Neighbourhood watch volunteer charged with Trayvon murder

A neighbourhood watch volunteer was charged tonight with second-degree murder over the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

The charge against George Zimmerman, 28, was announced by special prosecutor Angela Corey at a news conference in Jacksonville. She said he was being held in custody in Florida but would not say where for his safety. He will be in court within 24 hours.

Mrs Corey said that authorities did not come to the decision lightly, nor was it based on public pressure.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Second-degree murder is typically charged when there is a fight or other confrontation that results in death and where there is no premeditated plan to kill someone.

Zimmerman's arrest had been delayed because of Florida's so-called stand your ground law, which allows people to claim self-defence in a killing and other altercations.

The lack of an arrest had sparked outrage and rallies for justice in the Orlando suburb and across the US.

Zimmerman's shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon on February 26 brought demands from black leaders for his arrest and set off a furious nationwide debate over race and self-defense that reached all the way to the White House.

Zimmerman, from Sanford, Florida, whose father is white and mother Hispanic, said the teenager attacked him. Trayvon's family said Zimmerman was the aggressor.

Zimmerman's lawyers announced earlier that they were withdrawing from the case because they had not heard from him since Sunday and did not know where he was.

"He is largely alone. You might even say he is emotionally crippled by virtue of the pressure of this case," said one of the lawyers, Hal Uhrig.

The case has drawn the interest of the highest levels of Barack Obama's administration, with the Justice Department's civil rights division opening its own investigation.

Tensions have risen in recent days in Sanford. Someone shot at an unoccupied police car yesterday as it sat outside the neighborhood where Trayvon was killed. And a demonstration by college students closed the town's police station on Monday.

Six weeks ago, Trayvon was returning to the home of his father's fiancee from a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him. Zimmerman told police he looked suspicious. At some point the two got into a fight and Zimmerman used his gun.

Zimmerman told police Trayvon attacked him after he had given up chasing the teenager and was returning to his truck. He told detectives that Trayvon knocked him to the ground and began slamming his head on the pavement. Zimmerman's father said that Trayvon threatened to kill his son and that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose.

A video taken about 40 minutes after the shooting as Zimmerman arrived at Sanford police station showed him walking unassisted without difficulty. There were no plainly visible bandages or blood on his clothing, but Zimmerman may have had a small wound on the back of his head.

The shooting ignited resentment towards the police department, and Police Chief Bill Lee temporarily stepped down.

Civil rights groups and others have held rallies around the country, saying the shooting was unjustified. Many of the protesters wore the same type of hooded sweatshirt that Martin had on that day, suggesting his appearance and race had something to do with his killing.

President Obama urged Americans to "do some soul-searching".

"If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," he said.