Mugger Tells Victim ‘This Is for Trayvon Martin;’ D.C. Police Investigating Latest Hate Crime Pegged to Zimmerman Decision

Police in Washington, DC are investigating a robbery that occurred Saturday as a possible hate crime in retaliation to the not-guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman.

A Bethesda, Maryland man was beaten and robbed early Saturday morning by three black men who approached him as he was walking down Euclid Street in Adams Morgan district of Washington, DC.

Police are investigating the robbery as a hate crime since one of the men yelled ‘This is for Trayvon Martin’ before attacking the man.

The men threw the victim to the ground and kicked him before leaving with his wallet and iPhone.

The victim only suffered minor injuries and declined medical attention, authorities said.

‘There is no pattern in these types of crimes,’ DC police spokesman Araz Alali told the Washington Post. ‘These attacks are outrageous; we are doing everything in our power to see that they certainly don’t occur. If they do occur, we are going to aggressively investigate them and bring people to justice.’

The crime comes two weeks after a jury found George Zimmerman not-guilty of murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012, even though he admitted to shooting the teen.

After the controversial verdict was handed down, Martin’s family and supporters called for non-violence.

‘It’s all right to be vocal, but we don’t want to be violent,’ Rev. Walter T. Richardson said. ‘We’ve already lost one soul and we don’t want to lose any more.

‘Please, no violence. We don’t want any violence. None,’ said Martin’s aunt Miriam Martin.

So far the reaction to the verdict has been mostly peaceful, with non-violent protests and demonstrations being held across the country.

Still, others are using the judgement as an excuse to carry out racially-motivated attacks.

A Latino man protesting the decision in Los Angeles was beaten up in the middle of the march.

Cuauhtemoc Negrete said a group of kids came up to him and told him: ‘You better blend in or you’re going to get hurt.’

They later returned and punched him once in the back of the head and stole his bike.

Another Latino man was beaten-up in Baltimore by a group of five black males.

According to witness Christina Dudley, the 37-year-old man was chased by the group.

When they caught up to him they started kicking and stomping him, while one of the men pointed a gun.

‘They were just yelling and calling him names as they ran after him, but once they were hitting him and after that they started yelling, “This is for Trayvon, (expletive),’ she said.