Nightly News   |  April 05, 2012

Zimmerman called Sanford police seven times since Aug. 2011

Of the seven calls placed by George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin, there were five where he reported suspicious-looking young men in the area -- but he never mentioned the men's race without first being asked. NBC’s Michael Isikoff reports.

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>>> we want to turn now to the latest on the trayvon martin case . we have new information that may help shed some light on the man who shot martin. here is michael izacough.

>> after canvassing the gated community where trayvon martin was shot, fbi agents are moving rapidly to complete their investigation into possible civil rights violations in the death of a black teenager, but george zimmerman 's new lawyer said he's not a racist.

>> absolutely not. a multinational family.

>> the fbi is carefully reviewing zimmerman 's neighborhood watch calls to the sanford police, all made on a nonemergency line and not 911, as widely reported.

>> there's, uh, two suspicious characters at the gate of my neighborhood. i have never seen them before.

>> since august, he called the police seven times. five times, reporting his suspicions about young men in the area, but he never mentioned the mens' race without being asked.

>> is he white, black, or his hispan hispanic?

>> black.

>> can you describe the two individuals?

>> two african- american males .

>> the police audiotapes may help the defense that he was not targeting or racially profiling african-americans.

>> if zimmerman is only identifying the race of subjects in response to a question, that is very helpful to him because it doesn't establish evidence of a racial motivation on his part.

>> the fact that zimmerman was armed and pursued martin did violate sanford police neighborhood watch directives. last september, he invited police to the complex and presided where an officer in charge of the program offered a power point presentation. they emphasized that neighborhood watch volunteers were not to pursue suspects or carry weapons, an instruction that zimmerman disregarded on the night of the confrontation with trayvon martin.