Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

No D.C. Sniper Intimidation

Aired October 18, 2002 - 13:32   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: So we're talking about activities, organized activities, but also just everyday activities and needs that people need to tend to.
Our Bob Franken is in Falls Church, Virginia. He is very close by the Home Depot where the latest shooting took place on Monday night. He's talking with people and looking at this very story.

How do you decide whether to gas up or even go to the market -- Bob, hello .

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have to eat; you have to shop. What I've been told -- I did a very unscientific sample, but I asked any number of the people who run the stores here, including the one that's in back of me, how business had been. And it dropped off, is what we're told, after the shootings, as a matter of fact. There was a very, very much slower trickle of customers. But business is starting to pick up again. A lot of people are coming back to the stores -- not because they have to get their food, they have to get their pharmaceuticals, they have to gas up, as you pointed out.

But we can't ignore the fact that this has had an effect on the region and the way that people are thinking. Now one of the manifestations of this fear is that it's extremely difficult to get people to stop and talk to us. We've had to get used to the idea of rejection. But we were finally able to coerce one person right here to come and talk to us. Tell me your name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Tim (ph).

FRANKEN: Your name is Tim (ph) and you are shopping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm shopping. We went to PETsMART and to Subway.

FRANKEN: Tell me how you feel about it. It's obviously not intimidating?

UNIDENTFIED MALE: No, it's not. I think it's better that we go on with the way things are and do what we need to do. I don't think he's going to come back to the same area anyway, a second time. So we just do what we need to do, get on with our stuff.

FRANKEN: Have you changed the way that you walk, the way that you do things, how you think? UNIDENTFIED MALE: I think, at times, I'm a little more cautious when I'm walking in the open. But, for the most part, no. It's just the normal stuff. And we've still got to shop.

FRANKEN: So if it's a question some people would say is a question of intimidation, you're just not going to be?

UNIDENTFIED MALE: Probably not. I'm not scared. Nothing I can do about it any-way, I don't think.

FRANKEN: I think that's an inevitable attitude.

Thank you very much, Tim (ph).

An inevitable attitude -- people are going to have to come to the realization they do need to do some of the mundane, everyday types of things, Daryn, which we pointed out. But they are conscious, we're all conscious, of the fact that there is danger that lurks among us.

KAGAN: In places that we're not used to seeing it, Bob. I think that's where the scary part comes from. Even if the odds are still so small of being one of the sniper victims.

Bob Franken, in Falls Church, thank you very much.

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 18, 2002 - 13:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So we're talking about activities, organized activities, but also just everyday activities and needs that people need to tend to.
Our Bob Franken is in Falls Church, Virginia. He is very close by the Home Depot where the latest shooting took place on Monday night. He's talking with people and looking at this very story.

How do you decide whether to gas up or even go to the market -- Bob, hello .

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have to eat; you have to shop. What I've been told -- I did a very unscientific sample, but I asked any number of the people who run the stores here, including the one that's in back of me, how business had been. And it dropped off, is what we're told, after the shootings, as a matter of fact. There was a very, very much slower trickle of customers. But business is starting to pick up again. A lot of people are coming back to the stores -- not because they have to get their food, they have to get their pharmaceuticals, they have to gas up, as you pointed out.

But we can't ignore the fact that this has had an effect on the region and the way that people are thinking. Now one of the manifestations of this fear is that it's extremely difficult to get people to stop and talk to us. We've had to get used to the idea of rejection. But we were finally able to coerce one person right here to come and talk to us. Tell me your name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Tim (ph).

FRANKEN: Your name is Tim (ph) and you are shopping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm shopping. We went to PETsMART and to Subway.

FRANKEN: Tell me how you feel about it. It's obviously not intimidating?

UNIDENTFIED MALE: No, it's not. I think it's better that we go on with the way things are and do what we need to do. I don't think he's going to come back to the same area anyway, a second time. So we just do what we need to do, get on with our stuff.

FRANKEN: Have you changed the way that you walk, the way that you do things, how you think? UNIDENTFIED MALE: I think, at times, I'm a little more cautious when I'm walking in the open. But, for the most part, no. It's just the normal stuff. And we've still got to shop.

FRANKEN: So if it's a question some people would say is a question of intimidation, you're just not going to be?

UNIDENTFIED MALE: Probably not. I'm not scared. Nothing I can do about it any-way, I don't think.

FRANKEN: I think that's an inevitable attitude.

Thank you very much, Tim (ph).

An inevitable attitude -- people are going to have to come to the realization they do need to do some of the mundane, everyday types of things, Daryn, which we pointed out. But they are conscious, we're all conscious, of the fact that there is danger that lurks among us.

KAGAN: In places that we're not used to seeing it, Bob. I think that's where the scary part comes from. Even if the odds are still so small of being one of the sniper victims.

Bob Franken, in Falls Church, thank you very much.

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