A pushing match ensued and her dog jumped up and bit him on the cheek, Zauzo claimed. Zimmerman, in a petition filed the next day, painted her as the aggressor, wanting him to stay the night.

“She accused me of going to another woman’s house or going to party,” wrote Zimmerman, who said Zauzo slapped, clawed and choked him.

In their petitions, both included previous allegations of violence. In the end, an Orange County circuit judge ordered them to stay away from each other for more than a year, according to court records. No charges were filed.

His domestic troubles continued in October 2007, when Zimmerman called police to report that the tires of his Dodge Durango were slashed and he suspected his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.

The man denied the claim and told officers he was so annoyed by text-message exchanges with Zimmerman that he was mulling a restraining order. None was filed, according to Seminole County records.

Zimmerman married Shellie Nicole Dean in 2007, records show.

Over the years, records show, Zimmerman worked selling insurance, for which he earned a vocational certificate from Seminole State College.

He also worked briefly at a CarMax auto dealership, where his paycheck was garnished because of a credit-card debt.

Several years ago, Zimmerman and his wife moved into the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a multi-ethnic community that had been plagued by burglaries in recent months.

Zimmerman, according to neighbors, stepped up to organize the community watch, patrolling the neighborhood while walking his dog, toting his Kel Tek 9mm semiautomatic handgun, for which he held a concealed weapons permit.

One resident told The Miami Herald that Zimmerman implored her husband to arm himself. Another neighbor, Frank Taffee, who has frequently supported Zimmerman to the media, said Zimmerman thwarted a burglary.

His next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Zimmerman always chatted with her in Spanish and was polite, once warning her husband to move his car lest it get towed from a prohibited sidewalk space.

“I feel bad that people are talking about him,” she said. “I don’t think he’s a bad person.”

Nevertheless, even supportive neighbors question the wisdom of taking a gun along on patrols.

That’s something that Miami Maj. Delrish Moss, who oversees the department’s community outreach unit, cautions against when speaking to city-organized citizen’s patrols. Last week, he brought up the Zimmerman case to his volunteers, stressing it’s best to leave weapons at home.

Leave the police aspirations and guns at home and focus on simply observing and reporting potential crime, Moss told them.

“In law enforcement, you always run into people who speak to you in cop jargon, in a way that you can tell they are some kind of frustrated cop,” Moss said. “For the most part, they are harmless and just love police officers, but sometimes, these conversations can be alarming.”

Miami Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this story.