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14-Year-Old Accused of Massing Weapons for Possible Attack; Turkey Recalls Ambassador to United States; McCartney-Mills Battle

Aired October 11, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: You've heard a lot about the shootings yesterday at a specialty high school in Cleveland, but you haven't heard it all. New facts and new pictures are still coming in, and we've got them right here in the NEWSROOM.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're also getting pictures of some fearsome weapons seized from a home-schooled teen in the Philadelphia suburbs. Police there say they may have blocked a Columbine-style attack.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano, in today for Don Lemon.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get straight to the newsroom. Our Fredricka Whitfield has our top story at the top of the hour -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kyra, what you're about to see will certainly beg the question, how in the world can this happen? How is it that a 14-year-old could possibly collect this collection of arms? This is what the Plymouth Township Police say they collected from a 14-year-old's home, and that this 14-year-old had the intent of using this kind of arsenal to carry out a Columbine- style attack at the Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Pennsylvania.

Just take a look at this -- .9 millimeter assault rifles, air guns, hand grenades, a bomb-making book. And then also among the stashed videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado, and apparently this child also had a notebook which detailed carrying out such an attack.

Well, apparently police got wind that something like this was taking place or that this 14-year-old had this kind of attack. They actually went to the child's home, asked for the cooperation of the parents. They allowed them in, and lo and behold they came across this.

The 14-year-old is in custody. We don't know anything more about this teenager and exactly what his plan was, how he was able to get all of this material, and whether the parents even knew that this child was collecting. You would think, given this kind of arsenal, that the parents or somebody must have known something about this, but still unanswered questions in that area of discovery.

So as of now though, the high school says that it has carried on with its school as scheduled today, even though this attack has been thwarted, or at least this planned attack had been thwarted. But still a lot of questions about how this child, this 14-year-old, could possibly get their hands on this amount of arsenal -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep checking in with you as you find out more. Thanks, Fred.

MARCIANO: Well, the hallways are eerily quiet today at SuccessTech Academy, but about this time yesterday the Cleveland, Ohio, school was filled with frightened students and S.W.A.T. teams after a 14-year-old boy opened fire.

Warren Marks was in math class and just happened to have his mother's video camera with him. Here's a bit of what he recorded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey, hey! You've all got to quiet down. Hey.

Quit laughing. This is not a joke. This is not a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: It gives you chills, but when the gunfire ended, the young shooter was dead. Police say by his own hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MICHAEL MCGRATH, CLEVELAND POLICE: When the body was recovered in the school, recovered either on the body or next to the body were two firearms -- both firearms were revolvers, a .22 caliber and a .38 revolver -- two boxes of ammunition -- one box was for .38 and the other was for .22 caliber -- and three tactical folding knives. This is the property that was recovered with the body in the school. Also recovered in the school in the fourth floor bathroom was a duffel bag and some clothes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Two teachers and two students were wounded. Parents and students say it all could have been avoided if only the high school had enough security and permanent metal detectors. Tomorrow, the head of the school system will recommend a new security plan for all of the city's schools.

Well, many SuccessTech parents are criticizing school officials for not doing more to protect their children. The president of the student/parent organization says officials ignored a petition for permanent metal detectors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHARLES BLACKWELL, SUCCESSTECH STUDENT-PARENT ORG.: That day and even today parents are very upset because there was a need, they tried to fill it, and we got shot down. There was no result for us that was positive.

And now that things have escalated and we have, you know, somebody shot and one kid dead, now they want to say, oh, it's the utmost concern about our children. Well, yes, it's a concern for the larger schools, but for this small school it wasn't that much of a concern because they took the security person away and they left us with nothing.

The security personnel is there. Everybody has told us, even the chief of the security department has told us, he's there for the administrative offices only.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Charles Blackwell says he plans to call a special meeting of parents to press the case for increased security.

PHILLIPS: The Turkish ambassador to the United States is being recalled to his homeland today as the bond between Washington and Ankara is being tested like rarely before. That's after a House committee jumped feet first into one of the most sensitive issues between Turkey and its neighbor to the east.

The question, does Turkish treatment of Armenians during and after World War I amount to genocide? The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted that it does. They are also talking about Turkey's deportation of about two million Armenians beginning in 1915 and the deaths of more than a million of them.

The Bush administration is eager to avoid more tension in that region, but some Democrats in Congress say genocide can't be ignored, even for a vital ally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Ronald Reagan in 1981, President Reagan, referred to the Armenian genocide and said that we must not ever forget that or other persecutions of people that have occurred. And while that may have been a long time ago, genocide is taking place now in Darfur. It did within not such -- in recent memory in Rwanda. So as long as there is genocide, there is need to speak out against it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, the genocide measure goes to the full House, although the administration is expected to try to pressure Democratic leaders not to schedule a vote.

Our Zain Verjee is at the State Department. She's been working her sources. She joins us more on the ambassador being recalled.

Zain, what did you find out?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, as you know, the Turkish have been warning that there will be severe repercussions, and already we're seeing one pretty serious one. It's taken action by recalling its ambassador from Washington back to Turkey. Key U.S. official Nick Burns had had conversations with the ambassador, but there appears that there was no indication in that conversation that this was actually going to happen. But this is, Kyra, a symbolic act of protest.

A short while ago, the State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said that maybe this was just for consultations and was not in fact a withdrawal. He said that that was natural, that they would expect the Turks to want to do that, and that it was ultimately their decision.

Here's more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM CASEY, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: I'll let the Turkish government speak for itself in terms of its plans or its ideas or how it intends to respond to this by the committee. But I think the Turkish government has telegraphed for some time, been very vocal and very public, about its concerns about this and has said that they did intend to react in a fairly forceful way that this happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: And Kyra, the State Department is also saying that it has no intention of recalling its ambassador back to the U.S. from Turkey -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Obviously we'll be following this for the next couple of years, for sure.

Zain Verjee, appreciate it.

MARCIANO: Well, police in New York are still trying to figure out who placed a four-foot noose on the office door at Columbia University's Teachers College. It was found Tuesday at the office used by Madonna Constantine. She's an African-American professor who has written books about race and racial justice.

Earlier today on CNN, one of Constantine's colleagues said racist acts can happen anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. MARGARET CROCCO, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIV.: I think fundamentally it's an example of the racism that I believe is endemic in American society. And even a place like Teachers College, which espouses a set of values that calls us to better behavior, higher ideals, still, we're not immune from the forces which I think have been present in this country since its inception.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARCIANO: Constantine has issued a statement calling the incident a blatant act of racism. In her words, "I want the perpetrator to know that I will not be silenced."

PHILLIPS: Babies and cold medicine, a dangerous mix? What you need to know about a massive new recall straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.

MARCIANO: And losing custody of her kids is apparently taking its toll on Britney Spears. How the pop star is fighting back.

PHILLIPS: And there's word of settlement in the Paul McCartney- Heather Mills divorce. It may be near. How much will it cost?

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

MARCIANO: Well, we want to get straight to the newsroom now. Fredricka Whitfield has been tracking the story of that high school, potential high school attack in suburban Philadelphia -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. And Rob, so a 14-year-old is in custody, the center of this Columbine-style attack that had been thwarted, an attack that was to take place at the Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Pennsylvania. But the burning question now is how in the world could this 14-year-old have stored this in his home?

Just look at this arsenal -- .9 millimeter assault rifles, air guns, hand grenades, a bomb-making book. And then among all of this, a video of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado, and apparently a violence-filled notebook.

And so now the district attorney, Bruce Castor, says, you know, this is shocking everyone. How is it that something like this could be happening?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE CASTOR JR., MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA., DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I'm very, very upset about the role that -- the lack of oversight that apparently the parents had in this case. We need to recognize that parents are the primary persons responsible for teaching young people the difference between right and wrong. Law enforcement is the last stop on that -- on that train.

And I've been very clear over the years, and in the school safety recommendations we were very clear that, listen, there's only so much government can do. Parents have to take responsibility for raising their children. And here I think that we have clear evidence that that responsibility was abrogated. And if it was criminally abrogated, we're going to do something about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: So the district attorney saying that the parents cooperated, meaning when police went to their residence and informed the parents that there was such a plan in place, the parents allowed the police officers to come in the home. But then lo and behold, saw all of this.

So it's perplexing to anyone that this child could possibly be collecting this kind of material and the parents or someone in that household not notice or not know about it?

MARCIANO: Yes. I've collected some stuff as a kid, but...

WHITFIELD: And nothing like this.

MARCIANO: No.

WHITFIELD: Maybe model airplanes or, you know, Matchbox cars or something like that.

MARCIANO: Rockets. That's about it.

WHITFIELD: This is astounding.

But anyway, that 14-year-old is in custody. We don't know of the charges as of yet. That litany of charges has not been revealed, but the school says it's just as shocked. However, they are happy that this kind of attack was thwarted. School is still in session just as planned.

MARCIANO: Well, with that arsenal, Fredricka, it's good they found it ahead of time.

WHITFIELD: Right.

MARCIANO: Good stuff there.

Thanks, Fred.

PHILLIPS: Celebrity showdown in a London courtroom. Paul McCartney and Heather Mills meet face to face today in their high- profile divorce case.

CNN's Phil Black has been watching it all -- Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

It has been a long day of negotiations in the courtroom behind me, some nine hours in all. That's how long Paul McCartney and Heather Mills spent thrashing out the details of their divorce settlement.

It has been some 18 months in the making, the result of a four- year failed marriage. And just a short time ago, both parties drove out in separate cars before an army of flashing cameras.

Now, their lawyers are telling us tonight there is no confirmation of one, whether or not, an agreement was reached. Or if it was, what the makeup of that agreement is -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: How much money are we talking about, Phil?

BLACK: There's a lot of speculation surrounding that. It is believed -- lawyers tell us that the likely makeup of any settlement will involve one significant lump sum payment, plus annual payments, probably until their 4-year-old daughter turns 18, in about 14 years' time.

The figures that are being thrown around are large, some $100 million. If that is proven to be true, that will be a British legal record for a divorce settlement -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll be following it.

Phil Black, we'll continue to check in. Thank you.

McCartney and Mills are certainly not the only celebrities to split in a messy and hugely expensive fashion. According to "Forbes" magazine, Neil Diamond and his former wife Marcia Murphy settled their breakup for a whopping $150 million. Steven Spielberg and actress Amy Irving settled for $100 million.

Eighty-five million dollars was the price of freedom for Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison. And it took a mere $50 million to settle the breakup between director James Cameron and "Terminator" star Linda Hamilton.

MARCIANO: A lot of money.

Speaking of divorce, she just lost custody of her kids over a week ago, but today Britney Spears is fighting back.

We'll have details coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: First we have more to tell you about that 14-year-old boy that is in custody now in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, accused of planning a Columbine-type attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

On the phone with us right now, District Attorney Bruce Castor, Montgomery County D.A. He was there at that news conference that we followed for you.

These are the pictures that we actually got from that news conference. Astounding, the amount of weaponry found here.

Let me ask you, Mr. Castor, how did you find out about this young man? How did authorities find out about this young man? And sort of take us through the process of how you got to today. CASTOR: Well, in Montgomery County, we had a school shooting back in December, where a boy shot up the school and then killed himself. In the wake of that, we have been very aggressive in our school safety approach.

I put together a committee of police chiefs and law enforcement professionals and school administrators and security professionals, and we put together a whole plan to deal with school safety. The Colonial School District, which is the one in issue here, and the police departments that service that school district, have been very, very -- have been working very, very closely together.

A component of that is making sure that all students in the district are aware that if they hear information that they think could be evidence that a problem is about to develop, they shouldn't determine the credibility of that issue. They should simply come to the police and tell the police.

PHILLIPS: All right. So basically you took on this aggressive approach, but a tip came through about this young man. Who gave the tip? And how did you find this student this, 14-year-old boy?

CASTOR: Well, as a result of the relationship between the cops and the school district, the student knew to come to the police station with his father -- that happened last night at around 7 o'clock -- and tell the police that -- that this suspect was trying to recruit him to be involved in this Columbine-type of attack. The police acted on that immediately, and we had the boy in custody before midnight last night. And all of the weapons that you see there.

PHILLIPS: Now, let's just talk about these weapons for a second, a 0.9 millimeter assault rifle, air guns, hand grenades, explosive powder, a bomb-making book, video of the Columbine shooting, notebooks that detailed those violent acts, all of this found inside the home. Also a hand grenade that was actually -- looked like it had already been put together.

I mean, when authorities walked in, I mean, have you ever come across something like this before in the -- in the room or in the home of a 14-year-old boy?

CASTOR: No, I've not seen this before. Certainly in our county we have 800,000 residents so this is a big place so we have our share of crime, but this was an unusual scenario.

PHILLIPS: So how did this boy get all these weapons, get his hands on these weapons? I was reading that the boy's mother actually bought the assault rifle for him several weeks ago at a gun show. Is that how he got all of these weapons?

CASTOR: Well, the BB guns are not illegal and can be bought anywhere. And there's no way of knowing how those were purchased. So, I mean, a 14-year-old is allowed to have that.

PHILLIPS: No, I'm talking about the assault rifle. CASTOR: Well, the rifle, itself, that is the information that we have, is that his mother bought it for him at a gun show. We're evaluating now whether charges against her or anyone else in that household are warranted. And I would think that this is a similar situation to what we have, when you have straw (ph) purchases. You can't go buy a gun for someone else that isn't allowed to own a gun, for some reason. And in this case by virtue of age he's not allowed to own a gun. So that's likely to be a problem under Pennsylvania law.

PHILLIPS: How do you think this teenager got his hands on all these various types of weapons? Do you think he received support from his parents? Was he acting alone? Was he getting them off the streets?

CASTOR: I don't know how he got the BB guns yet, or the edged weapons. The grenades, are plastic grenades filled with BBs.

PHILLIPS: OK, so there was BBs in the grenades.

CASTOR: In the grenades -- it's not like a -- not like a military grenade. There's BBs in there and black powder poured in there, which can be purchased legally or can be taken out of fireworks and poured in there. And then one of them had a fuse attached and the fuse could be lit. And then, of course, it would be explode and the BBs would go anywhere.

PHILLIPS: Did the parents have any idea this was going on?

CASTOR: I think it would be impossible for both parents to be totally in the dark. Now as to the extent of it, I doubt that they were aware of it. It's important to understand that there is no ammunition found for the 0.9 millimeter rifle, so I don't believe the attack was imminent.

PHILLIPS: All right. So the weapons that we're looking at on the table, all the weapons shown at this news conference, these are not all weapons that were inside this home? Are these weapons that have been collected through a number of raids that your officers, your investigators have gotten their hands on?

CASTOR: No. They were -- all that stuff that you see on the table in front of me was taken from this kids' bedroom.

PHILLIPS: Wow. But the -- you're saying that the majority of those are BB guns. There's only one assault rifle in that mix? Am I getting that right?

CASTOR: That's right and the BB guns, of course, they look real and would be thought by anyone seeing them to be real.

PHILLIPS: Got it. Sure, you look at those --

CASTOR: Of course, the edged weapons, the swords and the knives and what not, they are capable of killing just like they are designed to do.

PHILLIPS: Final question, did this kid have a rap sheet of any type?

I wouldn't be allowed to comment on that, but I'll go so far as to say this, there is -- I've examined the school district's treatment of this kid before his parents pulled him out. And I see no reason to believe that the school district could have known that this was coming.

PHILLIPS: Well, we will definitely follow the case. Montgomery County district -- or Pennsylvania District Attorney Bruce Castor, appreciate your time.

CASTOR: Thank you, bye-bye.

MARCIANO: Getting some news at this hour out of the A.P., that 19-year-old Steven Coon, he's the older brother Asa Coon, he has been picked up by Cleveland police. Unclear why he's been placed in police custody, but he is in police custody at this hour. As we learn more about why that his happening and what his side of the story is we'll bring that information to you.

More on that story now, a new security plan is expected to be unveiled tomorrow for all Cleveland, Ohio, schools. Yesterday one school SuccessTech Academy was the scene of chaos at 14-year-old Asa Coon opened fire on teachers and fellow students.

Classmates say he had warned them he would do something like this, but they didn't believe him. In fact, when the shooting started, some students weren't taking it all that seriously. This videotape was taken by student Warren Marks (ph) who was in his math class at the time. When the gunfire ended, the teenage shooter was dead. Police say by his own hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MICHAEL MCGRATH, CLEVELAND POLICE: When the body was recovered, in the school, recovered either on the body or next to the body were two firearms. Both firearms were revolvers, a .22 caliber and a .38 revolver. Two boxes of ammunition, one box was for .38 and the other one was for .it 22 caliber, and three tactical folding knives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Two teachers and two students were wounded. One of the teachers was shot in the chest. He's in fair condition. One student also remains in the hospital in good condition.

Well, Darnell Rodgers is a SuccessTech student. He started running yesterday when he heard a gun shot. At first he didn't realize he was wounded. Darnell joins us live from Cleveland.

Darnell, I know you've been through a lot. How are you feeling?

DARNELL RODGERS, WOUNDED IN SCHOOL SHOOTING: I'm sad. And right now I'm like shocked, and it's really setting in on me because I'm standing right across the street from my school. And I'm sad -- MARCIANO: Well, take us --

RODGERS: -- and emotional, right now. Huh, yes?

MARCIANO: Take us through, I know you've had a long couple of days and you've been up with the media for a while, but if you could, take us through what happened from when you were in your class, and through the shooting.

RODGERS: Well, it had to be like around 1 o'clock, and I was leaving my third. I was leaving from the third floor and heading to the fourth floor. And like when I was heading to the fourth floor, a whole bunch of students ran down the stairs, and they were screaming oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! And I just thought it was just a fight, so I just kept going up to the fourth floor. And I went to my locker. And when I had got to my locker, I heard the gunshot, and I was like oh, my God, myself.

And I started running and I was trying to run into a classroom so I wouldn't get shot at myself. But when I like was running to the classroom I got shot in the midst of running to the classroom. And it grazed my arm. It was like a whole bunch of chaos. I wasn't too much worried about myself. I was worried for my little sister, and my little cousin, and a few other people that was in the school.

MARCIANO: Where were your little sister and cousin? You've got family in the school. What was going through your mind when you had been shot and you were thinking of your family?

RODGERS: I was scared, shocked, mad, like every emotion you can possibly have.

MARCIANO: Darnell, do you know Asa? Do you know him personally?

RODGERS: Not really, because me being a senior I really don't talk to too much freshmen, unless they like some of my senior friends brothers or sisters. I heard a few things about him.

MARCIANO: What did you hear?

RODGERS: I don't -- I don't know him personally. I heard he had family problems.

MARCIANO: What kind of things did you hear?

RODGERS: I heard he had family problems at home and people used to pick on him in school, or whatever. This was an unfortunate, sad event that this had to happen like this.

RODGERS: Darnell, when do they say they are going to have you back in school? And how do you feel about going back to school?

RODGERS: Right now I don't know exactly when my school is going to be opened up again, but I'm kind of shaking about going back to school. So I don't know if I'm going to return back right away, but I'm going to go back to school. Because, I mean, this incident can happen anywhere, in the suburbs, in the poorest neighborhoods, a violent neighborhood. It can happen anywhere.

Every time you walk out of your house you are risking your life anyway. You're risking your safety anyway. You've just got to make sure you're watching yourself and you like keeping an eye on your surroundings.

MARCIANO: Well, Darnell, we're certainly happy that you're alive and OK. We wish you the best of luck. You seem to be a bright young man and don't let what happened yesterday deter what you can achieve going forward.

Darnell, heal well, good luck to you. Thanks for joining us.

Want to give you -- talk more about the breaking news now out of Cleveland in association with this story. Stephen Coon, who is the 19- year-old, older brother of Asa Coon has been picked up by Cleveland police. Unclear why, but he is in police custody. No doubt they will be asking questions.

He did say, quote, "Please have respect. I just lost my brother." As he was being escorted into the police vehicle so there is obviously emotions on both sides of this story so we'll keep you posted.

PHILLIPS: What goes through the mind of a high school shooter? Evan Ramsey was 16 years old when he killed a student and principal of his high school in Bethel, Alaska, 10 years ago. He is serving a 198- year prison sentence. He spoke with the CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN RAMSEY, CONVICTED KILLER: There was a list of people that I wanted to shoot at, keep in mind that I didn't understand how life worked at the time. I didn't know that when you shoot somebody they don't just get back up.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, ANDERSON COOPER 360: What do you mean?

RAMSEY: I did not understand that if I -- like using myself, and using an example, if I pull out a gun and shoot you, there's a good chance that you're not getting back up. You're going to bleed to death and die either right there, or on the way to the hospital. That part of reality didn't click for whatever reason.

COOPER: I think it is just probably for some people to believe that you didn't know, you know, dead is dead.

RAMSEY: I based a lot of my knowledge solely on video games. You shoot a guy in "Doom" and he gets back up. Got to shoot the things in "Doom" eight or nine times before it dies. And I -- I went with that concept from the video game and added it to life.

COOPER: What did it feel like to pull the trigger?

RAMSEY: I'm going to get what I want. These people, I'm going to scare these people away. Nobody is going to pick on me. There won't be any more verbal or physical abuse from anybody.

COOPER: So it felt like relief?

RAMSEY: Yes. There was great relief.

COOPER: What do you want people to know?

RAMSEY: What kids are going through. It's not that bad. I saw my treatment so bad and if I would have had somebody to sit down and say it's not that bad. You don't have to react this way. There's other means, then it might help somebody. It can always be worse, and it's always going to get better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Evan Ramsey was seen with Anderson Cooper, and "Anderson Cooper 360" airs nightly, 10 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

MARCIANO: Parents alert: Children's cold and flu medicines voluntarily pulled off the store shelves. Details coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, next time that your baby is sniffling and sneezing, you may not be able to reach for the infant cold medicine. That's because drug makers are pulling it from store shelves. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us with the details of this.

How many brands, how many -- is it all of them? Is it absolutely for sure you shouldn't use these?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is all brands directly marketed to parents of children, who have children under the age of two.

So sometimes when parents go to the drug store, you'll notice there's these cough medicines and cold medicines. They say infant, they have a little baby on them. Some of them have little teddy bears. You are not going to be able to buy those in the relatively near future.

And the reason for that is that over the past 40 years there have been at least 123 deaths of babies because they have taken -- following taking this medicine.

Can you see that one, with the mother and baby? They will not be using these kinds of products any more. And countless children have ended up in emergency rooms because of these drugs. That's what experts say. And so the makers of these drugs are now coming out and saying, all right, we're just not going to put them on the market anymore.

PHILLIPS: You're a parent of quite a troop of kids. COHEN: How many, I forgot?

PHILLIPS: I know, you can't keep track. Of course, they never get sick. No, they do. But a lot of parents swear by this type of stuff. So, are they just absolutely wrong?

COHEN: I know, I've heard from some parents. What am I going to do? I've relied on these things. The minute my kid has a stuffed up nose I go and make sure that I can give this to her.

Well, doctors who I've been talking to say, look, we forget sometimes because these things have been so readily available that there are other things you can do. And in fact the sort of irony here is that studies show that in fact these products don't actually work. They sedate your kids, so your kid gets tired but it doesn't actually decongest your kid. So there's a huge irony there.

But what you're reading right now on our screen, doctors say these things do work. Use the humidifier. Use nose drops that are just saline, so it's not going to hurt your child. And use one of those little bulbs that gets all the stuff out of your child's nose, disgusting, but it works. And chicken soup, yes, generations of Jewish mothers have been right all along -- that that does help. Warm fluids do indeed help your child get over a cough or a cold.

PHILLIPS: Did your mom make some good chicken soup?

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: Oh, absolutely.

PHILLIPS: You're in-laws making chicken soup?

(LAUGHTER)

Now we're talking about babies, but what about older kids? Are they OK to use these?

COHEN: It's going to be interesting to see what happens next week. There's a meeting at the Food and Drug Administration, and some doctors are going to tell the FDA that children under six should not be allowed to take these drugs. Right now, these products for children under two are being taken off the market, but some doctors say that it ought to say right there on all decongestants: Do not give to children under the age of six. So it will be very interesting to seem some people feel they are not safe, and not effective for children under six.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll keep tracking it. Thanks, Elizabeth.

MARCIANO: Well, there have been reports that Bobby Brown had a heart attack, but did he? His lawyers said he did. Find out what the singer says ahead in the NEWSROOM.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson at the L.A. County Superior Court. Why was Britney Spears a no-show to the emergency hearing she initiated? And did she get more visitation with her kids? We'll tell you next in the NEWSROOM.

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MARCIANO: Time for a little entertainment news. Let's pump the music.

Britney versus K-Fed and the custody battle continues. Lawyers for both sides are in court today fighting over visitation rights. Britney Spears lost custody over of her kids last week after concerns were raised about drug and alcohol use. Today, she's fighting back. Our Brooke Anderson is live in Los Angeles with the latest.

Brooke, give us the juice.

ANDERSON: Rob, well, the hearing is over, just wrapped up a few moments ago, and the news is that no decision was made. The attorneys were ordered to discuss things further, and then to confer with the judge, the court commissioner, at a later date.

Kevin Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan has called this emergency motion -- filed by Britney Spears for more visitation with her kids -- he called it this morning bold and basically said it's insulting because it has only been a week since that last hearing.

The Court Commissioner Scott Gordon said, hey, yeah, right, what is the emergency? It has only been a week. He asked Britney Spears' attorneys that. Her attorney said the emergency is the kids, two-year- old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James. Apparently Britney Spears has to hand the children back over to Kevin Federline at 3:00 in the afternoon. They said it's in the middle of their nap times and that it's destructive not to have the children on a solid, consistent schedule.

Kevin Federline's attorney also argues that Britney hasn't had time to comply with previous orders that were made. The court commissioner said, you know what, to that end, I've received notifications that Britney has taken drug tests. But he said he hasn't received any results of those drug tests. Her attorney, by the way, told us on Monday she has passed two recent drug tests.

I also want to mention, the commissioner said he agrees that the mother, that Britney Spears, should have overnight visits with her children, but that he is very concerned about stability issues and also substance abuse issues. So no decision made here today, Rob. Another custody hearing is scheduled for October 26th.

MARCIANO: I heard somewhere that maybe Britney was talking about getting her mother involved. Like her mother could be there to supervise. Is that a possibility?

ANDERSON: It is a possibility. And that issue was raised in court this morning. Britney is requesting overnight stays with a monitor. The issue was brought up could Britney Spears' mother be the overnight supervisor. And the commissioner said it's fine for a family member to be that monitor, to be that supervisor, if both sides agree. And that in the past both sides haven't agreed. You know, Britney reportedly has been estranged from her mother. But it seems that they are, at this point, trying to patch things up.

MARCIANO: You know, aside from that, she's got some other legal issues. She's been, you know, dealing with driving while not completely sober. What's going on there?

ANDERSON: Well, no word if she was sober or not. There haven't been any charges related to that. But you're right, October 25th she has a hearing she must attend. It's in a hit-and-run case. She was charged with hit-and-run driving. It stems from an August 6th incident, Rob.

Paparazzi caught her pulling her car into a parking spot, and hitting another car. Apparently checking her own car, not the other, and then walking away. She's charged with hit and run, and she's also charged with not being able to provide a valid California license. Both of those misdemeanors carry a maximum of six months. So, you know, a really tough month, tough time for Britney Spears. And her album is coming out at the end of the month, October 30th.

MARCIANO: At this point, you know, I sense people are starting to pull for Britney. Certainly her kids, we want her kids to be OK through all of this.

ANDERSON: Absolutely.

MARCIANO: Brooke Anderson live for us in L.A.

Thanks, Brooke.

PHILLIPS: Singer Bobby Brown better talk to his lawyer. Brown is denying he suffered that heart attack the attorney said he had Tuesday night. Yesterday, Attorney Dera Parks (ph), told the Associate Press that Brown felt chest pains, was taken to two hospitals and was told he had a heart attack, a mild one at least. Brown responded later saying the hospital trip was a checkup, and everything checked out. But he says the story about the heart attack was enough to give him a jolt.

MARCIANO: The Jena 6 invoked after an incident in Florida, a girl bites a policeman and the case turns into a rally cry. Details are coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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