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School Rampage in Cleveland; Cold Medicine & Kids

Aired October 11, 2007 - 09:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

Watch events come in to the NEWSROOM live on Thursday morning, October 11th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

An argument over God the apparent trigger for the Cleveland school shooter. We'll tell you about the troubled 14-year-old who snapped.

HARRIS: Well, that was quick. Chrysler workers back on the job this morning. What's in the new deal?

COLLINS: Several cough and cold medicines for babies and toddlers pulled from store shelves.

Off the market, in the NEWSROOM.

As you might imagine, public schools are closed this morning in Cleveland, Ohio, a day after a 14-year-old student opened fire. He is the lone fatality. Today, questions about what set him off.

CNN's Susan Roesgen is in Cleveland.

Susan, good to see you.

Are we getting a better idea on a fix to the answer to that "why" question?

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think we are, Tony, though mostly still through unconfirmed sources. Mostly from witnesses, from people in the neighborhood who knew Asa Coon, the 14- year-old, with the two guns.

You know, the big questions about how did he get those guns, how did he get inside and no one noticed that, hey, he was supposed to be suspended this week, he shouldn't have even been in class, the answers to those things we don't have yet. But Tony, here is a timeline of how the shooting happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN (voice-over): Shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon, SuccessTech Academy was under a code blue alert. The school was under attack from a 14-year-old student. Witnesses say Asa Coon was dressed in black with a gun in each hand when he opened fire, wounding two adults and two students. One of the victims says he was hit in the elbow as he was walking to class.

DARNELL RODGERS, SHOOTING VICTIM: It look took me like a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot. When I felt like my arm burning or whatever, that's when I realized that I had got shot.

ROESGEN: But as it is with most shootings, the story did not begin with the gunfire.

There were warning signs. Coon had past troubles with the law. The police say he had pleaded guilty last year to domestic violence. And, earlier this week, he was suspended for school for fighting with another student. Coon apparently talked to one of his friends about his plans to attack the school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, if he would shoot up the school, he would let me and some other dude he knew go and all that. But I -- I didn't think he actually meant it. I thought he was just kidding around.

ROESGEN: Cleveland television station WOIO reports that police were at Coon's home Tuesday to arrest his brother, who is on probation for carrying a gun. Shortly after Coon opened fire today, police rushed to the school, getting there at about 15 minutes past 1:00.

Inside, students were still hiding in closets and under desks, many afraid they could be hit next. Parents describe the chaos.

DEBBIE, PARENT: All the kids were upset. They were screaming and yelling because they didn't know what was going on, but they did hear the shots, and they did not know what had happened. All they know is that someone was in the school with a gun.

ROESGEN: Officers surrounded the building, guns drawn, prepared to confront the shooter. But there was no battle. Coon had taken his own life, shooting himself once in the head, apparently after watching the police close in from a classroom window.

MICHAEL MCGRATH, CLEVELAND POLICE CHIEF: That very possibly could be; he could see the police officers showing up, and, at that point, he -- he took his own life.

ROESGEN: The police later found a box of ammunition and three knives near Coon's body.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Now, Tony, I want to tell you more about this particular school. If you can see it there behind me, it's a beautiful facility. It's a downtown Cleveland school. It is not, as some people have suggested, an alternative school in the sense that it's for bad kids. In fact, it's just the opposite.

It's a specialty school here. Students have to apply to get in. It specializes in teaching them business and technology.

In fact, it has a 94 percent graduation rate, Tony. That's better than the school average here of 55 percent.

So we're not suggesting that this is something, you know, wrong on the school's part, but many people are asking, where were the metal detectors? And this is a school district -- and I've known others around the country like this -- in which they have portable metal detectors and the school system decides where they want those metal detectors to go from day to day or from week to week. And there were no metal detectors at this school yesterday.

Also, I want to tell you, Tony, that the police department has talked to Asa Coon's mother. They say she's being very cooperative, but we don't know yet what sort of insight she might have given them into what set her son off -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Susan Roesgen for us.

And Susan, I know you're going to be working the story all day. You were on it all day yesterday. We'll talk to you again at the bottom of the hour.

Thanks, Susan.

COLLINS: We are learning more about the shooting victims. Two of them are teachers. Both men.

Police say a 42-year-old identified as history teacher Michael Grassie underwent surgery. He is said to be in stable condition now. And 57-year-old math teach David Kachadourian was treated for a minor gunshot wound to the back.

Two students were also hit by gunfire, a 15-year-old identified as Michael Peek (ph), and a 17-year-old, Darnell Rodgers, was shot in the elbow. He was treated and released. Another student, a 15-year- old girl, hurt her knee when she fell and was trampled by other students.

HARRIS: So let's take a closer look at the 14-year-old gunman.

Police say Asa Coon was arrested for hitting his mother when he was just 12. Police had been to the home before for incidents that involved weapons. Students say Coon was troubled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. JACK LEVIN, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY CRIMINOLOGY: There are always missed signals. The problem is that they only become clear after the fact.

Hindsight is 20/20. And after somebody shoots a number of people, everybody, all of a sudden, is a psychologist and recognizes all of the warning signs.

Now, the problem is that these warning signs beforehand apply to so many youngsters. The best predictor we have is previous violence. And in this case, Asa definitely had that in his background.

But my point is this: we ought to be intervening early in the life of a child because he's troubled, not because he's troublesome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Interesting.

Coon was under suspicion for fighting. He and a classmate reportedly argued over the existence of God. Reports also say Coon made threats against the school and his classmates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEVIN: There's a culture of silence, and we've seen it in almost every one of these school shootings in the suburbs. Now we see it in the inner city.

We see youngsters who hear threats in the hallway, do nothing about it. And I'll tell you why. Because it's not cool. Because you just don't snitch on a peer. Even if you think there will be a murder, you simply do not rat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Frantic 911 calls poured in. The Cleveland shooting rampage unfolded as it all happened. Some came from students trying to escape the gunfire, others from very worried parents.

This call came from a mother after her son called her on his cell phone.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OPERATOR: 911, what is your emergency, please?

BEATRICE BROWN, STUDENT'S MOTHER: Yes. There is a shooting at SuccessTech Academy, and my son is trapped in one of the back rooms.

OPERATOR: OK, ma'am. We have cares on the way over there, OK? Your son is trapped in a room you said?

BROWN: Yes. Yes in a classroom.

OPERATOR: OK, I'm sorry -- calm down, OK? Where is he calling you from?

BROWN: He's calling from his classroom from a cell phone that only 15 minutes on it.

OPERATOR: OK. Ma'am, does anybody know who's doing the shooting there?

BROWN: No. He's in the back, but they just shot somebody in his room. And he doesn't want me to come up there because he doesn't know where the shooter actually is.

OPERATOR: OK. Do you have any idea what room he's in?

BROWN: No. I forgot to ask him.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COLLINS: Other calls to 911 gave authorities the description and identity of the gunman.

HARRIS: The Cleveland gunman. One victim, a math teacher, said Asa Coon always seemed angry. Another victim, a student, is still coming to grips with how he wound up in the line of fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARNELL RODGERS, VICTIM: I was walking up the stairway. Like, a whole bunch of kids came down the stairway and they were screaming and they were saying, "Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!". And I knew something was wrong but I thought it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going or whatever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Darnell, you're trying to come to terms with what happened here right now. I mean, just the shock of it all.

RODGERS: Yes. It's very shocking.

And I wouldn't think this would happen so close to home, seeing that it happened at every other school, or they say it's going to happen at every other school. I never thought it would personally happen at my school.

It, like, took me, like, a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot when I, like, felt my arm burning or whatever. That's when I realized that I had got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did everyone come running to you? Tell me about that.

RODGERS: When I was like in the classroom, my teacher, they all helped me. And when I got outside, like, a whole bunch of my friends and my girlfriend and my little sister was trying to find me and help me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The school where the shootings happened seems an unlikely place for violence like this. SuccessTech is a magnet school with an enrollment of 200 students. Its curriculum focuses heavily on technology. The school attracts high-achieving students who must apply for admission.

According to "The Plain Dealer," the paper there, SuccessTech has a 94 percent graduation rate and receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The paper says it was named one of Ohio's schools of promise just last week.

It's not a traditional school building either. The school is located in downtown Cleveland in a converted office building.

HARRIS: And we are expecting to learn much more about the school shooting later this morning. Cleveland officials have scheduled a news conference for 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. We will of course bring that to you here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But in just minutes, we will talk to Cleveland's mayor, Frank Jackson.

COLLINS: Also this morning in the NEWSROOM, retracing the rampage. A timeline of how the Cleveland school shooting unfolded. We'll talk with a reporter who was among the first on the scene.

HARRIS: Also, a symbol of hatred. An African-American professor apparently targeted. Policed still searching for answers.

COLLINS: Attack on U.S. military headquarters in Iraq. Bloodshed at what's known as Camp Victory.

HARRIS: And alert for parents. Children's cold and flu medicines voluntarily pulled off store shelves. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have a list of the products.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Retracing the rampage. The Cleveland newspaper "The Plain Dealer" takes an in-depth look at how the school shooting unfolded.

Gabriel Baird is a crime reporter for "The Plain Dealer". He's going to take us through a timeline of the shooter's actions.

Gabriel, good morning to you.

As we mentioned earlier, I know that you were one of the first people on the scene. Tell us what you know about what took place when.

GABRIEL BAIRD, "THE PLAIN DEALER": Well, yesterday, about 12:45, according to a student, Rashim Smith (ph), he was in the bathroom and saw Asa in there changing clothes and loading a gun. After that, the kid did not tell school officials. He just went on about his day, went to lunch, I believe.

And then the shooting began shortly thereafter. A couple of students tell us that... COLLINS: Gabriel, pardon me. I hate to interrupt you so quickly.

As we're looking at the diagram here, I just want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at, which is a little bit of a map of the inside of the school. And this is a graphic that was put in your paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

And interesting, also, we've already been talking quite a bit here this morning in our newsroom this morning about whether or not that report that you just mentioned about the student inside the bathroom who may have seen Asa Coon loading the gun is, in fact, true. So you have confirmed that?

BAIRD: We have not been able to confirm that that's true, but some of the -- several of the details he gave us were not given by anybody else. And they matched what we were able to confirm from police sources later, such as that a backpack or a satchel was found in the bathroom loaded with ammunition where the boy had said he had been.

COLLINS: OK. Understood. Yes, it's probably going to take quite sometime to make sure all of these details pan out.

Let me ask you if they have had an opportunity to really talk about why this may have happened. I mean, in fact, we may never know, because Asa Coon is dead. But what are you hearing from authorities there about a possible motive?

BAIRD: Well, for one, we're hearing from students that Asa had been involved in a series of fights and disputes with other students. Most recently, about the existence of God. And after that, it is believed that Asa was upset.

The chief of police, Michael McGrath, also said last night at a press conference that he believes that some of the people were specifically targeted. And other reporters from "The Plain Dealer" working with me say that they believe that the teachers, especially, were particular targets.

COLLINS: Did they happen to give you any more information, Gabriel, about what his thinking was? I'm imagining he may or may not have believed in God, and then the people that he possibly targeted were in disagreement with him.

Is that what they're telling you?

BAIRD: That's what we're led to believe. We don't know and we have not heard any indication that the teachers' dispute with the kids -- with the kid actually had anything to do with the God subject, or if it had to do with something else. That was with the students in particular.

COLLINS: Interesting.

Talk to us a little bit, if you could, about security at the school. We know that there is a security system in place, but by way of metal detectors, they are not mounted at the door, if you will, they are not fixed into the entrances of this facility. They're the wand type detectors, is that correct?

BAIRD: The school district has a series or several hand metal detectors, but they don't have them at all of the schools. They do periodic checks and they're taken from one school to the other. We are led to believe that they were not at the school yesterday.

COLLINS: Is there any answer to that question, why they weren't at the school?

BAIRD: Well, the school has a 94 percent graduation rate, and there are other schools around the district that have far more trouble than this school. And so with a limited number of detectors, they have to spread them out where they think trouble is going to pop up.

COLLINS: What have you learned about other incidents at this school?

BAIRD: I'm not aware of other incidents at this school yet, but what I can tell you is that there have been a series of violent incidents around the district recently, and that I believe the number is six weapons-related incidents, or weapons found at schools within the last week to two weeks.

COLLINS: Yes, we have been reading a little bit about that uptick.

All right. Thanks so much.

Gabriel Baird, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

We certainly appreciate your reporting today. Thanks so much.

HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, alert for parents. Children's cold and flu medicines voluntarily pulled off store shelves. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have a list of the products.

And raise your hands and get ready to do the two-step scan. The government testing a new method for scanning airline travelers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Cold medicines for infants and toddlers coming off store shelves.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is here now to talk more about this.

You know, I have had heard a lot about this over the past I don't know how many months. Never really understood which products and why this was going on, because let's face it, especially even right now, this is kind of like the season and the kids are getting the stuffy noses and they're needing the over-the-counter medicine.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's so hard to watch them just be miserable like that.

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: But this is a voluntary recall that we're talking about by an umbrella organization that sort of oversees a lot of these products. And we're talking about a lot of common cough and cold products for children specifically under the age of 2.

Some of the names certainly you've heard of -- Dimetapp, Little Colds, Pedia Care, Robitussin. I know you have young ones, so you've heard of some of these medications.

You can get a full list of them, by the way, at otcsafety.org. A lot of parents interested in that list.

The concern here, Heidi, and the reason this voluntary recall is happening is because of the concern about misuse of these medications. You give some of one type of medication, you may give some another type of medication, you may run the risk of overdosing.

And what you and I have talked about in the past is this whole idea that maybe sometimes these medications just don't work, they're just not effective either. So kids take them and they don't get any better, so parents give them more medicine as well. The American Academy of Pediatrics, who we talked to about this, very stringent about this. They say simply don't use these medications for children under the age of 2.

COLLINS: Well, then what do you do? I mean, if you have this little person, you know...

GUPTA: Yes.

COLLINS: ... I mean, you can't just sit there and watch them.

GUPTA: I know.

COLLINS: You've got to watch the fever, we know that. I think most people are very good at that. But if there's no fever and it's just this cough and cold...

GUPTA: Yes. Talking specifically about the cold and the cough, because you're right, fevers, there are medications. You should try and control that.

The cold is a tough one. It's tough for adults, it's tough for children alike. But there are some things you can do, a vaporizer or hydrator. These are just to treat symptoms, obviously. Salt water nose drips.

COLLINS: We do that.

GUPTA: Rubber nose bulb. This is...

COLLINS: We don't do that. GUPTA: This is kind of a little bit gross, quite frankly, but actually it does the trick. You know, chicken soup can work, too. Just make sure they're hydrated.

It runs it's course. But you're right, it can be awful to watch. These are some things that might help.

COLLINS: Chicken soup still works?

GUPTA: Well, the hydration. You know, you want to make sure they can actually stay hydrated.

COLLINS: Right.

GUPTA: They lose so much fluids just through insensible losses and things like that.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely.

Well, what other problems with the cough and cold medications for kids?

GUPTA: Well, you know, one of the things is this whole idea of misusing them or overusing them is a real concern, I think, because parents don't know quite how much to give.

COLLINS: Is there also a question about -- and, you know, we've been told many times and we have talked about reading what the exact medication treats. You know, if you have the runny nose, just buy the one for the runny nose, don't get the one with the cough and the fever and the sore throat.

GUPTA: Yes, exactly.

COLLINS: Does that help?

GUPTA: It does help. And not sort of mixing them up, so giving both cold and cough medications, because a lot them have similar active ingredients and you sort of double up on those. So making sure that you use it for the correct symptoms.

And also, not giving adult medications in smaller dozes. You probably don't do that, but a lot of people do apparently, and, you know, children are not little adults. I mean, these can have some significant side-effects as well.

And talking about that, irritability can be a side-effect, sedation can be a side-effect. You can see the whole list there. Some kids can have heart rhythm abnormalities.

COLLINS: Wow.

GUPTA: So these are things to be taken seriously.

COLLINS: OK. It says right on there, consult a physician if they're under 2, usually, right? GUPTA: That's right, consult. And like I said, the American Academy of Pediatrics even more stringent, saying simply, under 2 probably not a good idea at all.

COLLINS: Wow. OK. All right. Sanjay Gupta, great information. Thank you.

GUPTA: Thanks. I'll talk, to you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Two hours from now, we may learn more about yesterday's shooting rampage at a Cleveland high school. The 14-year-old shooter is dead. His motives still unknown. Fellow students say he was troubled and combative.

But Asa Coon's neighbors remember him with some sympathy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A good person. I don't know what he did what he did. Couldn't tell you. Pushed too far, that's all I could think of. You get pushed and pushed and pushed, and sometimes you go over the edge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe, why did he do this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I ain't justifying nothing. I ain't saying he did the right thing. But I'm saying he got pushed for a long time and asked the people to help, help, help, help and nobody helped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's Susan Roesgen is in Cleveland for us this morning covering this story.

Susan, we keep hearing these sound bites from people, friends, neighbors who say he was pushed and pushed and pushed.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Heidi, last night, I was talking to a local reporter here on the scene. He said that it was his understanding that this was, you know, a short, chubby student who had been bullied, you know? Kids in high school can be cruel.

Now whether that's part of what led to the shooting, we just don't know. We do know that the police chief here last night said that he does believe that the two teachers or at least one of the two teachers that was shot and wounded was a target for being part of breaking up the fight for which Asa Coon had been suspended on Monday. And I think, Heidi and Tony, the thing we have to really remember here is how much worse it could have been. We know that of the two teachers who were shot, one was shot in the back but he has been released from the hospital. The other was shot in the chest. He was in surgery last night. We just checked this morning. He is now in fair condition.

And the two students who were shot, you had spoken earlier today to one who was shot, just grazed in the elbow, he was obviously treated at the hospital and released. And the other student was the 17-year-old who was shot in the side but he also was released.

So it is a tragic situation because we have this student who killed himself, Asa Coon, who apparently put the gun to his own head and shot himself after this shooting. But can you imagine how much worse it would have been if his aim had been better or if he had more time to shoot more people in this school? We don't have any other teachers or students dead or even perhaps seriously, seriously wounded after this -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. We can definitely imagine how much worse it would have been and difficult to know if his intent was ever to kill in the first place. Obviously with everything that has found on the scene and the evidence, it certainly looks that way.

Susan, what is the reaction now this morning? Have you had an opportunity to talk with anyone? Some of those kids, it's just so upsetting to see.

ROESGEN: You know, I think it's just what you would expect. It's a shock, it's, why here? It's what signs did we miss? One thing I do want to point out, Heidi, is that there is some more information that we're going to be getting perhaps later that the police have right now, which is actual videotape, security camera videotapes from inside the school that the police said last night will actually show how Asa Coon got into the school, where he was walking in the school and what his path was.

You and Tony showed earlier The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the newspaper sort of sketch of where he was at point A, point B, point C. Well, the police have videotapes now that will actually show us, they say, exactly Asa Coon's movement. And I think that may give them some more information about what was happening as well.

COLLINS: And you said those were from security cameras, correct, Susan, quickly?

ROESGEN: Yes. Inside school security cameras.

COLLINS: OK. Because there has also been a lot of talk about security here and so we are learning more as we go with all of this. CNN's Susan Roesgen. Susan, thanks so much.

HARRIS: Well, the school where the shootings happened seems an unlikely place for violence. SuccessTech is a magnet school with an enrollment of 200 students. Its curriculum focuses heavy on technology. The school attracts high-achieving students who must apply for admission.

Now according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, SuccessTech has a 94 percent graduation rate and receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The paper says it was named one of Ohio's "Schools of Promise" just last week. It is not a traditional school building.

The school is located in downtown Cleveland in a converted office building. We are expecting to learn more about the school shooting later this morning. Cleveland officials are scheduled to hold a news conference 11:30 a.m. Eastern time and you will see it right here live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Deadly attack on the main U.S. military base near Baghdad. Officials reporting today two coalition soldiers dead, 40 people wounded. Strikes such as this overnight rocket or mortar attack on Camp Victory are not unusual, but rarely are casualties so high.

HARRIS: New war proposal. The head of the Marine Corps wants his troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan. What is going on here? Live to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony. Well, you're absolutely right. The commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Conway, has made an informal proposal, according to Pentagon officials, that the Marines would pull out of Iraq and go to the fight in Afghanistan.

What is going on? Officials say it's very preliminary. Conway's idea is, as the Marines may withdraw from Anbar province in western Iraq because the insurgency is ebbing there, and as they look at Afghanistan, it might make more sense for them to go there and leave the Army to take on the fight in Iraq, whether the Army wants the benefit of being on its own in Iraq remains to be seen. This is another indicator, of course, of how stretched thin the U.S. military really is.

What was most amazing, perhaps, is within hours of this story being leaked to the news media and confirmed by the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, traveling in London, seemed to put a knife in the whole matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I have seen no plan, no one has come to me with any proposals about it. My understanding is that it's, at this point, extremely preliminary thinking on the part of perhaps some staff people in the Marine Corps. But I don't think at this point it has any stature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But make no mistake, Tony, it is not a staff proposal. High level officials have confirmed to us this comes right from the commandant of the Marine Corps. He will have to make a case about why he really thinks it's a good idea -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, let's follow up with that question. Why do the Marines say they want to do this, Barbara?

STARR: Well, reason number one that they give is they think they are about to withdraw from Anbar province in the west, that they may no longer be needed there, they say, because the insurgency is getting better out there. So that is one reason. And they're looking to go other places to help out.

The other reason they say is that -- a little bit different. Iraq has become a long-term ground combat fight and Marine officials say that is not what they really do. So it remains to be seen if all of this works out -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr for us this morning. Barbara, thank you.

STARR: Sure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, the picket signs come down. Chrysler workers are building cars this morning after -- what do we call this? Maybe a quickie strike? What is in the new deal?

COLLINS: Security concerns and lots of unanswered questions about the Cleveland school shooting. We'll get some answers when we talk to the mayor and CEO of Cleveland.

Let's get the business day started now. New York Stock Exchange, the Big Board, the Dow starts the day at 14,078 after dropping, what, 85 points. Hey, Richard Branson, what is he doing now? I tell you what, the Dow futures market seemed to indicate a pretty strong open for the broader markets. Let's see. And here we go. We're off to the races. The Dow up 70 points inside the first 10 minutes of trading. Susan Lisovicz following the markets for us all morning long in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Lots of concerns and questions this morning after the shooting rampage at a Cleveland high school. What were the warning signs? Who was listening? What about security at the school? And what is being done to address those concerns? With us is from Cleveland with a closer look at these issues, great guests, Mayor Frank Jackson; and Cleveland Public Schools CEO Eugene Sanders. So I have the two gentlemen who are charged with responding to this situation now.

So, Mr. Mayor, let me start with you. You control the Cleveland schools. It's what the voters reaffirmed in 2002. That means that the buck really stops with you. I know you're going to work with that good man who is standing next to you, but how do you respond to the situation yesterday? What do you do now? MAYOR FRANK JACKSON, CLEVELAND: Well, what we are doing now is our security people and the security people at the school district are talking. Dr. Sanders will come up in the next 48 hours with some recommendations on security. Our police department is still investigating.

We have opened up four rec. centers, two on the east side, two on the west side. We will have counselors there for the children, their families and for also some of the school personnel. So that is under review. We're taking this opportunity to look at security district- wide and how can we have better collaboration with our police department and the district.

HARRIS: Dr. Sanders, talk me through this. There is the practical of what happens today moving forward, but these are issues, issues of school security that have been around for a long time now. So while you work with what has to be done today, what are some of the broader implications, questions that need to be answered by your office?

EUGENE SANDERS, CEO, CLEVELAND METRO SCHOOL DIST.: Well, clearly, there are always broader implications. SuccessTech High School is a small high school of about 250 students, it is a very high-performing high school with a low number of incidents.

As the mayor indicated, our goal today and tomorrow is to have as much review as we can of what actually did happen. We do have 26 cameras that we are currently reviewing of the incident yesterday. And I'll be preparing for our board and for the mayor in the next 48 hours a series of short-term recommendations as we prepare to reopen school on Monday. We were scheduled to be closed on Friday previously.

HARRIS: Dr. Sanders, let me follow up on that. After that incident yesterday, and you -- what was your initial reaction in terms of -- first of all, I know want to sort of make sure that you get the situation handled, but was there a part of you as a gut reaction that said, doggone it, if only I had had -- I was always concerned about something like this happening, if I could get more money, if I could get more this, I had been pushing for it, give me a sense of what your reaction was beyond the initial of trying to secure the situation.

SANDERS: Well, Tony, my first reaction, of course, was the safety and care of students at the facility. And the mayor and I and our board clearly expressed our condolences to all of those who were impacted yesterday. Safe and security is one of our top priorities. We talk about it all of the time. We have allocations for it.

Clearly, this is our -- my time and our time to reflect on what we do and how we do it. Our goal is clearly to make our schools safe and we have done a lot of things over the last year-and-a-half relative to that and we'll continue to work together with the mayor and law enforcement and our community to make our schools safe.

Academics are our first priority. And unfortunately situations like this do not allow us to focus on those kinds of things. HARRIS: Boy, but in the day and times that we're living in now, don't you have to sort of -- it's education and it's security hand-in- hand. Mr. Mayor, let me ask you something, you don't control the school budget for the schools that you are in charge of. Are you getting what you need? And if you did control the budget process, would there be a difference, enhanced emphasis on security?

JACKSON: Well, I have complete confidence in the CEO and the board in what they're doing. We meet every week. I know that for the last year-and-a-half our police department, the public housing, RT -- our regional transit authority, and the school district, police department, have worked together.

We have mapped out routes to and from school to ensure children are safe to and from school. We have police officers in the school. Our security people meet regularly, have discussions regularly. This is something that happened.

Hindsight is always better than foresight sometimes. And the CEO has said he is going back, he is looking at the situation. Our people will be in constant communication with his security people. And we will come up with a different approach as they, the professionals, tell us what we should do.

HARRIS: And you know, finally, you know that there are a number of parents groups who are saying this morning -- said yesterday that, you know, you two, you two right there, you haven't taken the security concerns seriously enough, we've gone through petitions. I'm wondering, Mr. Mayor, have those petitions landed on your desk and how have you responded? And then, Dr. Sanders, if you just want to take a crack at that and then I'm done.

JACKSON: Well, I fully appreciate anxiety and the concerns of the parents. And I really don't have a comment in terms of that anxiety. They have a right to be concerned and we are concerned about the safety of their children.

HARRIS: Well, Dr. Sanders, you have to say something to that. Do you want to add anything to that?

SANDERS: Sure. Yes. I concur with the mayor. We always place a high priority on safety and security, not just at SuccessTech, but throughout all of our 110 buildings in the district. This gives us an opportunity, Tony, to certainly take a very specific look at what transpired at SuccessTech yesterday and also at all of our other schools.

And as we meet today and tomorrow with our internal team, our teachers, our administrators and other support staff to come up with some short-term strategies to address our most immediate concern.

HARRIS: OK. CEO Sanders, Mayor Jackson, thank you very much for your time this morning.

JACKSON: Thank you very much. HARRIS: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. And this gives me an opportunity to tell you that coming up in the NEWSROOM we will hear from Student-Parent Organization head Charles Blackwell, that is coming up a little later this morning right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Short strike, now back to work. A walkout at Chrysler lasted just six hours. The company and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative four-year deal. The contract reportedly addresses the major sticking point of retiree health care. It still has to be approved. But the tentative agreement comes as workers ratify their new contract with GM.

That deal reached two weeks ago following a two-day strike. The UAW now moves on to Ford. Those negotiations could prove a bit trickier, though. Ford lost $12.6 billion last year, it may want deeper concessions than GM and Chrysler.

Boot camp lessons. A school of hard knocks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG KUTZ, GAO FORENSIC AUDITS SPECIAL INVEST.: Being kicked, beaten, and thrown to the ground and being forced to use a toothbrush to clean a toilet and then forced to use that toothbrush on their teeth.

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COLLINS: Ew. Details of a disturbing study coming your way in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Tear it down, the decision of the owner of this house in Crandon, Wisconsin. His daughter and five other young people killed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy in the house last weekend. Authorities say the deputy later killed himself. A local minister calls the house a symbol of violence and pain. A memorial is planned for the site. The first of the funerals will be held tomorrow.

HARRIS: Boot camp death. Seven guards and a nurse on trial in Florida, closing arguments to begin this morning and a government report finding disturbing practices at these camps for troubled teens across the country.

Here is CNN's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): This shocking video shown in a Florida courtroom is key evidence in the boot camp death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. Seven guards and a nurse are on trial for manslaughter for not getting medical help for the teen soon enough. They testified they thought he was feigning illness.

While that Florida case has been getting a lot of public attention, the government has been investigating a number of other programs for troubled teens and says it has found thousands of cases of abuse, some resulting in death. A government investigator told a House panel, kids endure disturbing practices.

KUTZ: Being forced to lie in urine or feces. Being kicked, beaten and thrown to the ground, and being forced to use a tooth brush to clean a toilet, and then forced to use that toothbrush on their teeth.

SNOW: Some of these boot camps bill themselves as wilderness programs and prey on parents desperate to help their kids. Paul Lewis sent his 14-year-old son, Ryan, to a wilderness program on the advice of therapists. While there, Ryan killed himself.

Lewis says he was first told there were no warning signs beforehand. But a police officer later revealed the truth.

PAUL LEWIS, FATHER OF RYAN LEWIS: He told us that the night before Ryan died, he had slashed his arm four times with a pocket knife issued to him by the program. He told them: "Take this away from me before I hurt myself any more."

SNOW: The problem is there is no central oversight of these programs. But one group that is most closely tied to these kinds of boot camps is on the defense.

JAN MOSS, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THERAPEUTIC SCHOOLS: They are not certified by our organization. We are not an accrediting agency. We're not a licensing agency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What in the hell do you do?

SNOW: The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs describes itself as a trade organization and is asking for regulations.

MOSS: We are a young organization, learning as we're going. We have made mistakes in the past. We recognize that.

SNOW (on camera): Lawmakers are looking into the possibility of imposing federal regulations to prevent questionable camps from closing down in one state only to reopen in another.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: We are learning more this morning about the shooting victims now. Two of them are teachers, both men. Police say a 42- year-old identified as history teacher Michael Grassie underwent surgery. He is said to be in stable condition. Fifty-seven-year-old math teacher David Kachadourian was treated for a minor gunshot wound to the back.

Two other students were also hit by gunfire, a 15-year-old, identified as Michael Peek, and 17-year-old Darnell Rodgers was shot in the elbow. He was treated and released. Another student, a 15- year-old girl, hurt her knee when she fell and was trampled by other students.

HARRIS: Thinking ahead. Republican presidential hopefuls already laying the groundwork for a battle with Hillary Clinton. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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