Valerie Castile, the mother of a 32-year-old man shot by police in Falcon Heights, Minn. on Wednesday, told CNN that her son was "black in the wrong place."

Castile, who was interviewed alongside Philando's uncle, Clarence Castile, told CNN reporter Alisyn Camerota that she did not want to watch the video recorded by her son's fiancee, Diamond "Lavish" Reynolds. She preferred to remember him how he was at her house with his sister hours before he was pulled over and shot, she said.

Here's a short transcript from their interview:

CLARENCE: We hear about these things happening around the United States and the world, how people are harmed and abused by people that we're supposed to trust with our lives. People who are supposed to serve and protect us. And they tend to be our executioners and judges, and murderers.

VALERIE: I basically think these things are happening because there are no checks and balances in our justice system. A lot of our African American men, women, and children are being executed by the police and there are no consequences. In essence, it's becoming more and more repetitive.

Valerie told CNN that she and her children regularly talked about their concealed carry permits and that her daughter debated whether she should even carry her gun for fear police shooting first and asking questions later.


"We're being hunted every day. It's a silent war against African American people. ... We're never free," said Valerie.

Watch the full interview here.