George Zimmerman gun auction 'no longer in the system'

UPDATE: A post reportedly made by George Zimmerman on a gun-auction website claiming to be selling the 9mm pistol he used to kill Trayvon Martin in 2012 was apparently removed Thursday.

The auction was set to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday, with bidding starting at $5,000.

The post has since been removed from GunBroker.com and was showing an error message midday Thursday. "Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system," the website read.

GunBroker.com didn't respond to a request for comment and a phone recording at the company's headquarters in Kennesaw, Ga., didn't appear to be working.

The company's Facebook page has been disabled and a Twitter account, which was live last month, has been set to private.

Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, seemed to verify the post Wednesday during a recorded phone call with FOX-35 News in Orlando, saying he had just got the gun back from the U.S. Department of Justice.

"They took it after my trial, after I was exonerated," he told FOX-35 News.

The post on GunBroker.com listed the gun as a Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol and described it as an "American firearm icon" that was used to "defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin."

Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013 of killing Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old. He said he was defending himself when he shot Martin.

In the auction post, which was signed "Your friend, George M. Zimmerman," the seller said the gun "currently has the case number written on it in silver permanent marker."

The seller also said the "purchaser is guaranteed validity and authenticity of the firearm," the post read.

The auction listing also said a portion of the proceeds would go toward fighting violence against law enforcement by the Black Lives Matter movement and to stop anti-firearm rhetoric made by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The poster also wanted to end the career of Angela Corey, who led the prosecution against Zimmerman.

During the call with FOX-35 News, Zimmerman said if he doesn't sell it, the gun will go in a safe and "never be used or seen again."

He said he's received death threats and has decided not to cower.

He also said he thinks its "time to move past the firearm."

"I'm a free American," he told FOX-35 News. "I can do what I want with my possession."

As of about 10 a.m., the listing had been viewed nearly 200,000 times.

Martin's family released a statement saying the Trayvon Martin Foundation is focused on ending "senseless gun violence."

"We are laser focused on furthering that mission. As such, the foundation has no comment on the actions of that person that murdered Trayvon," the statement reads.

'SOCIOPATH'

'George Zimmerman' quickly became the top trending term on Twitter in the United States, with many users on the social media site expressing shock and revulsion.

The only people worse than George Zimmerman are the people who bid on that gunMay 12, 2016

The only people worse than George Zimmerman are the people who bid on that gun

— lyz lenz (@lyzl)

National Review columnist Charles C.W. Cooke said Zimmerman 'may have acted legally, but the man is a sociopath.'

In a phone interview with a local broadcaster on Wednesday, Zimmerman brushed off those critical of the auction.

'They're not going to be bidding on it, so I couldn't care less about them,' he told Orlando TV station WOFL.

Zimmerman, who has had brushes with law enforcement since his acquittal, was the target of an attempted murder by Matthew Apperson in a Florida road dispute in May 2015, according to prosecutors.