A Florida neighbourhood watchman has sold for US$250,000 the gun he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, auctioneers said.
United Gun Group, which hosted the auction on its website, confirmed on Saturday the amount of the sale of the Kel-Tec PF-9, a 9mm pistol.
The price, also reported by television stations in Nevada and Florida a day earlier, far exceeded the market value of a secondhand weapon.
The very fact that the weapon was even being auctioned off had triggered a major backlash due to the nature of 17-year-old Martin’s 2012 shooting.
Watchman George Zimmerman claims he acted in self-defence but the teen’s family and friends claimed it was a murder driven by racism.
Zimmerman’s trial and subsequent acquittal exposed deep racial divides in US society, and nationwide protests erupted over the shooting.