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American Morning

Mall Shooting Rampage; Intense War Debate; Recovery Delays in New Orleans

Aired November 21, 2005 - 08:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Messages from the man police say went on a rampage, a shooting rampage inside a Tacoma, Washington, mall. Who is this alleged shooter? Are we getting closer to learning why he did it? A live report is just ahead.
War of words over the war in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney prepares to strike back against critics who want U.S. troops out now. We're live at the White House this morning.

And the world's largest automaker is downsizing. A major announcement from General Motors is ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Miles is off today, but Rick Sanchez has been nice enough to help us out for a couple of days this week.

We sure appreciate it.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: An absolute honor to be here.

O'BRIEN: Well thank you very much. Even if you don't mean it at all, we appreciate that.

SANCHEZ: I mean every bit of it. I do.

O'BRIEN: I'm just joking you.

You know, we've been talking about this shooting...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... that happened at the Tacoma, Washington, mall. And one of the biggest questions is there's been no real sense of what made the man who is now in custody, the alleged shooter, snap. I mean, there's no one event that led him as far as they can tell right now.

SANCHEZ: Although, it was a dangerous situation to begin with. A judge had already said he shouldn't have a weapon. He apparently had a drug problem in the past, and he had an affinity toward guns. Put all those together...

O'BRIEN: And his girlfriend said he had problems in his life. But still, no one -- I mean, why that day?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Why that time? Why that mall? Lots of questions to get to this morning. In fact, let's get right to them.

Kareen Wynter is live for us in Tacoma.

Kareen, good morning.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

Again, we are learning a few more details about the accused shooter here, the fact that he apparently worked at a local Subway shop just about four months ago, and that co-workers describe Maldonado as a gun enthusiast, that he was unstable and also very quiet. But Soledad, what could perhaps be more telling here are the conversations Maldonado apparently had with two friends before and during the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER (voice over): Clues into Sunday's random shooting spree at a Tacoma mall could lie in this text message the accused gunman, Dominick Maldonado, allegedly sent to an ex-girlfriend minutes before the attack. It reads: "Today is the day that the world will know my anger. Today the world will feel my pain. Today is the day I will be heard."

TIFFANY ROBISON, SUSPECT'S EX-GIRLFRIEND: I texted back, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" And he didn't respond.

WYNTER: Tiffany Robison says she never imagined what would happen next.

An armed gunman taking aim at shoppers inside the Tacoma mall. The sound of gunfire interrupting a business Sunday afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At first, somebody thought it was firecrackers. I said, "No, those are gunshots, .38 -- it sounded like a .38 and a .9 millimeter."

WYNTER: Police say it was a semiautomatic rifle. Shoppers and employees tried to run for cover. Some had no time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He walked past. He turned around, shot, kept walking. They run the salmon shop right next to us, shot at that, kept walking.

WYNTER: This witness and medical assistant described some of the injuries.

JENNIFER JOHNSON, WITNESS: Shot in the stomach, abdomen, exit wound, and then shot in the elbow.

WYNTER: After shooting at least six people, officials say the gunman barricaded himself inside a music store, holding three employees hostage. The standoff lasted three hours and ended with the suspect surrendering to police and leaving the unanswered question, why?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: One person who claimed to have received a text message from Maldonado during the shooting has said he's not sure why his friend went on the shooting spree and that, Soledad, the day before he seemed a bit different, a bit more quiet.

O'BRIEN: Kareen Wynter for us with some questions and obviously some answers we still need.

Thanks, Kareen -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: President Bush is making his way back to the U.S. this morning after a trip to Asia that was dogged by questions about Iraq once again.

Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney going on the offensive against his critics.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken is live at the White House following this for us.

Bob, what are we hearing from the vice president this morning?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, because the president now in his trip is trying to put himself a little bit above the fray, defending the rights of those who dissent on the questions of Iraq. Meanwhile, here in the United States, the vice president has, to some degree, been the fray.

In his speech last week, he used words to describe the criticisms as "dishonest" and "reprehensible" -- these are quotes -- "irresponsible." And in fact, last Thursday the president said, "I agree with the vice president," but now the good cop-bad cop game has begun to some degree.

The president, as I said, is now speaking in a more conciliatory tone. And what we're going to be finding out this morning, Rick, is whether the vice president will continue with his bad cop part of the act, or whether he is going in fact not be acting, but expressing the angry side of the administration's response to all of this -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Well, actually, it's a little more personal in his case, right? Because haven't some of the accusations said that when, you know, he accepted some deferments at a time when he was asked to perhaps go to war?

FRANKEN: Well, it's interesting. When the president left here so short a time ago, he left with an angry debate going on. This has not turned into a real slugfest.

SANCHEZ: Tell us about the president's trip. We understand he went to a country that no U.S. president has ever visited before and experienced some -- well, different things. Is that fair? Is that safe?

FRANKEN: He had, among other things, cheese curds and fermented milk. And I know what you're going to ask. Yes, I have had cheese curds, although you don't have to go to Mongolia for that. Wisconsin is far -- is close enough. And as far as fermented milk is concerned, if I've had it, I don't remember it, but chances I wouldn't have.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Sounds like a great show and tell. Bob, thanks a lot. Appreciate all that.

O'BRIEN: You want to make sure to stay tuned to CNN for live coverage of Vice President Dick Cheney's speech on the war on terror. That's this morning 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Other stories making news. Kelly has those this morning.

Good morning again.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we do. Hello, and good morning again, everyone.

We're beginning with another deadly attack in Iraq to tell you about. At least five people were killed, 11 others wounded in a car bomb attack near a busy market. That attack taking place about 22 miles east of Baquba, which is north of Baghdad. A U.S. official said a military convoy may have been the intended target, but that the convoy passed by shortly before that bomb went off.

A U.N. report estimates the number of people living with HIV is the highest since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and is likely to grow. The organization UNAIDS found that more than 40 million people have the virus. Almost five million of those were infected this year alone. The U.N. report listed eastern Europe and central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa as having the highest rates of infection.

And we're just getting this word in to CNN, this coming from the Middle East. Israeli warplanes have attacked targets on the Lebanese side of the border. They were returning fire after Hezbollah gunners fired artillery rounds. More information as we get it here at CNN.

Meantime, staying in Israel, the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, taking a big political gamble. The 77-year-old leader quitting the Likud party he helped form back in the 1970s, saying he'll launch a more moderate party and push for early elections. Sharon has been up against a party rebellion over Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.

And the tallest Christmas tree in Europe is brightening the spirits of folks in Lisbon, Portugal. City officials flipped the switch to illuminate the tree that's said to be as tall as a 23-story building. Get this, it is taller than the national Christmas tree and the Rockefeller Center tree combined, but it is artificial.

O'BRIEN: Well, fake.

WALLACE: It is fake, Soledad. So, you know, it's hard to compare the real thing.

O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, it's not hard to be really, really tall if they just plunk another story on top of it.

WALLACE: That is true.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, wow, the tallest tree, that's going to be amazing to see how tall this tree grew in the forest in Europe somewhere.

WALLACE: The folks in Lisbon are saying it's still amazing, Soledad.

SANCHEZ: But at least it's not silver.

WALLACE: I think it has something like, though, more than two million light bulbs. So...

O'BRIEN: Oh, man. It's fake. It's not a feat to be tall if you're fake.

WALLACE: Jacqui, help us.

O'BRIEN: Anyway...

WALLACE: The poor folks in Lisbon, Portugal, are hoping to get a lot of attention for their tree, but it is fake. We must -- we must reveal that to our viewers.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's pretty, though. I thought it looked pretty nice.

WALLACE: It sure is.

JERAS: Yes. Anyway, hey, by the way, Thanksgiving, of course, the big holiday on Thursday coming up, and you might be seeing a little bit of snow on that tree there in New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. If you're going to be watching that, you might see a few snow showers.

Part of that due to this storm system we're looking at right here across parts of the southeast. Right now we're looking at some heavy wet weather here. That's going to eventually make its way up the coast, and we're going to help pull down some cold air and bring that cold air in place. And then when our next clippers system comes on through, that means we could be seeing some snow showers mixing in with some of the rain showers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JERAS: If you are going to be traveling, tomorrow is the day to do it in the southeast. But today is the day to do it in the northeast, if you can.

O'BRIEN: If we were getting holiday, which we're not.

JERAS: I'm here all week. Are you guys here all week?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I am.

JERAS: All right.

O'BRIEN: So we can celebrate Thanksgiving together, Jacqui, you and me.

JERAS: There you go. We'll share a turkey leg.

O'BRIEN: Exactly. Thanks, Jacqui. Appreciate it.

Ahead this morning, the update on rebuilding New Orleans. We all know the damage is bad, but it might actually be worse than we thought. We're going to tell you why just ahead.

SANCHEZ: And then later, everywhere the president goes these days, questions about Iraq follow. Will the war overshadow the rest of his presidency? It is questions -- it is a question being asked at the White House as well. A closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Fifty-three thousand families, all Katrina victims, now face a December 1 deadline to get out of the hotels and motel they've been living in. At the same time, FEMA is struggling to pay its bills. Now, we all knew the recovery was going to be slow, but is it actually going to be worse than we thought?

It is the cover story in "TIME" magazine this week, and it is written in part by Timothy Burger, who joins us this morning.

Good morning to you, Timothy. Thanks for talking with us.

TIMOTHY BURGER, "TIME" MAGAZINE: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: First of all, break it down for us. I mean, there's been a ton of money we hear about with FEMA, $62.3 billion or so. How's it been spent?

BURGER: Well, the -- only about $6 billion in checks have been cashed in the FEMA relief effort. That's 10 percent of the amount that you just stated.

So, really -- and another $25 billion or sort of authorized for projects. But that still leaves $25, $30 billion. And you're talking about, at this stage in the game, there's no more sort of lives to be saved, people sitting on roofs. You're talking about trying to see the future of the city and how you clean up from this horrendous disaster and do the next stage, rebuild, or how you do it.

O'BRIEN: So what exactly is the problem? Is the -- is the issue that, well, we haven't spent 90 percent of the money because the big expenses are going to come down the road? Is that the problem?

BURGER: That's part of it. And part of it is, you know, this sends up with a huge bureaucratic problem.

You've seen, you know, tons of stories of people who, you know, want to get their house demolished, but they have to wait for the right contractor to come. And you had a story about an NBA star who went there and said, to heck with it, I'm bringing in people to help do this myself.

So you have basically all these complicated -- you have the federal government, you have the state and local, and then you have who's paying for what. And you end up with, unfortunately, the people who were affected, the New Orleans residents, having to bear the brunt of this.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, there's no question that it's been frustrating for people and that it's really a bureaucratic nightmare in some ways. But there was one program, that program the flood insurance -- and, you know, a program where people had been paying for flood insurance, that this was an insurance policy they bought. And it was out of money.

So how can FEMA have all this money on one hand and no money on the other hand?

BURGER: I don't know how they let that happen. What happened was the borrowing cap that FEMA has for -- to pay -- to help insurance companies pay out under this flood program, the borrowing cap had been reached.

It had already been raised to $3.5 billion, and Congress last week was raising it again to $18 billion. But in the meantime, insurance companies had stopped paying. So people were ending up like, you know, totally at a standstill with their lives.

O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, you say in the meantime. And in fact, in the meantime, let's check in with our executive producer, Kim Bondy. We've been sort of following her progress, or maybe lack of it is a better way to put it. She's in the control room this morning, working, of course.

But Kim, tell me about your experience, getting money from FEMA. You were covered by flood insurance, right?

KIM BONDY, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, I was. And my insurance company actually did some pretty fast work and handed my policy over for payment on 11/6, on November 6, or thereabouts. And then on the 10th of November, I guess, that's when FEMA ran out of money to pay off these insurance policies, which kind of makes no sense, because it's -- you know, it's sort of a little bit on top of the fact that you've been paying your policy, so you're ready to get paid out.

And I called the insurance company on Friday to sort of button this up, and they said, "Oh, Ms. Bondy, yes, we have two checks here for you. One to cover your FEMA account, the other to cover the contents on your home."

O'BRIEN: So that's all good news. BONDY: All good news. I said, "Well, can you put the check in the mail? And being --- like people from New Orleans, the lady says, "Oh, baby. You don't want me to put these checks in the mail."

So I said, "You know what? I'll tell you what, I'll fly down and I will get the checks myself," thinking I could, you know, take care of some business with the house anyway. She calls me back 10 minutes later and says, "Oh, hey, listen, sorry, by the way, FEMA is broke. So we can't give you your checks."

O'BRIEN: So they have the checks.

BONDY: They have the checks.

O'BRIEN: But if you were to cash those checks, you'd basically -- they'd bounce?

BONDY: Well, I don't know, but I would love to find out. However, they won't turn the checks over to me now.

Now, as you know, late on Friday night, Congress approved -- I think it was $18.5 billion in additional lending for FEMA. However, I am personally waiting for President Bush to come back from his Asia trip -- and we've been reporting on that all morning long -- so that he can sign it. And then my insurance company can then hand my checks over to me and I can start the rebuilding process of my house.

So, you know, it's a very complicated matter, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And you are somebody who can sort of navigate the process. There are a lot of people who have a hard time navigating the process. And, we should underscore, you're somebody who has been paying the insurance policy. So you're covered in a lot of ways.

Let's get back to Timothy Burger from "TIME" magazine so we can wrap it up with him.

Kim, thanks.

Timothy, we started with the question, is it worse than we think? Is it worse than we think?

BURGER: It really is. I think that the mundane reality of being in a city that once had a half a million people and now during the day 150,000 and at night only 60,000 are spending the night there -- 15 percent of the doctors are back at work, two out of eight hospitals are functioning again -- it's just -- and that's not even to talk about the sort of putrification of some of these houses that are literally ghost houses now in a city that, unfortunately, much of it literally wreaks.

So just the mundane reality is very stunning.

O'BRIEN: It's a mess. And it really is a mess on all fronts is what you're saying.

BURGER: Yes.

Timothy Burger from "TIME" magazine, and our EP, Kim Bondy, joining us from our control room this morning. Thanks to both of you.

BURGER: Good to be with you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Here's one that gets your attention if you're a parent. Coming up in our morning "House Call," there's a frightening warning for parents. A study on babies and the potential dangers of over-the- counter cold medicines and what they can do. It's next right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Imagine if I told you that there was a possibility that if you give cold medicine to your baby the wrong way it could kill the baby. Well, that's not just a declarative sentence here. We're talking about something that an expert has looked into and has come to the determination that it actually happens. And he has proof.

We're talking about Dr. Jim Davis. He is a coroner in Montgomery County, Ohio. He co-authored this study. He's good enough to join us this morning.

Thanks so much for being with us, doctor.

What did you find out?

DR. JIM DAVIS, RETIRED FAMILY PHYSICIAN: Well, basically, I'll give you a quick thumbnail. We over about a year ago discovered that we were noticing an increased number of infant deaths for which we had no explanation. Typically, they've been blamed on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or it's called now Sudden and Unexpected Death Syndrome.

So we decided to look. It was just too many of them. It was a larger number. And we had a new piece of current technology, but it was just a new instrument, a new model with expanded capabilities, and we began to look into some of these deaths a little bit more in-depth and had some pretty surprising results.

SANCHEZ: You narrowed it down to cold medication that had been erroneously given, or were they overdosed?

DAVIS: Well, first of all, in infants, that being, what, under a year of age, it's not indicated to give them these cold medications. Really, the only indication that I'm aware of from the American Academy of Pediatrics is infant Tylenol.

So we found in their body sample -- body fluid samples, we found everything from adult cough medicine to antihistamines of all kinds. Even one of them has what we call an anti-amitic (ph), which is an anti-nausea drug... SANCHEZ: Wait a minute. Let me jump on something you just said. If you found adult medication, that means parents are incorrectly saying, well, you know what? If I give him a little less since he's just a baby, it's OK to give him this.

You're saying that's wrong?

DAVIS: I'm saying that's wrong. I wouldn't say that it was adult medication, per se. It's also used in the child -- the differentiation is between infants and children.

Children are like a year and a half to two years of age; infants are a year and a half or below. And what we were seeing was, in the cold preparations for the pediatric doses, caregivers -- and I want to spread this over more than just parents -- let's call them caregivers, because with two-family incomes and people having other people watch their kids, you can't really narrow it down to parents. But they're getting -- I think getting confused going to the pharmacy, picking up the children's stuff, and giving it to their infants at reduced dosages.

SANCHEZ: All right. I'm a parent. There are parents listening to you right now. They want to hear from you directly what it is that they need to do right.

DAVIS: OK.

SANCHEZ: So, my child is an infant. He has a cold. What do I not do or what do I do when it comes to medication?

DAVIS: The first thing you should do probably is call your physician or at least check with your pharmacist. The second thing would be do not pick up something that is indicated for a two years of age or older, or a four-to-five pound infant or older.

Now, these boxes, these bottles, are clearly labeled. But one has to take the time to read the labels. And if we believe that it's just not being read, they're also on the pharmacy shelves.

These infant medications and these children's medications are being co-mingled on the shelf. So if you take a scenario of mom's been home with the kid sick for three days, she calls dad at home at the office and said, on your way home, bring home something for the kid, dad or grandmother, or whoever goes by, grabs something off the shelf, doesn't read the label carefully, takes it home, and they give it to the child. And it's just mainly not reading the indications and maybe checking with a professional.

If they're not sure, really all they need to do is ask the pharmacist, like I said, or call the doctor's office and ask the doctor or his staff...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

DAVIS: ... should this be given, and if so, how?

SANCHEZ: That's great information, I'll tell you.

DAVIS: Oh, yes.

SANCHEZ: And I guess in the end -- in the end, it's the parent that's responsible. But we may need a little bit more help when we go to get these medicines. And maybe we need to ask the right questions. And that's why you've been able to give us that information that all of us as parents can use.

Doctor, thanks so much for being with us this morning. We really appreciate it.

DAVIS: Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

SANCHEZ: All right.

Soledad, back over to you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

And our special series "Week of Giving" continues. We're going to meet a husband and wife restoring history and their life's work thanks to the kindness of others.

We're also getting viewer e-mails highlighting the stories of people affected by this year's harsh hurricane season.

Here's one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOYCE WALKER-TYSON, RED CROSS VOLUNTEER: I'm Joyce Walker-Tyson from Muskegon, Michigan. I'm a Red Cross disaster relief volunteer in Mississippi.

I'm speaking on behalf of the Katrina survivors in Pearlington Mississippi, who asked me to e-mail CNN to let you know that they are grateful to god, to the relief workers and volunteers, and to each other for making it possible to maintain a sense of a hope and community after all of the material evidence of their town had been washed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: If you've got a story to tell, you can e-mail us at cnn.com/am. We're going to post some of the responses on our Web site and also ask you maybe to share your story right here on AMERICAN MORNING. And that was a terrific story here.

A short break. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Good morning. And welcome, everybody.

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