward that justice is done. >> the police chief of your city, bill lee, stepped aside temporarily today. he said he stands into the -- stands by the investigation into trayvon martin's death and is only stepping aside because he's become a distraction. is that acceptable to you? >> yes. i think it was very clear to chief lee that based upon the city commission's vote of no confidence and the uproar that's brewing not only in this city but around the country regarding the focus being on the police chief and not on the killing of trayvon martin, that he decided to step aside so that we can refocus on getting justice for the death of trayvon martin and that's through the justice system. >> do you have confidence in the investigation thus far? >> i don't know the investigation. that's why the mayor, congresswoman brown and myself went to washington, d.c. to ask the department of justice to overlook and for them to review and share with us do they think there was a fair and impartial investigation. >> but clearly, i mean if you went to ask for outsiders to look at the investigation, that would indicate a concern you have about the investigation? >> what i say is that because of the national attention and because of the tragedy of this, the tragedy of the killing of trayvon martin, we want to have outside eyes look at this, fresh eyes, independent eyes of the sanford police department so that we can have confidence in whatever they find. >> you said earlier on cnn, quote, if this took place in another city, certainly mr. zimmerman would have been arrested. what did you mean by that? >> i said that when i spoke to other law enforcement officials, one in particular in new york indicated that if it had taken place in new york, mr. zimmerman would have been arrested. however, based on florida's laws, he understood why the sanford police did not arrest mr. zimmerman. >> trayvon martin's parents have said this evening they want chief lee to be permanently removed. you have the authority to fire him. what do you say to trayvon's parents? >> i say i will remove him if i have reason to believe that he did something inappropriate. i am not rushing to judgment. i've called for a review. i want to know the facts. did the sanford police department do something they shouldn't have done or did they not do something they should have done? give that to me and then i can make a determination not only just about chief lee but about the whole sanford police department. >> do you have confidence in the investigation that chief lee oversaw? >> right now it doesn't make a difference. what we really want is to make sure that the state's attorney has all the information they need so they can determine whether they should indict mr. zimmerman and we provided them with the police department but in addition to that they have information and the resources of the florida department of law enforcement and the united states department of justice. >> so you don't want to go on the record saying whether or not you have confidence in the investigation or not? >> what i go on record saying we want justice for the martin family. right now it's in the hands of the justice system through the state's attorney office. he's the one to determine what the fate of mr. zimmerman is in terms of pressing charges. >> mr. bonaparte, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. let's bring in legal analysis, former federal prosecutors jeffrey toobin and sunny hostin. jeffrey, clearly he doesn't want to take a position. i mean, he's ducking all over the place. >> and i don't know what that business is with taking a temporary leave. what does that mean? >> there's the other question i wanted to ask you about, the police chief stepping down, does that really mean anything? >> what does it mean to temporarily step down. is he still in charge of the police department except for this case? is he just taking vacation? it seems like a -- it is either too much or too little, but it's a meaningless gesture, i think. >> sunny, the meeting today between trayvon martin's parents and the department of justice, what does that mean for the case? >> you know, i think they wanted to manage the family's expectations. i think they wanted to ask the family's patience so that they can continue the investigation. it's just the very beginning. and i think jeff will agree with me, trying a federal hate crimes case is just very difficult to prove. you have to prove specific intent, so you have to get into someone's head, and it's the highest level intent under our criminal law system. i think they wanted to manage the family's expectations but make it very clear they are there, they are on the ground, they are investigating but they are not taking over the investigation because this in my view is still very much a local law enforcement case. >> i want to talk in a little bit about what was in his head and what we know about that based on what he said on the 911 tapes, whether he used a racist slur because that does have a key impact on whether the feds can bring in charges. before we get there, though, we know very little about the gun that was used. apparently the police confiscated it. that's a big issue. >> it's an enormous issue because the ballistics and the autopsy evidence, they're not public yet and they will be extremely important. i mean, for example, zimmerman told the story, we don't know the details, of how this shooting took place. does the autopsy evidence match up with that? for example, he will say i shot him in the chest or i shot him, you know, in the arm or whatever. does the autopsy evidence confirm that? does the autopsy evidence show that he shot him in the back when he said he shot him in the front? that's very important and we don't know that. >> and there's some crucial evidence missing because my understanding is zimmerman was allowed to leave the police station with the very clothes that he had on for the shooting. so if there is any discrepancy in terms of how far he was away from trayvon martin, that information is now lost, that forensic information is now lost. you can't have gun powder residue and that sort of thing because apparently it just wasn't conducted appropriately. >> alcohol test, and now that evidence is gone forever. >> also, i mean we know from at least two eyewitnesss trayvon martin was face down on the ground. still, he could have been shot in the chest and the bullet could have spun him around. we simply don't know enough of the details. >> when you interviewed those eyewitnesses that was a very striking image of him straddling -- zimmerman on top of him straddling him face down, which is just -- i mean the whole thing is bizarre, but that was a thought a very bizarre image. you wonder how that could have happened. >> we've got to take a quick break. jeffrey and sunny, stay with us. there's plenty more on this and other stories on cnn.com. we'll continue to talk about it right after this break. we're on facebook, follow me on twitter. we're tweeting about this case and having a conversation on twitter about it. up next, we don't know where the shooter, george zimmerman, is tonight. we're also learning a lot about who he is or at least more about his background. we'll take you up close next. on. 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[ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ i want to take you close up close tonight, who is george zimmerman? his name is now well known across the country, we're beginning really beginning to learn about the background. we know that he's dreamed of a career in law enforcement. he once had a run-in with the law and his father inzilss his son is no racist. john zarrella reports. >> reporter: george michael zimmerman, 28 years old. until a month ago he was his neighbor said, just a guy who cared. >> george was a caring, passionate -- he had a passion for the safety of our neighborhood. and he demonstrated to the rest of us that one person could make a difference. he was an average guy, just like me. >> we know him only from what people say of him. from a couple of pictures there are of him and from his voice on the 911 calls he made february 26th, the night he shot and killed trayvon martin. >> this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. it's raining and he's just walking around looking about. >> zimmerman says the shooting was self-defense. he has not been charged with a crime. what we've been able to piece together about george zimmerman's life, you might say is a contradiction. in 2005 he's arrested for resisting a police officer without violence after an incident at a local bar. he pleads not guilty. but later he enters a six-month pretrial diversion program as part of a plea deal. as this document shows, it's extended two months because, quote, my program participation has not been satisfactory. later that year, zimmerman and his ex-fiancee both file for protection against domestic violence after each alleged there was pushing and hitting. none of this sounds like the boy george and kay hall knew. zimmerman was an altar boy in the catholic church. he didn't move to florida until after he graduated high school here in manassas, virginia. in this house across the street from hall. >> they were a tight-knit family. they were good with their children. very well behaved. they didn't run around loose or anything. they were faithful. they were active in the catholic church. >> reporter: and this is the george zimmerman, the just a guy side, the man trying to make something of his life. the side george hall knew. zimmerman was a part-time student at seminole state college studying general education, but today the college withdrew him for safety reasons. he's worked various odd jobs, security for a home party company. and for a time around 2008, he worked at carmax. that same year zimmerman applied for and was accepted into a citizens outreach program run by the sheriff's department, which introduces participants to law enforcement procedures. before he was accepted, zimmerman has to explain his 2005 arrest. he writes in part, quote, i hold law enforcement officers in the highest regard as i hope to one day become one. end quote. a couple of years ago zimmerman called his old neighbor, george hall, asking for a letter of recommendation for a law enforcement application. >> very positive one. i have nothing but the strongest positive feelings for the whole family, including the boys. >> reporter: we don't know wh