You seem certain that Zimmerman would have been killed by a 17 year old he just met 3 minutes ago through an altercation through a brawl? You live in some fantasy world.
How many 17 year olds you think randomly, single highhandedly attack and murder adults by hand that they’ve never met before?
Throughout history? I’ll say none.
It would have been a brawl and as soon as Zimmerman would give up the chase the “thug” would run away.
If it goes to the fact that Zimmerman was in danger of being killed by his own weapon, well then he’s even a bigger idiot than I originally thought.