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American Morning
Omaha Mall Massacre; Mortgage Deal: What Are Subprime Loans?; Growing Up Obese: How Will It Affect Children; New Trial for Jeffs
Aired December 06, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To make it absolutely totally safe, it's almost impossible unless you want to make it into an armed camp.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Omaha and New York on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. It's Thursday, December 6th. I'm Kiran Chetry in New York. And John, when you see the I-Reports and some of those pictures that people took while they were trying to escape, it's unbelievable.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It's just pretty incredible that they had the presence of mind to actually point their cell phone or their camera at something as opposed to just running for their lives.
Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. We're live outside of the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. That's the Von Maur store behind me. The city is numb this morning after a shooter walked into that department store and committed mass murder, just 20 days before Christmas.
Police say 19-year-old Robert Hawkins had an assault rifle he set up on the balcony of that department store and started targeting holiday shoppers. Today, brand new details about the person who pulled the trigger, what police found in his home during an overnight search, how he was kicked out by his parents, fired from his job, broke up with his girlfriend, and his suicide note that said he wanted to "go out in style."
Eight people suffered fatal wounds before police arrived. When they got there, the shooter was already dead on the third floor of that store. Crowds were running in terror. Some of them hid in dressing rooms, covered their children, fearing they could be next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNFER KRAMER, EYEWITNESS: After about four shots, I grabbed my mom and I said we got to get out of here. Because she -- like I said, went back and looked up. And I grabbed her, and we went running back to the pants. I saw people running into the dressing rooms, and I didn't want to go into the dressing rooms because I didn't know if he would be coming down to look for people. I didn't want to get trapped in a dressing room.
So we ducked down behind some pants. And she said what are we going to do? I said, "Get into the pants rack." And so, she went into one pants rack and I went into the other and I called 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: More eyewitnesses share their terrifying stories with us as we try to piece together what happened during that massacre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): The horror started to unfold just after 1:40 p.m., when a lone gunman took up a position on the third floor balcony at the Von Maur department store inside the Westroads Mall. From his perch, the first shots rang out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounded like a nail gun.
ROBERTS: But in seconds, the initial confusion quickly turned to terror. The shocked holiday shoppers realized what was happening, panicked and ran for cover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've seen at least four or five bodies brought out on gurneys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know if the guy was dead. He was still walking around shooting.
ROBERTS: Dozens of shots seemingly fired at random.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I looked back and then I saw the guy in the children's department. Big, tall guy, real tall, and he just stood there with his arm like this, his hand straight up in the air shooting, and then I turned and ran.
ROBERTS: Just minutes after the first bullets rang out, police stormed the mall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Other officers arrived, and they began to clear the mall, searching for a suspect.
ROBERTS: But the suspect was already dead. Police say 19-year- old Robert Hawkins took his own life, with the gun he used to kill eight innocent holiday shoppers. They say he left a suicide note behind saying, "Now, I'll be famous."
CHIEF ROBERT WARREN, OMAHA POLICE DEPT.: The suspect was located and the weapon, an SKS assault rifle, was recovered.
ROBERTS: Police say they have no clear motive yet for killings that defy explanation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're in such shock. You just, it's hard to think and I just kept hoping God would spare us because that's --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: What caused Robert Hawkins to snap, to take his own life and the lives of eight others? Our Ed Lavandera is in Bellevue, Nebraska. It's about 20 minutes, 25 minutes away from where we are. He's outside the house where Hawkins lived. He joins me with a deeper look now into his life and the circumstances that led up to this.
Ed Lavandera, this is a story that we have seen repeated time and time again. And despite the best efforts to identify people who might be a risk, it keeps happening.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unfortunately, that's the case, John. You know, about 45 minutes before the shooting started, Robert Hawkins called the family he had been living with. They lived in this house that you see behind me. It was an emotional phone call. They urged him to come talk to them, but Robert Hawkins never came home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Just a few hours before the shooting rampage at the Omaha mall, Debora Kovac found a note from Robert Hawkins. It would turn out to be a suicide note.
DEBORA MARICA JKOVAC, HAWKINS LANDLORD: Basically, he just said how sorry he was for everything. He didn't want to be a burden to people, and he was a piece of (expletive) all of his life and now he'll be famous.
LAVANDERA: Hawkins had moved in with Kovac's family a year and a half ago. She says he felt mistreated and rejected by everyone.
KOVAC: It seemed like his whole life he was kind of like a pound puppy that nobody wanted.
LAVANDERA: Kovac says Hawkins had a tense relationship with his family, that he'd been in and out of foster homes and had a history of fighting depression. But Kovac says he stopped taking depression medications because it made him feel weird.
KOVAC: When he first came and lived with us, he was in the fetal position and chewed his fingernails all the time and was unemployed and hopeless. After awhile, he got a job and came out of that.
LAVANDERA: Kovac says she thought Hawkins was doing better. A few months ago, he started working at a McDonald's but on Wednesday, he was fired from that job.
KOVAC: It might have been the straw that broke the camel's back because he just couldn't take much more rejection and defeat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Now, to piece together a little bit more about why Robert Hawkins went on a shooting rampage yesterday, police say they were here at the home where he had been living. They also searched his mother's home, where they removed some boxes ands some guns, although, Miss Kovac had told us last night that she wasn't aware of where Robert Hawkins had the gun. And as they were hearing the news breaking of the shooting at the mall, they hadn't confirmed for sure that Robert Hawkins was the gunman. But Miss Kovac says they had a suspicion that that would turn out to be the case -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, when we talked with that former friend of Robert Hawkins, he said that some of the people he knew when they heard about the shooting said, it's Robert that's involved. Was there any kind of early warning sign that anybody had picked up on that he had violent tendencies?
LAVANDERA: Well, from what Miss Kovac told us yesterday, you know, clearly a young man who had been going through quite a bit perhaps over the last few years, but what's interesting about what she told us was in the last few months, things seemed to be improving that he had gotten a haircut, seemed to be a little bit -- have a little bit better disposition about life. So she seemed to be very shocked and her son who had gone to school with Robert Hawkins and gone to high school, said that they were completely devastated and shocked by what happened yesterday.
ROBERTS: Wow. Things certainly turned around the other way. Ed Lavandera for us this morning in Bellevue, Nebraska. Ed, thanks.
Now let's go back up to Kiran. She's in New York with more of the day's news. Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. Hi, John. And as they've mentioned, malls, possible terror targets before, so what are the feds doing to protect them if a 19-year-old high school dropout can pull off such a bloody rampage?
Well, our justice correspondent Kelli Arena is live from Washington. Kelli, this is, by our accounts, the fourth mall shooting so far this year. Security experts have long warned about the vulnerability of our malls, and you talked regularly with those experts. Is there an answer here?
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, you're right. Experts have been saying for a long time that there's a lot more that needs to be done here. I mean, they suggested additions like magnetometers, for example, but those types of changes cost money and they inconvenience shoppers. And security experts say that mall owners just don't want to dole it out until they absolutely have to, until they say there's a major catastrophe and people start staying away from malls because they don't feel safe.
Now, Kiran, it's not as if, you know, the mall owners don't know about the risk. Just two weeks ago, for example, the FBI put out one of many alerts, warning about places where people congregate during the holidays as possible targets. Malls were singled out in that advisory, Kiran.
CHETRY: Suggestions -- I know you talked about, you know, trying to put in metal detectors, things like that, but are there any other options? ARENA: Well, in that alert, it advised law enforcement and security personnel to be on the lookout for anything that could be described as possible surveillance, that someone trying to get information about entry points into the shopping center or observing security drills or someone who is basically just hanging out in the same place for a long time without a reasonable explanation.
But, you know, Kiran, malls are privately owned. So offering guidance, possibly putting more patrols outside of malls is about all the government can do at this point.
CHETRY: Kelli Arena in Washington for us, thank you.
Also new this morning. A young Philadelphia couple accused of living the high life, stealing other people's money will appear in court today. Jocelyn Kirsch and her boyfriend, Edward Anderton, the so-called Bonnie and Clyde couple, face charges of theft and burglary. They've already been charged with crimes including identity theft, forgery, unlawful use of a computer. Police say they found more than $17,000 in cash, dozens of credit cards, neighbors' mailbox keys in the couple's apartment as well some sort of industrial I.D. making machine.
Mitt Romney breaks his silence about his faith today. In new excerpts from a speech scheduled for later today in Texas, the Republican presidential candidate says that he doesn't want to be a spokesman for the Mormon religion. Still, though, he says that the founding fathers intended for God to be recognized by the government.
Romney is trying to reassure voters who may not understand Mormonism. His speech is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and we'll have live coverage here on CNN.
The Supreme Court deciding to look at the use of lethal injection. A new poll is out showing that close to two-thirds of the country would allow it. The CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll says that 70 percent don't consider it cruel and unusual punishment, while 28 percent do. The high court yesterday blocked a scheduled execution of a convicted murder in Alabama. There has not been a lethal injection execution since the day that justices agreed to rule on its use. That was back in September.
President Bush says Iran has a choice to make on its nuclear activities, either "come clean with the international community or remain on a path of isolation." The president made the comments on a campaign fund-raising trip in Omaha yesterday.
Monday's national intelligence estimate said that Tehran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003. The president though said that Iran still has not acknowledged the program, and he's demanding specific details. The report also said Iran is keeping its options open, continuing to enrich uranium. The United States is pushing for another round of even tougher sanctions.
Well, later today, President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will unveil a plan to give thousands of homeowners threatened with foreclosure some breathing room. That agreement with the mortgage industry is an effort to try to stem the rising tide of foreclosures. We've been talking a lot lately about the subprime mortgage crisis. So could this be the solution that could save homeowners and maybe head off a recession?
Joining us to talk more about it, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis. Good morning, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi. It's good to see you. You know, this program really targets the narrow group of people. And, of course, as we've seen in the last year, 1.7 million people have gone into foreclosure. Another 2.2 at risk in the coming year, so this program targeting a narrow group. I don't know if it can have much impact on where the economy is going.
Here's how the program works. It would freeze rates for five years for some subprime borrowers. It would fast-track them into mortgages that they could actually afford. And keep in mind now, this is voluntary, a voluntary program by the industry. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting today that this would help tens of thousands of people. You know, I just described the millions who were in foreclosure now or who could go into foreclosure this year.
CHETRY: The other interesting thing is it excludes people that are already behind on their payment. I guess, you know, and the biggest sign that you're in trouble is when you're already behind on your payment.
WILLIS: That's right. You know, and people who've already gone into foreclosure, no help there.
CHETRY: How do you know, by the way, because not everyone who has a subprime loan knows that they have a subprime loan?
WILLIS: That's right.
CHETRY: So how do you find that out?
WILLIS: That's a great point. You know, it's not like they stamp those loans subprime. You may not know and what we've learned recently from studies is that a lot of the subprime mortgage holders are actually people with good credit ratings.
Guess what? At the end of the day, you may not know you have one. Pull out your documents today. Look for an interest rate that is over 8 percent. Eight to 10 percent indicates you may have a subprime mortgage. If you paid points at closing that did not go to buy down your rate, you could have a subprime mortgage. If you're paying prepayment penalties for refinancing, that's another signal. So you really need to look at the documents because you probably don't know.
CHETRY: You know, when we ask people in our "Quick Vote" question about this foreclosure or idea, they get to step in the right direction. There are a lot of people, nearly half so far, 48 percent who think it's going too far. They think maybe people shouldn't be bailed out if they took a loan that they couldn't afford.
WILLIS: You got to understand this is really controversial and not just in Washington. It's controversial in the heartland with people who had been paying their mortgage religiously, even adjustable rate mortgages for years. So it's hard to find a path here that will not get some criticism from some corner.
CHETRY: Yes. And now they're saying, you got to look at this on a case by case basis. Unfortunately, there's just not enough time with what's going on.
WILLIS: That would take a very long time indeed.
CHETRY: All right. Gerri, thank you. We'll check in with you throughout the morning on this issue. And President Bush, by the way, is expected to make comments on the mortgage crisis this afternoon, 1:40, from the Roosevelt Room. I'm sure you'll be listening, Gerri, to what he has to say about this, and we'll be covering it live as well.
WILLIS: Right.
CHETRY: Right now, we'll go back live to John outside of the mall in Omaha, Nebraska, the scene of that horrific shooting yesterday.
ROBERTS: Kiran, thanks very much. Some "Quick Hits" for you now.
Actor Kiefer Sutherland beginning a 48-day jail sentence for drunk driving. The "24" actor appeared in court yesterday after pleading no contest to the charge in October. This is Sutherland's mugshot. It was his second drunk driving arrest in three years. The judge granted Sutherland's request to serve the term in the Glendale city jail, rather than a county prison. He's going to serve his time working in the kitchen and laundry rooms.
The leader of a polygamist sect says he wants a new trial. Defense attorneys for Warren Jeffs say their client's September trial contained "errors and improprieties." They say Jeffs is being persecuted for his religious beliefs." Jeffs was accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin. He was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.
You know that it's not healthy for your child to be overnight. Now, a surprising new study about just how risky those extra pounds really are. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has got the story coming up next.
And how safe are our nation's shopping malls? It's a legitimate question. Yesterday's incident was the fourth mall shooting this year. We'll talk with a security expert about what's being done to keep you safe. Coming up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were hiding in a clothes rack in the back of the men's department, and we heard about 35 to 40 shots. They were just echoing through the whole thing. On our way out, we could see someone by the escalator down, bleeding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CHETRY: We all know the dangers of childhood obesity. We talk about it all the time. There's a new study, though, that takes a close look at what may be waiting for a generation of overweight kids as they grow into adulthood, and the outlook is not good.
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk in Atlanta. I mean, the study confirms a lot about what we know, but it really is astounding to think about the implications long-term if you're obese as a child.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. I mean, some of this is obviously going to be common sense. We already know that heart disease is the biggest killer of men and women in the United States. We're at this interesting time, though, where we've never been heavier especially among children. What is going to happen to those children?
Two studies as you mentioned coming out of the "New England Journal of Medicine." We've been looking at this for some time trying to figure out just how bad is the obesity problem going to get by 2020? They say about 37 percent of males and 44 percent of females will be obese. Not just overweight, but obese, and that's going to lead to more heart attacks, more chronic chest pain and more deaths even in their 30s.
That's pretty remarkable, talking about heart attacks when people are still in their 30s. But if you sort of fast forward that, by 2035, 100,000 extra cases of heart disease. Kiran, these are our kids now that we're talking about -- heart disease, heart attacks. And if the people isn't corrected, this is what's going to happen.
CHETRY: What are the signs that you should be looking for at these ages? You know, they talk about these kids, 7 to 13, who gained even a moderate amount of weight. As a parent, what should you be looking for?
GUPTA: Great question and we really distilled that down because I was curious about that as well. What we seem to find here is there's sort of a sweet spot that you talked about between the ages of 7 and 13. And what I mean by that is, by age 7, if a child is overweight or obese, there is a moderately increased chance that they're going to have heart disease as an adult.
But if they correct that problem by 13, over those next six years, that is critically important because you can greatly, I should say, diminish that risk of heart disease. So really fixating on that, in that time period, seems to be one of the messages out of these studies, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Sanjay, thank you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes after the hour now. A police officer fired for filing a lawsuit. Your "Quick Hits" now. You remember the story?
A Florida police sergeant slipped and fell, responding to a 911 call to save a 22-month-old baby who nearly drowned. The police officer says she broke her knee on a wet floor in the house. She sued the family for negligence and asked for money to cover her medical bills. She dropped the suit after the family and the community expressed outrage. The Casselberry Florida police chief says she violated five department policies when she sued. The baby, by the way, was just fine.
The U.S. justice department has decided not to investigate former North Carolina prosecutor, Mike Nifong, for his handling of the Duke Lacrosse case. The department decided the case should be resolved at the state level. Nifong pursued charges back in 2006. You remember again three Duke Lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. Prosecutors said the players were innocent victims of Nifong's "tragic rush to accuse." He has since been disbarred.
Having babies before mom has a chance to grow up. New numbers on teens giving birth. A troubling change in the trend, just ahead.
And an important new deal to rescue some, some home owners facing foreclosure on their homes. Why most Americans won't get anything out of the government's plan to freeze mortgage rates. That's coming right up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. It's 24 minutes after the hour and your "Quick Hits" now.
Damage from the hurricane-force high winds and flooding rains that battered the pacific northwest earlier this week, now estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Part of a major highway is still under water this morning and is not expected to reopen until this weekend.
And the head of the United Nations putting the Bush administration on the spot. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon told the Associated Press, the United States is the biggest obstacle to moving forward with the new climate treaty. The treaty includes new controls on emissions that would kick in before the end of 2009.
The Bush administration says it's opposed to any international constraints on carbon emissions if it potentially undermines economic growth. And now let's go back to Kiran in New York.
CHETRY: Speaking about the economy, Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" right now. Twenty-four past the hour, and now we're going to get a closer look. I think more people today are going to analyze this deal between the government and some of the mortgage companies.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's a deal to freeze the mortgage rates on a number of subprime mortgages that could be in danger of default. Now, the best estimate we have right now is from Barclay's, which says about 12 percent of subprime borrowers will get relief under the mortgage freeze plan. That's about 250,000 people. Now, the banks don't love this idea but they've been cajoled into it by the White House.
It's probably a good business decision for them because they'll earn some interest, rather than no interest and they won't get stuck with all those foreclosed homes. A Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says the plan doesn't go far enough. She's calling for a 90-day moratorium on all foreclosures and a five-year freeze on all adjustable mortgage rates, which are held by people who actually live in their homes.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, while he supports the idea, is worried that this could reward people who made bad decisions. Now remember, no one forced anyone in this country to buy a house or take a mortgage. On the flipside, some borrowers were misled about the probability that interest rates would go up and that home prices would go down. And we do know that some property estimators may have been pushed by lenders into providing valuations that were too high.
Now for those of you homeowners who planned ahead and didn't get in over your head, this bailout could be frustrating. There are many people who are struggling under higher interest rates right now who won't get any relief. That group includes borrowers who have already missed payments, those who can afford an interest rate increase, those who don't have jobs, and those whose mortgages are bigger than the value of their homes.
So we don't have this announcement officially yet. It will come out later on today, but already a lot of criticism about a bailout that could reward bad decision-making.
CHETRY: Yes, and it's interesting, though, because it brings us to our "Quick Vote" question. And pretty much, a lot of people or at least half the people we asked feel that way. What we asked was, will the government's offering this breathing room to a very small number of homeowners at risk for foreclosure? What do you think? Do you think it's a step in the right direction? Definitely not enough, as far as it should go, or going too far?
And here are the results. Sixteen percent say it's a step in the right direction. Another 8 percent think it's not enough. Twenty- eight percent saying maybe it's just about right, and nearly 50 percent say that it goes too far so it's very interesting.
VELSHI: Yes. We'll continue to follow this. We'll continue to ask as it develops today, get all the information out to you, so those of you who can take advantage of it at least know what it's about.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Ali. VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Also, the safety of our nation's malls now being called into question. Not only because of yesterday's horrible shooting in Nebraska, but because it's the fourth mall shooting this year. We're going to speak with a security expert. Is there an answer? Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I looked back and then I saw the guy in the children's department. Big, tall guy, real tall, and he just stood there with his arm like this, his hand straight up in the air, shooting. And then I turned and ran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: Live look now at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. People waking up with a tragedy of yesterday's mall shooting, still fresh in their minds today, as the investigation continues. It's Thursday, December 6th, I'm Kiran Chetry in New York and John Roberts is there in Omaha, Nebraska, this morning, learning new bits and pieces about exactly what went wrong yesterday.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Yes, you know, in the last hour we talked to a former friend of the shooter, Robert Hawkins. We talked with a woman who was there with her mother. There didn't seem to be any overt indications that this was going to happen and to hear these stories from these people who are there doing some holiday shopping, 21 days before Christmas, having to hide out in pants racks in the men's department, trying to stay away from this guy, not wanting to go into the changing rooms, Kiran, because they thought he would come along hunting for them. Just can't imagine what those people went through yesterday.
Well, today we're learning more about the shooter, who he was, why he may have snapped. Police say the 19-year-old gunman, Robert Hawkins, left behind a suicide note saying that the massacre will make him famous. Eight shoppers were fatally shot before he turned his assault rifle on himself. Five were also wounded, two victims remain in critical condition. The shot sent panicked holiday shoppers fleeing for cover. Police say the shootings appear to be premeditated but his victims, Kiran, seemed to be picked at, at random.
CHETRY: All right and we'll check in throughout the morning. You have a lot more interviews to go over and we're also going to be talking a little bit about as we've said this is the fourth mall shooting this year. Is there really anything that can be done to make these large public places safer?
Also, new this morning, a lifeline for a financially strapped home owner. The Bush administration expected to announce a deal with the mortgage industry that will put rates on hold for some sub prime mortgage holders. Interest rates or certain mortgages would be frozen for five years in an effort to stem the rising tide of foreclosures. Many people though with adjustable rates mortgages will not be covered, even before the plan is announced some critics are saying it doesn't go far enough. Others say that we shouldn't be bailing out certain people. Well, President Bush is expected to make some comments on all of this, the mortgage crisis, this afternoon, at 1:40 p.m. Eastern. It's coming from the Roosevelt Room at the White House and CNN will carry that live.
The coast guard says it hauled in a record 355,000 pounds of cocaine in the past year with a street value of $4.7 billion. Officials say that aggressive patrolling is forcing smugglers from South America to resort to costly underwater boats to get the illegal goods through the border.
Well, there's been a surprising and some say a troubling upswing in the number of teen pregnancies in America. The teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years according to new statistics. It had been steadily dropping since 1991. Some experts say that federally-funded abstinence-only programs may be partly to blame. Sexually transmitted diseases have also been rising among teenagers.
Also, we've been reporting republican Mitt Romney will put his Mormon religion in the spotlight today. Later this morning he'll address American voters at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. A lot of people are going to be paying very close attention to this speech. It's called "Faith in America." Our Dana Bash is one of them. She joins us live and I understand you did get some excerpts, knowing a little bit about what you can expect to hear from Romney today.
DANA BASH, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran, there has been so much buildup to this speech. Because of course, Mitt Romney is the first Mormon to run for president, and in a serious way, and there has been a big debate especially among his advisers in terms of whether he really needed to give a speech about his faith, and what they decided on, what we're going to hear from Mitt Romney is more of a speech about sort of his world view when it comes to this, not so much of a tutorial about his Mormon religion and certainly the mystery that goes with that as far as a lot of evangelical voters are very important to him, are concerned.
What he's going to try to do, Kiran, is reach out and say, I am just like everybody else, and I'll read you a quote from this speech. He's going to say "it is important to recognize that, while differences in theology exist between the churches in America, we share a common creed of moral conviction and where the affairs of our nation are concerned, it is usually a sound rule to focus on the latter, on the great moral principles that urge us all on a common course."
Now, there has been a lot of connection and allusion to a famous speech that John F. Kennedy gave shortly before the election in 1960 about his Catholicism, because that was a big issue back then. There are some allusions to that speech in Mitt Romney's speech today, making clear that he sees himself and the role of his faith as separate from the role as president if he were to become president but this is something that his advisers certainly as I said debated for quite some time and this is a moment, a very big moment that they hope for him to introduce himself in a big way to voters that are going to go to the polls in less than a month. Kiran.
CHETRY: So, describing it as a moment but also a calculated risk, if you will, on the part of the campaign, are they acknowledging that?
BASH: It is a calculated risk. You know, it's important to note where we are right now with regard to those polls. Mitt Romney was doing extremely well in the very important state of Iowa, where there are, as I said, a lot of evangelical voters who are quite skeptical of his Mormon religion and at this point, his lead has basically eroded. Mike Huckabee, who has been talking about his faith, talking about his Christian faith, he is doing much better there. Now his campaign insists this is not because he is not doing as well in the polls but talk to anybody outside, they say this is really a big part of it, a big part of the fact that he has decided to give this speech. Just a short while ago his advisers were saying they would probably wait until after Iowa. Now, all of a sudden three weeks before Iowa, he's giving the speech. Kiran.
CHETRY: We'll all be listening, scheduled to begin at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. We'll have live coverage here on CNN. Dana, thank you.
We now go back to breaking news out of Omaha, Nebraska, where John Roberts is this morning at the scene of that deadly mall shooting rampage. John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Kiran. And good morning to you. Again, we're here at the Westroads Mall, where yesterday afternoon a teenager looking to get famous, opened fire on unsuspecting shoppers. He killed eight people before turning the gun on himself. I'm joined by now Chuck Wright. He's a mall employee and witness to the shooting. Chuck, you work at Von Maur in menswear. You were on the second floor there, that the same place that Jennifer Kramer, who joined us a little bit earlier on AMERICAN MORNING was. What did you see? What did you hear?
CHUCK WRIGHT, EYEWITNESS: I was standing next to the atrium, and all of the sudden I heard these loud noises, like pop, pop, pop in a row and I immediately, I kind of tensed up, and I thought, what is that?
ROBERTS: Did you catch on right away to what it was?
WRIGHT: Well, I thought maybe it was an electrical problem or something, because sometimes that is what will happen, but --
ROBERTS: We've heard other people say thought it was a nail gun because there was construction in the mall. Nobody put two and two together and said there's a shooter in the mall, right away.
WRIGHT: That's correct. What happened then, was within seconds there was two more shots, bang, bang, and then I knew that there was someone shooting. I didn't know where it was coming from because sound reverberates through the three stories. So immediately, my instincts, survival, took over, I started backing away from the atrium. I didn't want to be close to it. I was scared they might come there and start shooting. As I backed away I thought, where do I go and I went to a storage area I can go to. So, I went back to the storage area with another co-worker and I called 911. Now, I knew that they probably had already been called but at least I wanted them to be aware that this was ongoing.
ROBERTS: Jennifer Kramer told us she was hiding in the circular racks of men's pants on the phone to 911. There was another fellow, terrible tragedy, he was trying to call 911 as he was going down the escalator and the gunman picked him off, shot him right in the head. How many shots did you total because we've heard so many different numbers?
WRIGHT: Well, in the time I was out, I would say there was no more than 15 and the thing that made me realize it was a gun was the fact that there was just two or three and then stopped, and then two and then another three or four, and it was, I realized that he was shooting at people.
ROBERTS: Were you able to sort of take in the scene around you at all?
WRIGHT: Yes, a lot of people started running away and trying to find somewhere to hide. One of the people I work with was standing by the atrium later, in a few minutes and a gentleman she was speaking with, he was the person that was killed on the second floor. She actually saw the shooter reach over the top of the third floor and aim the gun at the guy and shoot him. She saw him get killed, and he was shot in the head.
ROBERTS: Oh my goodness and the co-worker and friend of yours as well was one of the shooting victims.
WRIGHT: Yes, he was the office manager of customer service, and he was the one that is in critical condition at our medical center here at the University of Nebraska.
ROBERTS: Have you talked with his family at all?
WRIGHT: I haven't reached them. I felt like it was important that I not really do anything and allow his family and everything, to have kind of have time.
ROBERTS: Was he the one shot in the chest?
WRIGHT: Yes, yes, and it's almost surreal, John. You just feel like, you know, this can't be happening. And the thing that even amazed me was, I thought about the fact that, we kind of have a quota system, an hourly quota system on sales, and I said to my co-worker, well they better not dock us for the sale time and kind of keeping it a little bit humorous, but you literally, you just, your thoughts are what happens if this happens, what happens if that happens? And I've never been in a situation like this, and I'll be honest with you, it's just very emotionally overwhelming, and you just kind of shut down. You just kind of, you know, your feelings are just, I'm still reliving it as we speak. I haven't really processed it yet. I have three sons that live in Omaha, and every time they called me, I have a cell phone with me. It was on, I broke down and started crying. And I have a grandson I talked to and the same thing. Those are the only times I've actually showed emotion about it.
ROBERTS: I'm sure that in the days to come as you begin to process this, those moments will come more frequently. Chuck Wright, thanks for being with us. Our prayers go out to your colleague. Thanks for joining this morning. We'll be right back with more from Nebraska and New York, after these messages. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just still in shock. I can't believe it. I was shaking. My legs, my knees locked. I didn't know what to do. I just ran. I just ran with everybody else. It was scary.
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ROBERTS: Coming up now to 45 minutes after the hour. We're back live from Omaha, Nebraska, with more of our special coverage of the mall massacre from yesterday. Thomas Warren is the chief of the Omaha Police Department. He joins us now live. How does this city make sense of what happened yesterday, chief?
THOMAS WARREN, OMAHA POLICE CHIEF: Obviously, John, this is a very tragic incident. The city will be in mourning, certainly our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, the family members of the deceased, as well as we have several survivors that suffered very serious injuries.
ROBERTS: Yes. And as we heard from Chuck Wright a moment ago, a colleague of his is one of those people who is in critical condition with a gunshot wound. What do we know more about the gunman today that may explain what happened?
WARREN: Obviously, we're in the preliminary stages of this investigation. We'll be attempting to reconstruct what occurred yesterday, including his activity prior to this incident. We do know that Robert Hawkins had apparently been experiencing some mental health issues. They have apparently been some problems in his relationships, and he had recently been terminated from his job. It appears that he had ideations of suicide. There was a note. He apparently had conversations with family members and friends, although there was no specific information indicating that he would engage in this type of rampage. With respect to this location, we believe that he was visiting a friend who lives in proximity to the mall, but we have no specific information why he chose this particular store. ROBERTS: Right, but you do believe that this particular attack was premeditated, he didn't just decide, I'm driving by the mall, I think I'll take my rifle in there and shoot the place up. He planned this out?
WARREN: Well, it appears that this incident was premeditated. Again, we don't have any specific information why he chose this location. Obviously, we are in the middle of a very busy holiday shopping season. The Westroads Mall is a very popular mall, the Von Maur store is the high-end retail store. It was full of customers. It appeared that Mr. Hawkins entered the main entrance of the mall, and upon going up the elevator, immediately exited and within moments, shots were being fired.
ROBERTS: You said that he had ideations, many of them were related to depression, and you said there was no overt signs of a tendency toward violence. In your investigation, had you discovered any correspondence that he may have had on the internet, which may have suggested that he was thinking about something like this, are you looking in that direction?
WARREN: Well, obviously, we're compiling all of the evidence. We will be trying to obtain a computer hard drive, et cetera, to see what type of correspondence had been generated. There have been text messaging between he and his girlfriend, and certainly we do have the notes and we'll be analyzing that information as well.
ROBERTS: So you said he lost his job, lost his girlfriend, other things that were happening in his life as well. Was it just kind of a trifecta, do you believe that it came together and pushed him over the edge? Would he have gone over the edge had the sequence of things not happened?
WARREN: Well, I'm not sure that you can really come up with a definitive explanation as to why an individual will engage in this type of behavior. It's apparent that he had these types of ideations, which you really don't anticipate them manifesting into such a violent outbreak, or violent shooting rampage, where obviously we've had multiple casualties.
ROBERTS: Chief Thomas Warren, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate you coming in.
WARREN: You're welcome.
ROBERTS: Good luck in your investigation.
WARREN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Let's go back up to Kiran. She's in New York this morning. Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Good morning, John. You know and a lot of questions about what was Robert Hawkins' state of mind when he opened fire at the shopping mall there. There are reports he'd gone off his antidepressant medication. We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta about what that could mean and how that affects people, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. If you're just joining us, it's about nine minutes before 8:00 a.m. here on the east coast. And here's a look at what's making news this morning. President Bush will announce an agreement with the mortgage industry. It's aimed at preventing thousands of people from losing their homes. The plan would freeze interest rates for certain sub prime mortgages for five years. The grace period for ballooning mortgage payments is meant to help these home owners avoid foreclosure.
And more signs of stability in Iraq. The top U.S. commander, General David Petraeus, now says attacks and civilian deaths have dropped to lowest levels in nearly two years. General Petraeus warns that it doesn't mean that people are "seeing light at the end of the tunnel yet" but says that it does show that Iraq is more secure.
And a rare diplomatic move between the U.S. and North Korea this morning, President Bush sending a proposal, a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. U.S. nuclear envoy delivered this letter during the trip to talk about the country's progress in ending its nuclear program. There's no word on what exactly the letter said and there has also been no comment yet from the White House about it.
And now we're going to go back to John, live outside of the mall in Omaha, Nebraska, scene of that deadly shooting rampage yesterday. John.
ROBERTS: Kiran, thanks very much. Good morning again. The day after that deadly mall rampage by a 19-year-old gunman, we're learning more about the shooter. Robert Hawkins, killed eight people, wounded five others from an Omaha department store balcony, the store right behind me here. Police say the shootings appear to be premeditated but random. You heard from the police chief just a little while ago. Hawkins left a suicide note behind predicting the massacre would "make him famous." I spoke to one of his friends live here in Omaha earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.
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SHAWN SAUNDERS, SHOOTER'S FRIEND: I'm not sure with the level of his depression. I just know that he was on antidepressants for the last couple of months, and I guess it was just getting worse over time with the loss of his job and I guess he had issues going on with a girlfriend at the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Friends say that the shooter was fired from his job at a McDonald's earlier in the day, and also had recently broken up with a girlfriend. A couple of things that may have helped push him over the edge.
Chilling news for air travelers tops your "Quick Hits" now. Congressional investigators sounding the alarm about the danger of airplanes running into each other on the ground. They say that there were 370 near collisions in the past year. The report blames faltering federal leadership, malfunctioning technology and overworked air traffic controllers.
If you want your friends to know what you bought them for Christmas, well if you're a member of Facebook, the popular social networking site they might already know. We'll tell you why private profiles aren't exactly private after all. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING
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CHETRY: 57 minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi is "Minding your Business," and I guess you're a cool dude since you have your own Facebook profile?
ALI VELSHI, CNN, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I love Facebook. I got to tell you that I know that a lot of our viewers are on Facebook. Because every time I talk about Facebook, I get Facebooked. But let me tell you a little story about Facebook. First of all, for those of you who know, it's a social networking site and for those of you who don't know, these are the things you can go do on Facebook. You can create an updated profile, you can share photos and videos, you can post and receive messages, place classified ads and join groups. It has 55 million users.
Recently they did something, they really didn't share this information very well but here's a bunch of companies. Here's how it works. If I If I have a Facebook profile and I use my real name, which I do. Then I go to a web site, let's say overstock.com and I go and buy a ring because somebody actually did this. He bought a ring for his wife. His wife was also on Facebook, got a notification that he bought something and all of your friends were notified of the purchases you made.
There are 40 companies that are tied to this on Facebook. Some of the ones that you know -- Ebay, travelocity, overstock, as I said, Bluefly, Zappos. There were 67,000 people who signed an online petition with Facebook to complain about this. Facebook yesterday apologized and said that now you can entirely opt out of this program. It's called Beacon, so that no one will know your travel plans, your jewelry purchases and I was telling Kiran about this. And so, Kiran and I got on overstock.com which is where this guy bought his ring for his wife. There are remarkable deals on watches, rings. Look at that Cartier watch. So, you can buy it with impunity now. Just make sure you go on to your Facebook profile and set to not tell anybody where you're shopping.
CHETY: What an unromantic way to have your holidays spoiled.
VELSHI: Yes, totally ruining gifts, Christmas and things like that for people. So, that's why I was saying plus people just don't want all of their information out there being shared with everybody. I don't always get that, because you see some of the Facebook profiles, people put a lot of information on them.
CHETRY: You're right. Sometimes seeing is believing.
VELSHI: Yes, exactly.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
Well from poolside vacation pictures to mug shot, the couple accused of traveling the world on stolen money, will be back in court today. We're going to tell you about the new charges of so-called Bonnie and Clyde duo face.
And the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHETRY: Surprised attack.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, just be quiet and pray.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: inside the mind of a teen gunman who went on a shooting sprees in the mall in the heartland.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seemed like his whole life he was kind of like a pound puppy that nobody wanted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Survivor stories, unanswered question and the note left behind.
Deck the house. The big move today to bail out some struggling home owners. Would you qualify?
Plus, center stage, Romney speaks out on life as a Mormon. What it means for his White House hopes on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Hi and welcome. It is Thursday, December 6th. I'm Kiran Chetry in New York. A lot of people are going to be listening to that speech today at 10:30 a.m. this morning from Mitt Romney.
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