Attorney: Zimmerman used ‘term of endearment’ before killing Trayvon Martin

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A friend of the self-appointed neighborhood watch leader who killed an unarmed black Florida teen says that reports that his pal uttered a racial slur before the slaying are simply wrong.

After reviewing a 911 call George Zimmerman made before gunning down Trayvon Martin, many believe they hear the shooter calling the 17-year-old a “fucking coon.”

But a friend of Zimmerman’s family told ABC on Sunday that people were jumping to the wrong conclusion.

“I spoke with my teenage daughter yesterday, and the word in question, it’s the difference between a ‘C’ and a ‘G’ from what I understand,” longtime friend Joe Oliver explained.

“And ‘goon’ is apparently a term of endearment in the high schools these days,” he added. “I don’t know of anyone younger than 40 who uses ‘coon’ as a racial epithet.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly attributed Oliver’s remarks to Zimmerman legal adviser Craig Sonner.

Watch this video from ABC’s Good Morning America, broadcast March 25, 2012.

(H/T: Think Progress)