A police sergeant in the US
state of Florida has been sacked after it was discovered that he was leading a
firearms training session with two other officers and a civilian using shooting
targets of the slain African-American teenager Trayvon Martin.
Authorities said Ron King, who
had been serving with the Cape Canaveral Port Authority since January 2011, was
fired on April 12, US media reported on Saturday.
Port Canaveral Interim Chief Executive
Officer John Walsh said on Saturday that King had asked the group on April 4 if
they wanted to use the targets in their weapons exercise, and they told him
“they didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Walsh has apologized publicly
to Trayvon's family, and called King's behavior unacceptable, insensitive and
unprofessional.
“We want to apologize to the
community and the family of Trayvon Martin and don’t feel that this is
tolerable or acceptable in any level. It’s something that we’d never want the
Port Authority to be involved in and we truly apologize to the families for the
pain that they even had to hear about something like this and had to relive
their son’s death again,” he said.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for
Martin's parents, said, "It is absolutely reprehensible that a
high-ranking member of the Port Canaveral Police, sworn to protect and serve
Floridians, would use the image of a dead child as target practice."
He added, "Such a
deliberate and depraved indifference to this grieving family is unacceptable.
The citizens of Port Canaveral deserve better."
On February 26, 2012,
neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman fatally shot Martin in Sanford,
Florida. Martin was unarmed when he was killed.
Thousands of demonstrators
marched across the United States in the wake of a month-and-a-half delay in
Zimmerman's arrest. They argued that the case is a clear case of racism.
Martin's family claims
Zimmerman targeted their son mainly because he was black.