He claimed an hour passed before he knew the boy was dead.

Twice, Hannity asked Zimmerman to explain his behavior immediately afterward that caused one witness to tell investigators that the shooter seemed unfazed by what had just happened.

“I was scared, nervous,” Zimmerman said. “I thought the police were going to come, see me with a firearm, and shoot me. I was terrified.”

He did not directly respond to a question about whether he molested his cousin — a claim his cousin made to investigators shortly after the shooting, which became public this week. His only mention of the cousin was to remark that the only person to accuse him of being “remotely racist” is the same person “who claims I am deviant.”

He asserted that he had been cleared of race-related charges by the FBI, a point which appeared to be his own analysis of the lack of damaging evidence contained in FBI reports released last week.

Explaining that he was raised by his Peruvian mother and grandmother while his Caucasian dad was in the Army, he considers himself “a Hispanic American.” He believes civil rights leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton who accused him of being racist should apologize, like Zimmerman said he would if he had done something wrong.

O’Mara did not allow his client to respond to questions about whether he lied about money raised from supporters.

Hannity and Zimmerman added that no money exchanged hands for the interview. They talked about prior chats they had off camera, including one days before the arrest when Zimmerman was despondent, alone in a hotel with a gun. He had not spoken to his family in weeks.

Zimmerman said he was “sorry” that Trayvon’s parents had to bury their child.

“I love my children even though they aren’t born yet, and I am sorry that they buried their child,” Zimmerman said. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like, and I pray for them daily.”

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder after a nationwide public outcry over racial profiling and the perception that Zimmerman received special treatment by the police department that investigated him.

The interview was an apparent attempt to stem a recent tide of negative publicity in the case.

“I am not a racist,” Zimmerman told Hannity. “I am not a murderer.”