Trayvon Witness Questions Self-Defense Claim

By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: March 28, 2012 at 10:52 PM

Cheryl Brown (MSNBC)

Cheryl Brown, the mother of a 13-year-old witness to the shooting of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood-watch captain George Zimmerman, told host Al Sharpton of MSNBC's PoliticsNation on Wednesday night that police waited five days before seeking to question her son. They then told her they didn't believe the shooting was in self-defense.

Asked whether her son, who called 911 at the time of the incident, believed that Zimmerman shot Martin in self-defense, Brown said firmly, "Not at all."

She also had some eyebrow-raising things to say about what she asserts the lead investigator said about Zimmerman's self-defense claim, as well as about "stereotyping."

As reported earlier on The Root, the lead homicide investigator in Trayvon's shooting recommended that Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter the night of the shooting.

Watch the clip here, courtesy of MSNBC:

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(Msnbc.com did not name the boy because he is a minor, and the network notes that Sharpton has been active in protests and petitions seeking to have Zimmerman arrested.)

Read more at MSNBC.

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