Zimmerman’s wife won’t press charges despite call ?

LAKE MARY, Fla. — George Zimmerman’s wife called 911 Monday to report that her estranged husband was threatening her with a gun and had punched her father in the nose. Hours later, however, she decided not to press charges against the man acquitted of all charges for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

Lake Mary police officers were still investigating the encounter as a domestic dispute, but no charges had been filed as of Monday afternoon. George Zimmerman, wearing a flannel shirt, baseball cap and with sunglasses on, left the home after being questioned by police.

Shellie Zimmerman, who filed for divorce last week, initially told a 911 dispatcher that her husband had his hand on his gun as he sat in his car outside the home she was at with her father. She said she was scared because she wasn’t sure what her husband was capable of doing. But hours later, she changed her story and said she never saw a firearm, Lake Mary Police Chief Steve Bracknell said.

For the time being, “domestic violence can’t be invoked because she has changed her story and says she didn’t see a firearm,” Bracknell said.

On the 911 call, Shellie Zimmerman is sobbing and repeating “Oh my God” as she talks to a police dispatcher. She yells at her father to get inside the house, saying Zimmerman may start shooting at them.

“He’s threatening all of us with a firearm […] He punched my dad in the nose,” Shellie Zimmerman said on the call. “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really scared.”

She also said he grabbed an iPad from her hand and smashed it. Her father also declined to press charges, the police chief said.

Police officers could still build a case based on surveillance video from cameras outside the house and also video from the squad cars of officers who responded. Florida law allows police officers to arrest someone for domestic violence without the consent of the victim.

Police spokesman Zach Hudson said the estranged husband and wife were blaming each other for being the aggressor, and police officers were sorting through their accounts.

Shellie Zimmerman said in her divorce filing she and her husband had separated a month after he was acquitted of any crime for fatally shooting the 17-year-old Martin in Sanford, not far from where Monday’s investigation happened.

Shellie Zimmerman asked the dispatcher to send an ambulance to check her father out. A fire department ambulance arrived at the house, but nobody needed to be transported, Hudson said.

“The call went out as a 911 call that Mr. Zimmerman was threatening them with a firearm,” Hudson said. “We’re trying to see if that’s true or not.”

Zimmerman has been involved with a domestic case at least once before. In 2005, Zimmerman’s former fiancee filed for a restraining order against Zimmerman, alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman responded by requesting a restraining order against his then-fiancee.

Since his acquittal in July, Zimmerman has gotten a speeding ticket in Florida and was pulled over on suspicion of speeding on a highway near Dallas but not ticketed.

Forney police stopped Zimmerman as he drove west on U.S. 80, about 20 miles east of Dallas. A police dashcam video released July 31 shows an officer interacting with Zimmerman and letting him go with a warning.

The officer can be heard saying, “Just take it easy. Go ahead and shut your glove compartment. Don’t play with your firearm.”

Although the officer’s comments indicated Zimmerman had a gun, a weapon cannot be seen, and it’s not clear that he had one. However, Zimmerman had a concealed weapons permit in Florida that would be also recognized under Texas law. The gun used in Martin’s shooting remains in the custody of the federal government, which is looking into a possible civil rights case.