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CNN Live At Daybreak
Fans' Cries for Help When Gunman Opens Fire in a Nightclub; Soldier's Simple Question Stirs Up Relationship Between Pentagon, Embedded Reporters
Aired December 10, 2004 - 06:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we've got many officers on the way, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. We...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, listen, we've got officers on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Fans' cries for help when a gunman opens fire in a nightclub.
A soldier's simple question stirs up the relationship between the Pentagon and embedded reporters.
And the government list of terror targets -- are all of the potential dangers covered?
It is Friday.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
Thank you for waking up with us.
Live from the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, U.S. Marines west of Baghdad found a large cache of weapons in a school and playground. The discovery in Ramadi included an assortment of automatic rifles, mortars and rockets. In that same province, a U.S. military was killed yesterday.
Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell heads to the Hague today. The trip is part of his good will tour through Europe. Powell is trying to mend fences ahead of President Bush's Europe trip, scheduled for February.
Jurors will be back for deliberations this morning in the penalty phase of the Scott Peterson trial. They deliberated for two hours yesterday following closing arguments.
And DaimlerChrysler has been asked to recall hundreds of thousands of Dodge trucks due to possible problems with the wheels falling off. The investigation involves Durango and Dakota trucks made between 2000 and 2003. We'll have more on this in our "Business Buzz" with Carrie Lee. That'll come your way in just a few minutes.
Rob Marciano in for Chad, who will be back on Wednesday, we understand.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, he will be back on -- I used to have myself a Durango. I got rid of it just in time, I guess.
COSTELLO: I guess so.
MARCIANO: No, they're just going to replace the wheels. It's going to be fine.
And Chad's going to be fine, as well. All things are going well at the Myers household and he'll be back on Wednesday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Police are still looking for answers in the nightclub shooting in Columbus, Ohio. Hundreds of mourners gathered at the scene to remember those killed just a day before. They turned the parking lot into a memorial for guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. He was the first person killed in the attack.
It was pretty chaotic as 25-year-old Nathan Gale shot into the crowd.
Let's listen to one of the 911 calls from the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911 emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the Alrosa Villa and there's a shooting. Someone is shooting the band on the stage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone's shooting the band on the stage?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the stage at the Alrosa Villa. And they just, they're screaming call 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, stay on the line with me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
Oh (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED), they're still shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Supplement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're still shooting. The person is still (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with the gun. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any description? Do you see who has the gun?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pardon? I can't see. There's a thousand people here and he's basically (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I'm serious. There's a thousand -- he's still got a gun and he's still back there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, there are two compelling angles to this story. One, the suspect's motive. What was it? Was he an obsessive fan or did he just snap? The other angle, the hero cop, who with one shot saved many lives.
Live to Columbus, Ohio now and Sherry Mercurio with the Columbus Police Department.
Good morning.
SHERRY MERCURIO, COLUMBUS POLICE SPOKESPERSON: Good morning.
COSTELLO: The suspect in this case, 25-year-old Nathan Gale, he's described as a lone, obsessed with music, especially Pantera's music. That's a band that "Dimebag" Darrell left.
What else do we know about the suspect?
MERCURIO: Well, we're still kind of in the process of determining who he was and why he was there that night. Obviously, we're talking to family, friends, if any of the band had heard about him, knew anything about him. This is all part of the process of trying to determine exactly what his motive was for being there.
COSTELLO: A concert goer is quoted as saying a friend of his heard the suspect shout, "Darrell, Darrell, you're the reason Pantera broke up! You ruined my life." And then he jumps on the stage and shoots Darrell Abbott.
Is that what you're finding?
MERCURIO: We're actually hearing a number of reports. Keep in mind we have a lot of witnesses. We probably talked to at least 250 people that night during all this chaos, just trying to take reports. So we're still putting together exactly what was said. The problem is that type of concert is extremely loud. So some people heard something said, some heard part of what was said. We're still trying to put together exactly what was said, if anything.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the police officer who saved the day by responding quickly, going in a back door, shooting the suspect dead with a shotgun.
How is he doing this morning?
MERCURIO: It's a very traumatic event. Although he saved probably numerous other lives by his actions and his response time, it's still extremely traumatic to walk into that type of situation and take that action and take somebody else's life. Even though he's an officer and we all see officers on TV playing roles where it doesn't affect them, this is extremely traumatic.
What he did was very heroic, but he's still a human being so he's in the process of trying to put together everything that happened himself. He's got a great support network. The media has been phenomenal with him. I think he'll be fine. I think right now he's just dealing with the enormity of what happened.
COSTELLO: Yes, we're looking at a picture of him now. He's only been on the police force for, what, five years?
MERCURIO: Just under five years, correct.
COSTELLO: Why did he decide to go into that nightclub alone without waiting for backup?
MERCURIO: That's your job. And officers are trained to respond. It's something in their psyche that tells them somebody needs help, I need to respond. He was in that area patrolling. He was the first one to get there in the back way. He was able to make his way up to the stage. He had a clear shot at seeing somebody already dead on the ground and then our suspect having somebody else in what I would term a chokehold on the side by his hip.
He had a clear shot. He saw the danger and he realized right then and there that if he didn't do something immediately, more were going to die. And he took a shot and was able to, again, save numerous lives.
COSTELLO: Well, our best to him.
Sherry Mercurio, live from Columbus, Ohio with the Columbus Police Department.
Ironically, Dime was just interviewed by "Guitar World" magazine. He was meant to be the only living artist featured in the March '05 issue, which pays tribute to guitarists who have passed away. We'll talk to "Guitar World" Editor-In-Chief Brad Tolinski in about 30 minutes on DAYBREAK.
In other news across America this morning, Ron Artest and three other Indiana Pacers' players pleaded their case to an independent arbitrator. The players union is seeking to have their brawl suspensions reduced. But the NBA argues that the arbitrator has no jurisdiction in the case and chose not to show up for yesterday's hearing.
Are gift card fees illegal? Former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes has filed suit against one retail giant over their gift card policies. Barnes says fees and expiration dates on cards from the Simon Property Group should be outlawed. Simon operates over 200 shopping malls all across the country.
The search will resume this morning for six crew members of a freighter found off the coast of Alaska. The six were lost two days ago when a Coast Guard helicopter crashed during a rescue operation. The freighter ran aground and broke apart. Thousands of gallons of fuel that spilled from a ship is threatening wildlife in the area. Officials say it could take months to clean up the spill.
Congressional Democrats are blasting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his answer to questions posed by soldiers in Kuwait. Senator Joe Biden calls those answers "an insult to their service and to our intelligence."
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has more on one controversial question.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As questions go, this one was loaded.
SPEC. THOMAS WILSON, 278TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM: Now why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to help armor our vehicles?
MCINTYRE: And Rumsfeld's answer was, as he himself might say, inelegant.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You know, you go to war with the army you have and not the army you might want.
MCINTYRE: That response was called "cruel and callous" by Senator Edward Kennedy, who claimed the exchange showed that frustration of the troops had finally boiled over and that they were "obviously fed up with Rumsfeld."
Now it turns out the question read by Specialist Thomas Wilson was planted by a newspaper reporter, according to his e-mail to the staff at the "Chattanooga Times Free Press," posted on the journalism Web site, Poynteronline. In the e-mail, military writer reporter Lee Pitt crows, "I just had one of my best days as a journalist." Pitt says that after learning only soldiers could ask questions, he brought two along as escorts. "Beforehand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld," he writes, and says, "I found the sergeant in charge and made sure he knew to get my guys."
The Pentagon says it's not investigating the incident and everyone from the president on down agrees it's a legitimate question.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I were a soldier overseas wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of defense the same question, and that is are we getting the best we can get us? And they deserve the best.
MCINTYRE: But the complaint that troops don't have the best has put the Pentagon on the defensive. And in an effort at damage control, it quickly arranged a video link for a three star general in Kuwait to brief reporters at the Pentagon. LT. GEN. STEVEN WHITCOMB, COMMANDER, 3RD U.S. ARMY: But we're not lacking at this point for our kits, our steel plating to fabricate the level three kits, or the personnel to apply those kits. Our goal and what we're working toward it that no wheeled vehicle that leaves Kuwait going into Iraq is driven by a soldier that does not have some level of armor protection on it.
MCINTYRE (on camera): The publisher and executive editor of the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" told CNN the question was legitimate and that he's supportive of how his reporter managed to get it asked.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And that reporter, Edward Lee Pitts, has no regrets about prompting those soldiers to ask tough questions. And his publisher, Tom Griscom, of the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" says in a message to readers this morning, and I'm quoting here: "In hindsight, information on how the question was framed should have been included in Thursday's story in the "Time Free Press." It was not. Mr. Pittsburgh used the tools available to him as a journalist to report on a story that has been and remains important to members of the 278th and those back home."
The largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, Halliburton, has now received more than $10 billion in work orders from the Army, including orders for meals, housing, laundry and other services.
And one journalist who knows the region very well is CNN's own Jane Arraf. Today, she's out of the battlefield and in our studios to discuss the role and the risks of being an embedded reporter.
And what you need to know about a DaimlerChrysler recall. It's a huge one.
And this fascinating story, the tale of two Marys -- when the bible and that other book collide.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."
Two of the most popular vehicles on the road could be deadly. If you're driving a dangerous auto, what can you do to protect yourself and your family?
We're talking about the DaimlerChrysler huge recall.
Carrie Lee joins us live from the Nasdaq market site with more details -- Carrie, what's up with this?
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the U.S. government now is asking DaimlerChrysler to recall 600,000 of its popular four by fours. There'll be a recall covering the Dodge Durangos and the Dakota pickup trucks made in 2000, from 2003. And the action highlights a problem that was first uncovered over a year ago by CBS News. Owners started complaining then that the wheels of their trucks suddenly ripped off when driving.
Now, the problem is in the upper ball joints. That's a ball and socket arrangement attaching to the wheel. Premature wear of the joint can cause the wheels to fly off. So now, according to the government, a third of nearly two million vehicles investigated have defective upper ball joints.
So if you think you're in jeopardy, you should contact DaimlerChrysler immediately. He's a 1-800 number -- 800-992-1997. There's another number here you can see on the screen for recall information. Or you can go to dodge.com, chrysler.com or jeep.com. If you go online, go to the contact us link then click on "I need a recall," enter the last digits of your vehicle identification number.
So, Carol, a very important story for people if you're driving one of these vehicles.
A week check on the futures. Things looking modestly weak this morning. Techs solidly to the down side. That's what we could see at 9:30, anyway.
Pfizer one stock to watch today. The company's new pain killer drug Bextra is now going to carry a warning label about risk of cardiac and blood clotting problems. We knew about the risks. The label is new. That's the latest from here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site.
Thank you.
We're back with a conversation from Jane Arraf after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Few correspondents have been closer to our troops than CNN's Jane Arraf.
She's been our Baghdad bureau chief. She is our Baghdad bureau chief. And you usually see her on the front lines. Today she's in the States briefly and we thought it would be fascinating to have a conversation with her this morning -- good morning, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm fine.
How long have you been back?
ARRAF: Just a couple of days, not really long enough to absorb the fact that I'm back.
COSTELLO: Tell us how you get out of Baghdad. I mean, how do you fly out of Iraq?
ARRAF: Well, there are actually a number of ways these days. And the trickiest part is getting to the airport. There's that airport road and now Americans working there in an official capacity, and British citizens, are banned from traveling that road, it's considered so dangerous. We don't really have a choice so we continue to do it in armored vehicles.
Then once you get to the airport, there are quite a few ways to get out. Iraqi Airways is flying again. Royal Jordanian is flying. And there are a number of different destinations you can go to. Most of the military people, of course, all the military people take military flights or convoys. But getting out isn't as simple as it seems, but once you're at the airport, you're pretty well home free.
COSTELLO: It's pretty well just being like at a typical airport, which is kind of hard to believe.
ARRAF: Well, it's got a duty-free shop. It's got a transit lounge. A lot of flight delays, because occasionally they do have threats of missiles being fired at the planes, which you don't normally get in most airports. But apart from that it seems pretty normal.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
You were embedded with soldiers fighting insurgents in Falluja and we know it's dangerous there and we know they're good fighters.
But how do they deal with what they must do?
ARRAF: It is extraordinary the way that they can get people to do this. They have a very strong sense of mission, Carol. And a lot of these are really young guys. They're mostly men. Some of them are 19 years old, 20 years old. And they come and whether they believe or whether they even think about the reasons for the war or not, they're very focused on what they're doing. And a lot of the reason they're focused is they feel they have to protect their buddies out there.
Falluja, they were told, was going to be the toughest battle they had ever seen in their lives, and it was. Soldiers and Marines died in it and they knew going in that not everyone would come back from it. And they deal with it in a way of, that they deal with life every day in Iraq, staying extremely focused on what they're doing. Very difficult.
COSTELLO: Jane, as a woman and being embedded with mostly male troops, how did that work out?
ARRAF: Very interesting. They bent over backwards in most cases to make accommodations for me and my producer, who is a woman, as well. For instance, they declared specific shower hours in their shower trailers, which are obviously all male. And they posted -- when we were with the Marines they posted a guard outside the shower so that nobody would come in.
You know, one of the really good things was a lot of the soldiers and Marines would come up to us and say, and treat us sort of like their sisters. They haven't been able to really speak to civilians and to women in quite a long time and they just wanted to have sort of normal conversations with people who weren't soldiers. That's always really nice.
COSTELLO: OK, a last question for you, because I know you're going to go back to Baghdad.
Why do you do that? Because you live there most of the time and it's a dangerous place, of course. But there can't be that much to do, either.
ARRAF: It is endlessly fascinating, Carol, endlessly important, and I am waiting and hoping for the day it's going to get better and I can go out of that hotel again and walk down the streets and see my Iraqi friends and see that amazing city come back to life. And I still insist on believing in my heart that it is going to come back, that things are going to improve. And that's why I stay.
COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so.
Nice talking to you.
ARRAF: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane Arraf live from Atlanta today.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, the two women, both featured prominently in biblical verses, now their relationships with Jesus are sparking a new debate. I'll talk to the producer behind a new CNN documentary on the subject of the two Marys.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Startling is one way to describe it. It's about time is another.
CNN presents "THE TWO MARYS" this weekend. It explores the two women closest to Jesus Christ -- his mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. If you thought "The Da Vinci Code" was compelling, wait until you see this documentary. It's narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
Here's a glimpse.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SIGOURNEY WEAVER, NARRATOR, "THE TWO MARYS" (voice-over): Mary Magdalene has become a media star, the linchpin character of a mega selling novel says she wasn't just Jesus' apostle, but his wife and the mother of his children.
PROF. AMY JILL LEVINE, VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL: "The Da Vinci Code" is appropriately shelved in books labeled fiction. REV. GERALD O'COLLINS, S.J., PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY: Have I read it? I would give it prize one for historical misinformation.
WEAVER: Those reviews haven't stopped new Magdalene fans from thronging to places like London's Temple Church. According to the novel, this was home base to the Knights Templar, who fought crusades to keep the truth about Mary Magdalene's marriage to Jesus a secret for centuries.
REV. ROBIN GRIFFITHS-JONES, TEMPLE CHURCH, LONDON: We must now have 50 visitors or more every day coming into the church and asking the verger on their entry, "Have you read the book?" The verger still naively assumes they mean the Bible, but of course they mean the other Bible, "The Da Vinci Code."
WEAVER: This change in perception among both scholars and the public that Mary Magdalene was a leader and not a sinner is nothing short of seismic, especially for Christian women, who filled the pews but not the pulpits, and who now want their due.
PROF. KAREN L. KING, HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL: Some people are very threatened by this, precisely because it may be that the results of this work are going to show that women were leaders in the early church. It's going to ask people, I think, to rethink some really fundamental things about Christian theology, life and practice. And that can certainly be threatening.
PROF. MARVIN MEYER, CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: One cannot alienate half of the human race and get away with it. That's not what spirituality is all about. These issues must be addressed, and they will have to be addressed if the church is going to survive.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: David Gibson is one of the co-writers and co-producers of "THE TWO MARYS."
He joins me live now.
You know, I think everybody in the whole world has read "The Da Vinci Code."
DAVID GIBSON, "CNN PRESENTS" CO-WRITER/PRODUCER: They really have. I think more than the gospels these days, which is one of those imbalances we want to correct a little bit.
COSTELLO: It's insane.
But who was Mary Magdalene? Was she a prostitute? Was she a follower? Was she a disciple?
GIBSON: Perhaps all of the above. That's what we really want to get into in this program. I mean "The Da Vinci Code" has been such a huge phenomenon and while it is a novel, there are -- people have to -- don't always realize that it's fiction. And we want to get at really who Mary Magdalene was.
In many ways, Dan Brown, the author of "The Da Vinci Code," may not have done Mary Magdalene that many favors in turning...
COSTELLO: Why?
GIBSON: He, you know, he turned her -- I don't want to -- it's a plot spoiler, but he kind of turned her into Mrs. Jesus, the wife of Jesus Christ, which there isn't a lot of historical evidence for. And really, you know, for all these centuries we've seen Mary Magdalene as this kind of hooker with a heart of gold, you know, this kind of reformed prostitute, which also has no basis in history.
In reality, she was -- the gospels call her a woman of independent resources who helped bankroll Jesus' ministry. So who is she as a woman on her own, standing on her own?
COSTELLO: Interesting.
You also get into the Virgin Mary. And you find out some fascinating things about her.
GIBSON: Yes, very much. I mean, you know, again, for centuries what have we really thought of when we think of the Virgin Mary is this icon dressed in blue who appears with a crown on her head, a really, an object of wonderful devotion, but who was she as a real woman? People are fascinated by the reality of these figures we've taken for granted. Where were -- where's the dirt under her fingernails? And it's really remarkable her story -- a first century feminist or just a woman who went docilely along behind her son, who was the messiah?
COSTELLO: Oh, there's...
GIBSON: That's what we really want to look at.
COSTELLO: Wow! Fascinating.
David Gibson, thank you for joining us.
GIBSON: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: And this airs on Sunday, right?
GIBSON: Exactly. 8:00.
COSTELLO: We can't wait.
Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
"CNN PRESENTS," again, "THE TWO MARYS." It's definitely a must see. This compelling documentary narrated by Sigourney Weaver. Again, it airs on Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 December 10, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we've got many officers on the way, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. We...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, listen, we've got officers on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Fans' cries for help when a gunman opens fire in a nightclub.
A soldier's simple question stirs up the relationship between the Pentagon and embedded reporters.
And the government list of terror targets -- are all of the potential dangers covered?
It is Friday.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
Thank you for waking up with us.
Live from the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, U.S. Marines west of Baghdad found a large cache of weapons in a school and playground. The discovery in Ramadi included an assortment of automatic rifles, mortars and rockets. In that same province, a U.S. military was killed yesterday.
Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell heads to the Hague today. The trip is part of his good will tour through Europe. Powell is trying to mend fences ahead of President Bush's Europe trip, scheduled for February.
Jurors will be back for deliberations this morning in the penalty phase of the Scott Peterson trial. They deliberated for two hours yesterday following closing arguments.
And DaimlerChrysler has been asked to recall hundreds of thousands of Dodge trucks due to possible problems with the wheels falling off. The investigation involves Durango and Dakota trucks made between 2000 and 2003. We'll have more on this in our "Business Buzz" with Carrie Lee. That'll come your way in just a few minutes.
Rob Marciano in for Chad, who will be back on Wednesday, we understand.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, he will be back on -- I used to have myself a Durango. I got rid of it just in time, I guess.
COSTELLO: I guess so.
MARCIANO: No, they're just going to replace the wheels. It's going to be fine.
And Chad's going to be fine, as well. All things are going well at the Myers household and he'll be back on Wednesday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Police are still looking for answers in the nightclub shooting in Columbus, Ohio. Hundreds of mourners gathered at the scene to remember those killed just a day before. They turned the parking lot into a memorial for guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. He was the first person killed in the attack.
It was pretty chaotic as 25-year-old Nathan Gale shot into the crowd.
Let's listen to one of the 911 calls from the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911 emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the Alrosa Villa and there's a shooting. Someone is shooting the band on the stage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone's shooting the band on the stage?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the stage at the Alrosa Villa. And they just, they're screaming call 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, stay on the line with me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
Oh (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED), they're still shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Supplement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're still shooting. The person is still (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with the gun. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any description? Do you see who has the gun?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pardon? I can't see. There's a thousand people here and he's basically (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I'm serious. There's a thousand -- he's still got a gun and he's still back there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, there are two compelling angles to this story. One, the suspect's motive. What was it? Was he an obsessive fan or did he just snap? The other angle, the hero cop, who with one shot saved many lives.
Live to Columbus, Ohio now and Sherry Mercurio with the Columbus Police Department.
Good morning.
SHERRY MERCURIO, COLUMBUS POLICE SPOKESPERSON: Good morning.
COSTELLO: The suspect in this case, 25-year-old Nathan Gale, he's described as a lone, obsessed with music, especially Pantera's music. That's a band that "Dimebag" Darrell left.
What else do we know about the suspect?
MERCURIO: Well, we're still kind of in the process of determining who he was and why he was there that night. Obviously, we're talking to family, friends, if any of the band had heard about him, knew anything about him. This is all part of the process of trying to determine exactly what his motive was for being there.
COSTELLO: A concert goer is quoted as saying a friend of his heard the suspect shout, "Darrell, Darrell, you're the reason Pantera broke up! You ruined my life." And then he jumps on the stage and shoots Darrell Abbott.
Is that what you're finding?
MERCURIO: We're actually hearing a number of reports. Keep in mind we have a lot of witnesses. We probably talked to at least 250 people that night during all this chaos, just trying to take reports. So we're still putting together exactly what was said. The problem is that type of concert is extremely loud. So some people heard something said, some heard part of what was said. We're still trying to put together exactly what was said, if anything.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the police officer who saved the day by responding quickly, going in a back door, shooting the suspect dead with a shotgun.
How is he doing this morning?
MERCURIO: It's a very traumatic event. Although he saved probably numerous other lives by his actions and his response time, it's still extremely traumatic to walk into that type of situation and take that action and take somebody else's life. Even though he's an officer and we all see officers on TV playing roles where it doesn't affect them, this is extremely traumatic.
What he did was very heroic, but he's still a human being so he's in the process of trying to put together everything that happened himself. He's got a great support network. The media has been phenomenal with him. I think he'll be fine. I think right now he's just dealing with the enormity of what happened.
COSTELLO: Yes, we're looking at a picture of him now. He's only been on the police force for, what, five years?
MERCURIO: Just under five years, correct.
COSTELLO: Why did he decide to go into that nightclub alone without waiting for backup?
MERCURIO: That's your job. And officers are trained to respond. It's something in their psyche that tells them somebody needs help, I need to respond. He was in that area patrolling. He was the first one to get there in the back way. He was able to make his way up to the stage. He had a clear shot at seeing somebody already dead on the ground and then our suspect having somebody else in what I would term a chokehold on the side by his hip.
He had a clear shot. He saw the danger and he realized right then and there that if he didn't do something immediately, more were going to die. And he took a shot and was able to, again, save numerous lives.
COSTELLO: Well, our best to him.
Sherry Mercurio, live from Columbus, Ohio with the Columbus Police Department.
Ironically, Dime was just interviewed by "Guitar World" magazine. He was meant to be the only living artist featured in the March '05 issue, which pays tribute to guitarists who have passed away. We'll talk to "Guitar World" Editor-In-Chief Brad Tolinski in about 30 minutes on DAYBREAK.
In other news across America this morning, Ron Artest and three other Indiana Pacers' players pleaded their case to an independent arbitrator. The players union is seeking to have their brawl suspensions reduced. But the NBA argues that the arbitrator has no jurisdiction in the case and chose not to show up for yesterday's hearing.
Are gift card fees illegal? Former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes has filed suit against one retail giant over their gift card policies. Barnes says fees and expiration dates on cards from the Simon Property Group should be outlawed. Simon operates over 200 shopping malls all across the country.
The search will resume this morning for six crew members of a freighter found off the coast of Alaska. The six were lost two days ago when a Coast Guard helicopter crashed during a rescue operation. The freighter ran aground and broke apart. Thousands of gallons of fuel that spilled from a ship is threatening wildlife in the area. Officials say it could take months to clean up the spill.
Congressional Democrats are blasting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his answer to questions posed by soldiers in Kuwait. Senator Joe Biden calls those answers "an insult to their service and to our intelligence."
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has more on one controversial question.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As questions go, this one was loaded.
SPEC. THOMAS WILSON, 278TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM: Now why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to help armor our vehicles?
MCINTYRE: And Rumsfeld's answer was, as he himself might say, inelegant.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You know, you go to war with the army you have and not the army you might want.
MCINTYRE: That response was called "cruel and callous" by Senator Edward Kennedy, who claimed the exchange showed that frustration of the troops had finally boiled over and that they were "obviously fed up with Rumsfeld."
Now it turns out the question read by Specialist Thomas Wilson was planted by a newspaper reporter, according to his e-mail to the staff at the "Chattanooga Times Free Press," posted on the journalism Web site, Poynteronline. In the e-mail, military writer reporter Lee Pitt crows, "I just had one of my best days as a journalist." Pitt says that after learning only soldiers could ask questions, he brought two along as escorts. "Beforehand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld," he writes, and says, "I found the sergeant in charge and made sure he knew to get my guys."
The Pentagon says it's not investigating the incident and everyone from the president on down agrees it's a legitimate question.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I were a soldier overseas wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of defense the same question, and that is are we getting the best we can get us? And they deserve the best.
MCINTYRE: But the complaint that troops don't have the best has put the Pentagon on the defensive. And in an effort at damage control, it quickly arranged a video link for a three star general in Kuwait to brief reporters at the Pentagon. LT. GEN. STEVEN WHITCOMB, COMMANDER, 3RD U.S. ARMY: But we're not lacking at this point for our kits, our steel plating to fabricate the level three kits, or the personnel to apply those kits. Our goal and what we're working toward it that no wheeled vehicle that leaves Kuwait going into Iraq is driven by a soldier that does not have some level of armor protection on it.
MCINTYRE (on camera): The publisher and executive editor of the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" told CNN the question was legitimate and that he's supportive of how his reporter managed to get it asked.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And that reporter, Edward Lee Pitts, has no regrets about prompting those soldiers to ask tough questions. And his publisher, Tom Griscom, of the "Chattanooga Times Free Press" says in a message to readers this morning, and I'm quoting here: "In hindsight, information on how the question was framed should have been included in Thursday's story in the "Time Free Press." It was not. Mr. Pittsburgh used the tools available to him as a journalist to report on a story that has been and remains important to members of the 278th and those back home."
The largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, Halliburton, has now received more than $10 billion in work orders from the Army, including orders for meals, housing, laundry and other services.
And one journalist who knows the region very well is CNN's own Jane Arraf. Today, she's out of the battlefield and in our studios to discuss the role and the risks of being an embedded reporter.
And what you need to know about a DaimlerChrysler recall. It's a huge one.
And this fascinating story, the tale of two Marys -- when the bible and that other book collide.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."
Two of the most popular vehicles on the road could be deadly. If you're driving a dangerous auto, what can you do to protect yourself and your family?
We're talking about the DaimlerChrysler huge recall.
Carrie Lee joins us live from the Nasdaq market site with more details -- Carrie, what's up with this?
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the U.S. government now is asking DaimlerChrysler to recall 600,000 of its popular four by fours. There'll be a recall covering the Dodge Durangos and the Dakota pickup trucks made in 2000, from 2003. And the action highlights a problem that was first uncovered over a year ago by CBS News. Owners started complaining then that the wheels of their trucks suddenly ripped off when driving.
Now, the problem is in the upper ball joints. That's a ball and socket arrangement attaching to the wheel. Premature wear of the joint can cause the wheels to fly off. So now, according to the government, a third of nearly two million vehicles investigated have defective upper ball joints.
So if you think you're in jeopardy, you should contact DaimlerChrysler immediately. He's a 1-800 number -- 800-992-1997. There's another number here you can see on the screen for recall information. Or you can go to dodge.com, chrysler.com or jeep.com. If you go online, go to the contact us link then click on "I need a recall," enter the last digits of your vehicle identification number.
So, Carol, a very important story for people if you're driving one of these vehicles.
A week check on the futures. Things looking modestly weak this morning. Techs solidly to the down side. That's what we could see at 9:30, anyway.
Pfizer one stock to watch today. The company's new pain killer drug Bextra is now going to carry a warning label about risk of cardiac and blood clotting problems. We knew about the risks. The label is new. That's the latest from here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site.
Thank you.
We're back with a conversation from Jane Arraf after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Few correspondents have been closer to our troops than CNN's Jane Arraf.
She's been our Baghdad bureau chief. She is our Baghdad bureau chief. And you usually see her on the front lines. Today she's in the States briefly and we thought it would be fascinating to have a conversation with her this morning -- good morning, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm fine.
How long have you been back?
ARRAF: Just a couple of days, not really long enough to absorb the fact that I'm back.
COSTELLO: Tell us how you get out of Baghdad. I mean, how do you fly out of Iraq?
ARRAF: Well, there are actually a number of ways these days. And the trickiest part is getting to the airport. There's that airport road and now Americans working there in an official capacity, and British citizens, are banned from traveling that road, it's considered so dangerous. We don't really have a choice so we continue to do it in armored vehicles.
Then once you get to the airport, there are quite a few ways to get out. Iraqi Airways is flying again. Royal Jordanian is flying. And there are a number of different destinations you can go to. Most of the military people, of course, all the military people take military flights or convoys. But getting out isn't as simple as it seems, but once you're at the airport, you're pretty well home free.
COSTELLO: It's pretty well just being like at a typical airport, which is kind of hard to believe.
ARRAF: Well, it's got a duty-free shop. It's got a transit lounge. A lot of flight delays, because occasionally they do have threats of missiles being fired at the planes, which you don't normally get in most airports. But apart from that it seems pretty normal.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
You were embedded with soldiers fighting insurgents in Falluja and we know it's dangerous there and we know they're good fighters.
But how do they deal with what they must do?
ARRAF: It is extraordinary the way that they can get people to do this. They have a very strong sense of mission, Carol. And a lot of these are really young guys. They're mostly men. Some of them are 19 years old, 20 years old. And they come and whether they believe or whether they even think about the reasons for the war or not, they're very focused on what they're doing. And a lot of the reason they're focused is they feel they have to protect their buddies out there.
Falluja, they were told, was going to be the toughest battle they had ever seen in their lives, and it was. Soldiers and Marines died in it and they knew going in that not everyone would come back from it. And they deal with it in a way of, that they deal with life every day in Iraq, staying extremely focused on what they're doing. Very difficult.
COSTELLO: Jane, as a woman and being embedded with mostly male troops, how did that work out?
ARRAF: Very interesting. They bent over backwards in most cases to make accommodations for me and my producer, who is a woman, as well. For instance, they declared specific shower hours in their shower trailers, which are obviously all male. And they posted -- when we were with the Marines they posted a guard outside the shower so that nobody would come in.
You know, one of the really good things was a lot of the soldiers and Marines would come up to us and say, and treat us sort of like their sisters. They haven't been able to really speak to civilians and to women in quite a long time and they just wanted to have sort of normal conversations with people who weren't soldiers. That's always really nice.
COSTELLO: OK, a last question for you, because I know you're going to go back to Baghdad.
Why do you do that? Because you live there most of the time and it's a dangerous place, of course. But there can't be that much to do, either.
ARRAF: It is endlessly fascinating, Carol, endlessly important, and I am waiting and hoping for the day it's going to get better and I can go out of that hotel again and walk down the streets and see my Iraqi friends and see that amazing city come back to life. And I still insist on believing in my heart that it is going to come back, that things are going to improve. And that's why I stay.
COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so.
Nice talking to you.
ARRAF: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane Arraf live from Atlanta today.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, the two women, both featured prominently in biblical verses, now their relationships with Jesus are sparking a new debate. I'll talk to the producer behind a new CNN documentary on the subject of the two Marys.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Startling is one way to describe it. It's about time is another.
CNN presents "THE TWO MARYS" this weekend. It explores the two women closest to Jesus Christ -- his mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. If you thought "The Da Vinci Code" was compelling, wait until you see this documentary. It's narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
Here's a glimpse.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SIGOURNEY WEAVER, NARRATOR, "THE TWO MARYS" (voice-over): Mary Magdalene has become a media star, the linchpin character of a mega selling novel says she wasn't just Jesus' apostle, but his wife and the mother of his children.
PROF. AMY JILL LEVINE, VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL: "The Da Vinci Code" is appropriately shelved in books labeled fiction. REV. GERALD O'COLLINS, S.J., PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY: Have I read it? I would give it prize one for historical misinformation.
WEAVER: Those reviews haven't stopped new Magdalene fans from thronging to places like London's Temple Church. According to the novel, this was home base to the Knights Templar, who fought crusades to keep the truth about Mary Magdalene's marriage to Jesus a secret for centuries.
REV. ROBIN GRIFFITHS-JONES, TEMPLE CHURCH, LONDON: We must now have 50 visitors or more every day coming into the church and asking the verger on their entry, "Have you read the book?" The verger still naively assumes they mean the Bible, but of course they mean the other Bible, "The Da Vinci Code."
WEAVER: This change in perception among both scholars and the public that Mary Magdalene was a leader and not a sinner is nothing short of seismic, especially for Christian women, who filled the pews but not the pulpits, and who now want their due.
PROF. KAREN L. KING, HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL: Some people are very threatened by this, precisely because it may be that the results of this work are going to show that women were leaders in the early church. It's going to ask people, I think, to rethink some really fundamental things about Christian theology, life and practice. And that can certainly be threatening.
PROF. MARVIN MEYER, CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: One cannot alienate half of the human race and get away with it. That's not what spirituality is all about. These issues must be addressed, and they will have to be addressed if the church is going to survive.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: David Gibson is one of the co-writers and co-producers of "THE TWO MARYS."
He joins me live now.
You know, I think everybody in the whole world has read "The Da Vinci Code."
DAVID GIBSON, "CNN PRESENTS" CO-WRITER/PRODUCER: They really have. I think more than the gospels these days, which is one of those imbalances we want to correct a little bit.
COSTELLO: It's insane.
But who was Mary Magdalene? Was she a prostitute? Was she a follower? Was she a disciple?
GIBSON: Perhaps all of the above. That's what we really want to get into in this program. I mean "The Da Vinci Code" has been such a huge phenomenon and while it is a novel, there are -- people have to -- don't always realize that it's fiction. And we want to get at really who Mary Magdalene was.
In many ways, Dan Brown, the author of "The Da Vinci Code," may not have done Mary Magdalene that many favors in turning...
COSTELLO: Why?
GIBSON: He, you know, he turned her -- I don't want to -- it's a plot spoiler, but he kind of turned her into Mrs. Jesus, the wife of Jesus Christ, which there isn't a lot of historical evidence for. And really, you know, for all these centuries we've seen Mary Magdalene as this kind of hooker with a heart of gold, you know, this kind of reformed prostitute, which also has no basis in history.
In reality, she was -- the gospels call her a woman of independent resources who helped bankroll Jesus' ministry. So who is she as a woman on her own, standing on her own?
COSTELLO: Interesting.
You also get into the Virgin Mary. And you find out some fascinating things about her.
GIBSON: Yes, very much. I mean, you know, again, for centuries what have we really thought of when we think of the Virgin Mary is this icon dressed in blue who appears with a crown on her head, a really, an object of wonderful devotion, but who was she as a real woman? People are fascinated by the reality of these figures we've taken for granted. Where were -- where's the dirt under her fingernails? And it's really remarkable her story -- a first century feminist or just a woman who went docilely along behind her son, who was the messiah?
COSTELLO: Oh, there's...
GIBSON: That's what we really want to look at.
COSTELLO: Wow! Fascinating.
David Gibson, thank you for joining us.
GIBSON: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: And this airs on Sunday, right?
GIBSON: Exactly. 8:00.
COSTELLO: We can't wait.
Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
"CNN PRESENTS," again, "THE TWO MARYS." It's definitely a must see. This compelling documentary narrated by Sigourney Weaver. Again, it airs on Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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