| October 5, 1983 | George Michael Zimmerman is born in Manassas, Virginia. |
| February 5, 1995 | Trayvon Martin is born in Miami, Florida. |
| 2005 | Florida enacts a "Stand Your Ground" law which permits the use of deadly force when someone reasonably feels at risk of serious injury in a confrontation. Also in 2005, George Zimmerman is arrested for shoving an undercover alcohol-control agent and has a restraining order issued against him at the request of his ex-fiancee. |
| 2009 | George Zimmerman and his wife rent a townhouse in the Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Florida. In November 2009, Zimmerman is issued a license to carry a firearm. |
| September 2011 | Following a series of burglaries, thefts, and a single shooting, Twin Lakes residents hold an organizational meeting to form a neighborhood watch program. George Zimmerman is selected as the program's coordinator. |
| February 2012 | Trayvon Martin travels to Sanford with his father to visit his father's fiancee at her townhouse in the Retreat at Twin Lakes. |
| February 26, 2012 | In the evening, Trayvon Martin walks to a neighborhood 7-11. As he returns to the Twin Lakes housing community about 7:15 P.M., he is observed by George Zimmerman, who was driving through the neighborhood. Zimmerman calls the Sanford PD to report "a real suspicious guy" who "looks like he's up to no good." When Martin begins to run, Zimmerman sets off on foot chasing him. The police dispatcher tells Zimmerman, "We don't need you to do that." After Zimmerman ends his call, a violent confrontation takes place between Zimmerman and Martin. When it is over, Martin is dead, having been shot in the chest, and Zimmerman has head injuries and cuts. Two minutes after the shooting, police arrive on the scene. Zimmerman is taken into custody and questioned for five hours before being released. |
| February 27, 2012 | Zimmerman performs a videotaped reenactment of the incident for police...Martin's father, Tracy Martin, files a Missing Persons report. |
| February 28, 2012 | Police arrive at the condo of Tracy Martin's fiancee and Martin identifies photographs of his dead son. |
| March 8, 2012 | A family medical practice that examined Zimmerman after the shooting send investigators a medical report detailing the injuries sustained by Zimmerman...CBS provides the first national news coverage of the case. |
| March 12, 2012 | Sanford's Police Chief Bill Lee turns the investigation of the case over to the Florida State Attorney's office for review, saying at the time there was not enough evidence to arrest Zimmerman. |
| March 13, 2012 | Sanford PD Detective Chris Serino sends a capias request to the state's attorney recommending charges of negligent manslaughter against Zimmerman. The request states that the "the encounter...was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman" and that there "was no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any criminal activity at the time." |
| March 16, 2012 | Serino tells the Orlando Sentinel that Zimmerman's account was not contradicted by his investigation and that "the decedent was the primary aggressor in the whole event." 911 calls from the night of the shooting are released to the public. |
| March 20, 2012 | State attorney Norm Wolfinger announces that a grand jury will be convened to investigate the death of Martin. The U.S. Justice Department also announces that it is opening its own investigation of the incident. |
| March 22, 2012 | Florida Governor Rick Scott asks the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an investigation of the shooting....A petition on Change.org calling for the arrest of Zimmerman has over 1.3 million supporters....Chief Lee announces he is "temporarily" stepping down as head of the Sanford PD. |
| March 23, 2012 | President Obama makes his first public comments on the Martin shooting, saying "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon Martin." |
| March 26, 2012 | One month after the shooting, rallies take place around the country demanding justice for Trayvon Martin's death. |
| April 2, 2012 | Police interview Rachel Jeantel, Martin's girlfriend, who was on the phone with Martin shortly before he was shot. |
| April 7, 2012 | Zimmerman launches a website to raise funds for his defense. |
| April 9, 2012 | Prosecutor Angela Corey announces that she will not present the case to a grand jury. |
| April 11, 2012 | Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. He turns himself in. |
| April 20, 2012 | Zimmerman's bond is set at $150,000. In the bond hearing, Zimmerman apologizes to the Martin family for the death of their son. |
| April 23, 2012 | Zimmerman is released on bail and enters a plea of "not guilty." |
| June 2, 2012 | After Zimmerman's bond was revoked (because of a misrepresentation at the initial bond hearing concerning finances), Zimmerman is jailed at the John Polk Correctional Facility. |
| June 20, 2012 | Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee is fired. |
| July 6, 2012 | Zimmerman is released from jail after a new bond is set at $1 million. |
| July 18, 2012 | Zimmerman appears in his first television interview since the shooting. He tells Shawn Hannity of Fox News that he would not do anything differently. |
| August 30, 2012 | Judge Debra Nelson is assigned to replace Judge Kenneth Lester who, a Florida appeals court found, had made statements that jeopardized Zimmerman's right to a fair trial. |
| December 7, 2012 | Zimmerman sues NBC for editing the call he placed to the Sanford PD the night of the shooting in a way that made him appear to be racist, and engaging in racial profiling. |
| March 5, 2013 | Defense attorney Mark O'Mara decides not to request a Stand Your Ground immunity hearing for Zimmerman. |
| April 30, 2013 | Zimmerman waives his right to a Stand Your Ground immunity hearing (which, if successful, would have meant no criminal trial could proceed). His attorneys instead decide to present a self-defense case in the criminal trial. |
| May 28, 2013 | Judge Nelson rules on a variety of pretrial motions. She excludes testimony about fights Martin may have been involved in before the shooting, denies a request to have the jury travel to the crime scene, and orders that jurors will remain anonymous. |
| June 20, 2013 | An all-female six-person jury is selected. |
| June 24, 2013 | Opening arguments are presented in the trial of George Zimmerman. |
| July 5, 2013 | The Zimmerman defense team begins presenting its case to the jury. |
| July 12, 2013 | Jury deliberations begin in the Zimmerman trial. |
| July 13, 2013 | The jury finds Zimmerman not guilty. |
| July 16, 2013 | Juror B37 is interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN. She provides details about the jury's deliberations |
| July 17, 2013 | George Zimmerman helps rescue several people from an overturned vehicle in Sanford. |
| July 19, 2012 | President Obama speaks about the trial and race relations in America in a twenty-minute speech at the White House. |
| September 9, 2013 | Police respond to a 911 call from Zimmerman's estranged wife after Zimmerman allegedly threatens her and her father and punches her father in the face. Zimmerman's wife decides not to press charges. |
| November 18, 2013 | Zimmerman's girlfriend calls police after he points a shotgun at her and damages some of her belongings. Zimmerman is charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence battery, and criminal mischief. Three weeks later, Zimmerman's girlfriend asks that charges against him be dropped. |
| September 9, 2014 | Zimmerman allegedly threatens to kill a driver during a road rage incident in Lake Mary, Florida. The incident is reported to police, but the other driver declines to press charges. |
| October 2, 2014 | According to numerous reports, Justice Department officials decide not to bring federal civil rights charges against Zimmerman for the Martin killing, citing insufficient evidence to support the charges. |
| February 14, 2015 | The Justice Department closes its investigation into the Trayvon Martin killing without filing any charges. |