Today in History: February 26, Trayvon Martin shot to death
Today is Thursday, Feb. 26, the 57th day of 2026. There are 308 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Feb. 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot to death in Sanford, Florida, during an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who said he acted in self-defense. (Zimmerman was later acquitted of second-degree murder.)
Also on this date:
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba, sailing back to France in a bid to regain power.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act making the Grand Canyon a national park.
In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
In 1987, the Tower Commission, which had probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.
In 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others, mainly due to smoke inhalation. (The bomb failed to topple the north tower into the south tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both towers were destroyed in the 9/11 attack eight years later.)
In 1998, a jury in Amarillo, Texas, rejected an $11 million lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey’s talk show for a price fall after a segment on food safety that included a discussion about mad cow disease.
In 2008, the New York Philharmonic performed in North Korea as part of a historic cultural exchange in a feat of musical diplomacy. It was the first American orchestra to ever perform in the isolated communist nation.
In 2013, a hot-air balloon burst into flames during a sunrise flight over the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor and plummeted 1,000 feet to earth, killing 19 tourists.
In 2017, at the Academy Awards, “Moonlight” won three Oscars, including best picture of 2016; in a startling gaffe, the musical “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner before the error was corrected.
Today’s birthdays:
- Singer Mitch Ryder is 81.
- Singer Michael Bolton is 73.
- Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Mullen is 69.
- Actor Greg Germann is 68.
- Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia is 68.
- Singer Erykah Badu (EHR’-ih-kah bah-DOO’) is 55.
- Filmmaker Sean Baker is 55.
- Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk is 53.
- Olympic swimming gold medalist Jenny Thompson is 53.
- Singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 47.
- Tennis Hall of Famer Li Na is 44.
- Singer Natalia Lafourcade is 42.
- Actor Teresa Palmer is 40.
- Actor Taylor Dooley is 33.
- Rapper Yeat is 26.