Lawyer: Unarmed teen followed before slaying

SANFORD, Fla. -- An unarmed black teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain told his girlfriend he was being followed shortly before the confrontation that killed him, a lawyer said yesterday as federal and state prosecutors announced they would investigate.

" 'Oh he's right behind me, he's right behind me again,' " Trayvon Martin, 17, told his girlfriend on the phone, the Martin family's attorney said.

The girl later heard Martin say, "Why are you following me?" Another man asked, "What are you doing around here?' " attorney Benjamin Crump said.

The phone call that recorded Martin's final moments was disclosed as the U.S. Justice Department opened a federal civil rights probe into the Feb. 26 shooting and the local prosecutor convened a grand jury to investigate.

The neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, has not been charged and has said he shot Martin, who was returning to a gated community in Sanford after buying candy at a convenience store, in self-defense after Martin attacked him.

Police say Zimmerman is white; his family says he is Hispanic.

The case has ignited racial tensions in this Orlando suburb of 53,500 people, sparking rallies and a protest at Gov. Rick Scott's office yesterday.

Police say Zimmerman was bleeding from his nose and the back of his head, and told police he had yelled out for help before he shot Martin.

Crump told reporters yesterday it was Martin who cried out when a man bearing a 9-mm handgun came toward him.

Martin called his 16-year-old girlfriend in Miami several times on Feb. 26, including just before the shooting, Crump said.

The discovery of the lengthy conversations, including one moments before the shooting, was made over the weekend by Martin's father by checking his son's cellphone log, Crump said.

"She absolutely blows Zimmerman's absurd self-defense claim out of the water," Crump said of Martin's girlfriend, whose name was withheld.

Martin told the girl on his way back from the store he'd taken shelter the rain briefly at an apartment building in the gated community where his father lives, Crump said. Martin then told the girl he was being followed and would try to lose the person, Crump said.

"She says: 'Run.' He says, 'I'm not going to run, I'm just going to walk fast,' " Crump says, quoting the girl.

After Martin encountered Zimmerman, the girl thinks she heard a scuffle "because his voice changes like something interrupted his speech," Crump said. The phone call ended before the gunshots.

The last call was at 7:12 p.m.

Police arrived at 7:17 p.m. to find Martin lying facedown on the ground.