to squarepusher......
honestly im not trying to be a dick to you. i am having the same argument with my wife. but in a GATED community at that time of night after MULTIPLE break ins, how would YOU react seeing someone in there who shouldnt be?
see ive lived in the country for the first 35yrs of my life. i never got robbed, stolen from, or anything because everyone in the country knows that everyone else is armed and that trespassing is a damn serious thing. but public roads/streets are different, but you better believe we know about anyone walking around when most people are in bed.
now ive moved and lived in the city for about 2 years. already ive had my lawn mower stolen, chainsaw stolen, gas stolen.....ive had to spend $1000 on a fence and flood lights and STILL have to worry about a break in or something. i woke up a few nights ago and had to pee. on the way back to the bedroom i see out my window 2 people walking down the road at 3:30am. now since i had been stolen from i waited to see if they would keep going and just go on up the road. NOPE! they both ran into my neighbors yard and disappeared for about 1 minute, then came back on the road and frolicked on out of sight down the road. i called 911 and reported the tresspassing. cops drove around after and im not sure if they ever saw the 2 people.
so you see, i dont know where you live, but when people break in to your neighborhood homes, you tend to start watching for anything suspicious. zimmermans neighborhood HAD been broken into. hence the need for a watchman program. as a land surveyor i can tell you very fast like, that in a gated community, unless you live there, you had better keep your ass OUT of there. public roads usually dont exist inside the gates. the center line of the road is technically the property line as real property between opposing neighbors on each side of said road. in other words treyvon technically was trespassing depending on the title deeds.