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Trayvon Martin Avenue: South Florida officials name new road after slain teen

Sybrina Fulton, center and Tracy Martin, parents of Trayvon Martin, hold street signs with their son's name, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. The street on the way to Martin's former school was renamed in his honor, eight years after he was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

A section of road that leads to the South Florida high school that Trayvon Martin attended now bears the name of the Black teenager whose 2012 death sparked a movement for social justice.

The road became Trayvon Martin Avenue during a brief ceremony on Thursday morning near Dr. Michael K. Krop Senior High, where the teen was in 11th grade when he was killed.


The Miami-Dade County Commission approved the new name last month.

“Our students every morning will come out here and see the road that bears Trayvon’s name. His name will continue forever,” said principal Adam Kosnitzky.

Martin, 17, was shot dead while visiting his father in Sanford, in Central Florida, in 2012. The teen was unarmed and walking back from a convenience store when he was shot by George Zimmerman after the two engaged in a struggle.

Zimmerman’s acquittal under Florida’s self-defense law in July 2013 sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.