Shooting of youth causes tensions in Florida

Thousands of people joined a march in protest of the February shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in central Florida. The black youth was shot by a Hispanic member of a neighbourhood watch association. The man said he was attacked and shot in self-defence.

The case has raised racial tensions in the area, and there are fears the case is now being tried in the media.

“This has become global now, the spread of this story,” said Deborah Stafford Shearer, the Director of the Office of Advocacy and Justice for the Diocese of Orlando. “There’s lots of animosity among different groups, and that’s a little bit baffling to me because we don’t know all of the details of the case yet, so it is a little premature to start making judgemental statements, or reacting judgmentally. We don’t know what the situation was.”

Shearer told Vatican Radio people are rightfully saddened by tragedy.

“Someone was killed. It is a terrible tragedy for any community,” she said. “We are praying for the families involved. For both families, because there was such a loss on both sides.”

Listen to the full interview by Alessandro Gisotti with Deborah Stafford Shearer: