ROANOKE, Va. – Michael Brown is wanted for murder and considered armed and dangerous.
Local, state and federal agencies, often heavily armed, have been searching for him for 13 days.
While they want to arrest him, Amy Martin and other members of the “We Support Justice For Michael Brown” Facebook group hope he keeps up his life on the run.
"I feel like he’s already been convicted. He’s being publicly tried and convicted by a lot of people and we don’t know both sides of his story,” Martin said.
The Facebook group was created Sunday and had more than 365 members by Thursday evening.
Stories on the 10 News Facebook page have gotten hundreds of reactions from viewers, some even showing their support as well, including “love it when training shows up. Semper Fi"; “Keep changing your number covey. We got your six Marine"; and “keep going Michael. Prayers with ya!”
“If I saw him, I wouldn’t turn him in,” Martin said.
In a statement, the creator of the Facebook group said the group was created to encourage Brown to stay safe and to let him know people want to hear his side of the story.
“I think you should expect support for anyone on the lam for very long," Virginia Tech sociologist Dr. Neal King said.
According to King, Brown being portrayed as someone people can sympathize with and the 'instant celebrity’ status of suspects in cases like this are reasons why Brown is getting so much support.
“We are all moths to the flame of celebrity,” King said.
Helping a wanted person is a crime, punishable by a fine and jail time, and something U.S. Marshals take very seriously.
“Mr. Brown is a fugitive, should be well known to those that may come across him (and) may have that type of interaction with him. So I would caution anyone not to be doing that,” said U.S. Marshal Brad Sellers.
Despite the marshals’ warning, King said Brown’s support will likely grow the longer he’s on the run.
As of Thursday, a $10,000 reward was still being offered for information leading to Brown’s arrest.