Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Look at Fear Factor in D.C. Area

Aired October 15, 2002 - 11:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, we want to talk more about the fear factor and how life has changed over the last 12 days here in the Washington D.C. area. And for that, I'm joined by Bruce Leshan, he is with our affiliate WUSA right here in Washington, D.C.
Hello to you.

BRUCE LESHAN, WUSA: How are you, Daryn?

KAGAN: You've been working this story from two angles, one as a reporter, of course, and the other as a parent.

LESHAN: Absolutely. And I mean, as a reporter -- I probably should start with the parent -- but as a reporter I've been told by, I don't know how many police officers, to be careful right where we're standing, not to go stand out in an exposed kind of area. There is a sense that the sniper is watching TV and paying attention to what people are concerned about, and there is the potential, several officers have told me, several detectives, that he could try and hit where we're standing at police headquarters. And they've put up security fences around here and so forth, in an effort to kind of keep people safe.

KAGAN: Well, before people get too concerned about that, and I think my mom's watching...

LESHAN: And I'll warn everybody.

KAGAN: ... but, you know, we should say that this is Montgomery County and that is where the most amount of killings have taken place. And I think we all have done what is just going to be natural, and you look around and see if there is any kind of really wooded areas that someone could conceal themselves. But there is a lot of activity, and we're here to do the job, and...

LESHAN: They've secured the area.

KAGAN: Yes.

LESHAN: And then -- and as far as my children, as you say, my son, Noah, I have a 6 1/2-year-old. And he always used to stand on the street corner and take the bus. Well, I'm telling you, there is nobody at the bus stop anymore. I mean, people just don't do that. And my wife drives him directly to school. And she doesn't just take him to school, she goes inside with him. And then I take my daughter, who is 3 1/2, Emma, to day care, and we go to the door, and you have to press the doorbell. The day care is secured. And you take her in, and every time you do that, you kind of get this churning in your gut. I mean, that's not supposed to be what a day care is about. It's supposed to be a safe, comfortable, friendly environment for kids.

KAGAN: Or school as we saw with the shooting at Benjamin Tasker, you had the boy's aunt taking him to school and still the sniper was able to get at him. As a parent, that just -- there's only so much you can do to protect your child and it just has to be frustrating.

LESHAN: Yes. I went down to Maryland's Eastern Shore.

KAGAN: This weekend, you took...

LESHAN: This past weekend, I, you know, I've been working 17 hours a day for some time, and I said, I just need a couple of days to kind of decompress, let my children decompress, let my wife decompress. So we went down to Ocean City and out along some of the national seashore there and so forth. And I don't know how many people came up to me in the course of that and said, you know, aren't you happy to be here. Isn't it nice to be able to go to the gas station and not have to worry about somebody taking a shot at you. And I mean the place was just packed even on a fall weekend because people are afraid to be here in Washington.

KAGAN: They want to be out of town. Let me ask you this. As you were coming back into town, did you make a point to gas up far away so that you didn't have to do it when you got back in town?

LESHAN: We talked about that a lot, and we did. We gassed up on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, before we came across.

KAGAN: Let me ask you just one quick question about today's shooting, and that is that it takes place in yet another county, Fairfax County, inside the Beltway, closer into Washington, D.C. It extends the jurisdictions in terms of the police that are involved. Also extends, I think, the fear factor because people are seeing it can happen in their county as well.

LESHAN: Absolutely. I mean, Fairfax County is actually the biggest jurisdiction in the Washington area. Washington, D.C., isn't necessarily the biggest jurisdiction. There are more police officers, more school children, more everything in Fairfax, and the latest shooting taking place there at a Home Depot extends kind of the normal everyday things that people want to do. You can't go to the hardware store anymore.

KAGAN: Bruce Leshan, WUSA, thanks for taking time out. I know you're busy working for your own station. I appreciate it. And one thing you might want to know, they told me in my ear as we were talking, the news conference set to begin at noon, now 1 p.m. Eastern time, it's been delayed an hour.

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 15, 2002 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, we want to talk more about the fear factor and how life has changed over the last 12 days here in the Washington D.C. area. And for that, I'm joined by Bruce Leshan, he is with our affiliate WUSA right here in Washington, D.C.
Hello to you.

BRUCE LESHAN, WUSA: How are you, Daryn?

KAGAN: You've been working this story from two angles, one as a reporter, of course, and the other as a parent.

LESHAN: Absolutely. And I mean, as a reporter -- I probably should start with the parent -- but as a reporter I've been told by, I don't know how many police officers, to be careful right where we're standing, not to go stand out in an exposed kind of area. There is a sense that the sniper is watching TV and paying attention to what people are concerned about, and there is the potential, several officers have told me, several detectives, that he could try and hit where we're standing at police headquarters. And they've put up security fences around here and so forth, in an effort to kind of keep people safe.

KAGAN: Well, before people get too concerned about that, and I think my mom's watching...

LESHAN: And I'll warn everybody.

KAGAN: ... but, you know, we should say that this is Montgomery County and that is where the most amount of killings have taken place. And I think we all have done what is just going to be natural, and you look around and see if there is any kind of really wooded areas that someone could conceal themselves. But there is a lot of activity, and we're here to do the job, and...

LESHAN: They've secured the area.

KAGAN: Yes.

LESHAN: And then -- and as far as my children, as you say, my son, Noah, I have a 6 1/2-year-old. And he always used to stand on the street corner and take the bus. Well, I'm telling you, there is nobody at the bus stop anymore. I mean, people just don't do that. And my wife drives him directly to school. And she doesn't just take him to school, she goes inside with him. And then I take my daughter, who is 3 1/2, Emma, to day care, and we go to the door, and you have to press the doorbell. The day care is secured. And you take her in, and every time you do that, you kind of get this churning in your gut. I mean, that's not supposed to be what a day care is about. It's supposed to be a safe, comfortable, friendly environment for kids.

KAGAN: Or school as we saw with the shooting at Benjamin Tasker, you had the boy's aunt taking him to school and still the sniper was able to get at him. As a parent, that just -- there's only so much you can do to protect your child and it just has to be frustrating.

LESHAN: Yes. I went down to Maryland's Eastern Shore.

KAGAN: This weekend, you took...

LESHAN: This past weekend, I, you know, I've been working 17 hours a day for some time, and I said, I just need a couple of days to kind of decompress, let my children decompress, let my wife decompress. So we went down to Ocean City and out along some of the national seashore there and so forth. And I don't know how many people came up to me in the course of that and said, you know, aren't you happy to be here. Isn't it nice to be able to go to the gas station and not have to worry about somebody taking a shot at you. And I mean the place was just packed even on a fall weekend because people are afraid to be here in Washington.

KAGAN: They want to be out of town. Let me ask you this. As you were coming back into town, did you make a point to gas up far away so that you didn't have to do it when you got back in town?

LESHAN: We talked about that a lot, and we did. We gassed up on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, before we came across.

KAGAN: Let me ask you just one quick question about today's shooting, and that is that it takes place in yet another county, Fairfax County, inside the Beltway, closer into Washington, D.C. It extends the jurisdictions in terms of the police that are involved. Also extends, I think, the fear factor because people are seeing it can happen in their county as well.

LESHAN: Absolutely. I mean, Fairfax County is actually the biggest jurisdiction in the Washington area. Washington, D.C., isn't necessarily the biggest jurisdiction. There are more police officers, more school children, more everything in Fairfax, and the latest shooting taking place there at a Home Depot extends kind of the normal everyday things that people want to do. You can't go to the hardware store anymore.

KAGAN: Bruce Leshan, WUSA, thanks for taking time out. I know you're busy working for your own station. I appreciate it. And one thing you might want to know, they told me in my ear as we were talking, the news conference set to begin at noon, now 1 p.m. Eastern time, it's been delayed an hour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com