The Daily Caller has identified a second Twitter handle that was used by the late Trayvon Martin during the last weeks of 2011. Tweeting in December under the name “T33ZY_TAUGHT_M3,” Martin sent a message that read, “Plzz shoot da #mf dat lied 2 u!”
It’s unclear who Martin intended the message for, or whether he intended it to be taken literally.
The photo Martin chose to represent himself on Twitter as “T33ZY_TAUGHT_M3” depicts him in a black Polo cap, looking into the camera and extending his middle finger. The photo’s file name on Twitter’s server indicates that it was taken on the afternoon of June 17, 2010.
At least one website issued a retraction this week after mistakenly linking Martin to a middle-finger-salute image on a Facebook account corresponding to a Georgia teenager who shares Martin’s name. This image, however, was uploaded to Twitter by the teen himself.
On Tuesday TheDC published 152 pages of Martin’s Twitter activity that were retrieved using the social analytics product PeopleBrowsr.
Additional searches via the same website yielded the Twitter handle “T33ZY TAUGHT M3,” whose activity spanned just one month and ended shortly before Martin began tweeting as “NO_LIMIT_NIGGA.” His Twitter activity under that newer screen name began with the tweet: “NEW NAME, NEW BACKGROUND, NEW TWEETCON, I MAKE CHANGS B4 NEW YEARS!”
Although The Daily Caller has not confirmed with Martin’s family that the earlier Twitter handle belonged to the 17-year-old, there is significant evidence for the conclusion.
A basic Google search for “@T33ZY_TAUGHT_M3” on Wednesday indicated that corresponds to a defunct Twitter account once used by someone named “Tray.” The same name, entered into the Google Images search engine, generated the photo of Martin flipping off the camera.
Upper-arm tattoos visible in that photo match those depicted in the Trayvon Martin’s MySpace page, which TheDC has also identified. That account includes numerous features, including photos of family members, indicating that it belonged to the slain teen.
Update #1: By noon EDT Thursday, a new Twitter account appeared using the handle “T33ZY_TAUGHT_M3.” It features a photo lifted from this article, complete with The Daily Caller’s logo. It’s unclear who has control of the account, but it’s likely that the name became available when Martin switched his handle to “NO_LIMIT_NIGGA” in December. Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Update #2, Thursday, 5:25 p.m. EDT: The Daily Caller has received a tip that the image above, showing Martin with his middle finger extended, also exists in a different form without the hand in the foreground. It’s likely that the two images were successive photos shot from the same camera at roughly the same time. It’s also remotely possible, but less likely, that Martin himself added the hand before posting the image to his Twitter account in 2011. In any event, the version of the image with the hand is the one that Martin used when his Twitter handle was “T33ZY_TAUGHT_M3.” That image, with the hand, was archived in 2011 both by Twitter and by PeopleBrowsr, the social analytics website whose database was the source for the material described in this article.
Update #3: As of 6 p.m. EDT, the new account described in Update #1 (above) was no longer available on Twitter.
