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CNN Live At Daybreak
What's on Tap for D.C. Today?
Aired October 08, 2002 - 06:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The search for that sniper is one of many big stories our Washington correspondents are staying on top of today.
Our Washington bureau morning producer, Paul Courson, joins us live with more of what's on tap.
Good morning -- Paul. First of all, tell me how you're covering the shootings there in Washington.
PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU MORNING PRODUCER: Well, you know, when you look at the local television stations around the Washington area this morning, Carol, it's kind of peculiar. The lower crawl, you know, at the bottom of your television screen has what looks like school closings for a snow day, you know, the weather that turns bad or something.
The strategies at many of the schools is to cancel outdoor activities for the day and to have what are called protective lockdowns, where they might have a bus unload one at a time and with people looking out around to make sure there is security in place. And then, other schools are going to be opening, but again, as you mentioned a moment ago, parents should bring their kids to school and such like that.
Last night, yesterday evening, there was a search conducted near the middle school in Bowie, Maryland, where one of the shootings has taken place. They had a news conference shortly afterward, and we thought perhaps they'd announce something that might have turned up in that search near the school, but we didn't hear anything. So, the news conferences this morning may have some detail on the searches that took place.
Supposedly, one of the specially-trained police dogs may have turned positive on either a gun casing or some sort of gun power that might have been found in some woods near the middle school.
One of our crew camera people lives very near the school. As a matter of fact, he went to school there as a kid. And he tells us that there is a park nearby from which somebody might park their car and walk through a bike path and through the woods and conceivably take up a position that's near the school to squeeze off a round. I mean, so that's why the woods were being searched yesterday -- Carol.
It's just incredible, Paul, the planning that must have gone into this by the sniper, because you know, the there was an increased police presence already, people were on alert, schools were in a lockdown situation, and yet, this guy figures out a time to successfully shoot another person.
COURSON: Well, yesterday, the news conference that you had a sound byte from, from the police chief in Montgomery County, Charles Moose, he was flanked by the jurisdictional police from Maryland State Police, Prince George's County, ATF. I have covered news in Washington for about 20 years, and I can't remember the last time we had such a multi-jurisdictional response to a shooting incident or a series of shooting incidents. And it certainly shows the determination in law enforcement to catch this person or people responsible as soon as they can.
COSTELLO: And we hope they do that soon.
On another subject, Louie Freeh is testifying before Congress today. Can you tell us more about that?
COURSON: This is part of the continuing series of joint 9/11 investigation hearings, Carol. And of course, Louie Freeh was on duty at the time a lot of the al Qaeda planning must have been taking place. He has not testified publicly since he left the FBI.
His successor, of course, Robert Mueller, came to the job very shortly before the 9/11 attacks, and was called upon to really get up- to-speed fast as to what law enforcement had developed about the al Qaeda and other terrorist activity, perhaps even stateside.
So, I'm sure that former Director Freeh will be questioned fairly intensely today as to what he knew, what clues might have been missed, and what could have been done to interdict the terrorist activity that may have been here in the states already ahead of the attacks on the United States.
COSTELLO: Understand. Paul Courson, thank you. We'll check back with you tomorrow to see what's on tap for our Washington bureau.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 8, 2002 - 06:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The search for that sniper is one of many big stories our Washington correspondents are staying on top of today.
Our Washington bureau morning producer, Paul Courson, joins us live with more of what's on tap.
Good morning -- Paul. First of all, tell me how you're covering the shootings there in Washington.
PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU MORNING PRODUCER: Well, you know, when you look at the local television stations around the Washington area this morning, Carol, it's kind of peculiar. The lower crawl, you know, at the bottom of your television screen has what looks like school closings for a snow day, you know, the weather that turns bad or something.
The strategies at many of the schools is to cancel outdoor activities for the day and to have what are called protective lockdowns, where they might have a bus unload one at a time and with people looking out around to make sure there is security in place. And then, other schools are going to be opening, but again, as you mentioned a moment ago, parents should bring their kids to school and such like that.
Last night, yesterday evening, there was a search conducted near the middle school in Bowie, Maryland, where one of the shootings has taken place. They had a news conference shortly afterward, and we thought perhaps they'd announce something that might have turned up in that search near the school, but we didn't hear anything. So, the news conferences this morning may have some detail on the searches that took place.
Supposedly, one of the specially-trained police dogs may have turned positive on either a gun casing or some sort of gun power that might have been found in some woods near the middle school.
One of our crew camera people lives very near the school. As a matter of fact, he went to school there as a kid. And he tells us that there is a park nearby from which somebody might park their car and walk through a bike path and through the woods and conceivably take up a position that's near the school to squeeze off a round. I mean, so that's why the woods were being searched yesterday -- Carol.
It's just incredible, Paul, the planning that must have gone into this by the sniper, because you know, the there was an increased police presence already, people were on alert, schools were in a lockdown situation, and yet, this guy figures out a time to successfully shoot another person.
COURSON: Well, yesterday, the news conference that you had a sound byte from, from the police chief in Montgomery County, Charles Moose, he was flanked by the jurisdictional police from Maryland State Police, Prince George's County, ATF. I have covered news in Washington for about 20 years, and I can't remember the last time we had such a multi-jurisdictional response to a shooting incident or a series of shooting incidents. And it certainly shows the determination in law enforcement to catch this person or people responsible as soon as they can.
COSTELLO: And we hope they do that soon.
On another subject, Louie Freeh is testifying before Congress today. Can you tell us more about that?
COURSON: This is part of the continuing series of joint 9/11 investigation hearings, Carol. And of course, Louie Freeh was on duty at the time a lot of the al Qaeda planning must have been taking place. He has not testified publicly since he left the FBI.
His successor, of course, Robert Mueller, came to the job very shortly before the 9/11 attacks, and was called upon to really get up- to-speed fast as to what law enforcement had developed about the al Qaeda and other terrorist activity, perhaps even stateside.
So, I'm sure that former Director Freeh will be questioned fairly intensely today as to what he knew, what clues might have been missed, and what could have been done to interdict the terrorist activity that may have been here in the states already ahead of the attacks on the United States.
COSTELLO: Understand. Paul Courson, thank you. We'll check back with you tomorrow to see what's on tap for our Washington bureau.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
