UPDATE: 11:15 p.m. According to the Miami New Times, the Sanford Police Department issued a statement, saying that there is no evidence of neo-Nazis in the area.

Since the Trayvon Martin story has received national attention, Sanford, Fla. has gone from a virtually unknown city to the center of the spotlight. Now, a group of neo-Nazis are patrolling the area, saying they are "prepared" for violence in case a race riot ensues, the Miami New Times reports.

The Detroit-based group said they are not advocating violence, but instead are responding to white residents' fear of a race riot.

"Whenever there is one of these racially charged events, Al Sharpton goes wherever blacks need him," Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement told the news outlet. "We do similar things. We are a white civil rights organization."

Schoep said that measures by groups like the New Black Panther Party, who offered a $10,000 bounty for the "capture" of George Zimmerman, are a sign of the "possibility of further racial violence."

"We don't wish for things like that," he said. "But there have been race riots in Detroit and L.A., so we know those types of things happen."

Schoep said the group's purpose is to show solidarity with the local white community, not to take sides in the case.

"That's for the courts to decide."