A police sergeant with the Port Canaveral Police Department has been fired after it was discovered he was conducting practice with targets resembling Trayvon Martin wearing a hoodie.
According to the Orlando Sentinel and other media reports on Sunday morning, Sgt. Ron King of the Port Canaveral police department, http://youtu.be/oonckYOhhy4 who has been a firearms instructor and veteran of the police force for two years, was fired on Friday from his job. King offered a resemblance of deceased Trayvon Martin to be utilized for other officers' target practice. The incident became public following an internal investigation which led to the firing of King.
The investigation found that the target King offered for the officers' target practice the first week of last month was a figure which wore a hoodie -- similar to the apparel worn by Trayvon Martin when he was walking through the gated-community in Florida and was killed by George Zimmerman.
Ron King's response
Though King denied in a YouTube video presentation that the Trayvon-similar target was not to be used for shooting, the interim Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Walsh quickly and publicly apologized to the family of Trayvon Martin on Saturday. Furthermore, Walsh referred to King's actions as unacceptable, unprofessional, and insensitive. The current chief also said that whether King's actions were via hatred or stupidity, neither is tolerated in the police force.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney representing Trayvon's parents, issued a statement condemning the target.
"Using a dead child's image as target practice is reprehensible," Crump said.
The Trayvon target, which features a bull's eye over his heart, a package of Skittles in his pocket and a beverage can in his right hand, is sold online.
The night he was killed, Trayvon was on the way back to a relative's home from a convenience store, where he had bought the candy and a nonalcoholic drink. He wore a hoodie, inspiring protesters to also wear hoodies as they demanded Zimmerman's arrest.
King has a week to appeal his termination. In the video, he said another sergeant complained about the target and had a "political agenda" for doing so.
On his LinkedIn page, King describes himself as night-shift watch commander for the Port Canaveral Police Department and a firearms and personal-safety consultant.
Before joining the Port Canaveral force, King worked as a Melbourne police officer for nearly 22 years. He was a lieutenant when he left in November 2006, according to LinkedIn.
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