seriously psychologically damaged by former muggings and in his mind, young blacks are the stereotypical muggers. i m firmly convinced if those four boys had been white, he would not assume they tried to mug him until they tried to mug him. reporter: goetz confessed to shooting the teens and confessed to shooting one of them again, saying he told the teen, you seem to be doing all right. here was another. if i was a monster i don t deny it, but i wasn t until several years ago in new york. reporter: goetz insisted he was acting in self-defense. if i had more bullets i would have shot them again and again and again. my problem was aran out of bullets. you can t understand. reporter: public opinion was mixed. i understand the motivation of the individual. there were times i felt like shooting somebody as well, but you re not supposed to take the law into your own hands. that s dangerous, too. actually, all he did was