New Black Panther Party offers $10,000 reward for Trayvon Martin's killer

SANFORD, Fla. — Members of the New Black Panther Party are offering a $10,000 reward for the "capture" of George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot Trayvon Martin.

New Black Panther leader Mikhail Muhammad announced the reward during a protest in Sanford Saturday. And when asked whether he was inciting violence, Muhammad replied defiantly: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

The bounty announcement came moments after members of the group called for the mobilization of 10,000 black men to capture Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon in a gated Sanford community on Feb. 26.

Muhammad said members of his group would search for Zimmerman themselves in Maitland, where the 28-year old worked before the shooting, employees there told The Orlando Sentinel. He declined to say when the group would begin their search.

Sanford city officials issued a statement late Saturday, condemning the group's appeal and asking citizens to leave all arrests to the police. The statement was sanctioned by Sanford Police Captain Robert O'Connor, one of two Captains now leading the department in the wake of Police Chief Bill Lee's temporary suspension.

"The City is requesting calm heads and no vigilante justice," the statement said. "Attempts by civilians to take any person into custody may result in criminal charges or unnecessary violence."

Former Orange-Osceola County prosecutor Esther Whitehead said the Panthers' bounty opens them up to civil and possibly criminal liability.

"I can't see how anyone can go out and take action as a private citizen without some government action like the issuance of a warrant," she said. "It doesn't make sense. It doesn't sound reasonable."

The New Black Panthers were in Sanford Saturday for the group's third protest in the past two weeks over the fatal shooting of the Miami Gardens teen.

The group has consistently called for Zimmerman's arrest and threatened to find and detain him if police were not willing to do so. But group members didn't call for the mobilization of thousands until Saturday. Continued...