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Trayvon Martin would have turned 24 today

His death sparked a national conversation about race in America.
Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A picture of Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012, is seen on a table with others pictures of people killed by gun violence before Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to the third annual Circle of Mothers conference on May 21, 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Trayvon Martin would have turned 24 years old Tuesday.

He 17 when he was shot and killed by community watch member George Zimmerman in 2012 in Sanford, Florida.

Weeks later, Zimmerman was arrested for second-degree murder. Zimmerman claimed self-defense, and a Florida jury ultimately found him not guilty in 2013.

Martin's death heightened discussions about racial profiling in the United States. In 2012, President Barack Obama expressed his concerns about the shooting death. Speaking at the White House, the former president said: "if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

Related: Trayvon Martin to be given posthumous honorary degree

In 2017, Martin's parents accepted an honorary bachelor's degree on his behalf.

Martin was born in Miami and attended Miami Carol City High School for two years before switching to Dr. Michael M. Krop High School, where he was a junior at the time of his death.

More than 1,000 people came to remember him the day before his funeral. And, in the month after the shooting, his name was tweeted more than two million times.

He is buried at Dade-Memorial Park in Miami.

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