DETROIT, MI - A man was walking with a gun to his head Friday on a busy I-75 bridge in southwest Detroit because he said he was upset about the not-guilty verdict in the 2013 case of a Florida man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

The man told Michigan State Police troopers, called to the River Rouge bridge about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 5, that walking with the weapon was the only way he could get members of the media to talk to him about the shooter, George Zimmerman, according to a statement from 1st Lt. Michael Shaw. He said the case, which instigated a wave of nation-wide protests, had long bothered him and kept him awake at night.

Shaw said the .38-caliber pistol, which will be destroyed, was not loaded and the man was taken to a local hospital for medical attention.

Initial reports suggested the man was waving around the gun and firing shots, Shaw reported.

He had been walking south in the northbound lanes of the highway. Troopers from the Special Enforcement Section, Motor Unit and Hometown Security team convinced him to surrender and took the man into custody.

The man said he did not wish to hurt anyone; he just wanted to bring attention to Zimmerman's acquittal. "He simply decided to act today," Shaw reported.

Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, encountered Martin on Feb. 26, 2012 as Martin walked to his father's house from a Sanford, Fla., convenience store. The two got into an altercation and Zimmerman contended he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense. A jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder in July 2013.

The case incited a national conversation about race and gave way to the "black lives matter" movement.