Man Who Shot at Zimmerman During Road Rage Guilty of Attempted Murder

The Florida man who was arrested for shooting at George Zimmerman in 2015 was convicted of attempted second-degree murder on Friday, September 16. After four hours of deliberation, a jury sided against the claim made by Matthew Apperson, 37, that he fired in self-defense in the alleged road rage incident. His sentencing has been scheduled for October 17.

On May 11, 2015, Apperson and Zimmerman crossed paths on a road in Lake Mary, Florida. According to Zimmerman, he had been followed by Apperson, who was allegedly honking his horn and flashing his lights frantically, before pulling up beside him and letting a shot off through his window. The bullet missed, but Zimmerman was cut by glass in the incident. Apperson had claimed that his actions were in response to his counterpart flashing a gun, saying that he felt his life was threatened and alleging that it wasn't the first time he had been confronted by Zimmerman with violence. According to Apperson, he and Zimmerman had been involved in a road rage encounter in September of 2014 as well.

Since his acquittal of charges related to the tragic shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, Zimmerman, 32, has been in and out of trouble with the law, and the target of several altercations. As recently as August his name surfaced in headlines when a 911 phone call that leaked to the media exposed the public to an incident in which he was punched in the face, for allegedly bragging about the murder of Martin, in a Sanford restaurant.