Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
President Gerald Ford Hospitalized; Two Florida Teens Surrender For Homeless Beatings
Aired January 16, 2006 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.
But we begin tonight with the president who led the country out of Watergate in the hospital tonight, a developing story -- the latest on Gerald Ford's condition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Gerald Ford hospitalized -- the 92-year-old former president is treated for pneumonia -- tonight, the latest on his condition.
Manhunt in the Southeast -- police desperately search for two murder suspects on the run since their brutal escape from jail. How did they escape and where are they now?
Two teenagers surrender for the senseless beatings of homeless men in Florida.
DETECTIVE KATHY COLLINS, FORT LAUDERDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT: These acts are heinous, and they need to be brought to justice.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, what causes teens to turn violent? And would you recognize if your child was on the brink?
And imagine being such a perfectionist, it takes you hours to perform even the simplest chore. 360 investigates this perfection obsession that, for those afflicted, can be a perfect nightmare.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: From across the U.S. and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
Live from the CNN studios in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.
COOPER: And good evening.
We begin tonight with the condition of President Ford, who is both the oldest living ex-president and who was also for many, many years one of the healthiest. Mr. Ford, the 38th president, is perhaps the most athletic man ever to occupy the White House. He was a college football star. He skied and swam and golfed, most of which he kept right on doing after leaving office.
But Mr. Ford has slowed down. He has had several strokes, and now, at 92, is in the hospital.
Following developments tonight for us, from Rancho Mirage, California, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.
Thelma, what's the latest?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Anderson.
Well, President Gerald Ford is undergoing his third day of I.V. antibiotic treatment for pneumonia here at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
His chief of staff talked to us a short time ago. She told us that the president is here because, at his age, 92 years old, his doctors thought it would be prudent for him to undergo this kind of I.V. treatment in the hospital. We're also told that the president's wife of 57 years, Betty Ford, is at his bedside, that he is doing well, and that he is resting comfortably.
Now, this is the second time in a little more than a month that President Ford has been admitted to the hospital. On December 12, he was admitted for scheduled tests. But, at the time, he was also dealing with a very bad lingering cold. And his chief of staff told us she's not sure if that cold is, in fact, related to this pneumonia.
Again, in 2003, he was admitted after playing golf in 96-degree heat out here in the desert. And, then, in 2000, he suffered a mild stroke at the Republican National Convention. Now, overall, a hospital spokesperson told us that this president is really doing quite well for a man of his age. He is a very active person.
As a young man, he played college football for the University of Michigan. He's an avid golfer. And, then, as recent as just two years ago, this is a person who said that he would swim at least four laps a day. And his spokesperson told us that he is expected to be released from the hospital either Wednesday or Thursday -- Anderson.
COOPER: Thelma, thanks. We will continue to follow that story throughout the next two hours.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Thanks very much.
On next to Phenix City, Alabama, and another developing story. It began with a jailbreak. Now, in Alabama and Georgia and states beyond, the mission is simple. Chase down and catch a pair of fugitives before the trail of blood grows any longer.
Here's CNN's Betty Nguyen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With guns drawn, officers searched a Phenix City, Alabama, apartment, looking for two teen murder suspects on the run. Seventeen-year-old Johnny Earl Jones, charged with murdering a 2-year-old he was baby-sitting, and 19-year-old Lamar Elan (ph) Benton, charged with raping and murdering a 39-year-old woman, escaped from the Russell County Jail in eastern Alabama.
TOMMY BOSWELL, RUSSELL COUNTY, ALABAMA, SHERIFF: One of the correctional officers was assaulted by stabbing him at least 15 times in the back.
NYUGEN: Then, officers say, the men attacked two other guards.
BOSWELL: They assaulted them, almost broke the sergeant's arm, and got their keys and got out.
NYUGEN: A third prisoner escape with him, 33-year-old Brent Martin, but he was captured some six hours into the hunt. With no sign of the two still on the run, a task force of local, state and federal forces continue to search near the Alabama/Georgia state line. It's making those living nearby very uneasy.
LARRY PUTNAM, PHENIX CITY, ALABAMA, RESIDENT: Families around here with little kids, and you can never tell what somebody is going to do when they break and desperate.
NYUGEN: But the sheriff promises the fugitives won't get away.
BOSWELL: I feel confident we will find them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NYUGEN: Now, as the search continues, there are questions that are arising about whether overcrowding at this jail had anything to do with the escape.
Right now, this jail has a capacity of 230 inmates. It's holding 270. Overcrowding is obviously an issue, but we spoke with the sheriff's department, and that department says overcrowding was not a factor in the escape.
Regardless, the two men on the loose are considered armed and dangerous -- Anderson.
COOPER: Betty, thanks.
Before we talk with the Russell County sheriff, just want to show you another look at these two suspects. It bears repeating, authorities consider both of them very, very dangerous. First, Johnny Earl Jones, he's 17 years old. And he's charged with a heinous crime, killing a child that he was supposed to be baby-sitting. He's not been convicted, just charged.
And Lamar Benton, he's 19, charged with raping and murdering a 39-year-old mother of three.
Now, here's the number to call if you have got information that might help catch these guys. It is area code 334-298-6535. That's 334-298-6535. that's to reach the Russell County Sheriff's Office. Joining us now is Sheriff Tommy Boswell.
Sheriff, thanks very much for being with us.
What's the latest on the search?
BOSWELL: I lost my audio.
COOPER: Sheriff Boswell, can you hear me?
BOSWELL: Got you now. Go ahead.
COOPER: All right.
What's the latest on the search?
BOSWELL: We are creating the -- a multi-jurisdictional multi- agency task force. They have been assigned the task of finding these individuals.
We have created several teams, and -- and they're out working. And this will continue, until we're able to locate these individuals and put them back where they belong, behind bars.
COOPER: To your knowledge, are they armed?
BOSWELL: To our knowledge, we have no indication that they are armed. However, from their background, we have got to presume that they are armed and dangerous. And they will be treated that way.
COOPER: What did they stab the deputies with, the correctional officers, with?
BOSWELL: It was a homemade knife-type device called a shank that, a lot of times, inmates in a constructional setting will create. It was a crude weapon made out of stiff wire.
COOPER: And how are those deputies doing?
BOSWELL: They're back home recuperating. One of them suffered 15 stab wounds to the back. And it was a traumatic experience for him, but he's going to be OK.
COOPER: Man, that's incredible, 15 stab wounds. Where do you think these guys are? I mean, there was a third one. He was caught about six hours after they broke out. Where was he apprehended?
BOSWELL: About two-and-a-half miles from here, down toward the Chattahoochee River in -- in a wounded area. We used the state helicopter, with its heat-seeking equipment, and two teams of tracking dogs from the state prison system to locate him in a very thickly- wooded area.
COOPER: And he -- has he been cooperating at all, telling -- talking about what the other two were planning?
BOSWELL: He has been interviewed by the investigators on two occasions and has given some information.
COOPER: In -- in a case like this -- I mean, I don't know if you have had this happened to you in the past or have studied this kind of thing. How far do -- do prisoners usually get? I mean, do they usually stay together?
BOSWELL: It depends on their relationship. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.
They usually travel further on foot than you think that they do, because of the hours that are involved in their search. And the perimeters can be set up. Usually, it's -- it's a larger perimeter than you think is necessary.
COOPER: So, they could be out of Alabama; they could be in neighboring states?
BOSWELL: It could possibly be so. We have information that they probably did make to it Columbus, Georgia, which is just a couple of miles from here.
COOPER: Sheriff Tommy Boswell, we will continue following this throughout the next two hours. Thank you very much, Sheriff.
We have a lot going on tonight. Here are some of the other top stories we are following at this moment.
International pressure's building against Iran. Russia and China joined the U.S. and Europe today, demanding Iran immediately stop its nuclear program. The next step could be sanctions. That's only if the U.N. Security Council chooses to act.
Tonight, the fate of al Qaeda's second in command is unknown. Pakistani intelligence sources tell CNN he was not among the 18 people killed in a CIA airstrike Pakistan on Friday. The Pentagon says it doesn't know if Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed. But U.S. intelligence sources say some of the victims were senior al Qaeda personnel.
In Georgia, we continue to follow a developing story. A couple is holding an attorney hostage right now inside his Statesboro office. The couple allegedly took over the office early this morning. Now, police say they're upset with some child custody issues, among other legal matters. Negotiators are on the scene. We are going to have more on this story later.
And, in Washington, a decision on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is being pushed back. The Senate Judiciary Committee was supposed to vote on Alito's nomination tomorrow. But, today, it was postponed until next Tuesday. The vote is expected to follow party lines.
The attack was brutal, the video, shocking. Tonight, two teens are in custody after turning themselves in, charged with this brutal attack and two others officers on homeless men in Florida. Tonight, their friends are speaking out. Plus, imagine being a prisoner of perfection, a rare disease. It takes a huge toll on kids who accept nothing but the best. They won't settle for anything less.
Across America and around the world, you're watching 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Sad statistics, those. Last week, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, two teens were caught on tape beating a homeless man, this tape here. Now, there were two other attacks. And, in one of them, a homeless man was killed.
Today, bail was denied for one of two of those teens accused in the attacks. The other young suspect appears in court tomorrow. As police search for a motive, the people who know the two teens find themselves tonight struggling for some sort of explanation.
CNN's David Mattingly reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Caught on tape and wanted in a series of senseless beatings, two teens turned themselves in to Fort Lauderdale police Sunday morning, after briefly fleeing the state.
DETECTIVE KATHY COLLINS, FORT LAUDERDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We were in communication with the family and their attorneys. So, with the effort of the attorneys, they were able to return them to the area and bring them into us.
RAMBERG: Eighteen-year-old Brian Hooks and his friend 17-year- old Thomas Daugherty are charged in a series of attacks on local homeless men, killing 45-year-old Norris Gaynor in the pre-dawn hours Thursday.
But police say it was this surveillance video and the beating of 58-year-old Jacques Pierre that incensed the community and led to the boys' arrests.
K. COLLINS: We got many calls from the citizens themselves that recognized them as being neighbors or friends or acquaintances. Everyone has the same opinion, that these acts are -- are heinous, and they need to be brought to justice for them.
MATTINGLY: Police say they got more than 100 tips, leading them to the two teens. On Saturday, investigators searched the boys' homes in an upscale neighborhood near a local high school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You finally see the mug shot and you're just like...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That -- that... (CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... when I saw that.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see them...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... picture and it's like, wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you all recognized them right away, when you saw them?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right away. Right away.
JUDGE STEVEN DELUCA: Mr. Hooks, you're charged with a new substantive offense of premeditated murder.
MATTINGLY: Hooks reportedly graduated from high school last year and was described as a good athlete. Daugherty, according to students, was a typical friendly teenager.
Police say they don't know if either of them has a criminal record. Adults who know them, however, say they never appeared violent or were known to be in trouble.
RUSTY ZINGONE, NEIGHBOR: Great kids. I mean, they go fishing all the time. They -- you know, they play together. They just -- I just can't believe it.
MATTINGLY: The two are also suspected in a third beating of a homeless man, 49-year-old Raymond Perez, that same night. But neither Hooks, nor Daugherty, has spoken to investigators.
According to the Associated Press, an attorney for Hooks says the 18-year-old's involvement is far more limited than has been speculated. A bond hearing for the teen is scheduled for Tuesday.
The 17-year-old Daugherty will be held without bond for three weeks in juvenile detention and, at his attorney's request, will undergo psychological examination. In the meantime, investigators say they're looking for possibly one or two more suspects in the Thursday- morning beatings. And they will try determine whether the youths in custody had also been involved in any previous attacks on the homeless.
David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, nationwide, the number of attacks on the homeless is on the rise. According to the National Coalition For the Homeless, a majority of the suspects were young men between the age of 16 and 25. Now, this is happening right in front of us, though many of us never even notice it. We think it's important to give you the facts on stories that often get overlooked, but shouldn't. Tonight, we're starting a new segment called "Hiding in Plain Sight."
Tonight, the problem of teen violence in America, something many parents simply don't want to see or don't want to think their child is capable of.
Ken Druck is a clinical psychologist and violence expert. He joins me now from San Diego.
Ken, thanks for being with us.
KEN DRUCK, CLINTON PSYCHOLOGIST: Good to be with you, Anderson.
COOPER: You know, this attack, it -- it is almost too brutal to watch, when you see this tape. You know, two teenage boys, seemingly from well-off families, what could possibly be going through their minds as they're swinging those bats?
DRUCK: You know, I don't know anything is going through their minds.
I think you see blind rage. You have kids who are obviously wired. We don't know what they're wired on, whether it's pure aggression. But we see kids completely out of control, running amok, almost with a sense of detachment, like it's not real.
Maybe it's just reality TV. Maybe they're acting it out. But, when we interview kids after the fact, we find out there's a sense of detachment. They don't even know it's real. They can't imagine that there are real consequences. Somebody's life is being put at risk or ended.
COOPER: So, when they're swinging those bats, they don't see the person, the homeless person, in particular, that they're hitting as a real person?
DRUCK: No, they don't. I think there's a sense of detachment.
That is an object. It's a thrill. There is -- you know, they -- obviously, these are kids with a lot of aggression, with a lot of distortion, with some serious problems, who are swinging away. They're flailing away. Somebody had the idea this would be a good thing to do.
Don't be surprised if we hear that there's a history of aggression. you know, I hear all the reports about, these were nice kids; they flew under the radar. But you know what? We have to sharpen our radar, so we can pick up kids that are having problems and start addressing them.
COOPER: And is there usually one kid who is sort of the ringleader? How does it work in this dynamic where you have two people involved in something like this? DRUCK: Yes. When you have two people, suddenly, it's sanctioned. One kid does haven't the boundaries, any sense of empathy or compassion, has objectified this human being.
So, somehow, it's -- that person feels licensed to end a life or put a life at risk or at threat. And the other person is -- somehow, the permission of being with the person who has permission to do this, the license follows, and you have gang behavior.
COOPER: You know, one of these -- the suspects was in court today and was apparently crying in -- in court. It sort of doesn't jibe with, you know, the -- the -- the image we see from the tape.
DRUCK: Yes.
And the image we see on the tape is really kind of that cowardly smile, smirk, running off, hit and run, you know, a defenseless individual on the crowd being beaten and battered. And -- and, then, you see a kid crying. And you wonder, has that reality begun to sunk in, that this was real, this really happened...
(CROSSTALK)
DRUCK: ... life was affected?
COOPER: And why are homeless particularly targeted?
DRUCK: They're targeted because they're easy -- I mean, they're easy targets.
When we look at, you know, how children are victimized, how the elderly are victimized, the homeless -- and, you know, we have to examine our culture attitude as well. How disposable are the homeless in the general mind-set of the general public?
COOPER: And -- and are there tipoffs that, I mean, parents should be aware of or parents should think about?
DRUCK: Absolutely, Anderson.
The first thing I think a parent should think about is the fact that we have to increase that radar. It's not enough to say that they were flying under the radar. We have to sensitize the radar. We have to talk to our kids, find out what's going on. If a kid is troubled, we must insist that they get help or at the very least evaluated.
We hear that this kid is going to be evaluated -- evaluated by a psychiatrist tomorrow? You know what? It's a little late to be evaluated by a psychiatrist tomorrow. Parents need to step it up and play their A-game and get involved, as do schools, where there's one counselor for every 5,000 kids. We need to make it a priority, if we expect youth violence to go down.
COOPER: And we're calling them kids. I mean, these are teenagers, and they certainly, you know, should know better. It's -- it just -- it's unbelievable, what they are accused of doing. Ken Druck, appreciate your perspective. Thanks.
DRUCK: Thank you. And our sympathies to the families.
COOPER: Certainly, of those homeless men.
Former President Gerald Ford, hospitalized with pneumonia, how serious is his condition? And, at age 92, what are the concerns? Coming up, we will have the latest on his condition.
Also, terror and tragedy in the classroom. A 15-year-old teenager now dead, shot by police after he took a pellet gun to school, would he still be alive if his father would had been allowed to intervene? -- coming up on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We do not have many details, but, this much, we know. Former President Gerald Ford, as we said earlier, is being treated for pneumonia in a California hospital tonight. Former President Ford is 92 and was admitted for treatment this weekend.
Joining me now from Atlanta, CNN senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
How serious is pneumonia, especially in someone 92?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the -- the critical thing is what you mentioned there, at 92 years old.
It can be varying degrees of severity, depending, really, on your overall health and your age, for sure. You know, and a young person who gets pneumonia, like a viral pneumonia, that is something that could go away on its own. They even have a thing called walking pneumonia, where you actually walk around with it.
A bacterial pneumonia, which is what he has, caused by a bacteria, being treated be I.V., intravenous, antibiotics, in a 92- year-old, that -- that has to be considered severe, Anderson. He is hospitalized, as you know. And that obviously adds to the severity as well.
COOPER: He went in on Saturday. We just found out about it today. It's being reported that President Ford could be released as early as Wednesday. Would that surprise you?
GUPTA: You know, it's not necessarily surprising. But when you talk about a full course of treatment for pneumonia, you're talking about several days of antibiotics.
One -- one thing that might be happening here is that he might actually be going home, still taking the antibiotics, still taking the intravenous antibiotics, actually. A lot of hospitals do that nowadays, especially patients who can get that kind of home care, where you're actually getting the I.V. at home, getting those antibiotics. But it wouldn't surprise me if he could go home, but still getting the treatment that is necessary.
COOPER: And how do you know if you have pneumonia vs. a regular cold or flu?
GUPTA: Yes. You know, it's an important distinction.
Pneumonia is actually a full-out inflammation of the lungs. And that's different from an inflammation of your bronchioles, for example, called bronchitis, or just a sore throat, for example. The only way you can really know for sure that you have pneumonia if, you have all of the signs. You have a cough. You have fever as well.
But, also, the critical thing, a chest X-ray, showing that you have some abnormality of the lung, either in one lobe of the lung or -- or throughout the lung, that's how you actually diagnose pneumonia.
COOPER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COOPER: From the outside, she seemed like the perfect daughter, a straight-A student and gifted athlete. But her quest for perfection took over her life, virtually paralyzing her -- coming up, a young woman's battle against a rare and mysterious disorder.
Also, terror in the classroom -- a 13-year-old boy describes how he tried to wrestle a gun away from the classmate who threatened him, a classmate now dead after being shot by police -- coming up on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Here are the top stories we're following at this moment.
Baghdad: For the third time in 10 days, a U.S. military chopper crashed today, killing two crew members. Video distributed by the AP shows smoke rising north of the city, where the Apache went down. An insurgent group claims responsibility. The U.S. military is investigating.
Also, in Iraq, the chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial insists he is stepping down. He reportedly cites Iraqi government interference as the cause. He says officials criticized him for giving Hussein too much time to defend himself. The court named a stand-in judge to preside over next week's hearings.
Despite a boost by first lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated today that she won't run for president in 2008. Asked whether she's interested in being vice president, Ms. Rice dismissed it, saying -- quote -- "The two are the same."
In California, a 76-year-old death row inmate will be executed Tuesday morning. They U.S. Supreme Court today rejected his appeal that he was too old and feeble to die by lethal injection. Clarence Ray Allen, that's his name, he's legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair, was convicted of ordering a triple murder while behind bars. Well, imagine wanting desperately to be perfect in every way, so desperate you become a prisoner of your desire. Unable to tool rate the slightest disorder, a wrinkle in a shirt, say, or piece of lint on a quit. More than three million Americans have what's called obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. And a small percentage of them have a severe form of the illness. It often begins with a son or daughter who seems from the outside to be a super kid. Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Folding laundry is such a simple task. But watch what happens when Shannon Fleishman tries to fold this shirt.
SHANNON FLEISHMAN, HAS PERFECTION OBSESSION: I really want to touch that.
COHEN: She's desperate to smooth the wrinkles that bother only her. She's tortured that these sock seams don't line up perfectly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How anxious are you on a scale of zero to 10?
S. FLEISHMAN: Ten.
COHEN: These clothes look fine to the rest of us. But in Shannon's mind, they're a wrinkled disorganized mess, and she wants more than anything ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Try not to touch them again.
COHEN: ... to make them look perfect.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go ahead and shut it.
COHEN: As painful as this is to watch, imagine how painful it is for Shannon, who has form of obsessive compulsive disorder called perfection obsession.
S. FLEISHMAN: A fear of making a mistake, regardless of how little, how small or minute it might be.
COHEN (on camera): So getting a load of dirty clothes off the floor would take three hours?
S. FLEISHMAN: Well, I only got three items in three hours.
COHEN (voice-over): Growing up, Shannon was an incredible kid. A popular girl, an A-plus student admired by her teachers and a gifted athlete. She was the daughter every parent dreamed of.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were extremely proud of Shannon and her accomplishments.
S. FLEISHMAN: Spend six to eight hour as night on homework because I would check everything and everything was done so thoroughly.
COHEN (on camera): Sounds like you were in some ways the perfect girl.
S. FLEISHMAN: I was like the golden child.
COHEN (voice-over): But as Shannon got older, there were signs of a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Setting her alarm for like 2:30, 3:00 in the morning to redo homework that was already done.
COHEN: Shannon graduated fourth in her class and was voted most likely to succeed. She won a softball scholarship to college.
S. FLEISHMAN: I have the expectations. That's like a 4.0, that's why want to get, a 4.0.
COHEN: She couldn't live up to 4.0 and when she had her first taste of failure, she began to unravel. Her doctor prescribed an antidepressant.
S. FLEISHMAN: The medicine wasn't helping. I remember telling him, I think I have OCD, and he said, no, you're just a perfectionist.
COHEN: So much so that she stopped turning in assignments because she felt they weren't perfect enough and she eventually flunked out of college.
S. FLEISHMAN: And it was a huge disappointment and I was very ashamed an embarrassed.
COHEN: Her perfectionism became all-consuming.
LORI FLEISHMAN, SHANNON'S MOTHER: Things like taking care of groceries. She could go buy them. When she would come home and wasn't able to get them in the cupboard. She couldn't line everything up perfect enough. She couldn't stop herself from ironing clothes. She literally burned her clothes.
COHEN: And she began with psychiatrist call obsessive compulsive rituals, counting everything.
S. FLEISHMAN: I would brush my teeth in sets of at eight. I would blow my nose in sets of eight. I would put makeup on in sets of eight. The number of times I patted under my eyes in sets of eight, which I still do.
COHEN: These rituals took all day to complete and eventually took over her life.
S. FLEISHMAN: Sometimes I use the metaphor that it's like a record, the same song going over and over again in your head. You know, like you just can't get rid of that obsession. It's just always there. COHEN: The breaking point? When Shannon's parents got a long distance call from one of her friends. Their daughter needed help. But when her mother Lori went to pick her up, even she wasn't prepared for what she was about to see.
L. FLEISHMAN: When we pulled in that day and I saw her the way she was, I just couldn't believe it was her.
S. FLEISHMAN: It was voted most likely to succeed by my high school class. And now look at me.
L. FLEISHMAN: When you go from being on top of the world and able to do anything that your heart desires to not being able to wash yourself or do a load of laundry, it's pretty depressing.
COHEN: Shannon checked into McLean Hospital's OCD Institute, a residential hospital dedicated to treating patients like her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's try to put a big wrinkle in the middle.
COHEN: She's taking medication and getting intense behavioral therapy like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave the hair on it.
COHEN: It's called exposure therapy.
S. FLEISHMAN: Just leave it how it is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Does that bother you?
S. FLEISHMAN: Yeah.
CAROL HEVIA, SHANNON'S THERAPIST: OK. Then let's leave it.
COHEN: And counselor Carol Hevia is helping Shannon to deal with her biggest fears.
HEVIA: Stop before the last tug.
S. FLEISHMAN: Alrighty. I can do this.
COHEN: By confronting them head-on.
S. FLEISHMAN: All right. I guess it's done.
COHEN (on camera): I saw her. She was folding something and there really was a hair on it. Why not let her take the hair off of it?
HEVIA: Because she would take off that hair and she would see another piece of lint and then see would another piece of lint and she could potentially be taking off lint for hours.
DR. MICHAEL JENIKE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, MCLEAN HOSPITAL: There's more and more evidence that there really is brain disorder.
COHEN (voice-over): Dr. Michael Jenike is head of the OCD program at McLean and one of the nation's top experts in the field.
JENIKE: So that we are looking at structure, looking at function, trying to figure out what's going on.
COHEN: Brain scans show these areas of the brain control simple decision making, like judging whether a shirt has wrinkles. In people with OCD, these areas are hyperactive, as shown by the red. When people with OCD try to make a simple decision it keeps skipping like that broken record. So how do people get this brain disorder? Most of the time, no one knows. Some experts say there's a genetic link. In some rare cases it's because of some damage to the brain. What doctors know for sure is that there's almost never a cure. But treatment does help.
MCLEAN: Cure is something we don't generally expect. Probably over 70 percent of the ones who stayed in treatment and really worked hard are doing really good.
COHEN: Shannon is a gifted artist and this expression helps her to find some answers. This one is of a road that starts out bleak and on the road is a turtle. Shannon's friends used to call her Turtle because it took her so long to do everything.
S. FLEISHMAN: The road is lined with numbers going from one to eight. That sort of fade away. The further down the road you get, the greener the grass is, the more, you know, there's a beautiful sunset. There's so much more color and life.
COHEN: Shannon's been at McLean for a month and a half and she's halfway through her treatment.
(on camera): Do you think you'll ever come to feel that this bed is good enough, even with this wrinkle, even with that lint?
S. FLEISHAMN: Honestly, no. I think I can live with little wrinkles. I don't think that my OCD will ever go away. I think that I can control it. Like maybe I can make my bed in five minutes, you know, would be great.
This is gonna be the toughest battle in my life that I'll have to face. I can still succeed.
COHEN (voice-over): Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Belmont, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Well, many people who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder are prescribed antidepressants. And while they can help, to some extent, experts say they are far from a cure.
The latest on a bizarre incident that cost a 15-year-old Florida student his life. He brought a gun to school and wound up dead. Tonight his family searches for answers. What really happened in the halls of Milwee High.
And in New Orleans, a grand jury will finally hear the most disturbing charges to rise out of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. Accusations of murder, euthanasia. When things seemed hopeless. Stay with 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Twenty four, that statistic from 2005. In the New Year there has been a new deadly school shooting. A Florida teen brought a real-looking pellet gun to school and got shot by police. The latest on the investigation is coming up. First, Virgina Cha from Headline News joins us with some of the other stories we're following tonight. Hey, Virginia.
VIRGINIA CHA, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson. Well, across America, a day remember Martin Luther King Jr. On this national holiday President Bush paid tribute to King and other civil rights leader in a ceremony in Washington. Mr. Bush said America can be broad of progress made toward equally but added, quote, "We have more work to do."
Beijing, China, when you can forget about Christopher Columbus and forget 149. That's if you believe a map that shows the Chinese fleet sailing for America is legit. They unveiled it today and it's said to be a 18th century reproduction of an original from the year 1418.
In Norway, a man accused in connection of a theft of that famous painting the "Scream" says it was not damaged in the burglary a year and a half ago. The man is due to face trial next month on charges of handling stolen goods but police have yet to recover that painting.
And in less time than it takes to tell you the story someone solved a Rubik's Cube. Remember those? He's a student at Cal Tech. And he solved the puzzle in 11.13 seconds. And new record. He did it, by the way, one-handed.
Anderson?
COOPER: I did it in 12 but it was two-handed. All right. Virginia, thanks.
At the beginning of last week, 15-year-old Christopher Penley was just another eighth grader at the Milwee Middle School in Longwood, Florida. At the beginning of this week he's dead. His organs are waiting use in a series of transplant surgeries to save other lives. Did Chris Penley waive a toy gun at police because he wanted to die? And if his father had been allowed to talk to him before shots were fired, would the boy still alive? Those are the questions tonight. CNN's J.J. Ramberg searches for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven-year-old Shane Crawford passed a card around his neighborhood, the same neighborhood where Christopher Penley lived for most of his life.
SHANE CRAWFORD, NEIGHBOR OF CHRISTOPHER PENLEY: Mr. Penley, I am sorry about Chris and I know how you feel.
RAMBERG: As neighbors and friends mourn the loss of 15-year-old Chris Penley, many of them are questioning how he died. On Friday, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Department, he brought what looked like a .9 millimeter handgun to his school in suburban Orlando. He used it to scare fellow students and as they fled, threatened at least one of them.
MAURICE COTEY, PENLEY CLASSMATE: Told me to get up against the blackboard, and I did, and he put the gun to my back. And then we -- then I told him, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me.
RAMBERG: After a scuffle, Maurice Cotey got away. By the time the SWAT team arrived the school had issued a code red and locked the students in the classrooms with the lights turned out. At one point during this incident, the precise timing isn't clear, Chris Penley's father, according to the lawyer, told authorities his son his son was not a danger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He explained to the deputy he was on the phone with, his son didn't have a real gun, they didn't don't own any guns in the house. And that he had a black - or a pellet gun he had painted black.
RAMBERG: Ralph Penley was desperately racing to his son's school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was at the school within 15 minutes. He was then not allowed to enter the school on property for another 30 minutes. And at that point he was told that his son had been shot.
RAMBERG: The police had chased Chris Penley into a deserted restroom. It's not clear whether any of the officers on the scene ever got a message about the gun. The sheriff says officers ordered the eighth grader to drop his weapon. Instead, they say, he took aim at them and Lieutenant Mike Wiper (ph), a 16 year veteran of the SWAT team shot Penley.
LOU PALUMBO, SECURITY EXPERT: The SWAT teams are to take a position, number one. Secondly, continuously assess the situation. And when the situation so deteriorates that they do not have an option other than the implementation of deadly physical force, take it.
RAMBERG: We now know the gun was a pellet gun, painted, police say, to look just like a real firearm. The gun Ralph Penley said he described to authorities on the fob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the actual firearm held by the subject inside of the one that I'm holding during the incident. As you can see, it looks almost identical to the one that Zack Dalwee (ph) is holding which is the actual real nine millimeter handgun.
TANIA CRAWFORD, NEIGHBOR: I think everybody is shocked because - I understand that he's 15 years old but that's somebody's baby. And that's -- that's ...
RAMBERG: Chris is described by most friends and neighbor as a quiet, normal teenager. He played video games, liked to work out and he had typical teenage problems. The question is, what set him off on January 13th. His close friend P.J. Lafferty has one theory.
PATRICK LAFFERTY, NEIGHBOR: His girlfriend, it was over his girlfriend and then he was going to get jumped. He was dating a girl and ended up kissing another guy while she was dating him and she broke up the next day.
RAMBERG: Authorities will have to determine whether it was, in fact, a failed romance that drove Chris Penley to bring a weapon to school. Another important part of the investigation will focus on whether or not there was a failure in the chain of communications, a failure that cost a 15-year-old boy his life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAMBERG: Students will return to school tomorrow after the long holiday weekend and there will be guidance counselors and social workers on site to help them cope with what happened last week.
Anderson?
COOPER: J.J., thanks. Maybe the officer who fatality shot 15- year-old Christopher Penley had no choice. He was a 16-year veteran to SWAT team. The boy was aiming what looked like a gun at him. But what if Chris' father had been allowed to talk to him first? What was their choice about that? We're going to talk to the family's attorney coming up.
Also ahead tonight, is Uncle Sam actually trying to deport a toddler? That toddler, what can a two-year-old girl possibly have done to deserve being booted out at country? Find out when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: So what exactly happened in the halls of the Milwee Middle School in Longwood, Florida? We know a 15-year-old brandished a gun, it was a pellet gun, but it had been painted to resemble a real one. We know the boy ended up dead, was shot by a single bullet from a SWAT team member. The family of Christopher Penley has many questions, however. We spoke with the attorney for the Penley family, Mark Nation. We asked Mr. Nation about that conversation that Christopher Penley's father said he had with authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK NATION, PENLEYS' ATTORNEY: He was called from the scene by somebody who identified themselves as an officer at the scene. And Chris told them -- or Ralph Penley told them that Chris' gun was a pretend, it was a pellet gun that had been painted black and that he would be on the way to the scene. And he arrived at the scene in about 15 minutes. COOPER: Do you know, because the Seminole County sheriff denies that conversation. I mean, he told a newspaper that Penley didn't know what was going on in the school until really after Christopher had been shot. Are you aware exactly of the time line or is that one of the things you're trying to figure out?
NATION: That's something we're putting together right now. And I think we'll be able to do that pretty soon with some cell phone records and the radio transmissions, we'll be able to see exactly when those things took place.
COOPER: He knew that his son had painted this pellet gun black? Most of those pellet guns have a tip which is a different color. Was it Christopher who painted it black?
NATION: Yeah. And in fact I think it's quite common that kids in the neighborhood play with those guns. They have a game they call manhunt and I think that they play with those. And it had been painted black. It does look like the regular gun. We just don't -- the information that Ralph gave to the officer, we don't know how far that got, you know, the officer who was involved in the shooting certainly need as much information as possible to make an assessment. We don't know that it got to him though.
COOPER: Were there any clues that something like this may happen? I mean, you can never anticipate something like this, I suppose. But there have been published reports that Christopher had something of a troubled past. He had just gone back to the school some two weeks before. The "Orlando Sentinel" said he previously last year threatened to blow up a school bus. Do you know anything about those incidents?
NATION: There was no threat to blow up a school bus. He had been in another school and his father had put him there in order to, you know, work on his grades. It was a charter school. He didn't see the progress that he wanted. So his dad and mom put him back in Milwee. I can tell you, talking to friends and neighbors, I've not talked to one person yet who has a negative thing to say about him other than, just a normal kid. And so I understand these reports are out there, but I don't think they're substantiated.
COOPER: So he had been suspended?
NATION: He had been suspended, absolutely, but there was no threat that he was going to blow up the school or anything like that. You can imagine if that had taken ...
COOPER: Do you know why he was suspended?
NATION: There was apparently an incident on the bus with another student. And I haven't gotten the details on that. Mind you, my role here, I've been asked by the family to find out what happened on Friday. And that's what I've been working on since that time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, a lot of questions still to be answered.
A quick look at tomorrow's news on our radar tonight. Members of a Senate committee head to Gulfport, Mississippi, tomorrow, surveying the damage from Katrina. Asking a lot of questions. They're also scheduled to meet with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin who had some strong words today about the storm, God and race. We'll have details on that a bit later in the program.
Also tomorrow, the Supreme Court may decide whether to pear the appeal of Jose Padilla, the alleged dirty bomber. The case centers on federal power to detain Americans suspected of terrorism. The court's announcement may come at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
And if all goes as planned, NASA expects to send a space probe on its way to the far reaches of the solar system. Thy call the craft "New Horizons," destination, Pluto, from where it will send back photos, the first-ever close-ups. Out of this world in the headlines tomorrow and on our radar tonight.
I want to thank our international viewers for watching. If you're just joining us here in the United States, ahead on 360, did doctors perform mercy killings after Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, the investigation deepens. There's word that a grand jury will soon get involved. We'll have the latest.
Plus, the only survivor in the Sago mine tragedy still in intensive care. But there is some positive news tonight about his recovery. We'll have that.
And problems with the flu. Two of four prescribed antiviral drugs now considered ineffective. What does this mean for you and your family? We'll get the facts. 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Shocking claims under investigation. Did New Orleans doctors kill patients in the days after Hurricane Katrina? Tonight, word the case will soon go before a grand jury.
ANNOUNCER: Reports of mercy killings in New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We intend to prosecute if we find that murders did take place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Allegations of Euthanasia at New Orleans hospitals and nursing homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, a new twist in the search for justice.
Murder suspects on the loose. The public on high alert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got two presume that they are armed and dangerous. ANNOUNCER: A manhunt continues in the Southeast since the men's brutal breakout from jail. Stabbing a guard 15 times.
And at the height of flu season, alarming prognosis. Two of the biggest drugs used to fight the flu no longer work. We'll tell you which ones they are and what you can do to protect yourself this flu season.
From across the U.S. and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360, live from the CNN studios in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.
COOPER: Before any of that though, other stories we're following at this moment.
Ninety-two-year-old former President Gerald Ford is resting comfortably this evening after being admitted to the Eisenhower Medical Center near his home in Rancho Mirage, California. Mr. Ford is being treated with intravenous antibiotics and is expected to be released Wednesday or Thursday.
In a speech in Washington today, former Vice President Al Gore said the man who he lost the bitter 2000 elections, that George Bush, quote, "has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently" by using the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without a court order.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
