The Baltimore mother who publicly berated her son for rioting in a now-viral video said she did it because she doesn't want her only son to be "a Freddie Gray."

Toya Graham pulled her kid from a crowd of rioters, many of whom were teenagers that were setting fire to cars and throwing stones at police in Baltimore on Monday evening. As onlookers filmed, Graham angrily scolded and slapped her son, following him as he tried to walk away.

See also: Baltimore mom slaps and scolds rioting son in front of everyone

But Graham told CBS News in a partial interview released Tuesday that she mentally blocked out all of the cameras. Her focus was getting her message through to her son, she said.

"And he gave me eye contact. And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that — that's my only son and at the end of the day, I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray," Graham said. "Is he the perfect boy? No he's not, but he's mine."

She said she was shocked at the chaos that was unfolding, then even more so when she saw her son clad in a black hoodie and a mask among the rioters.

"Lo and behold, I turn around and I look into the crowd and my son is actually coming across the street with this hoodie on and a mask and at that point I just lost it," Graham told CBS News. "I was angry, I was shocked, because you never want to see your son out there doing that."

Graham, a single mother of six children, has a reputation for being a no-nonsense mother, she told the network, and when her son saw her walking towards him, he knew what he had coming.

"He knew he was in trouble," said Graham. "He said when 'I seen you,' he said, 'ma, my instinct was to run.'"

As the video began to gain traction online, comments supportive of Graham began to flood her son's Facebook page.

"Friends and everybody making comments and saying you know, you shouldn't be mad at your mother, you should give her a hug," Graham said. "And by him seeing everything what's going on I just hope, I'm not sure, but I hope that he understands the seriousness of what was going on last night."

Earlier on Monday evening, Baltimore police called on parents through Twitter to find and bring home their children, many of whom collectively initiated the chaos as part of a so-called "purge."

The violence erupted after Gray's funeral on Monday, when crowds began assaulting police, torching cars and looting storefronts in the streets of Baltimore. Police in riot gear responded with mace and warnings of tear gas. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the rioters "thugs" and set a curfew for the rest of the week.

The network will air more interview with Graham on Wednesday's "CBS This Morning."

Watch the original video below:

This post has ben updated to include a longer video of the interview with Graham.