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Virginia Tech Officials Hold News Conference; Dungeon Rape Verdict; Boris Yeltsin Dead; Houston Shootings; Fallen Blue Angel; Fallen Idol In D.C.

Aired April 23, 2007 - 14:01   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

It has been a week since Virginia Tech was forever changed. In a few minutes, school officials talk about the future. We'll take you live to their news conference.

LEMON: Plus, a tragic accident claims a top Navy pilot. We'll talk with an Atlanta reporter who once flew with Blue Angel Kevin Davis.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Pausing to remember at Virginia Tech, thousands filled the center of campus this morning one week after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. A bell sounded 32 times to honor each victim of the massacre. Thirty-two white balloon were released in their memory.

As classes resume today, one Virginia Tech employee described the mood this way: a lot of sadness, a lot of sorrow, a lot of silence. You're looking at a live briefing happening right now on the campus. We'll get to that in a second.

Let's finish this. Students had the option of taking the rest of the term off, but many say they can't imagine staying away.

Live now to that press conference, where folks are asking questions of school officials. Let's listen in for a moment.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

LARRY HINCKER, ASSOC. V.P., UNIV. RELATIONS, VIRGINIA TECH: ... who you had met earlier, vice president for student affairs; Dr. Chris Flynn, director of the Cook Counseling Center, who you had met earlier; Dr. Edward Spencer, associate vice president for student affairs, who I believe you met earlier. And then also we have with us Dr. Lay Nam Chang, and he's the dean of the College of Sciences.

So, a couple administrative notes.

Many have asked -- I don't know whether the state PIO for the -- the state police PIO has put it out yet, but there will be a briefing here at 1:30 on Wednesday by the state police, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and Virginia Tech police on their findings of the incident. As a result, I'd like to focus our conversation today on our campus, our students and our faculty.

Currently, I have no further briefings scheduled until Wednesday. However, we're going to still do our best to try to have some available for you. Many, many calls keep coming in. Please call 231- 5396. We're able to arrange a handful of interviews.

Where's my colleagues -- Paul (ph), do I need to say anything about satellite trucks? Or are we pretty much OK on that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've got the rules.

HINCKER: OK. Everybody's got the rules on satellite trucks?

You're also aware that there's a pool taking place right now -- a video pool, a print pool and a radio pool. We've pulled together a couple of students and a couple of faculty members for you just to give you their personal experiences. And again, we'll have information later if you haven't heard about it already. All of that will be posted and made available to you.

I'll try to be less emotional this week than I was last week. But as you know, it was the rawest of raw times for all of us.

I want to thank you all for telling our story. I want to thank you for wanting to tell our story.

I do need to tell you -- and I think many of you know this -- the student government association came to us with a plea and said, "Get them out of here." The SGA and all of our students are very concerned about the media presence on campus, and yet my job is to counsel them and to explain that you are just as hurt as the rest of the world and that you want to help tell the story about the rebirth and the rebuilding here at Virginia Tech.

We tried to lay out a couple ground rules for you and how you're going to treat people on campus. And to be perfectly honest, we've told students, we've told faculty, if you don't want to talk to a media person, don't talk. But I've heard some wonderful, wonderful stories that you all have already told and will continue to tell. And so, for that, I thank you and I hope you will continue to tell those stories.

So with that, what I have asked my colleagues to do -- and we'll begin with Dr. Hikes down on the right -- is just give you about a minute or so, a little bit more than a minute -- remember, these are academics, OK, so I'll do my best to keep them to a minute -- just a little overview on what's going on, what they see, what kind of feedback they've gotten. And then after that, we're going to stay here until 2:45. Some of us have to be back for a 3:00 briefing, but we'll stay here and take your questions.

And so, Dr. Hikes, I turn to you.

ZENOBIA LAWRENCE HIKES, V.P., STUDENT AFFAIRS, VIRGINIA TECH: Good afternoon.

I am Zenobia Lawrence Hikes, vice president for student affairs. And I would like to echo Larry Hincker's comments as to thanking you for telling the wonderful and positive stories about our students.

We are fortunate at Virginia Tech to have some of the most talented students in the country, and students who come from all over the world. So this has been certainly a daunting task for my team and a memorable experience, a life-altering experience for our students. I do think, though, in telling their story you have had an opportunity to see a bit of what we mean about the Hokie nation and the spirit that prevails on this campus.

My team has spent a good part of the day walking about the campus, connecting with students. I have done the same, as well as the moment of silence, the tribute that was held at 9:45 today. In walking about, there, as you would imagine, are a range of emotions.

There are students who say that, "I'm fine" and "I'm OK." There are others who say that they went home and they had to come back to be here, to be here with their friends, to start to bring closure.

Students have been assured in seeing all of our mental health practitioners on campus and people wearing nametags which read "May I help?" and arm bands that are either yellow for those who are helping and providing information, or the purple for those who are in counseling and assisting students in that way. In talking, we are already students beginning to think about student organizations and activities and things that they will do for the remainder of the semester, but again there is a range.

There's a range of students who are choosing to just huddle together and support each other through either their fraternal organizations, or just informal networks that they have in their residence halls. So we're seeing that kind of community.

As you walk through the various buildings, our faculty and staff on campus are most appreciative. You will hear people saying "Thank you," and they, too, are challenged and struggling because of this.

So, what I would say in a summative way, that people are at different stages, students are struggling, and you certainly would anticipate that this process will go on for some time. However, I am very pleased with my team that has -- and Dr. Flynn will speak more to the number of individuals we have here who are helping our students, but my team has worked in ways that are not necessarily in their typical work field.

So people in student health services, student in services for disabilities, are serving as the point people for our injured students. And other individuals are serving at information desks. So we're doing a number of things to make sure that students are supported.

HINCKER: Dr. Ed Spencer, associate vice president of student affairs. DR. EDWARD SPENCER, ASSOCIATE V.P., STUDENT AFFAIRS, VIRGINIA TECH: Thank you, Larry.

I have asked some of our residence hall staff for some feedback of what they're seeing and hearing out there in the residence halls today, and very similar to what Dr. Hikes said. We're getting a lot of mixed reactions, very much like the individual reactions that we all have to death.

We all react to that in different kinds of ways. And so we're seeing the resolute, the confused, the angry, and the numb. And that is typically what you see in a death situation.

Most of our students are committed to staying here for the semester, is what we're hearing right now. Many of them are deciding to go ahead and take the grade they have in the course already, but I think in true Hokie spirit, they are deciding they also want to stay around, go to class and get the notes, because it will be important for them for future courses to have the exposure that they'll have during the rest of the course.

There probably will be a small trickle of students leaving each day as some complete and feel that they have all that they need and want to get home for family commitments, or a leave for all the various reasons. So I think we'll see that small trickle every day through May 13th, which is the day the residence halls close for the academic year.

Very interesting to me, we have a number of what we call theme housing programs in residence halls that are connected to an academic program, such as our Galileo and Hypatia engineering programs, our biological and life sciences community. Those communities tend to build a strong sense of community within them, and, in fact, we're seeing a higher staying there hanging in among those groups than we are in the larger traditional residence halls.

We're also seeing the same kind of thing, as you might expect, in our fraternities and sororities. We have a number of those groups who live on campus in special fraternity and sorority houses.

The students seem to be talking about the things they can do together. They seem to be conferring together. I just came back from one of our dining centers, and outside the students were picnicking together and talking, and in many cases making arrangements to attend some of the funerals and memorial services that are taking place.

They seem to be asking for a lot of advice. They seem to be asking for help where they need it. They're expressing a great deal of gratitude for the mental health professionals that we have available today and all the special services that we have.

I would echo what Dr. Hikes said about the nature of our students, and I'll share a personal story with you.

I was called out of town this weekend for a funeral within my wife's family, and when we arrived there, the thing that people wanted to say and talk about the most could best be summed up when they said, "Ed, you have the most incredible students."

And I think you have helped show the world what the Hokie spirit is all about.

HINCKER: Dr. McNamee, university provost.

DR. MARK MCNAMEE, PROVOST, VIRGINIA TECH: Hello. I'm Mark McNamee, university provost, vice president for academic affairs.

And our faculty, our staff and our students have really demonstrated their commitment to education today. I can't tell you how exciting it is to see the students crossing the drill field to go to their classrooms.

I've talked with the faculty members within teaching, talked to the teaching assistants, who mostly are graduate students, and talked to students, and they are very, very pleased to be back in the classroom learning. Many of their classes are full to capacity. The faculty members have brought with them in most cases another faculty colleague to be with them. And that bond, that community that they created has reassured the students, and I think has reassured the faculty as they work together, that they are here to learn.

And I think that, as you know, we have created what we call the student choice policy, where students have multiple options about deciding how much more work they want to do through the end of the semester, entirely at their discretion in each course. And this has been very well-received by the faculty and the students. And I think it's created an environment where the students really are focusing on what they can learn through the rest of the semester. So I'm very -- all the reports I've had are demonstrating a very strong commitment to education.

I even heard an anecdote today from a faculty member that I think shows you what -- what it really means to be in a classroom, and that is, they said that the lecture hall -- it was a large class -- the lecture hall was full, and the same students who sit in the last row were still nodding off during class. So we are, in fact -- I think the students are helping us to create that sense of normalcy.

They -- as Zenobia said, they're in very different stages in terms of how they feel. And like all of us, they go up and down various times during the day (INAUDIBLE) feelings and emotions, but they want to be in the classroom. And I couldn't be more pleased to see how our students have shown what resilience is all about.

And we'll continue to work with them, support them. We're supporting our faculty and our staff. And I'm looking forward to a very successful closure to this semester.

HINCKER: Dr. Chang?

DR. LAY NAM, CHANG, DEAN OF COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, VIRGINIA TECH: Thank you, Larry.

My name is Lay Nam Chang. I'm the dean of the College of Science. And I echo a lot of the sentiments that have already been expressed to you earlier on.

Our college is responsible for a lot of the classes that go on each day on campus. And this being the first day of classes after the tragedy, a lot of the faculty members have volunteered to be on hand to guide students and to guide the counselors that have been made available for such purpose.

I have to start by saying that the large number of people with purple armbands -- these are the counselors -- have had a tremendous effect on the way in which students have reacted to this first day of classes. There's a calming influence, and they're always there when needed. And that's a very comforting thing to see.

Faculty members, as I said, have been around most of the academic buildings, and I have gone from one academic building to another, and I can report to you that to the extent possible, we are in fact return to normalcy. Larry had mentioned about a rebirth, and I think that we are in fact in the process of seeing that rebirth process starting.

The classes are generally full. There have been some classes where the attendance perhaps is slightly less than normal, but that is compared to what could have happened at this late stage in the semester. By and large, the attendance has been extremely high.

The general tone of discussion in the class is somber, yet at the same time the students are engaged and focused. The student choice option -- the student choice -- the various options have been laid before the students and have served as a starting point for discussions about what has happened. In some instances, the discussions didn't take that long, and the instructors decided at that particular juncture to then start the class as a normal instructional session.

So far, there haven't been any incidents that I'm aware of that are out of the ordinary. Several faculty members have come up to me and said that we have prepared, and we were thinking that something extraordinary may happen, and nothing extraordinary has happened. And that is actually very good news indeed.

I would like to express my appreciation for what you have done in terms of conveying the news from Blacksburg. We wish that there could have been happier news, but that's the way it is.

Thank you.

HINCKER: Dr. Flynn.

DR. CHRIS FLYNN, DIRECTOR OF COOK COUNSELING SERVICES, VIRGINIA TECH: I'm pleased to be here today. We

have had a powerful and moving day. It's clear to me that the United States has joined together in an outpouring of sorrow and grief for our students and their families.

We issued a call for mental health counselors to come help us as we started back to campus. And we wanted to be present in all of the classes where a student had been injured or was deceased. And that number is quite large, as you might imagine, because we want to cover every class where those students have been present.

I've had over 200 counselors on campus for the entire day. I've had the privilege of working with a number of mental health agencies from across the country that have volunteered. People have flown in from as far away as California. I have colleagues from counseling centers across the South.

We have mental health professionals from the Mental Health Association of New River Valley, from the American Red Cross, from the community service bureaus, from the marriage and family therapy program here at Tech, the Psychological Services Clinic at Tech, as well as the Counselor Education Department. All of these people have been tremendous, and all of these people have come to Tech to support our students, and want to be here because we are so united in support for those who have passed on or have been injured.

I've had counselors meeting with faculty members. We've probably had 30 to 40 meetings with faculty members in groups as small as five and as large as 600 from the College of Engineering.

Our counselors have been going out to the classes this morning and reporting that the students are just extraordinary, united in grief and yet able to talk and express their feelings. They have been wonderful. These counselors have been wonderful.

We know that grief and mourning is not an evidence of psychopathology. This is a normal part of the healing process. And our students are still grieving and will continue to grieve for a long time.

We know from previous experiences with disasters that it takes a while for some of this to come out. So we anticipate that over the next year or so, that students will continue to deal with this and to process it, and we will be available to them.

The university has granted me as much resources as I've needed. It's been extraordinary, because they are aware of the mental health component part of this, and that part has been enormously gratifying.

This has just been a powerful and moving day for all involved.

HINCKER: Thank you, Chris.

Well, like I said, I gave five people one minute each, and that's 20 minutes. I know my colleagues, but we do have about a half hour left. And so we're here to respond to your inquiry.

Yes, ma'am?

Just a second.

QUESTION: Can you talk about how you organized what happened with the classrooms in Norris Hall and the classrooms on the second floor, where the shootings occurred? HINCKER: You mean where they are now?

QUESTION: Where the students are, where they were relocated, and how they (INAUDIBLE)?

MCNAMEE: I can talk to...

HINCKER: Just, first of all, let me note that we have found where they are. Many of those faculty have asked us not to release the location of those rooms because you know that they'll get descended upon. So we're not going to do that.

Go ahead, Mark.

MCNAMEE: I was just going to say in general, the process has been that every class in Norris Hall has been relocated to a different location. And all the instructors have worked with their -- the students have been notified, the instructors have been in contact with their students. And we feel very good about it. In fact, the ability of the registrar's office and our facilities people and so on to make these arrangements on very short notice, so that all the classes are going on as planned.

HINCKER: Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Just a quick follow-up on that. For students who were actually in classes with professors, anything -- what specifically (INAUDIBLE)?

HINCKER: You want to talk to that?

FLYNN: Those classes met today as well with an instructor who took over those classes. Those students were able to meet and talk with each other, and will continue -- that determination whether they will continue to meet was determined during the class period.

HINCKER: Green shirt, and then Rex (ph)?

QUESTION: Yes, sir. (OFF-MIKE)

SPENCER: I think we believe it's somewhere in the 80, 85 percent range, probably. The residence hall staff were telling us about 80 to 90 percent are here. You heard Dr. Chang I think talk about class attendance at about 75 percent.

So, you know, I would say, you know, more than three-quarters of our students are here right now. What remains to be seen is exactly how long each person will stay and which of the three choices they will take.

HINCKER: Rex (ph)?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

HINCKER: The meeting at 3:00 is the beginning of defining that process. And Rex (ph), how long it will be and the format and the structure, I just don't know.

Obviously, as I mentioned last week, what we do has to dovetail with what the Massengill commission does, and we've not gotten any communication from them specific other than what you saw in the governor's announcement. So I'm afraid I don't have a whole lot more than that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

HINCKER: I mean, like I said, Rex (ph), we just -- we just don't know. We're just starting. I mean, so -- yes, sir, right here?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CHANG: The short answer to your question is yes. We have been discussing with the department heads and with the departments and faculty members on what are some of the things to be aware of and the discussion, and so on.

Now, quite clearly, we can't possibly anticipate every issue that might be brought up, but by and large, judging by my own experience this morning -- I tried to attend as many classes in as many different buildings as possible -- those discussion in fact have been going on well. But the short answer is yes.

(CROSSTALK)

MCNAMEE: I was going to say, we have a center for excellence in undergraduate teaching. And they had workshops all last week, large numbers of faculty groups, to talk about these kinds of issues and how to respond to questions, how to handle issues, how much to talk about -- when to know how to get help and that sort of thing. So the faculty have been very engaged in learning about how best to get back into the classroom after something like this.

HINCKER: Chris, I know you have to...

LEMON: All right. Listening in an informal question-and-answer session happening on the campus of Virginia Tech, really the leaders on campus and the faculty there talking about how they're moving on from this.

Very interesting, saying how they've consolidated their video, Suzanne, their print and their radio department, the students there, to sort of deal with the media. And just having a conversation with you here. You know, it's a very sad tragedy, but I think these will be maybe the most sought after students in the journalism field in the country once they do get to that point.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. And you know, it's interesting. They've had a lot of students that want to go back to class. I know in our days you might want to sleep in. But they said there' even -- like to see a kid nodding off in the back row is a good sign.

LEMON: Yes.

MALVEAUX: You know, that they're students there, and that's a sense of normalcy. You know?

LEMON: Things are getting back to normal as much as they can...

MALVEAUX: So that's good. Right.

LEMON: ... on the campus. And we certainly do wish them well.

We're going to monitor that, the question-and-answer session. And if any news happens in that question-and-answer session, of course we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And those who knew him say he was born to fly. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, memories of Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis from a man who once flew with the Blue Angel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is the bottom of the hour. And we start with a story that is just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. A lot of developing news happening out of New Jersey.

T.J. Holmes, what do you have for us?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're staying busy over here.

This is another case where we have a verdict now from a jury. This is the case of Melanie McGuire. She has now been convicted of murdering her husband after poisoning him. And then after killing him, dismembering his body, putting his body in three suitcases, and then tossing those suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay.

We appear to be still looking at live pictures from inside the courtroom. But the verdict was read just a short time ago. Melanie McGuire. She's a 34-year-old fertility clinic nurse, who is convicted now of this murder of her husband back in 2004. Prosecutors said she essentially did it because she wanted to be with her lover and this was easier than getting a divorce. But, yes, again, convicted of poisoning, then shooting, then dismembering her husband back in 2004. Sentencing on July 13th. She could get up to 30 years to life is what this murder charge carries.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I was going to say, sentencing is next, and we will be following that part of the story. T.J. Holmes, as always, thank you.

HOLMES: All right.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And in South Carolina, a jury has found a convicted sex offender not guilty of kidnapping and raping two teenage girls in a makeshift dungeon. Patricia Burkett of South Carolina affiliate WBTW has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICIA BURKETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): After about four hours of deliberation, a jury found Kenneth Hinsen not guilty on all of the charges. Now those included two counts each of criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and assault and battery with intent to kill. The case lasted for seven days now. Both sides presented compelling arguments.

There was no indication when it wrapped up, however, as to which way it would go. When the clerk of courts read the verdict, the victims' family members were emotional and in a state of disbelief. Kenneth Hinsen, however, showed no emotion at all, only taking a Kleenex to his eyes one the whole ordeal was over with.

This was a big case to the state. The attorney general's office prosecuted it. They say they were in complete shock when the verdict came down.

HENRY MCMASTER, SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: In our view, there was ample evidence for the jury to make decisions of guilty on every one of those charges. Of course, I mean, they just -- the jury for reasons that only they know made the contrary decision, not once but six times.

BURKETT: Now, Kenneth Hinson is not a free man at this point. The state attorney general's office says federal officials will prosecute him as a felon in possession of a firearm. Now because it would be his third, federal offense, officials say if convicted on that charge, he could face a sentence of life in prison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Again that was Patricia Burkett of South Carolina, affiliate WBTW reporting.

LEMON: Sometimes heroic, sometimes defiant, sometimes erratic, weak, even a punch line. Boris Yeltsin was all of those things. The man who oversaw the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of a democratic Russia died today at 76. CNN's Jill Daugherty look at Yeltsin's flamboyant entrance onto the world stage and his anti- climatic exit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DAUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): December 31, 1999, Boris Yeltsin walked away from it all. The presidency, the power, the prestige.

BORIS YELTSIN, FORMER RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, (through translator): Today, on the last day of the departing century, I am resigning.

DAUGHERTY: His staff and the nation were in shock. But Yeltsin, in his memoirs says, "to my surprise, I realized I was in a good mood. A very good, cheerful mood." He handed over the so-called nuclear suitcase, which controls Russia's missiles, to his hand-picked successor, Vladimir Putin. "Now I was no longer responsible for the nuclear suitcase and the nuclear button," he wrote. "Maybe I would finally get rid of my insomnia."

And so the man who many accused of being addicted to power was now a pensioner. And he began recording his memoirs for a third and last autobiography, which he could call, in Russian, "Presidential Marathon."

But he stayed away from politics. His old friend, Bill Clinton, visited him at his country dacha. He met occasionally with the new Russian president, Vladimir Putin, not as an advisor, he said, but as someone to talk with who knows a lot.

He criticized Mr. Putin for bringing back the old Soviet anthem. He said he regretted leaving two difficult decisions to Mr. Putin, whether to remove Lennon's body from its mausoleum on Red Square, and whether to outlaw the communist party.

But the height of his Kremlin power, Boris Yeltsin told CNN he's not concerned about his role in history.

YELTSIN, (through translator): Concerning history, I want to dispense with that issue immediately. I am not thinking about history at all and I'm not planning on thinking about it. I'm thinking about deeds.

DAUGHERTY: But Boris Yeltsin now is part of history. More than three quarters of his countrymen think the Yeltsin era brought Russia more bad than good. Political observers see two sides to Boris Yeltsin.

ANDREI KORTUNOV, POLITICAL ANALYST: He will be remembered as a very talented, very gifted politician, but the hopeless statesman. He knew how to get to power. He knew how to keep in power, but he didn't know quite well what to do with the power that he had.

DAUGHERTY: Another man who once ruled the Kremlin calls Yeltsin power hungry.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, FORMER SOVIET PRESIDENT, (through translator): Of course he was no democrat. He came to power adjusting his point of view, deceiving saying he was against privileges. A great democrat. He climbed up on a tank but it was all deception.

DAUGHERTY: Boris Yeltsin, in his last book, saw it differently. "I gave it my all," he writes. "I put my whole heart and soul into running my presidential marathon. I honestly went the distance. If I have to justify anything, here is what I will say. If you think you can do it better, just try. Run those 40,000 kilometers. Try to do it faster, better, more eloquently or more easily, because I did it."

Jill Daugherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. More developing news, but we're going to move away from New Jersey now to Texas, Houston, right, T.J.?

HOLMES: Yes, we're heading to Houston where there's a manhunt going on right now.

LEMON: Oh, my.

HOLMES: There's a shooter on the loose, apparently, Don. A local affiliate is reporting that at least two people shot and possibly two people dead in this shooting in Houston. You're looking at a live picture now from one of our affiliates, KTRK.

But there is a major police presence around this area. What you're seeing there kind of in the middle of that complex, that is an upscale apartment complex. You can see the tennis courts and the pool there. And a lot of police presence around, because the shooting, according to our affiliate, did take place at that apartment complex.

This happens to be near the Galleria, which could be familiar to certainly folks there in Houston, but anybody who's been through there. A major shopping complex.

Here's another live picture from another one of our affiliates.

But we have seen a huge police presence around this complex. And apparently a manhunt is going on. You can see kind of trees and looked like kind of a wooded area around this complex. Sure they're concentrating in there, possibly.

But a huge police presence. Two people shot and reports are from our affiliate that, in fact, those two people who were shot, in fact, have deceased. So a manhunt right now. Suspect on the loose.

We're going to keep an eye on this. Certainly a lot of concern for folks living in and around that area of Houston. If there's a gunman, a killer literally on the loose. So we're keeping an eye on that as well, Don.

LEMON: Yes. It certainly can happen anywhere, but that area near the Galleria very upscale. So unusual. Thank you. We'll check back, T.J.

MALVEAUX: And President Bush says he is sticking by Alberto Gonzales. The embattled attorney general failed last week to blunt calls for his resignation over the purge of eight U.S. attorneys. His appearance before the Senate Judiciary Community was largely panned by Democrats and Republicans alike, but the president said today he, for one, liked what he heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The attorney general went up and gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer, and in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And today, just earlier, Gonzales answered a question about his status as attorney general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I will stay as long as I feel like I can be effective. And I believe I can be effective. Obviously we'll be working with Congress to reassure them that we've identified the mistakes that have been made here and that we are taking steps to address them. But I can't just be focused on the U.S. attorney situation. I've also got to be focused on what's really important for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Senator Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee said today, Gonzales "will be harmful to the Justice Department because he has lost his credibility." Specter stopped short of demanding his resignation.

LEMON: Well, those who knew him say he was born to fly. Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, memories of Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis for the man who once flew with the Blue Angel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We've been talking about that awful, awful crash in South Carolina. And last year at this time, a reporter took a ride with the Blue Angels. The pilot was Lieutenant Command Kevin Davis, who died in Saturday's crash in Beaufort, South Carolina. And you'll hear Davis' voice as he pilots Steve Beatty of the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution." Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. CMDR. KEVIN DAVIS, BLUE ANGELS: Get ready for a big (INAUDIBLE). We're going to do a (INAUDIBLE), which is basically pulling right up through the invertes (ph) of the vertical to the inverted.

STEVE BEATTY, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes.

DAVIS: Ready to go?

BEATTY: I am ready.

DAVIS: All right. Take a deep breath.

BEATTY: OK.

DAVIS: Flex your legs. Up we go.

BEATTY: Oh!

DAVIS: (INAUDIBLE). You're back with me, Steve, can you hear me?

BEATTY: Yes, I am. Sorry.

DAVIS: No problem.

BEATTY: Wow. I went nowhere there for a while.

DAVIS: Yes, you took a little bit of a nap. That's all right. That happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Unbelievable stuff. That was Steve Beatty then. Here he is now to tell us about the late Lieutenant Commander Davis and the ride they took that exciting day, very exciting for you. But you went out there for a bit.

BEATTY: I did. I took a small nap.

LEMON: Yes, a small nap. Very short. We're going to get to that. But tell me, you know, you can learn a lot and not -- we talked before and you said, obviously, you weren't the best of friends. You met him once. But you can learn a lot about a person when you meet them.

BEATTY: I think you can.

LEMON: Especially in close quarters like that. Born to fly, this guy?

BEATTY: He was. He was straight from central casting, all- American, lantern-jawed, and very confident and very comfortable. He handled the plane with such precision and discipline.

LEMON: Yes. They train for this for years and years and years. A very intense training. You knew full well going out with him, though, the dangers of that and going -- that you would pass out. And the potential always, no matter how much you're trained for an accident to happen.

BEATTY: Oh, yes. They went through the drill on what would happen if the ejection seat went off and we would take a little ride down by parachute. But that really never crossed my mind. I was very comfortable with it.

LEMON: You spoke to him about it, and I think we have it in an interview with us when you went out with him. You talked about the dangers. You talked about the training. Let's talk a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEATTY: So does your vision narrow on those, or are you used to it?

DAVIS: At times it can start to come in, but I just kind of -- I'll increase my restraining and push it back out. And if I can't push it back out, if I'm fatigued and I can't handle the g, then I'll release the pull. In other words, I'll decrease the number of gs, because the last thing I want is for me to go curtain, especially when we're only down about 800 feet above the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Yes, and it was a little bit ominous in talking about that.

BEATTY: It was.

LEMON: But again, they train for this and so they know full well the dangers, as well as you. What did you think, as far as flying with him? You felt fairly comfortable, right, that you were in good hands.

BEATTY: I was in perfect hands from the moment that I shook hands with him and he told me everything was going to be fine. I had no doubts that I was OK.

LEMON: I have to ask you this. Where were you during -- when they were -- when you saw the Blue Angels this weekend and you saw the crash, where were you?

BEATTY: I was at home. I saw it online. And my first thought was, I hope that's not Kevin. And, of course, the next morning I found out it was, and it was like a punch in the gut. I didn't know him well, but I certainly felt like I got to know him as a pilot and it was very sad.

LEMON: Yes. And just looking at that video that you shot, this is the video of the crash. I mean it was just horrific this weekend. Actually sent in to CNN by one of our I-Reporters. Tell me about this formation that they were supposedly doing when this crash happened. You didn't take part in that sort of formation when you went up?

BEATTY: I didn't. When I flew with him, it was just Kevin in a demonstration flight. And this is where they set up behind the crowd. They get into a diamond shape and they come across the field with all six planes together.

LEMON: Now you can certainly see what they go through there with the amount of g-force and how it -- your body handles that just from the video that you shot. You said you felt like you were out for 15 minutes and it was just a couple of seconds.

BEATTY: Right. Probably five seconds I was out.

LEMON: So we don't know what happened. But certainly a sad story for happening with the Blue Angels there. And I want to thank Steve Beatty from the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution." I know it's tough for you having gone up with him (ph), but thank you for coming in today and sharing your story with us.

BEATTY: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: And thousands of kids are left behind when moms and dads are sent off to war. You'll hear from some of them ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: I really like that music. An "American Idol" reject made a big splash in Washington over the weekend. I want to know what happened there. Entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas joins me now with the details.

Sibila, I hope you were there making a splash. Were you?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wasn't making a splash. It was Sanjaya. You know, he was voted off "American Idol" recently. Yes, he was the hit in Washington over the weekend. I know he's quite a player. You know what they say.

LEMON: Player, player, player play along, right?

VARGAS: You know, don't hate the player, hate the game, right?

LEMON: Wow, Sibila.

VARGAS: Yes, "American Idol" castoff Sanjaya Malakar attended the Washington Correspondents Dinner, and, boy, was he Mr. Popularity. You might think people would be lined up to see the president. It was Sanjaya who had the longest line for autographs.

Sanjaya says that even the governor of New York told him that he was a fan of his. Elliot Spitzer was originally shooed away by "People" magazine. It was only after Spitzer said, but I'm the governor of New York, that he was able to get an autograph.

Next up for Sanjaya, he'll read the top 10 list on "Late Show with David Letterman." So he's getting around. Fifteen minutes of fame. Stretching that 15 minutes of fame.

LEMON: Boy, there's a lot to say.

VARGAS: I know.

LEMON: Don't say anything (INAUDIBLE) my position here at CNN.

So we hear some musicians are up to some good stuff, auctioning off some memorabilia as well. Is that right, Sibila.

VARGAS: That's right. Apparently Hurricane Katrina victims are still very much on the minds of some famous rockers. Rock band U2 recently donated some items for a good cause, a Gibson Les Paul guitar and Bono sunglasses together raised more than$250,000 at an auction to benefit musicians who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. It happened at New York's Hard Rock Cafee and it marked the first time such a wide selection of U2 memorabilia was available to collectors. The Les Paul was bought by an anonymous buyer.

And finally, she wowed audiences with her performance in "Dreamgirls." Now she's set to star in a major role and make history. Actress Anika Noni Rose will lend her voice to the lead role in Disney's forthcoming "The Frog Princess." The animated musical will feature the first African-American Disney princess and the story will be set in 1920s New Orleans. Rose is already known to Broadway audiences for her Tony Award-winning musical "Caroline, or Change."

Well tonight on "Showbiz Tonight," you'll want to tune in because we are going to have more on Alec Baldwin's explosive phone tirade against his young daughter. Tonight, why so many people are taking Baldwin's side and they're saying that they understand why he lost his temper. But others are asking, does it excuse his behavior? The raging debate on TV's most proactive entertainment news show, "Showbiz Tonight," 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on "Headline Prime."

See you there, Don.

LEMON: Yes, a lot of hoopla around that whole thing, isn't it?

VARGAS: Sure is.

LEMON: Yes. All right. We'll see you tonight on "Headline Prime," 11:00 p.m. Eastern. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: And let's go straight to T.J. Holmes. I understand that he's got a developing story that you're following, T.J.?

HOLMES: Yes, the one out of Houston we were talking about a short time ago where two people had been shot, killed at an apartment complex, a luxury complex, in Houston, Texas. This is the live picture of it. This is near the Galleria, to give you some kind of idea. A lot of people familiar with that area, who are, certainly know the Galleria area.

Well now that we know two people are, in fact, dead, have been killed here, and details we're getting now, local affiliates reporting from their police sources, that this happened after someone walked into the leasing office at this complex and shot someone there before turning the gun on himself. So according to that report, at least, the gunman that shot the first person is now among the two that are dead at this complex. That Houston affiliate of ours also reporting that the person was being evicted, the one who did the shooting.

We're working to confirm some of that, but, still, no exact word on who the gunman is, who exactly the victim was, if the person actually worked in that office or what. But we do know now that two people dead and it's believed that the gunman is among the two that are dead. So hopefully nobody on the loose, according to police right now, but still a developing story.

As we get more details, Suzanne, we certainly will continue to bring those along to you.

MALVEAUX: So, T.J., they don't believe there's an accomplice at this point, only the gunmen?

HOLMES: No reports of an accomplice, a second person or anyone on the loose, which is key right now. They do believe, at least reports from police sources to our affiliates, that the gunman is, in fact, among the two people found dead.

MALVEAUX: OK, T.J. Homes, thank you so much. And we're going to have more details on that, of course, coming up later in the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

MALVEAUX: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Kyra Phillips.

Protection or de facto prison. Reviews are definitely mixed as walls go up in Baghdad.

LEMON: Also, they are too young to enlist, but if a mom or dad goes off to war, these children, they're the ones who make the sacrifice.

MALVEAUX: And scorched earth in Georgia. More than 55,000 acres so far and the wildfires are still going strong.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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