(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The U.S. Justice Department has now officially announced  that it would not pursue criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman, who shot and killed an unarmed Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla.

“The death of Trayvon Martin was a devastating tragedy. It shook an entire community, drew attention of million across the nation, and sparked a painful but necessary dialogue throughout the country,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said in a statement Feb. 24. “Through a comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here, this young man’s premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface. We, as a nation, must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.”

An all-women’s jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges following a three-week trial. The jury of mostly white women rejected the state’s argument that Zimmerman deliberately pursued Martin because Zimmerman assumed that he was a criminal. They also did not believe Zimmerman started a fight Martin before shooting him to death.

Martin was returning home from a store when Zimmerman followed him, started a fight and shot him. Zimmerman also ignored a police dispatcher’s order to leave Martin, 17, alone and to let the police handle it.

After Zimmerman’s acquittal, federal investigators conducted their own investigation in Zimmerman’s shooting death of Martin.

“The federal investigation examined whether Zimmerman violated civil rights statutes at any point during his interaction with Martin, from their initial encounter through the fatal shooting,” Justice Department Officials said. Federal investigators independently conducted 75 witness interviews and reviewed the contents of relevant electronic devices.