Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Shooting Reporting at Mall Outside Atlanta; Possible Identity Found to Baby Grace; Redskins Player Shot; Bush Holds Mideast Peace Summit; Trent Lott to Step Down from Senate Seat
Aired November 26, 2007 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Riley Ann Sawyers was a bright-eyed, apple-cheeked, 2-year-old girl from Ohio. Police in Texas are pretty sure she's also Baby Grace.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Yes. She's the little girl who turned up dead in a plastic box in Galveston almost a month ago. Today her mother is one of two people under arrest. We get the latest from Texas and from Jon Lieberman of "America's Most Wanted" this hour.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live in CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It's 1 p.m. Eastern Time. We start off by going straight to the newsroom, T.J. Holmes working details on a story that just got in to CNN -- T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Just getting in about a shooting that happened at a mall just west of the Atlanta area. It happened in Douglasville at the Arbor Place Mall. You can see the location of Douglasville there. It's 20 plus so miles to the west of Atlanta. But a shooting at a mall.
Now we are trying to confirm some stuff from police. We're not getting a lot of information since this we understand that this just happened, so we're going to just share with folks what is out there.
Some of the reports that are out there from local affiliates is that this shooting possibly involved -- possibly involved an armored truck there at the mall, also that the mall has been placed on lockdown.
Different reports about somebody might have been shot involved. According to the affiliates now, possibly someone being shot at this mall and that the mall is now in lockdown.
Again, this is just some of the stuff that's out there from local affiliates. We're trying to confirm. Police have confirmed, at least, that yes, there has been a shooting at Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville. But just some varying reports right now. So much information out there about what possibly happened, exactly what happened. Again, local affiliates, some reporting that this involved an armored truck, others reporting that possibly a security guard was shot and also someone else was shot involved in this.
We're monitoring all of these affiliate reports, trying to confirm some of this from police ourselves, but Kyra, as soon as we get more information. Again, just came in to us, like you said. We're going to keep monitoring it, pass it along to you.
Go ahead.
PHILLIPS: Do we know if the shooter is still on the loose? Are you hearing anything about that?
HOLMES: We don't know that. Again, some of these reports we're following from affiliates are that there were a couple of suspects, and possibly one of those suspects was, in fact, shot.
Again, according to some local affiliates reporting on their Web site. So again, some of this information is all over the place. Just telling you what is out there but...
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll track it.
HOLMES: Yes. No word, though, at least, though, Kyra, of anyone being in custody. So that would lead to you believe that someone possibly still is on the loose out.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep checking on it. Thanks, T.J.
LEMON: It started with a fisherman's gruesome find, a toddler's body stuffed in a plastic box. Now investigators believe they can put a real face on Baby Grace and a terrible crime.
CNN's Sean Callebs is in Spring, Texas, the last place anybody remembers seeing Riley Ann Sawyers alive -- Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Don. Here in this house right behind me, 6811, this is where authorities say that Riley Ann Sawyers and her mother moved about five months ago. They moved in with Royce Ziegler, who apparently, the child's mother met online while playing a video game.
Well, to say that people in this area are absolutely shocked at what happened that the allegations coming from Galveston Sheriff's Office that, indeed, the body of young Baby Grace is that of 2-year- old Riley Ann Sawyers. It's something that is certainly making its effect known in this community.
You may wonder how could something like that happen? How could people in the community not notice that a precocious, little blonde 2- year-old girl was missing? Well, just look around. You can see this is kind of a walled community. All the houses are actually behind these eight-foot walls that all have gates, so conceivably, somebody could be back there doing just about anything and very difficult. We did talk to a number of neighbors off camera. And they said yes, they remember seeing the little girl when that family moved in here. They said that the parents or the mother and her husband were actually very quiet. They kept to themselves. They didn't say much.
In fact, two neighbors told me they only recently began to wonder, "I wonder what happened to that girl?" Well, tragically we appear to know now.
The Galveston Sheriff's Office held a news conference a while ago, very emotional for them. Listen to what they had to say about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Any way you look at it, we carry a piece of her with us and will always carry a little piece of her with us.
In any time we deal with cases like this, and we're very fortunate that cases like this don't happen very much, at least in our part of the world. But she's -- any way you look at it she's our little girl. She now has a family. She has people that will care for her. And make sure that a box in West Galveston Bay is not where she ended her life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: The child's biological father is UP in the Ohio area. Apparently, family -- this is clearly news, Don, that they did not want to hear. They're waiting for DNA evidence.
But right now the information from the sheriff's office in Galveston indeed, the body of Baby Grace is that of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.
LEMON: All right. Sean Callebs, thank you very much for that. And we'll have much, much more to come on this story.
At 2 p.m. Eastern, the Mentor, Ohio, Police Department will be holding a news conference. Riley Sawyers' grandparents are expected to be there, and we'll take you live there.
PHILLIPS: Washington Redskins star, safety Sean Taylor, is in a Miami trauma hospital right now. He was shot in his own home early this morning, and his life may be on the line.
John Zarrella, on the phone from Miami with the latest.
John, what happened?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, Miami-Dade County Police continuing questioning witnesses and looking for evidence. We're standing outside of Sean Taylor's house, the yellow crime scene tape surrounding the house. A 6-foot white concrete block fence obscures the inside of that property.
At this point all that we do know is that Taylor was shot at about 1:45 this morning right inside of his home. Police say there have been reports of a break-in, a possible burglary situation, but they are not confirming that.
Now, Taylor was in Miami yesterday and today. He did not play in Sunday's game in Tampa Bay against the Buccaneers, because he has been out with an injury himself for the last couple of weeks, to his knee.
But at this point all we know -- family will not confirm any more than the initial reports of being critically injured -- that in Washington, a former teammate of his at the University of Miami, Clinton Porter, the star running-back with the Redskins who also played with Taylor in Miami, talked about Taylor's condition and what he knows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON PORTER, FORMER TEAMMATE OF SEAN TAYLOR: So he lost a lot of blood and he's fighting to hang on. So pray for him and you know, hopefully he'll fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now Taylor, of course, has been considered one of the toughest hitters in the National Football League. He was drafted in 2004 with the fifth pick in the first round by the Washington Redskins.
He's also had his on-field troubles and altercations. He was fined $17,000 in 2006 after spitting at a Tampa Bay player. He was ejected from that game.
He does not talk with the media very much. He says he doesn't trust the media.
So Sean Taylor again now Kyra, listed still in critical condition. No update on that. And police still trying to sort out what happened here in the overnight hours at his home south of Miami -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. John Zarrella on the phone with us from Miami. We'll track it. Thanks, John.
PHILLIPS: Eight more days in jail for Joran Van Der Sloot. We should find him out -- or find out today when a judge in Aruba rules on the latest attempt by prosecutors to link him to whatever happened to Natalee Holloway in May 2005.
It's the second time that Van Der Sloot has been arrested. This time prosecutors dragged him back from the college that he attends in the Netherlands.
Two brothers from that area were re-arrested also last week in the area. Holloway, as you may know, has never been found, but authorities believe that she is dead.
LEMON: Laying some early groundwork for peace late in his presidency. President Bush is hosting his first Mideast peace summit tomorrow in Annapolis, Maryland.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House for us.
Hi, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.
And today is a day for behind-the-scenes meetings, really, running the groundwork for tomorrow. Just a few minutes ago, as a matter of fact, Israeli prime minister -- excuse me, Israeli [sic] President Mahmoud Abbas arrived here at the White House to begin his meetings with President Bush in the Oval Office. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Just two hours ago the president welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the White House, saying that he was optimistic that peace was possible.
Olmert, for his part, thanked President Bush for hosting the talks and said that he believed things have changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: It's different because we're going to have lots of participants in what, I hope, will launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians. This will be a bilateral process, but international support is very important for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: And international support is indeed growing and has grown for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as evidenced, certainly, by the high attendance of conditions at the Annapolis conference that begins tomorrow. More than 40 countries will be represented. Many Arab countries -- Syria, Saudi Arabia, who had initially been very reluctant to attend.
Another thing that makes the talks different this time around are the leaders involved. National security advisor Steven Hadley, in a conference call with reporters yesterday, said that the White House believes that Olmert and Abbas are ready to make the tough choices now to form both an independent Palestinian state and a lasting peace between their two peoples.
And certainly, though, there's no denying that there is some legacy building at work here. The president has just one year left in office. And it would be quite a coup to end his presidency known as a peacemaker who has succeed where so many presidents gone before him have failed.
LEMON: Kathleen Koch, thank you so much for your report.
PHILLIPS: First, let's get back to the newsroom, actually. T.J. has some more details, I'm told, on that situation, that shooting at that mall right here in the Georgia area.
Are you finding out more, T.J., about this possible suspect on the loose?
HOLMES: Well, again, yes, and again we're relying on our local affiliates and their reports right now on their Web sites that are coming in to us. You see the location there, Douglasville. Arbor Place Mall is the name of it there in Douglasville.
But what we are, again, getting from our affiliates, including one of them, WSB here in town, reporting that this involved a Brinks armored truck there in Douglasville. And possibly that the shooting happened outside of the mall, not inside the mall.
Other reports say that the mall has been placed on lockdown, nobody being allowed in or out.
And also, still, yet other reports that, in fact, there were two suspects, and one suspect was shot and also one security guard had been shot. So, that would leave -- we don't know any report out there, in fact, that any suspect is in custody, so possibly someone else is on the loose.
This just happening, all of this information just getting out there. We're working to confirm this from police, who are not just yet releasing a whole lot of information. But in fact, have confirmed, at least, that there has been a shooting of some kind at Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville, which is just some 20-plus miles west of downtown Atlanta, is what we know now, Kyra.
We're working to get more information, to confirm some of this and clean some of this stuff up. There's so much out there right now. Of course, this just happening. So we're on it. We'll get back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. T.J. Holmes in the newsroom there. Thanks so much.
HOLMES: All right.
LEMON: First Black Friday, now Cyber Monday. Online retailers get their turn at luring holiday shoppers.
PHILLIPS: A political shocker on Capitol Hill. A Republican heavyweight, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, decides it's time to move on.
LEMON: And a new study backs up claims that secondhand smoke can be dangerous, even deadly.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We're continuing to follow -- actually, we're still following that shooting that happened at a Georgia mall. T.J. Holmes in the newsroom now, getting more information.
I just was sort of reading my notes, T.J., about this. Possibly an armored car being involved. Possibly a number of suspects still on the loose.
HOLMES: Yes. This is -- again, we're using our affiliates and relying on them right now. WSB is some of that information we're talking about there. And you just mentioning that yes, a Brinks armored truck, according to WSB, involved in this shooting.
The mall is on lockdown now, but reporting here that police are searching for two suspects, two black males in a F-350 Ford pickup truck, according to WSB.
Yet, still we're monitoring other affiliates, including WGCL here in Atlanta, which is reporting that, in fact, two people had been shot, including one of the suspects and a security guard.
So again, this just happening a short time ago. A lot of information not really yet being confirmed by police. But this happened in Douglasville a short time ago, Douglasville just west to northwest of downtown Atlanta some 20-something miles. Arbor Place Mall where the shooting took place.
Not clear if this shooting happened inside or outside the mall, but we understand that the mall is in lockdown right now, nobody being allowed to come in or go out of that mall right now. Police are continuing to investigate.
Again, a developing story here, Kyra. We are monitoring our affiliates and trying to confirm a lot of this with police, who right now aren't releasing a whole lot of information.
PHILLIPS: T.J., what's that truck again?
LEMON: Say that one more time?
PHILLIPS: What's the truck again, the...
LEMON: According to WSB -- according to WSB, this was a Brinks armored -- armored truck that was involved.
PHILLIPS: The one that the suspects are apparently.
LEMON: The truck itself. The truck itself. They are in an F- 350 is what it's described as by WSB, an F-350 Ford truck. Two black males -- that's according to our affiliate -- police are still looking for right now.
So according to WSB, this affiliate, at least, there would be two suspects still out there on the loose somewhere.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll track it. T.J., thanks.
HOLMES: All right.
LEMON: Seventeen past the hour. Three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A pro bowl Washington Redskins player now hospitalized in critical condition. Someone apparently shot Sean Taylor early this morning in his home near Miami. Right now, police are investigating the case as a possible robbery.
He's made it official, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, Trent Lott, has announced he'll resign by the end of the year. Lott's now the minority whip. Years ago he lost his post as GOP majority leader after controversial comments he made about -- about senator and one- time segregationist Strom Thurmond.
President Bush meeting this hour with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Earlier, Mr. Bush said he's optimistic about tomorrow's Mideast peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland, the first such summit he's directly hosted.
PHILLIPS: The private sector beckons for Trent Lott. After more than three decades in Congress, the Republican Senate whip has just announced plans to resign.
Congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin, live with more on Capitol Hill.
What does he want to do, Jessica?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, looks like you're right; he wants to go into the private sector. At least, that's what those close to Trent Lott are indicating. And that's even what he said himself in his announcement today.
He made it clear that he is resigning in the middle of his fourth term -- he was just re-elected -- because it's a decision he made on his own. In a sense, he's saying, "I'm jumping. No one and nothing pushed me."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MI), MINORITY WHIP: Let me make it clear. There are no problems. I feel fine. I may look my 66 years, but I honestly feel good. And I get up every day believing that I can maybe have a positive effect on what we do in the Senate.
I like being a happy warrior. I don't like some of the negativism that we're dealing with now, but that's life and that's the role, I guess, of politics sometimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Now, Trent Lott is the No. 2 Republican here in the Senate. And he's one of those old-time legislators who really knows how to get things done by working across the aisle.
You can see that in some of the glowing statements that have come out today, not just from Republicans but even Democrats, saying how much they enjoyed working well with him here in the Senate.
Lott has, in recent months, sort of bemoaned the loss of bipartisanship here in the Senate and has even complained to reporters that it's hard to get compromises done, not just with Democrats but even with the White House.
But again, his supporters say the real reason he's going is because he really thinks it's time for him to enter the private sector. He debated whether he should even run for this term but decided to, because he wanted to help his district with Katrina.
We should note that he leaves just before new ethics rules kick in that would have made it harder for him to lobby the Senate. This way he has an easy time entering that world quickly after he goes -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jessica Yellin on the Hill. Thanks, Jessica.
LEMON: All right. We've been talking about the president. We saw Kathleen Koch. She was at the White House just a moment ago, telling us about the president.
Live pictures now. He's about to -- he met this morning with Mahmoud Abbas -- we want to take a listen to that -- and Ehud Olmert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you for coming. Thank you for working hard to implement a vision for a Palestinian state.
We want to help you. We want there to be peace. We want the people in the Palestinian territories to have hope. And we thank you for your willingness to sit down with Israel, to negotiate the settlement.
The United States cannot impose our vision but we can help facilitate. And the process will begin tonight at the State Department, then on to Annapolis tomorrow. And I want to thank you for coming, wish you all the very best.
MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT: (speaking foreign language.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am delighted to have the opportunity to meet with President Bush after his invitation and this historic initiative that he launched to convene the Annapolis conference.
We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce a permanent negotiation, expanded negotiations over all permanent status issues that will lead to a program -- to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people, an agreement to secure security and stability.
President Bush's initiative is a great initiative. We will continue to rely on his support and the support of the United States and his administration in order to achieve the intended objective.
Thank you.
BUSH: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. That was the president meeting moments ago with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It is a summit in Annapolis, Maryland.
And here is what both Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert said, just to sum it up. That they are hoping that this will start a serious process of negotiations between the U.S. and the Palestinians, as well. And between the Palestinians, as well as the Israelis.
So, meeting there, we should probably hear more at about 2:30, when Dana Perino will hold a press conference, or at least a daily White House briefing, to just sort of sum up what these meetings are about and what the president said between the two leaders there.
We have much, much more, including this story and also breaking news from right here in Georgia, coming up in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You watch us here every day. We get to ask questions all the time. Wednesday night is your chance to grill the Republican candidates for president in our second -- our second CNN-YouTube debate.
And just like last time, we've gotten thousands of video submissions from you, the voters and the viewers. Here's a peek at them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a registered Republican. I'm a Christian. And I'm also gay. My husband Jeff and I are raising two children, but a vote for you is a vote against my family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George W. Bush and his admission are suffering from all-time lows in approval ratings. How will you, as a Republican candidate, distance yourself from the president and his administration in order to appeal to the mainstream voter?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, there you go. The CNN-YouTube Republican debate is set for 8 p.m. Eastern. That's on Wednesday night.
The best political team on television is choosing your questions for the candidates from thousands of submissions on YouTube. Your voice will be heard. It will be heard only on CNN, your home for politics.
And right after the debate, CNN's Campbell Brown goes inside the intriguing and ruthless world of political attack ads. We all say we hate them. So why do they work so well? That's the question. "Broken Government: Campaign Killers," that's Wednesday night at 11 Eastern.
PHILLIPS: Rain, fog, snow, nasty weather facing travelers heading home from Thanksgiving holiday. Chad Myers keeping an eye on all of it from the CNN weather center.
I tell you what, my sister had a brutal time, Chad. Got her to the airport at 2. She didn't fly out until 7.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Was that yesterday or today?
PHILLIPS: That was yesterday.
MYERS: I'm sorry. Seven hasn't happened yet unless it's 7 a.m.
PHILLIPS: Crazy.
MYERS: And to get her there at 2 in the morning is kind of rude.
Anyway, Kyra, yes, we do have major airport delays. You can see them now: Newark, La Guardia, JFK. And we only have 5,800 planes in the sky right now, according to Flight Tracker.
And why? Well, because one reason, actually, is because La Guardia can only take 30 planes an hour right now. So they have to space the planes out. Every two minutes they can land. Now in a real -- you know, the perfect world, they want to be in every minute and fifteen seconds and off, down and off. Down and off. Well, when you can't land planes that fast and you can't take them off that fast, obviously, you can't put as many planes in the air because otherwise, they'll just circle around and around.
So those delays are not so much delays getting out of La Guardia, but your plane is sitting on the ground in Kansas City. You're supposed to go to New York, and you can't leave because there's no space for you to land when you get around La Guardia. Those are the delays we're seeing now.
Raining up and down I-75, all the way down across I-10, pretty heavy rain showers there across the I-10. And then rain from Cleveland back to just about, I'd say, just west of Brighton. We're now seeing rain turn into snow. And that's Lansing, obviously, all the way back over to about South Bend. And even into Muskegon and Grand Rapids, going to pick up some snow today.
And here's the cloud cover. Not much rain yet for New York City. But here's the cloud cover, and here's the reason why all of the New York airports, including La Guardia, are wrecked. This is what you're seeing. Now, I can tell that that's the reservoir there in the background. This is a shot from Columbus Circle. We're looking to the northeast. And you should be able to see almost La Guardia Airport. Well, you can't even see across the other side all the way over to the other side.
And this one's even better. This one is somewhere along the Hudson River. Usually I can tell whether we're looking north or south. And if you look north, you see the G.W. Bridge. You look south, you see the Statue of Liberty. I don't even see steam coming off the top of a building on that one. And it's not going to get better as the day goes on.
And when you have planes coming in trying to land, you have to spread them out. You can't get them on the ground like you like.
Now, Boston even on the ground now, seeing a small ground stop. I don't know the details on that but that's just popped up. They kind of pop up automatically on us. So JFK an hour and 10 minutes. Look at La Guardia is three hours. Newark now two hours and 15 minutes. Philadelphia a little bit over an hour.
And then some smaller airports like Aspen now slowed because of snow coming down. I guess that's a good thing if you're flying to Aspen you want snow to come down. Atlanta 35 minutes and going up. Las Vegas about 30 minutes and White Plains. Those are departure delays simply because they had so many planes on the ground that came in.
It's kind of a private airport for a lot of big time people, bigger money people I guess, put their planes on the ground. Flying away planes because it's a better airport than trying to land your little small plane at LaGuardia.
But when you get so many planes they can't take off all at the same time. Tomorrow some light snow across the Northeast. A windy, warmer day across the Plains and a big snow event for the Rockies.
And if you are heading to the Rockies, maybe for Christmas break, I'm looking ahead that far, Kyra, there's a lot of storms lined up to put down good snows for the Rocky Mountain States. And it hasn't really been a great couple of ski seasons in a row but this one looks pretty good so far.
PHILLIPS: Good. My entire family will be excited about that. All right. We'll talk again. Thanks, Chad.
LEMON: No need to battle crowds, you don't even have to get on an airplane. Traffic delays, any of that. Cyber Monday is here, it is today. And so are some very special promotions online. CNN's Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, all of the latest on this. Susan, is this real or sort of a marketing ploy to get people to go on the Internet?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the answer is yes and yes, Don. I mean, the fact is the retail industry notice add few years ago a lot of people were shopping online, Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Why? They were returning to work and to their high speed computers. And the retail industry wanted to make the most of this so the industry dubbed it cyber Monday. It has been really promoting it. The fact is about 72 million people are expected to go online and shop today. So, they are real numbers. It's not the busiest online shopping day of the year, not expected to be. That will come closer to the actual day of Christmas. Because so many of us procrastinate. But there are lots of deals, most of them involve free shipping, and if you want to know more about it, Don, there is an excellent easy way to find out. That is to go to our own excellent Web site, cnnmoney.com which has special report called holiday money.
And you don't have to bear the crowds and you don't have to get confused. They'll tell you exactly who's got the deals on what. So travel there. Let your fingers do the walking and see what you come up with, Don.
LEMON: I like that. Holiday money instead of holiday debt, right. It's all in how you look at it.
LISOVICZ: That comes in the New Year, I'm afraid.
LEMON: So I just went online myself and purchased something for on this cyber Monday and did the purchase. This never happened before. They actually called me back to confirm the order from the company so. Folks are warning this year that there's very serious risks to shopping online
LISOVICZ: I always like it when my credit card company calls.
LEMON: This was actually the company I ordered from. It wasn't the credit card company.
LISOVICZ: Wonderful. A legitimate company and you know, it's been a problem for retailers, been a real problem for credit card companies. Most of all it's been a real problem for consumers. When there's money out there, whether you are in a bricks and mortar store, whether you're online, you should be careful.
Security firms SecureWorks says ads for fake anti-spyware are up 1,000 percent in the last month. Lots of scams and this is one of them. Various bogus anti-spyware names, including Spy Shredder, Anti- Zeargear (ph) and Malware Alarm and dozens of others so be careful when you're out there shopping, that before you give some very, very sensitive information out, make sure that you're dealing with the real thing.
Because not only can you get charged wrongly, sometimes these cyber thieves take control of your computer, too. It's just a major headache. Here on Wall Street we're not seeing much shopping on this first Monday after Thanksgiving. We've had modest moves both to the up side and down side. And concerns about consumer spending this critical holiday season. Retail stocks under a lot of pressure. Best Buy and Borders bucking the trend. They are each about three percent. Still concerns about high oil prices and the housing recession as well as tighter credit, what kind of holiday season we're going to have for the retail industry.
The Dow right now negative, down by 18 points, NASDAQ is down six. And fortunately, oil is pretty flat at $98 after inching closer to $100 a barrel earlier today in electronic trading. Don, back to you.
LEMON: All right. Susan, we look forward to the next time. cnnmoney.com and it's called holiday money.
LISOVICZ: "Holiday Money."
LEMON: Thank you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Three headlines, three suspected homicides. But can police find enough evidence to solve any of them. Jon Lieberman of "America's Most Wanted" offers insight on Baby Grace, Stacy Peterson and Natalee Holloway.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's about 38 minutes past the hour. We're still following that shooting outside a Georgia mall. T.J. Holmes has been following the details for us. T.J.?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. What we know now according to Associated Press is in fact, yes, one person, one of the suspects involved in this robbery at Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville was shot and including a security guard shot as well. According to A.P. this when two men tried to rob a Brinks security truck outside of that shopping mall there in Douglasville. Two men tried. One suspect ended up shot. A security guard shot as well. Police now believe there is a suspect driving a getaway car out there.
We understand that the mall has been put in lockdown and now we know that one of our people is on the scene. Rick Ward, one of our supervising producers here at CNN happens to live not too far away, happened to be in the area and is there now. Ric, I hope you can hear me. This is T.J. here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Tell me what you've been able to see out there.
RIC WARD, CNN PRODUCER (on phone): Hey, T.J. How you doing? Right now the mall is ot technically on lockdown. Traffic is restricted going in and out. Although they are allowing people out of the mall now and we were just able to walk into the mall a few minutes ago. I can tell you also that some of the schools in Douglas County are also on lockdown or they were as of a few minutes ago. It's what they call a code yellow.
Now this mall has 140 stores. There are spaces for about 6,000 cars to park. On a day like today it probably was not very packed, but from what I see inside the mall there are only a few people walking around right now, looks like most people are leaving.
HOLMES: So what is it on the outside? Is there a lot of police activity, I guess kind of, most watching this have not seen that mall before. You're setting the scene with the number of stores and the big parking lot. Kind of a quiet day there as well.
But still a lot of police activity around? Have you been able to see this Brinks truck that we're talking about involved in this robbery?
WARD: I have not located the Brinks truck where I am right now. I know that they were letting people out of the main entrance by the Borders bookstore which is where I came in a few minutes ago. There is police activity, there are still a number of police cars outside. Douglasville City police and also Douglas County sheriffs' cars.
But people are able to walk into the mall freely now. We did see something that may or may not be related as I was pulling in, they had -- they were patting down one gentleman who was outside of his car trying to leave. Now, it could be that they were just checking people as they go out. It could be that it was not related at all.
HOLMES: All right. Our Ric Ward on the scene there. Ric, we appreciate you. You go see what you can see. Get anything else, let us know. We appreciate the report.
And again, just resetting the scene for our folks. A shooting at Arbor Place Mall just west of downtown Atlanta, about 20 something miles in Douglasville. A.P. reporting two people have been shot, one of them one of the would-be robbers, the other a security guard after two people try to rob a Brinks armored car outside of that mall.
We're keeping an eye on this scene. We understand that one person possibly still on the loose, one possible suspect on the loose. Guys?
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep tracking it. T.J. Holmes, thanks.
LEMON: All right. Baby Grace, Stacy Peterson, Natalee Holloway, three suspected homicides, three huge challenges for investigators.
In the first case police at least have a body and say they are pretty sure it belongs to Riley Ann Saunders. Jon Leiberman is with "America's Most Wanted." He joins us from Bethesda, Maryland to help us break down these cases.
Riley Ann Saunders or Sawyers ...
JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Sawyers.
LEMON: Sawyer. A wrong name in the copy here. I remember, Riley Ann Sawyers. So we have got a lot to deal with today.
Let's start with the Baby Grace case and this. We've got the mom and the mom's boyfriend who she says she met online, both are in jail but not on murder charges.
LEIBERMAN: That's right, Don. They are charged with injuring a child and tampering with evidence. How this happened is remarkable. This girl, the missing girl out of Ohio, her grandmother sees the story of Baby Grace on the news, calls her local police and says that my daughter matches the description to a T, she has an outfit like the one that baby grace was seen wearing, the wavy blonde hair.
Long story short, it all starts to come together and investigators from Galveston, Texas get together with investigators in Ohio and they do believe that Baby Grace is little Riley. And like you said it's one step closer to getting justice for this little two- year-old.
LEMON: Yes. It is. But here's a weird thing. How long did we do this story? A couple weeks, almost a month this picture was out there. Why didn't anyone call in any sooner or not the grandparents not wonder where their grand baby was? Or relatives or friends? It just seems as little odd and a long time, Jon.
LEIBERMAN: It does seem odd but look. Family dynamics are different in every family. And this little girl's mother apparently told the family that the girl got taken by social services back in July. That's the story the family had to go with until they saw Baby Grace and like goodness, that could be our loved one. Then it came together.
LEMON: Still, Jon, do we know the cause of death or any of this?
LEIBERMAN: No. We're waiting on DNA to get 100 percent match and waiting on police of course put together evidence for their murder case which I can assure you is coming.
LEMON: I know you don't like to speculate but do you think that the parents will be charged in this case with something much larger than endangerment?
LEIBERMAN: I can tell you this. They searched the parents house, they had enough evidence to charge them with this. And this is the very beginning of this case.
LEMON: OK. Where do you want to go from here? Do you want to talk about the Peterson case? Or you want to talk about Aruba?
LEIBERMAN: Well, you know what? Aruba is really moving fast and furious, I'll tell you. Joran Van der Sloot, one of the suspects in Natalee Holloway's disappearance is going to be in court this afternoon. Late Wednesday right before the holiday police came out and said look, we have new evidence in this case and we're re- arresting the three, Van der Sloot and the two Kalpoe brothers.
LEMON: But they didn't say what this evidence was. They haven't, right?
LEIBERMAN: That's important that they don't say that because they need re-question the Kalpoe brothers and also Van der Sloot to find out does their story add up. Clearly investigators don't think their stories add up.
LEMON: OK. So they will face an Aruban judge, right?
LEIBERMAN: They will face a judge. And I want to point out. We were with Tim Miller of Equisearch when he went searching for Natalee Holloway last time. Equisearch of course that national group who does these searches.
And we do anticipate Tim's going to be back there very soon searching for Natalee. That's what that family needs is to find Natalee.
LEMON: OK. Jon, all of these stories very serious but this is closer to home because it's in the Chicago area. Where I have close ties there. This Drew Peterson case seems to get odder and odder by the minute. His girlfriend's, ex-wives have been paraded through television not saying very good things about him. Where does this all stand now? He hasn't been charged but you spoke to him on the telephone.
LEIBERMAN: I did. I spoke to him a week ago Thursday, Don. And I'll tell you, this guy told me that he's angry with Stacy, his fourth wife, he told me he's angry with Stacy for causing this media circus and I said do you want Stacy back in your life and he said to me, quote, "It's questionable if I want Stacy back. He said it would take a lot of talking for me to take her back."
Don, Drew Peterson convinced himself that Stacy walked away with another man even though I was on the ground there for almost a week, nobody has a name of this other guy, nobody has any information about this guy.
LEMON: And Jon, I'm running out of time but I have to tell you, he as not been charged but certainly the way it's being portrayed in the press, it does paint him as possibly a man who has something to hide.
LEIBERMAN: Well, absolutely. Police are even looking back, prosecutors are looking back into his law enforcement background over allegations of police misconduct to see if there are things there where charges need to be brought forward as well. This is only just beginning, Don, but we need to find Stacy.
LEMON: All right. Jon Leiberman from "America's Most Wanted" following all three of these cases. Thank you very much.
Jon mentioned we talked about the Baby Grace case. Much more to come on that on the child known until only as Baby Grace as of a couple days ago. At 2:00 p.m. Eastern the Merrill (ph), Ohio police department is holding a news conference. Riley Sawyer's grandparents are expected to be there. And we'll take you there live.
PHILLIPS: And we've been told for years that secondhand smoke is bad for us. Now new medical evidence to back it up. We're going to show you the photos that will have you telling smokers don't light up around me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We had a mall on lockdown and one suspect driving a getaway car. T.J. Holmes working the details of a developing story in Georgia. What do you have?
HOLMES: This is in Douglasville, Georgia just west of downtown Atlanta where there has been according to reports a shooting at the Arbor Place Mall there in Douglasville. You see there. We're trying to get information on this, confirm stuff, reports have been all over the place about this shooting so we're trying to get the word now from the chief of police there in Douglasville who we have on the line.
Joe Whisenant, sir, thank you for being with us, giving us the update. Tell us what happened that the mall?
JOE WHISENANT, DOUGLASVILLE POLICE CHIEF (on phone): OK. About nine minutes after 12:00 this afternoon a Brinks truck was assaulted, or the driver was assaulted as he was leaving or sorry, the messenger was assaulted leaving the mall with the money by one perpetrator, gun shots were exchanged. Both have been shot. Both are being treated at hospitals in Atlanta right now. We're continuing our investigation at this point.
HOLMES: You said both were shot. It's one suspect and one security guard, right?
WHISENANT: That's correct. The Brinks employee was shot, was accosted and assaulted as he was leaving the mall with the money. He was shot, he returned fire, striking the perpetrator.
HOLMES: And sir, is there another perpetrator out there, a second suspect, or third or more on the loose that you know of?
WHISENANT: Well, we're not discounting anything at this point in time. We have now opened the mall back up, but we are still working on some leads and we have some leads at this time.
HOLMES: But for folks in this area, certainly folks going to the mall, certainly folks living in that area, do they need to be aware, need to know that you believe that there's possibly an armed and dangerous suspect running still around somewhere out there?
WHISENANT: Well, we're not discounting that. I don't want to be an alarmist, I guess I would tell everybody to exercise due caution like any other time that they travel to a mall to go shopping. At this time we don't have reason to say there is another person, another suspect. We're just working on our leads.
HOLMES: And sir, we have gotten word, heard that possibly some schools were in lockdown in the area. Is that the truth and has that been done out of an abundance of caution as well?
WHISENANT: We did not ask for that to be done. I have been told that the school system did that. It wasn't at our insistence at all, though.
HOLMES: OK. And sir, what can you tell us about the severity of the injuries, you said the security guard and the suspect shot. Are these life threatening injuries that we know of? How serious are the conditions of the officer and the intruder?
WHISENANT: Both are going to live. The perpetrator had the more severe wound, but they are both going to live. Is the latest I got from the emergency rooms.
HOLMES: All right. And sir, finally here, did this look like -- was this a crime I guess just of opportunity or look like something that had to have been planned by this suspect?
WHISENANT: This was something that was planned. This was not just an opportunity crime, no. He went to great lengths, I'm not at liberty to discuss that, it will come out in the end, but we have some substantial leads and information we're running on. He planned this out. There is no question about it.
HOLMES: All right. Police chief of Douglasville, Joe Whiesnant. Sir, we appreciate your time and updating us and our viewers about what has happened out there in Douglasville. So guys, here we do have confirmation now at least from the police chief there in Douglasville that in fact yes, this was an attempted robbery of a Brinks armored truck, employee who was leaving the mall with money, a suspect came up on him, shots were exchanged. Both now being treated at a hospital. It looks like the suspect has the more severe of the injuries now and again, another key here is that the police do not know for sure whether or not there are more suspects out there on the loose, nothing to indicate that there are other suspects out there on the loose but they are not discounting that.
But right now not exactly warning the folks in the area to be on the lookout for anyone. So there's the update. We'll continue to follow this and continue to bring you those updates as we get them. Guys?
LEMON: The best three words you said, T.J. Non-life threatening, that's good at least ...
HOLMES: For the deputy. Or the security guard that was shot, yes.
LEMON: Thank you, sir.
PHILLIPS: Her body washed ashore in a plastic box. Now Baby Grace has a name and police have two suspects locked up. We'll hear from the toddler's grandparents back in Ohio, news conference minutes away, live, right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's not a smoking gun but it may be a glimpse of the bullet holes. We've been told for a long time now that secondhand cigarette smoke is bad for us. Now for the first time, researchers are showing how bad. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with the details to tell us more. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's amazing because people have known intellectual secondhand smoke bad, bad to sit next to a smoker, bad to live with a smoker, even worse.
But what researchers have managed to do is MRIs that show the lung of a secondhand smoker. And really. I was quite surprised to see this. Take a look on the left, low exposure those are folks who have not been exposed to a bunch of secondhand smoke. Then on the far right is the smoker.
Look, someone with a lot of exposure to secondhand smoke kind of looks almost more like a smoker than someone who doesn't have much second hand smoke exposure.
So again, that middle frame, that's the key. And you can tell that those lungs look a bit like a smoker. Now, half of all non- smoking Americans are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. And the researchers hope that this gives some power to the push for more non- smoking regulations in this country.
PHILLIPS: Now, how much does it take for your lungs to actually look like that, those pictures that we saw? A little bit of secondhand smoke or doest it take a lot?
COHEN: Well, they didn't quantify what it would take to look exactly like that but doctors do know that all it takes is 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke and it will rapidly increase your chances of having a heart attack, just 30 minutes puts you at an increased chance of having a heart attack.
PHILLIPS: So those no smoking laws are probably a great thing. You like to go out and hang out at the bar.
COHEN: They really are and they have actually been able to quantify what a great thing those nonsmoking laws are. A county in Indiana started nonsmoking - a ban against smoking and they checked in at hospitals and said hey, have you been seeing fewer heart attack victims? And there was a 70 percent drop in people coming in, nonsmokers coming in with heart attacks.
And they said gosh, it must be the ban. There was no other reason for it.
PHILLIPS: I still can't believe the parents that smoke in the house with the babies. That's a whole other story.
COHEN: Right. That I can't even imagine.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Elizabeth.
LEMON: Or in the car or the van.
PHILLIPS: With the windows up. What's up with that?
COHEN: It's awful.
LEMON: All right. Putting out a furious, furious fire storm, we're live on the front lines when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
