Zimmerman Lawyer: The Shooting has Nothing to do with Race

Sanford, Florida (CNN) -- Hours after President Barack Obama said the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American teen in Florida requires national "soul searching," a lawyer for the man at the center of an investigation said the shooting had nothing to do with race.

"I asked him, 'Are you a racist? Do you have anything against black people?' and he said 'No'," George Zimmerman's legal adviser Craig Sonner told CNN.

Sonner said Zimmerman and his wife served as mentors to two teenage children of an African-American woman. Though funding was cut for the program, the couple continued their efforts on their own, taking the 13-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy on outings to a mall, a science center and a basketball game. They also helped in a fundraiser for an African-American church, the lawyer said.

"I do not believe that's the indication of a person who's a racist," Sonner said. "I don't see anything that indicates to me that he's a racist." Read More