Teen killed after neighborhood watch mistakes Skittles for weapon

The parents of Florida teen are demanding that a neighborhood watch captain be arrested after their 17-year-old son was gunned down in February, possibly because his bag of Skittles was mistaken for a weapon.

The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman had called police to report Trayvon Martin as a suspicious person, but by the time the police arrived the young man was already dead.

According to NBC Miami, police said Martin had been returning from a local store with Skittles and an iced tea.

"I think it's just profiling, I think it has something to do with the fact that he was a young black African-American kid," Sabrina Fulton, the teen's mother, said. "I don't know why he became suspicious."

Zimmerman claimed he had been forced to shoot Martin in self-defense.

"He (Zimmerman) didn't have to get out of his car," Ben Crump a lawyer for Martin's family, explained at a press conference last week. "If he never gets out of his car, there is no reason for self-defense. Trayvon only has skittles. He has the gun."

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee said on Monday that an arrest had not been made because there was no evidence to contradict Zimmerman's version of events. The case is expected to be turned over to the State Attorney's Office for further consideration on Tuesday.

Watch this video from NBC Miami, broadcast March 12, 2012.

View more videos at: https://nbcmiami.com.