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George Zimmerman Shot At During Apparent Road Rage Incident In Fla.

The incident took place on Lake Mary Boulevard in Lake Mary, north of Orlando.
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CBSNEWS - George Zimmerman was apparently not the shooter in a gunfire incident Monday in central Florida, police said Monday.

The man who called 911 to report he was involved in a shooting with Zimmerman appears to be the same person involved in a road rage incident with the former neighborhood watch volunteer last year.

The shooting took place around 12:45 p.m. on Lake Mary Boulevard near Rinehart Road in Lake Mary, north of Orlando. Witnesses told CBS affiliate WKMG the driver of an Infiniti opened fire on Zimmerman, who turned into a retail center on Waymont Court to get help.

A lawyer for Zimmerman, Don West, told CBS News Radio that Zimmerman was shot at while driving and was injured, but not by a bullet.

West told WKMG a bullet missed Zimmerman's head, but his client was sprayed with glass from his vehicle's windshield and other debris.

He told the station Zimmerman was not seriously injured and was treated and released from a hospital.

Bianca Gillett, a public information officer for the Lake Mary Police, named the second man in the incident as Matthew Apperson. She said Zimmerman flagged down police, and Apperson later called 911.

She said it's not clear what motivated the shooting, but she said it appeared Zimmerman was not the shooter.

There've been no arrests and no one has been charged, she said. Police are waiting to speak with both men through their lawyers.

 

Last September, Apperson said Zimmerman threatened to kill him, asking "Do you know who I am?," during a confrontation in their vehicles. Apperson decided not to pursue charges, and police officers were unable to move forward without a car tag identified or witnesses.

"I explained to Matthew that without the tag, witnesses, and/or clear video identifying the driver as George Zimmerman, it might be difficult to prove the alleged suspect was in fact Zimmerman," the Lake Mary police officer wrote in a report last September.

After Monday's encounter involving the two men, Ken Cornell, an MRI tech who works at nearby Cyrus Diagnostic Imaging, told 48 Hours' Crimesider that he was returning to work from lunch when he saw Apperson get out of a gray Infiniti. He said Apperson asked him, "Please call 911, I just shot George Zimmerman."

Cornell said he didn't see the incident or Zimmerman.

Cornell said he dialed 911 and put Apperson on the phone with dispatchers, and that Apperson told police it was his third dispute with Zimmerman.

"He said the cops know who I am, this is an ongoing dispute," Cornell said.

Apperson said he saw a gun before opening fire, according to Cornell. Apperson was "definitely shaken," he said.

Police wouldn't release information about any weapons involved in the incident.

Video from a WKMG helicopter showed a pickup truck, believed to be a Honda Ridgeline belonging to Zimmerman, being towed. There's an apparent bullet hole in the passenger-side window of the truck.

An SUV was also at the scene.

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