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Toya Graham has become something of an Internet sensation after video of the Baltimore mother serving the fade to her masked teenage son during the so-called Baltimore Uprising. Hailed as both a heel and a hero, Graham explained that she displayed the passion of the fists because she doesn’t want her son to become a victim of a senseless death like Freddie Gray.

Graham sat exclusively with CBS News This Morning and shared what moved her to such measures on Monday (April 27) to unleash the barrage of punches on her 16-year-old son. A single mother of six, Graham says that the boy is her only son and that she “lost it” when she recognized amongst the crowd of teenagers warring with police at Mondawmin Mall. CBS News hosts asked Graham if she felt like a hero and what were her intentions.

“I don’t [feel like a hero],” said Graham. “My intentions were to get my son and have him be safe. And at that point, I knew that whole scene was not safe. It wasn’t safe at all.”

Graham’s actions on Monday, which was captured by local ABC affiliate WMAR, sparked the hashtag “#MomOfTheYear” and a barrage of criticism. However, Graham isn’t taking back her actions and said she was reacting only as a mother at the time who was worried about her child.

“That’s my only son and at the end of the day I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray,” she said. “I was angry. I was shocked, because you never want to see your child out there doing that.”

Hard to argue with that angle.

Watch Toya Graham’s interview with CBS News This Morning.

Photo: CBS News