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Campus Rampage at Northern Illinois University; Obama Endorsement: Union Backing Grows; Satellite Shootdown

Aired February 15, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes.

We have our CNN correspondents and crews all over the place today, out in the field, trying to learn as much as possible about what happened on the campus of Northern Illinois University. We expect to learn a lot more coming up at the bottom of the hour, when we expect the Illinois governor, Rob Blagojevich, to come out and make some comments about the investigation and about how this campus and how the state and really the whole community there is grieving.

Our Don Lemon has been on the scene, been on the campus for a while now, collecting information, and also hearing from the students those stories, those heart-wrenching stories we're hearing so much about.

Good afternoon to you, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good afternoon to you, T.J. And also Fredricka.

You know, we -- as you said, we have been hearing some heart- wrenching stories. And when I last saw you, we saw some people over at the flagpole putting up a memorial for their friend. And they have since joined me here.

All of the friends and loved ones here who helped of Julianna Gehant, 32 years old, and they said they're here to share her story because they want the world to know what a great person she was. Sadly, she lost her life.

And I'm going to talk to Danielle, who is holding up her picture.

What do you -- when you found out about your friend, I'm sure you couldn't believe it. You said you guys were just waiting for word from her.

DANIELLE ADAME, STUDENT: Yes, we were waiting for word yesterday. I got a phone call from J.D. (ph) -- he's right here -- and they were trying to get a hold of everybody, and they said they just about got a hold of everybody. And, you know, as much as everybody that was hurt yesterday, you just never think it will happen on your campus. You never think that it will be one of your friends. And as soon as I checked my e-mail this morning before I was going to work, I just -- I was overcome with a whole bunch of emotions. And, you know, she's gone. And I just -- I don't know.

It's sad. It's a tragedy. And I -- it's a loss for Northern, and it's a loss for her family and a friend and a veteran of the military.

LEMON: And I know it's hard for you, but she was in the military. And then she was on active duty, active reserve, I should say now.

ADAME: Yes.

LEMON: A reserve in the Army, and going back to school and getting a degree in childhood education.

What do you want people to know about her?

ADAME: Just that she was a very outgoing person. She was bubbly. And everybody else has their own way of remembering her, but that's how I remember her.

LEMON: Yes.

J.D. (ph), you were her dance partner, you said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we took ballroom dancing together. I had started for my brother's wedding, and then enjoyed it and continued. And she wanted to do it, so we would do it every Tuesday here at NIU.

LEMON: Was she a good dancer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she was a good dancer. She liked the fast dances especially.

LEMON: Yes.

Is there any way for you -- for John -- for you to put into words what a loss this is for you and for this community?

JOHN GALAN, STUDENT: It's a very deep loss, because she was such a lovely and beautiful person. And we're all going to miss her -- every one in the veterans club and all of our friends and families, and her family.

And the loss that we're feeling and the senseless tragedy that this is, is heart-wrenching and mind-blowing, because we loved her, as much as we knew her. And like this picture here is from a toga party that we had at J.D.'s (ph) house, and everyone that was there remembers it as one of the, you know, best nights that we've had in our college experience.

And a lot of -- a lot of that, in part, because of the joy and the entertainment that Julianna brought with her, you know, everywhere she went. You know, she was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, and we're all going to miss her a whole lot. So, the loss is immense.

LEMON: Yes.

Danielle, if she's listing down from heaven now, what do you want her -- to say to her?

ADAME: Oh, just that she's touched our lives in a way that we'll remember her for the rest of our life. And even if it was only a short time that we knew her, she'll be missed greatly. And that we -- her family and friends, other friends are in our thoughts and prayers.

LEMON: Yes. Have you spoken to her family?

ADAME: I think John has. I haven't, no.

LEMON: Have you spoken to her family?

GALAN: We've been trying to get in touch, but we haven't been able to make contact so far.

LEMON: What do you want to say to them?

GALAN: We want to say to them that we're there for them and we support them, and we want to be part of any memorial services that they have. And we're trying to get in contact with her unit so we can coordinate better our sympathies.

And we're trying to let them know that we cared about her also. And we think she was part of our family just like she was part of theirs.

LEMON: OK.

Thank you, guys, very much. And the nation's, everyone's hearts and prayers and thoughts are with you guys.

And you guys are very strong. And again, we thank you.

And, Jay, if you can just push in on the picture, we want to show her, the beautiful face of Sergeant Julianna -- Sergeant First Class, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LEMON: Julianna Gehant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's very important.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's very important, the rank.

LEMON: Yes. So right in on that face. And don't even come out to us.

So, T.J., back to you. That's the scope of the loss and the tragedy here at the university.

HOLMES: All right, Don.

And we echo those sentiments from here in Atlanta, Georgia. Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences with those folks there on the campus and that community, Northern Illinois University.

Don, thank you.

WHITFIELD: In addition to Julianna, there were others who were shot. Twenty-one people were shot before the gunman killed himself. And that meant a very frantic evening at area hospitals.

CNN's Susan Roesgen is outside Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb.

Susan, bring us up to date there.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, I can say after listening to Don's interviews only that the losses could have been much greater here, except for this particular hospital, which is brand new, just opened in October. And the staff here had been training for multiple shootings like this one.

They've never had an event like this, but they say they were ready. They had five emergency physicians on standby. They all rushed to the scene.

Right now, of the 18 people who were taken here, Fredricka, only one is still here today. The rest have been either taken to other hospitals or released.

And the one that's here today is right now in surgery. She has an upper body injury. And, in fact, the doctors here earlier today, at a news conference, said that that's what most of the injuries were, they were to the heads or to the upper bodies of the students.

Some of those students were shot in the back by the shotgun. You can imagine, Fredricka, they were running from this gunman in this auditorium. They were stampeding to get out. So, many of the injured were shot in the back.

And the chief medical director here said that he, himself, had never fired a rifle. But after seeing the injuries, he now knows how much damage a shotgun blast can do.

Here's more from the chief medical director here this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROGER MAILLEFER, KISWAUKEE HOSPITAL CHIEF OF STAFF: Typical gunshot wound that most of us are trained for in general surgery and trauma surgery is inner city. It's typically not what we saw yesterday. Usually these are handguns or rifles.

Yesterday, as you can imagine in a classroom full of students that were trying to leave, as buckshot was being fired at them, there were a variety of injuries from the front and from the back. These are little pellets. They look like little BBs. And although on the surface they look very small and insignificant, you cannot rely on that. They can travel to places where they're not supposed to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: The doctors also said, however, that because these were young students, they were generally healthy, that they have a better chance for a good recovery.

Also, Fredricka, we've just learned that Governor Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois, will be here in about half an hour. And I was told by the PR director here that he will try to meet with the student who is in surgery right now, this female student, if she's out of surgery and able to speak to him. And we assume also that he will be here to congratulate the staff on a good job that they did in a terrible situation last night -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Terrible, indeed.

All right. Susan Roesgen, thanks so much.

Of course, we're going to monitor the developments there out of Illinois. And, of course, when the governor speaks, we'll bring that to you as well, less than 30 minutes from now -- T.J.

HOLMES: And we're trying, of course, to learn more and more about this shooter, Steven Kazmierczak. This is the man, of course, who went on that shooting spree on campus there at Northern Illinois.

Well, one place we can possibly go to find out more about him is in Illinois, University of Illinois, in Champaign. That's where Kazmierczak was enrolled as a graduate student, and that is where CNN's Dan Lothian is looking into just what kind of young man this was.

And Dan, it's strange from what we've been hearing so far. Everybody's been complimentary, at least, about this young man up to this point of this shooting. A good student, very involved.

What are you learning there on campus?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J. The same thing that we're learning here on campus. I mean, no one really saw this coming.

We had a chance to talk to Jan Carter-Black (ph). She's a professor in the school of social work. He was -- she was not only his professor in a class called Human Behavior in the Social Environment, but she was also his adviser.

And I asked her whether or not there were any sort of red flags that went up. Did she ever see anything in the time that she spent with him both on a personal level or in the classroom that would sort of indicate that something like this could happen?

And she said at no time did she ever see anything like this coming. She said that she really struggles with it. She -- when she woke up this morning, she knew that it was a student from this university. She did not realize at this time that it was one of her own students until after a meeting with some other faculty members this morning. And she said when she found out that it was one of her former students, that she really struggled with it.

She began -- she met him first in the class in the summer of '07, and then in the fall of '07 is when he entered this particular graduate program. And she said that he was a great student.

He always showed up on time. He was always very engaged in what was going on, very attentive. And so, that's all that she can remember.

She doesn't -- you know, all of the things that you're seeing now, and when she reflects on what has happened, she can't believe that that is the same student who was sitting there inside her class -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes. Some -- the more we learn, really the more confusing some of this gets.

Dan Lothian for us there on the University of Illinois at Champaign campus, learning more about this young man who was a graduate student there.

Dan, we appreciate you.

And folks, we want to show you this I-Report video, a video you may have seen on our air today. This is cell phone video taken by Northern Illinois University freshman and our reporter, Ray Cook.

This was just minutes after the shooting there on campus. He was walking to class when paramedics rushed one of the victims into an ambulance.

He jumped into action here and started recording some video. You can see here many other students just in shock and disbelief, trying to figure out exactly what was happening on their campus.

And we want to hear from you as well. Share your thoughts on this shooting at Northern Illinois University. Send us an I-Report. Go to CNN.com. Tell us how this most recent campus shooting has impacted you. Again, that's CNN.com/ireport.

WHITFIELD: All right. Political news now.

A major labor endorsement in the presidential race for Democrat Barack Obama. With the story for us live from Washington, senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

So, Bill, we're talking about the Service Employees International Union. We're talking about two million strong. Why is this so important of an endorsement -- or is it?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: This is an expanding union, it has a presence all over the country, and particularly in those upcoming primary states -- Ohio, Texas, and next Tuesday in Wisconsin. And along with the United Food and Commercial Workers, which also endorsed Obama, these unions have real strength among young workers, young voters.

Forty percent of the food workers union is below the age of 30. That's where Obama is very strong. So this will help Obama in these upcoming primary states.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about the strengths of Hillary Clinton. Particularly, her camp says, we've got the strengths in numbers in terms of the Latino community. And so now New Mexico, she is declared the official winner there. Any surprises?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's being called a caucus in New Mexico, though it operated like a primary. And she has done well in primaries.

The significance is both the timing -- namely, it's a little bit of good news for Hillary Clinton after all these victories, one after another, for Barack Obama -- although keep in mind, that New Mexico "caucus" was actually held on Super Tuesday, February the 5th. It's just being counted and reported now. But it is a signal that she has a lot of strength among Latino voters who are utterly crucial for her in Texas, which is the big primary coming up next month.

WHITFIELD: Oh, and, you know, you talk about this being a caucus state, but, you know, some of her own I guess camp members have been expressing some regret that she did not spend a lot of time in caucus states, and that's why in part she feels like, or at least her camp feels like, they didn't get the kind of support they should have gotten in terms of delegates, states across the board, like we're seeing in Barack Obama lately.

SCHNEIDER: That's right, caucus states pick delegates. They pick their fair share of delegates, but they're picked by many fewer voters. So she didn't devote the resources to the caucus states, and discovered too late that they pick a whole lot of delegates all over the country, including some very small states where there are not many Democrats, but they do have delegates.

WHITFIELD: All right. And speaking of delegates, we're going to talk superdelegates with you at about 3:30 Eastern, a little over an hour from now, to break it all down, why the superdelegates are, oh, so important, especially this political season.

Bill Schneider, thanks so much.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

WHITFIELD: On the GOP side of the race, Senator John McCain made an exclusive appearance on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. We'll tell you what he had to say about his Iraq policy, and everything else, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Well, the U.S. military taking very careful aim at a wayward super-secret satellite. Miles O'Brien fills in on a shootdown that's a one-shot deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: Well, a super-secret satellite falling to Earth with a potentially deadly load. Now the Navy's prepared to shoot it down.

Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, following every development in this real-life game of Galaga, if you will. He's in New York.

Miles, is there a chance we could miss this thing?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a pretty good chance.

HOLMES: Yes.

O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact...

HOLMES: A good chance?

O'BRIEN: We've never shot anything down quite this fast. In all the Star Wars practice sessions, the practice incoming ballistic missile was going a lot faster than 17,500 miles an hour, which is how fast this satellite happens to be going. The closing rate of the satellite and the missile will be about 20,000 miles an hour.

Take a look. There's the satellite, T.J. Do you see it?

HOLMES: Where?

O'BRIEN: Streaking in the middle of your screen.

HOLMES: Oh, I got you. I got you.

O'BRIEN: This comes to us from Frederick Dieters (ph) of La Grange, North Carolina, who tracks satellites as a hobby. And there you have it.

So, I don't think we violated any National Reconnaissance Office secrets by showing you that particular picture. But that does tell you what we're talking about.

Now, here's the plan, and I'll explain why. Take a look at this animation.

The Aegis cruiser, off goes an SM-3 surface-to-air missile. It's moving along at about 5,000 miles an hour. Bang!

HOLMES: Oh, wow.

O'BRIEN: And takes the satellite out into a bunch of pieces.

Why would you want to do that, you might ask? HOLMES: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Well, this satellite never really was working properly. It looks something like this, although we can't say that for sure because it is secret. But it's in the size of a Hubble space telescope, about the size of a school bus.

It was launched more than a year ago. It was a failure to launch, in a sense. It never got going properly. And so it's been up there just slowing degrading, making its way down.

And what's important here, because it never was operating properly, and there were no astronauts visiting there -- that's the Hubble -- because it was never operating properly, it's got all of its on-orbit fuel, 1,000 pounds of Hydrazine. That's nasty stuff. And it's in a spherical container, and if it came down and landed in the wrong place, that could be a real problem. It could cause a serious hazard to folks.

So that's the number one reason.

The number two reason is it's pretty secret, and they don't want any of these pieces to end up in the wrong hands.

And number three, this is an opportunity, the first real-world opportunity, to do something that is beyond a test for all the billions we've spent on the Star Wars apparatus (ph). So, you know, we'll see what happens the latter part of next week.

After the shuttle comes down, they're going to take aim and hopefully bring it down. It's like shooting a bullet with a bullet, though -- T.J.

HOLMES: OK. But if we do miss...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

HOLMES: ... I mean, can we reload? Can you try to do it again? Or you've got one shot at this thing, man?

O'BRIEN: Pretty much one shot. They'll have backup missiles for this one opportunity. But because it's moving so quickly, it just has to happen at that moment. And if not, that will be it.

They won't try again. It will just make its way down to Earth, a little later, the first part of March, before it comes down to Earth. And we hope, statistically speaking, it won't hurt anybody. It never -- in all the years of all the rockets going into space, no one has ever gotten hurt by a piece of space junk.

HOLMES: And did they really -- did administration officials kind of jump on this opportunity to maybe show off this technology and to prove that it works? Like you said, a real-world application here. They get to use this missile defense system.

O'BRIEN: You know, yes. I wouldn't be surprised. We're taking a look at some of the debris that circles our planet. There's a lot of stuff up there.

HOLMES: Man.

O'BRIEN: You would think this would cause a hazard at navigation, but they're going to shoot it low enough in its orbit that the stuff will come down -- half of it will come down right away, the other half should be out of there, out of orbit, very quickly.

But, yes, I think -- I think it's safe to say that when all was said and done and all the parameters were considered, and this big hunk of Hydrazine, which is actually frozen solid right now and could very well survive re-entry, we might as well use this asset that they've been working so hard on all these years.

HOLMES: Well, we certainly hope it works. Like you said, you cannot reload this sucker. You've got one shot at it. A bullet hitting a bullet.

Miles, we appreciate you always breaking it down for us in layman's terms. Thanks so much, sir.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, this story -- a 15-year-old boy shot in a California classroom on Tuesday was removed from life support today.

Lawrence King had been declared brain dead. He was shot in the head at Green Junior High in Oxnard.

His alleged shooter, a 14-year-old classmate who is now in jail and now charged with premeditated murder and a hate crime. No details yet on the hate crime charge, but some classmates have said that King was a social outcast who sometimes wore makeup and feminine clothes to class.

And, of course, we're continuing to watch the developments out of Northern Illinois University. We're continuing to get lots of pretty profound images, just like that, from The Associated Press. Lots of still images showing the grief of the students, the faculty, all still so perplexed as to why this happened yesterday.

A former student opening fire. In the end, six people, including the gunman, killed.

We're going to be hearing from the governor of Illinois, Governor Blagojevich, a little bit later, less than an hour from now. And when that happens, we'll be bringing that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HOLMES: Nothing uplifting about this. These folks are suddenly stuck. A surprise snow in California strands hundreds of folks on a freeway there.

WHITFIELD: Brrr.

HOLMES: Also, we are standing by for a news conference from Illinois on the shootings that happened at Northern Illinois University. The governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich, expected to speak just minutes from now.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And here's a live look at Dekalb, Illinois. We're waiting to hear from the governor of Illinois, actually, Rod Blagojevich who's expected to speak, possibly give us an update about possibly how state resources are being used to help out there on the campus after five people were killed and the gunman killed himself there on the campus shooting.

Again, expected to hear from the governor, get some kind of an update and also hear how the community, the campus community, and really, the local community and that state even starting to recover from this thing. So, we're keeping an eye on that. When those comments do come our way, we will bring them along to you.

Also, the latest on that shooting there in Dekalb, Illinois. We know what he did, we know his name now, Steven Kazmierczak, 27-years- old, been called an outstanding student. But yesterday, police say he pulled out a shotgun, pulled it out of a guitar case, starting shooting on the campus of Northern Illinois University. When that shooting stopped, 21 people were hit, five of them dead. Kazmierczak dead as well, killed himself.

Here's a rough timeline of just what happened there. It took campus police minutes, really, to lock down that entire campus. It was about an hour between the first response and when they determined that the gunman was, in fact, dead. About 90 minutes after the shooting, University officials canceled classes and ordered students to stay in their dorms, to find a safe place.

We've heard from at least one student who says most people on campus have left for the weekend or they expected to leave sometime early today.

WHITFIELD: Well, right there on the campus of Northern Illinois University, our Don Lemon has been there since yesterday. He's been talking to a lot of the students there. Just maybe about 30 minutes ago, Don, you were talking to the friends of Juliette (ph), a military vet. And, you know, a student there that all the kids embraced, as just being one who just was full of fun. Everyone grieving there. What has it been like there on campus for the other students as well?

LEMON: And -- and, Fred, did you see that? I mean, they were crying and they were laughing at the same time. Can you imagine the roller coaster of emotions that these people are going through?

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is tough, indeed, to see.

LEMON: It's just really unbelievable. Yes, and I know you've covered a lot of these types of stories. And sadly, that we have to cover it and you come across this and you just go, how are these people doing it? I'm sure you have dealt with the same sort of situation.

Hey, I want to tell you real quick, before I get to that, that interview with the whole -- with the whole entourage, all the people here, yes, it was really emotional, and then when we -- after we wrapped up here, they all started hugging each other and crying and then talking about memorable moments with their friend.

The governor expected to hold a press conference, as T.J. said it just a little bit ago. He's also meeting with some folks here on campus, some mental health resource workers, also law enforcement to try to get a handle on exactly what is going on here. Then, he's going to hold that press conference.

Also, we learned probably about an hour and a half ago, that he has ordered all the flags in the state to half-staff, lowered to half- staff, sort of in honor, or in memory, of these people who lost their lives and really just sort -- to sort of to get people to realize the tragedy that's happened here in the state, which is sort of translating throughout the country and then throughout the world.

We've been talking about this -- this terrible tragedy, and how it happened and a lot about the shooter and the victims. Can you imagine being right here on campus and being one of the first people on the scene with a camera or with something so that you can document it? Well, the next person here, Colin DeCair is with the student television station, correct?

COLIN DECAIR, STUDENT: Yes, Northern Television Station, yes.

LEMON: Northern television station, the first person on the scene here, and not only did he have to document this, he also had to help out, and he told me he saw some really horrific things. Thank you for joining us. Have you ever seen anything like it?

DECAIR: Never in my life. I've seen people, you know, get hurt with accidents, having broken bones and whatnot. But just the -- just the sight of seeing four people wheeled off in stretchers, their bodies covered by a blanket. The blanket moving, not knowing if it was their body or if it was the wind that was making the movement.

We saw another individual with his head completely wrapped. What you could see of his face had black burn marks from where a gun apparently went off right by his head, and it was just something you can't live down and I had a hard time sleeping last night because I could not get these horrific images out of my head.

LEMON: Yes, that's what everyone has been saying here. All the students who we've spoken to today said you know what, I haven't slept and I don't know if I could sleep for quite a long time. We were talking about Patrick Corellas (ph), the student who was the intern for Tom Skilling, the weatherman here. You actually worked with him, and tell us about his injuries and tell us about -- about Patrick.

DECAIR: Well, as far as we know, he worked with us at the Northern Television Center about a year ago, where he did weather for us.

LEMON: He's the weather person, yes.

DECAIR: Yes, and from what I could tell, that was what he wanted to go into. He's no longer working with us. But the extent of what I know or from what I have heard about him specifically ...

LEMON: Yes.

DECAIR: ...obviously, this time they're keeping names under wrap ...

LEMON: Yes.

DECAIR: ...as into ...

LEMON: He wasn't one of the people who passed, but he has a leg injury, and ...

DECAIR: He was not one of the persons who passed, but yes, from what I have heard, he has buckshots throughout his leg, with the possible fracture. We haven't heard or not.

LEMON: Tough time for your staff and for students here, obviously.

DECAIR: Yes, the real tough thing is just being able to separate the reality from our emotions, particularly at the station. We have, you know, almost an obligation, you know, give the other students around campus, you know, a perspective, a student perspective, to let them know what's going on. And like I said, it's just tough separating something that happened in our backyard, what really happened just from our own personal emotions.

LEMON: And all that video that we saw all over the world, that first video, came from you, Colin Decair. Thank you, because you were first on the scene and ...

DECAIR: Oh well, I have to give the credit to two of our video guys, Jimmie Choi (ph) and Matt Dean Lacagio (ph), they're the ones doing all the shooting for me. I was, you know, just doing the rest ...

LEMON: Yes.

DECAIR: ...getting the interviews and whatnot.

LEMON: Yes, thank you very much. DECAIR: No problem, I appreciate it.

LEMON: All right, and we hope you well -- we wish you well.

Colin Decair, who works for Northern Illinois Television Station ...

DECAIR: Northern Television Station, yes.

LEMON: Northern Television Station right here on the campus. First person on the scene here.

I'm going to tell you guys a little bit more about that gunman. Again, 27-years-old. They're giving his name, and what have you. We're going to have much, much more throughout the evening, especially on our primetime coverage. Our Dan Lothian working on a special investigation as are many of our other CNN reporters. So, we've got this part of it covered.

Again, we're waiting on a press conference from the governor, the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, who's going to share some information and new insight on the investigation here in Illinois.

Fred, I'm going to throw it back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Don, thanks so much.

And of course, we want to hear from you out there. There are so many folks who were either on campus or have some relations to the people there on campus, so we want to hear from you, perhaps you can share your thoughts on the Northern Illinois University campus there at CNN.com. Tell us how this most recent campus shooting has impacted you. Just go to CNN.com/ireport.

HOLMES: And we are standing by, again, to hear from the governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich, about those shootings on that campus there in Illinois. Here now, as we look at pictures of the campus, the scene from yesterday. But we are expecting that press conference at the bottom of the hour, around 2:30. It's coming up on 2:40 now, just a few minutes behind. We're keeping an eye on that scene and as soon as it happens, we will bring you those comments live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And again, another live look here at the campus of Northern Illinois University, where we're expecting a press conference here shortly from the governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich, expected to update folks about what's happening there after that school shooting. Five dead, the gunman then turned the gun on himself. Several others injured in the shooting rampage on campus.

We're standing by for that press conference. We were expecting it at the bottom of the hour. Going a few minutes past now. But we're keeping an eye on it, and when the governor begins to deliver his comments, we will bring those to you live. Also, we got some weather news to bring you here, a bit of a surprise. Yes, it was a pretty big surprise for folks traveling north of San Diego. A sudden snowstorm brought traffic to a standstill for about 27 miles along Interstate 8, stranding about 500 drivers. Rescuers went car-to-car making sure everybody was OK, taking dozens of people to shelters for the night. Cars are moving again, but big- rigs, those still stuck.

Well, some folks in southeast Missouri still in the dark, their power's been out since Monday's ice storm. National Guard troops have been going door-to-door checking on people who insist on staying put. A mix of rain, snow, and sleet is forecast for today.

Well, the weekend's looking a bit frigid for quite a few folks. Our Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on things for us. I get to work with you on the weekends, nice to see you here on a Friday.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I know.

HOLMES: Kind sir, hello.

WOLF: It's weird, the clock says something different, the watch does, and you're still here.

HOLMES: It's confusing, it's confusing.

WOLF: Are you stalking me?

HOLMES: I am not.

WOLF: Are you sure about that?

HOLMES: Will you be here tomorrow, you know, it's confusing (ph)?

WOLF: So, maybe I'm stalking -- there you go.

HOLMES: All right.

WOLF: We'll leave that part out.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Not at all ...

WOLF: Yes.

HOLMES: So, it looks like you got a lot to be keeping an eye on this weekend, as well.

WOLF: Yes, I love being the bearer of bad news.

HOLMES: That's all right, Reynolds. You say it with such ease and a pleasant demeanor that people don't even hold it against you.

Reynolds, we appreciate you. See you again. WOLF: Anytime, man.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, folks are still reeling out of Northern Illinois University campus there. You're looking at live pictures right now, as they get set up for a press conference to take place any moment now involving the governor. Governor Rob Blagojevich will be speaking about the tragedy that has struck that state in a few minutes from now. We'll take you there live.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, any moment now, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois will be taking to that podium right there as they do mic checks and picture checks right there for this press conference to take place momentarily, all concerning the tragedy at Northern Illinois University. When that happens, we'll be bringing that to you live.

Meantime, in Virginia, they know exactly what it feels like. It has been less than a year since the Virginia Tech massacre took place on that campus. And today, the news from Illinois is a grim flashback.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is reporting now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Virginia Tech is a university that's in the unenviable position of being an expert in this kind of situation. And some of the lessons learned in the aftermath of the April 16th shootings here had to do with campus security alerts, that they need to be used liberally and they need to be used quickly.

And at NIU, they reviewed their alert system and had some drills in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and the president of NIU even saying he feels that that paid off.

But this is also a university that's an example of how to cope with a tragedy like this. Students and staff say here that it's all about sticking together.

We spoke with Alex Tucker (ph), he's a sophomore this year. He was a freshman last year during the shooting. An RA in his building was killed during the shootings, and he had some advice for NIU students.

ALEX TUCKER, VIRGINIA TECH STUDENT: The biggest thing that helped, like, all of us last year was that, you know, school was canceled the rest of that week. And then after that, we didn't have to come back, you know. We could take the grades that we had and we didn't have to come back.

But I think the biggest thing that helped all of us was coming back, was actually coming back and just being together. Most of us came back and didn't even take classes. We just came back and just hung out and just, you know, had, like, movie nights and, I don't know, just bonded and, I don't know, just kind of stuck together as friends.

KEILAR: Top university officials here at Virginia Tech have reached out to NIU officials. They say as well as mourning with NIU, they want to offer their counsel, because they found advice very helpful in the wake of the April shooting here at Virginia Tech.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Blacksburg, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And as we see, our Brianna Keilar there, reporting from the campus of Virginia Tech. Well, the president of that university actually sent a letter to the folks really, really to all of those folks at Northern Illinois University, saying in part here that the loss of life is always tragic, but especially the loss of young people with the promise for the future.

He goes on to say that the horrific news brings to mind the hurt, pain, and trauma we experienced less than a year ago. Talking about Virginia Tech, of course. Says we would like to think that institutions of learning and of rational thought would be spared such madness, sadly, this is not the case in today's world.

This is from Charles Steger, the president of Virginia Tech University. He wraps up his letter by saying, we will keep you in our hearts and prayers. And if there's any assistance that I or any of our staff at Virginia Tech can provide, please call on us.

So sadly, these two universities are linked in a very tragic, a very sad way with the shootings at Virginia Tech that were less than a year ago. Now, they're reaching out trying to help another university cope with a similar tragedy.

WHITFIELD: And momentarily, we're expected to hear from the governor of Illinois to talk about what he is learning about the investigation of these shootings, what could have been the red flag, if any. We are hearing from a number of people who seem to know the 27-year-old former student, who was the alleged gunman, who opened fire, killing five others, including himself. And we're hearing from them that there were no red flags.

Well, Governor Blagojevich will be taking to the podium momentarily. You're looking at some still pictures we continue to get in from the Associated Press. Just really underscoring the gravity of it all. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A boost for Barack Obama. He has won the endorsement of the Services Employees International Union, which counts close to two million members. Obama is trailing Hillary Clinton in backing by organized labor, but today's endorsement could help Obama's chances in the upcoming battles for Ohio and Texas. A populist push in Ohio in by Democrats Hillary Clinton. The former Democratic favorite is taking on special interests and portraying Barack Obama as beholden to corporations. Clinton says she'll take on Big Petroleum, the credit card companies and unscrupulous lenders if she's elected president.

Meantime, John McCain was the guest last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." Here's the Republican frontrunner speaking in support of a long-term American military presence in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've been in Japan for -- since 1945. We've been in South Korea since 1950, actually, it's really longer than that. We're -- we're in Kuwait right now, American troops are. American -- we have an American base in Turkey, as you know. Look, American troops, we have been in Germany since the end of World War II.

The point is anybody who understands American public opinion and the nature of this conflict knows that it's casualties, it's casualties. And this strategy is succeeding, and neither Senator Obama nor Senator Clinton had any experience or knowledge to know that this surge would succeed. And then they've been saying, up until a couple days ago, that there's no way that the Iraqi government wouldn't function politically.

Guess what? They just passed a law for Sunnis, for provincial elections, a budget, which we haven't been able to do here in Washington. So, the security -- if they understood warfare, and I'm sure they do, let me just put it this way, counterinsurgency, you provide military, a secure environment, and then the political, economic and social process moves forward. So, it's not a matter of how long we're in Iraq, it's whether we succeed in Iraq or not.

And both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton want to set a date for withdrawal. That means chaos, that means genocide. That means undoing all the success we've achieved and al Qaeda tells the world that they defeated the United States of America. I won't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And be sure to catch "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight 9:00 Eastern. Larry's guest is actress Kathleen Turner. That's right here on CNN.

HOLMES: And, again, folks, we're keeping an eye on that podium right there at the campus in Dekalb, Illinois, where that shooting rampage happened. Five students there killed, the gunman turned the gun on himself. We're expecting to hear from the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. We're expecting to hear from him in just a matter of minutes. And when those comments come our way, we'll bring them to you.

Stay here with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Sudden, unthinkable violence on a college campus again.

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