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Pennsylvania School Plot?; Gore's Nobel Prize; Road Rage Tragedy
Aired October 12, 2007 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or no prosecution at all.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Next, tighten restrictions on technology that can be used for multiple purposes, like this. It's a triggered spark gap which can be used to blast kidney stones or trigger nuclear weapons.
But one big problem may be the U.S. government itself. A recent congressional probe found that agencies had difficult coordinating investigations and agreeing on how to proceed. Now this new initiative is designed to correct that and there certainly is a lot at stake.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.
Police say a Pennsylvania boy planned a Columbine-style attack. Now his mother is arrested. She is accused of buying him an assault rifle.
COLLINS: Al Gore's long plight against global warming. Today he wins the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.
HARRIS: Historic drought. It is so bad Georgia's governor makes October shorter shower month. Dry down south.
It is Friday, October 12th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A 14-year-old Pennsylvania boy accused of plotting a Columbine-style attack. He was in court this morning. His mother also in the legal spotlight. CNN's Allan Chernoff is live now outside the courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Allan, tell us what happened.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, let me describe what happened inside of that courtroom, even before the proceeding. The mother was sitting in the front row sobbing, breathing very heavily. Her defense attorney saying, try to calm down. Have some water. Take a deep breath. And then the district attorney, Bruce Castor, walked over to her and said, we have a warrant for your arrest. And he instructed her to go downstairs to his office immediately after the proceedings for her son.
That is where she is right now, on the fourth floor of this courthouse in the district attorney's office being served with criminal charges. The warrant for her arrest as well. She is charged with purchasing a 9 millimeter semi-automatic rifle for her 14-year- old son. Minutes ago the D.A. described in detail those charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE CASTOR, MONTGOMERY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, we allege that she purchased the 9 millimeter rifle for her son, allowing him to have black powder, gun powder, and the instruments to make a grenade. And I don't think she had anything to do with planning this attack, but by virtue of her indulgence, she enabled him to get into this position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The judge, during the proceeding, decided that the boy will be held in detention. The county may continue to hold him. Also, they plan to test the boy psychologically and also test him for educational achievement. The D.A. said he will decide within several days whether to charge the 14-year-old boy as an adult.
To repeat again, he was allegedly plotting a Columbine-style attack at a local high school. Police did find in his bedroom a cache of weapons. Thirty air-powered BB guns, seven grenades and that rifle that we've been talking about.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Yes. And, Allan, we are looking at some of those weapons and ammunition that was found right now on the screen. Also, just want to let viewers know, as you continue to cover the story for us, Allan, that we do have some of the video of this 14-year-old I believe coming out of court or going into court. We are not showing it at this time because we have not yet named him and we are not, of course, showing his face. So when that comes to us, we will put it on the air appropriately.
Allan Chernoff, thank you.
HARRIS: And back to jail for Mychal Bell. The Louisiana teen at the center of the Jena Six case sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile facility. A judge says the fight that put Bell in the spotlight violated his probation for earlier juvenile convictions. That's according to a source with information about the closed hearing yesterday. His attorney promises an appeal. Bell was freed two weeks ago after his adult criminal conviction was overturned. He and five other black teens are accused of beating a white classmate during racial tensions at Jena High School.
COLLINS: A hot button issue. A prestigious honor. Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his global warming campaign. He shares the honor with the United Nations panel on climate change. Here's the announcement earlier this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROF. OLE DANBOLT MJBS, CHMN., NORWEGIAN NOBEL CMTE.: Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Gore seized the world's attention with his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." Some scientists dispute the film's central theme, that manmade pollution is heating the earth and inviting global catastrophe.
Al Gore issued a statement saying he is "deeply honored" to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and he's also honored to share it with the experts at the U.N. Gore went on to say, "we face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level."
HARRIS: Global warming, the science and sizzle of a heated debate. CNN environment correspondent Miles O'Brien takes a look. He is in New York.
Miles, good to see you.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, a quick question here. How much of a lift really will this award give to everyone who works with climate change challenges and issues?
O'BRIEN: Well, I think you can look at Al Gore as the chief spokesman for the large body, the vast majority of science out there, which has come to some pretty stark conclusions about global warming, about what's happening to the planet, and about exactly what humans are doing to speed up this whole process of global warming. So, in essence, what you have here are scientists who, just by the very nature of what they do for a living, are not very good at communicating with the public and who by nature and by the scientific process are very conservative in what they say. They seldom say things definitively because there's always a remote chance the old on the other hand.
Where as Al Gore, in his glorified power point presentation, which won an Oscar and now led him to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore is not encumbered in that way. So he has a certain amount of freedom to say things that scientists can't and thus this recognition helps scientists embrace Gore as their de facto PR spokesperson.
HARRIS: You know what, Miles, but let's talk about those doubters a little bit more here for a second. You know, we're talking about a UK judge, NASA administrator Michael Griffin, some climatologists and meteorologists. Are they winning the argument in any significant way? Are they making us look at the issue differently? And are they proposing that we not take steps to cut back on these emissions?
O'BRIEN: Well, there are a few, I guess you could call them dead-enders out there. There are a few that are still holding true to the notion that maybe this is some sort of natural cycle. They really are few and far between, Tony. Even the NASA administrative, Mike Griffin, backed off those comments where he lent some doubt as to whether human beings could do anything about it or was it appropriate for NASA to get in the middle of it. Sort of modified those comments after he made them to national public radio.
You know, you mention in that list, the judge, for example, who found nine inaccuracies in Al Gore's movie. Portions of which you're seeing right here before you. Really, if you look at those inaccuracies and go through them point by point, they really boil down to exaggerations.
For example, Al Gore says in the movie that the South Pacific islanders have evacuated to New Zealand. Well, that is a prediction which is very likely as sea level rises, but those evacuations haven't happened yet. The one thing the judge does say though, which kind of got lost in the shuffle through all this because of the nine inaccuracies, is that it is his firm belief that the Gore film is based on substantive science. In other words, he doesn't question the larger thesis here. He does say that in some cases Al Gore may have connected some dots that scientists are not ready to connect.
HARRIS: All right. Miles O'Brien for us in New York.
Good to see you, Miles. Thanks.
O'BRIEN: Good to see you, Tony.
COLLINS: The Nobel Peace Prize caps an extraordinary year for Al Gore. "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary featuring Gore, is the fourth highest grossing documentary in U.S. history. It captured two Academy Awards earlier this year. Last month Gore won an Emmy, the highest award in American television, for "Current TV," which he co- created.
Point, counter point. Al Gore sharing the Nobel Peace Prize for his warnings about global warming. Up next, our guest disputes Gore's claims.
HARRIS: It is your world and we are bringing you the story behind the statistics. Tune in for CNN's world wide investigation, "Planet in Peril," with our Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin. It premieres Tuesday, October 23rd at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Wednesday, October 24th. And you can get a review of "Planet in Peril" online. Just go to cnn.com/planetinperil.
COLLINS: The U.S. military expressing regret. An attack kills 15 Iraqi civilians. All women and children. Officials say the operation northwest of Baghdad targeted senior al Qaeda leaders. The military says 19 suspected insurgents were killed. The military blames al Qaeda for deliberately putting innocent people in harm's way.
HARRIS: A mother and her children pinned between two cars, caught in the middle of a horrific road rage wreck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My son. He so good son. I love him so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A father and husband's world comes crashing down.
COLLINS: A boy and his car. He and a buddy take a middle of the night joy ride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wake up on Sunday morning and you don't expect to see a two-year-old and a three-year-old shooting down the street in a car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Well, you sure don't. The toddler even stops for a traffic light. See, they watch everything you do. A story that you don't want to miss.
HARRIS: And more China-made toys coming off the shelves. We will tell you about yet another recall in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back, everybody. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A young mother, her babies squeezed between two cars by road raging drivers. Police outrage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They cannot point to the other individual and say, well, that person started it. This is not a fight of a five- year-old on a playground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Amen. Two of the victims fighting for their lives this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Al Gore sharing the Nobel Peace Prize, but his concerns not shared by all. Marlo Lewis is a critic of Gore's global warming claims. The senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute has written a skeptics guide to "An Inconvenient Truth."
Thanks for being here.
What was your reaction when you saw the announcement this morning?
MARLO LEWIS, COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Well, I was not surprised, but I was also displeased.
COLLINS: Why is that?
LEWIS: Well, I don't think that Al Gore's policies, which the Nobel committee celebrated and mentioned as one of the reasons for giving him the award, lead to peace. Rather, I think those policies lead to global instability and political strife within nations, between nations, because basically what Al Gore and the global warming crusade want to do is put an energy star planet on an energy diet. And this is a recipe for poverty. And poverty does not lead to peace. It leads to conflict.
COLLINS: So if he had gotten some other type of award for his work regarding global warming in particular, you would be OK with that?
LEWIS: Well . . .
COLLINS: As in -- you know what I'm saying, the Nobel science prize of some type?
LEWIS: I wouldn't be OK with that. But for a different set of reasons, which is that "An Inconvenient Truth" is basically a lawyer's brief for a political agenda. It's completely one-sided. Gore only mentions or cites studies that supports his point of view. He then exaggerates, in many cases, the evidence that he presents. In some cases, he's just plain wrong.
For example, 20 feet of sea level rise in this century is not, in any sense, a scientific possibility. That is science fiction. But Gore presented it as fact. It's scaremongering (ph).
COLLINS: Well, let me interrupt you just for one second, because for the people out there, the average American who does not have the science background and is trying to really make sense of whether or not this phenomenon is occurring, number one, and number two, whether or not man caused it to happen, how do I know what you're talking about? What evidence in particular, what science is really behind your position?
LEWIS: OK. I did not dispute that there is global warming or that mankind is causing a lot of the warming that we've seen in the last 30 years. Those are really uncontroversial propositions. It's the fact that this means 20 feet of sea level rise or the claim that Gore made very heavy-handedly in "An Inconvenient Truth" that the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was driven by global warming. That really is a fabrication and it's manipulative. It's a form of fearmongering (ph). And so that's politicized science. That's not real science.
COLLINS: How should it have been written?
LEWIS: How should Gore have written it?
COLLINS: That particular point about Katrina.
LEWIS: Well, he might have pointed out that when Katrina made landfall, it was only a category three storm. So the devastation that it caused, there was no reason to think that it was because of some kind of extra umpf that it got from global warming because we've had category four and five storms before the era of global warming. What he should have said was that there was 30 years of government failure to build adequate flood defenses for New Orleans and that was the real root of the tragedy.
COLLINS: So, overall then, let's talk about the idea of global warming. Should people be concerned about it? Should there be someone out there that is getting dialogue to happen? That is one of the things that was said in the announcement this morning for the peace prize, that it said, you know, Al Gore is someone who has basically gotten people talking about this.
LEWIS: Yes. He's gotten people talking about it and we can give him credit for that. But the way he's gotten people to talk about it is manipulative and misleading. He is presenting global warming as a planetary emergency. In other words, this is a civilization-ending catastrophe that's unfolding. And that is simply not based on science.
And the tragedy here is that he is now diverting public attention, political will, and potentially trillions of dollars in global resources from much more urgent threats to human welfare, like HIV/AIDS in Africa, malaria in Africa, malnutrition all around the world, water born diseases. These are lethal killers that are killing millions of women and children a year and we could address those and actually save millions of lives for a fraction of what we are going to spend if we follow Al Gore down the kyoto (ph) road.
COLLINS: Well, trying to give some equal time here to, obviously, an issue that is still very much in the forefront and still very hotly contested. We appreciate your insight.
LEWIS: Thank you very much.
COLLINS: Marlo Lewis, thank you.
HARRIS: A mother and her children pinned between two cars, caught in the middle of a horrific road rage wreck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My son. He's so good son. I love him so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: A father and husband's world comes crashing down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A check of the big board. New York Stock Exchange been trying to end the week, a nice little rally, on an up note. Inside the first hour of the trading day, the Dow up 40 points. We are following all the numbers for you this morning with Susan Lisovicz in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A horrific road rage crash killing a little boy, critically injuring his mother and baby sister. Two drivers now charged with murders. Details from Jamie Garza of CNN affiliate KCAL.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE GARZA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Amir Arif receives a comforting hug, but it does little to ease his pain.
AMIR ARIF, VICTIM'S FATHER: My son. He's so good son. I love him so much.
GARZA: Arif's five-year-old son was with his mom, Syeda, and his 2 1/2-month-old sister when they were crushed between these two parked cars. Nineteen-year-old Armando Ayon lost control of the car he's sitting in. Ayon will face murder charges, as will a second driver, with whom he was playing a dangerous high-speed game of cat and mouse that police say was sparked by road rage. They say 44-year-old Brian Barnes fled this scene but later turned himself in.
DET. BILL BUSTOS, LOS ANGELES POLICE: They were cutting each other off. They were jockeying for position. They were tapping on the brakes. One of the vehicles was tapping on the brakes, trying to cause the other one to ram into that vehicle.
CAPT. MIKE MOORE, LOS ANGELES POLICE: They cannot point to the other individual and say, well, that person started it. This is not a fight of a five-year-old on a playground.
ZABIN HILTON (ph): She's my best friend.
GARZA: Zabin Hilton and her husband have known the Arif's for 10 years and have been allowed to visit Syeda in the hospital. Because she's in critical condition, they've avoided telling her that her infant daughter is struggling to survive.
ARIF: My son is dead. My son died.
GARZA: Amir Arif wants those responsible brought to justice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
H:C Let's look a little deeper now at the problem of road rage and specifically at this tragedy. Commander Jerry Szymanski and Detective Bill Bustos work in the LAPD bureau where all of this happened. Gentlemen, thank you for being here.
Boy, you look at that story and the pain and the agony. Is this something, detective, that you see a lot where you live?
DET. WILLIAM BUSTOS, LOS ANGELES POLICE: Unfortunately, we do see it. Last year, in our area, in the San Fernando Valley, there were approximately 100 of these type incidents, none of which resulted in somebody losing a life until now earlier this week.
COLLINS: Commander, what do you tell people about this? I imagine either one or both of you sometimes go out to these scenes that just seem senseless. What can you tell people, hey, drive safer?
CMDR. JERRY SZYMANSKI, LOS ANGELES POLICE: And that's exactly -- you made the right point. This are senseless. This was a senseless tragedy.
And people forget the very basics of what they learn when they got their driver's license. What do we ask people to do? We ask people to be courteous drivers. We ask people to drive defensively.
Here was an overreaction to a situation where it caused a tragedy to this family. Something that will affect them for the rest of their life because they overreacted to a traffic violation.
COLLINS: Yes, and some of the reports I'm reading, the two were apparently cutting each other off and having this pretty big altercation. I mean, many of us have seen incidents like this or even have been involved in incidents like this. How do you ratchet people down a notch before somebody, like a five-year-old boy, gets killed?
SZYMANSKI: Well, first of all, a lot of what happens in road rage is because people are involved in poor time management. They're rushing to get somewhere. They justify their actions based upon the fact that they need to get to an incident. And then they drag other people involved in it.
If you're a victim of a road rage, we want you to maintain your common sense about what's in front of you. Don't get involved. Don't have your passenger get involved. Pull off the freeway. Everyone's carrying cell phones. Call 911. Let people know that someone is driving like this.
COLLINS: Yes, I want to get back to you on that point in just a minute because there's something that I have done before and I'm just not sure how effective it is. But, detective, talk to us a little bit more about this particular case. Other than the obvious, if people hadn't have gotten so angry, perhaps this may never may have happened.
What about everyday people who are in parking lots like this and trying to protect their children and get to their car safely? Is there anything we can do, I don't know, to be more aware possibly?
BUSTOS: Yes, to be more aware. I think what we need to do is just be courteous on the roadway. We need to obey the laws, the traffic laws, that are set out for us that we learn when we went out to get our driver's licenses. I think we need to start at the beginning. I think many of these instances can be avoided.
On the roadway, there's some tips that we can practice. Do not participate in this type of activity when driving on the roadway. Do not add fuel to the fire. Avoid the other driver. Be the responsible party. Pull over and stop. Let the other driver go by. Call 911. Copy the license plate number of that vehicle so that they can be later on followed up on by the police.
COLLINS: Yes, and that's exactly what I did when I asked you about, because trying to be proactive and trying to keep yourself out of the fray, if you will, even if you see other people driving erratically and dangerously, taking down that license plate number and then calling the actual state that you may be in for here, Georgia, GDOT or I've done it in Colorado, CDOT there, there's an actual number you can call and say, hey, I'm on interstate whatever it is, I'm traveling north and just in front of me here is what happened. But, you know, you always feel like it's too late. And where is that driver going to be by the time that police can finally respond?
BUSTOS: Well, we can follow up on that. It doesn't matter where that person goes. The most immediate thing is for you to be safe. That's why you need to pull over, get that information that we're asking for, for the driver's license so that later on it can be followed up upon. But the main thing is for that driver not to participate so that we can be safe.
COLLINS: Absolutely. So, unfortunately, the end result of all of this is a five-year-old boy is dead and his mother and his sister in critical condition. Two people charged with murder here. To the both of you, we certainly appreciate your insight on a problem that is certainly ongoing, and that's road rage.
Detective Bill Bustos and Commander Jerry Szymanski, thanks so much.
SZYMANSKI: Thank you.
BUSTOS: Thank you.
COLLINS: Good Friday morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
A Pennsylvania teen accused of planning a Columbine-style attack, ordered to remain in juvenile detention this morning. The teen's mother also in the legal spotlight, charged with allegedly buying a 9 millimeter assault rifle for the teen. Authorities say they found the rifle, air guns, and several hand grenades at the boy's home. School officials say a tip from another teen led them to the plot. A judge says he'll decide later whether to charge the 14-year-old as an adult.
COLLINS: Al Gore wins the Peace Prize. Critics step up their battle to challenge his claims. Global warming, the debate heats up.
HARRIS: More China-made toys coming off the shelves. We will tell you about yet another recall.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And scattered showers continue in the Northeast. Is there a chance of flooding? I'll let you know coming up in a few moments. Plus, we'll let you know what you can expect for your weekend ahead. That's moments away right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Eyes on the prize, spotlight on the issue. Al Gore's campaign against global warming earns him the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He shares the honor with the United Nations Panel on Climate Change. Gore's global efforts to raise awareness including his award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." Some scientists dispute the film's central theme, that manmade pollution is heating the Earth and inviting global catastrophe. The former vice president says the evidence cannot be ignored.
Quite, "We face a true planetary emergency. The climate is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."
HARRIS: Global warming, Gore says it is not a political issue. But make no mistake, the political stakes are inarguable. Here with a closer look, CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider.
Bill, good to see you.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Sure, Tony.
HARRIS: All right, let's get started on this, Bill. Will this launch Al Gore into -- well, that's a simple as it gets, into the political race?
SCHNEIDER: Well, a lot of his supporters certainly hope so. They've been drumming up -- putting together really a drumbeat to persuade Democrats to draft Gore as their presidential nominee. They took out an ad in "The New York Times." They've collected well over 100,000 signatures urging Mr. Gore to run for the Democratic nomination.
I notice that you just quoted Mr. Gore as saying in response to the Nobel Peace Prize, that it;s not a political issue, it's a moral and spiritual challenge. The minute he were to run for president of the United States, this issue would become a political issue. It would be his platform.
HARRIS: One other question here we've been sort of kicking around this question in the newsroom -- is this award in some way a slap at the Bush administration, the U.S. environmental policy? What do you think?
SCHNEIDER: Well, a lot of people think that, as you said, in the newsroom, and all over the world, because the chairman of the Oslo Olympic -- Nobel committee in Norway was asked precisely that question, was this a dig at President Bush who a lot of polls have shown is a very unpopular figure all over the world. And his response was, quote, "The Nobel Committee has never given a kick in the leg to anyone," meaning he's denying that this is any slight at President Bush, but he clearly makes a very powerful statement that the man who lost the presidential race in 2000 to George W. Bush is a more admired and revered figure in the world than President Bush.
HARRIS: CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider for us this morning. Bill, good to see you. Thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HARRIS: It is your world, and we are bringing you the story behind the statistics. Tune in for CNN's worldwide investigation "Planet in Peril," with our Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and John Corwin. It premieres Tuesday, October 23rd, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Wednesday October 24th. You can get a preview of "Planet in Peril" online. Just go to CNN.com/planetinperil.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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COLLINS: A shiny red mustang, a toddler's prized possession. You won't believe what he did next.
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(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
HARRIS: Well, the head of Cleveland's schools meets with the mayor today. Topping the agenda, school security. Wednesday' shooting left two teachers and two students wounded. The 14-year-old gunman then killed himself. What leads to this kind of rampage?
CNN's Joe Johns went looking for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Panic in the classroom. It seemed to come out of nowhere. But look back over the troubled life of Asa Coon and the signs are everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say sadness and anger and depression all of them.
JOHNS: As recently as Monday, a security camera caught the 14- year-old in a fight outside school, a history of violence that led him to juvenile court and a night in the lock up early last year. It was a domestic violence charge, a disagreement with his twin sister when they were 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The incident started off as a fight between Asa and his sister. It escalated, the mother got involved to try to break it up. Asa turned on her and eventually struck her in the face.
JOHNS: But court records tell a disturbing story. A home detention officer wrote that the relationship between the mother and Asa is extremely poor. That Asa said children pick on him, that he had been suspended from school for ten days last April for fighting. Other records say Asa at times was out of control. Attempted suicide, made a suicidal statement that authorities were looking into whether he had bipolar tendencies. He was ordered by the court to take psychotropic drugs, but one report said he's refusing to take his meds and is in a critical state. The county social services department had contact with Asa three times including a bb gun incident, mysterious burns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple that we could never figure out. They appeared to be like cigarettes. There was a belief that he would never say how he got them. There was belief that it might have been through his older brother. You know, wrestling, fighting, rough housing with his older brother.
JOHNS: That brother, Steven, five years older than Asa has a history of arrests and was picked up by police just today on alleged parole violations. Keeping them honest with all this trouble on the record, should authorities have red flagged Asa Coon before he went on a rampage? One problem is technically he had only been in real trouble with the law once. Not enough to set him apart from other troubled kids. Police chief Michael McGrath.
CHIEF MICHAEL MCGRATH, CLEVELAND POLICE DEPT.: The information we have is very limited at this time. We know that he was 14 years old. We know that he did have some disciplinary problems at the school and outside the school and other than that, not a whole lot. I mean, he wasn't one of these kids that were high on the list as far as the troublemaker goes.
JOHNS: His Science teacher told us she knew Asa was angry but that he was also very intelligent, well-behaved in class.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Things were going down hill, not completing assignments, not doing homework and not doing class work.
JOHNS: It's not that any one person did anything wrong, it's just that no one person saw the whole picture. Kenneth Trump used to work in school security here in Cleveland.
KENNETH TRUMP, SCHOOL SAFETY CONSULTANT: The issue, though, is that you have a kid here like you have in many of the other school shootings that's been active with children and family services, with juvenile court, with the police department, with the school system and the difficulty of getting all of those agencies to pull the pieces of the puzzle together before somebody lights the fuse and it goes off.
JOHNS: Authorities here say things are getting better in Cleveland. That the different agencies are now talking to each other, working together on puzzles like a Asa Coon. Too late for Asa, maybe not for others like him.
Joe Johns, CNN, Cleveland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Latest cut from Ann Coulter -- conservative commentator has a new target, and she gets a shot in.
HARRIS: But first let's check in with Betty to see what she and T.J. are planning for you this weekend.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: In development for 25 years and still considered a flight risk. The controversial V-22 osprey is now in Iraq, but is it safe? Why critics say it could be a death trap for U.S. troops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KANYE WEST: What made black people feel so empowered was completely demoralizing and destroying, you know, other black people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Blood diamonds and the hip-hop industry. A new documentary takes three rappers into the diamond mines of Sierra Leone. We're going to talk to Paul Wall about his emotional journey.
Plus, Disney's darling caught in a public relations nightmare. Why fans of Hannah Montana can't get in to see her shows. "CNN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY MORNING" beginning tomorrow at 7:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 until noon Eastern. But did you know you can take us with you anywhere on your iPod. You don't know by that -- you know that by now, right? The CNN NEWSROOM podcast is available 24/7 right on your iPod.
HARRIS: A shiny red Mustang, a young driver. It adds up to a dangerous late night joy ride. Chloe Morroni of affiliate WISN has more details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHLOE MORRONI, WISN REPORTER (voice-over): Jordan Will has a sharp ride, a candy apple red Mustang GT with all the extras: a rear spoiler, a premium sound system, and chrome wheels.
DOUG WILL, FATHER: It's all he talks about when he comes here is he wants his car and go for a ride.
MORRONI: And that's just what Jordan and a buddy did without permission early in the morning while his dad, Doug, was still sleeping.
WILL: Nothing bad happened, you know, so it's kind of cute now when you look at it, but at the time, it wasn't cute at all. It was scary and I was really upset.
MORRONI: The boys drove through the neighborhood.
JASON BAUER, NEIGHBOR: When you wake up on Sunday morning and you don't expect to see a two-year-old and a three-year-old shooting down the street in a car.
MORRONI: They pulled right up to a busy intersection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they even obeyed the signs. So, I mean that was good. He stopped at the red light, and he got on the crosswalk.
MORRONI: Jordan crossed over Highway 21, onto the sidewalk and drove over the bridge. Neighbors panicked, called 911, chased them, and cops pulled the car over.
BAUER: By the time we saw them, they probably made it five to six blocks from home, before anybody even noticed that they were wandering around town.
MORRONI: Doug had had been searching for the boys the whole time when he got the call to come and get the car, and Jordan tried to get out of it.
WILL: He just said we went for a ride, daddy, you know. I'm like, you were naughty. He goes, no, daddy, we just went for a ride. And I'm like, well, you were naughty, you left the yard.
MORRONI: So for right now, all Jordan can do is sit in his ride because dad took away his keys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Wow. Police say they won't charge dad or son.
Pennsylvania police say they prevented a Columbine-style attack. A boy in court this morning accused of planning a murderous rampage.
And also ahead, it's no smear. Your big name lipstick may be vogue. A consumer watchdog says it may also be toxic. Safety concerns straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Some news just in to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is getting an endorsement. I believe it's going to happen here in Atlanta.
Fredricka Whitfield is covering this story for us. Hi there, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you, Heidi.
A significant endorsement from a prominent Congressman for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Georgia Congressman John Lewis, after much reticence over the past few months, is now saying that he is standing behind the Democratic nomination of Senator Clinton.
You may recall it was back in March during the bloody Sunday anniversary in Selma that Congressman John Lewis was asked repeatedly whether he was behind Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama because both Obama and Clinton were at that anniversary. And at the time he said, you know, how wonderful it is to have two great candidates, in his view, in which to choose from, but that he hadn't made a choice one over the other.
Well, now in a formal announcement that is expected to happen today at noontime in Atlanta, John Lewis, alongside Hillary Clinton, will actually announce that he is indeed endorsing her. And in a written statement, he said, "I have looked at all the candidates and I believe that Hillary Clinton is the best prepared to lead this country at a time when we are in desperate need of strong leadership. She will restore a greater sense of community in America and reclaim our standing in the world."
So, those words from Georgia Congressman John Lewis after many, many months of being very quiet and silent about who his preference would be for the Democratic nomination, and now he says it is Hillary Clinton -- Heidi?
COLLINS: All right. Fredricka Whitfield, thank you.
HARRIS: And good morning again, everyone. You're with CNN, you're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on Friday morning, the 12th of October. Here's what's on the rundown.
Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell back in jail. We'll tell you the judge's reason.
HARRIS: A mother and son charged in an alleged plot to attack a high school. If it had happened, police say the rampage could have rivalled Columbine.
COLLINS: Al Gore honored today for his stand on the environment. New Nobel Laureate in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And at the top this hour, a 14-year-old Pennsylvania boy accused of plotting a Columbine-style attack.
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