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Four Injured in Texas Refinery Fire; Tornadoes Hit Southeast; Pakistanis Head to Polls; Victims of NIU Shooters Remembered; Homeless Squatting in Foreclosed Houses
Aired February 18, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Dramatic images from a tornado's path. Severe storms whip through the southeast United States. Chad Myers is tracking the damage reports for us.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CO-HOST: A company in the crosshairs: 143 million pounds of beef recalled. What you need to know.
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in for Kyra Phillips, who's on assignment in Iraq right now. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: And we begin with black smoke choking a Texas town this morning after an explosion at an oil refinery. Homes and buildings in the town of Big Spring, well, they shook from the shockwaves. And the fire that broke out closed down Interstate 20. Nearby schools were evacuated. Students there had to leave class. Classes were canceled, as well.
One refinery worker was injured in the explosion, but all others have been accounted for. All others have been accounted for. It certainly looks to be a mess, though. Something Big Springs mayor says is a miracle that everyone has been accounted for here.
Last we heard, the company that owns the refinery wasn't sure what caused this blast. Want to get an update now from Blake Lewis. He's a spokesman for Alon USA.
Blake, it's encouraging that everyone is accounted for. Tell us what you're doing now.
BLAKE LEWIS, SPOKESMAN, ALON USA: Don, thank you very much.
Yes, we're quite encouraged by what we've -- what we've learned in terms of our employees and contractors. Just so that -- so that folks are up to speed on that, we -- in continuing to talk with employees and contractors after we accounted for everyone, we continued to talk to all of them and we did identify that there were three additional contractors that had lesser situations that required some medical attention.
We have one contractor that was being treated for a possible concussion. And we had two additional contractors with some potential hearing problems that were being evaluated also. But again, when you consider the images that are coming in from this incident, we feel very fortunate that -- that this is the situation that we're up against. Obviously, you know, our thoughts are there for all four of these individuals, but we're overall very encouraged.
LEMON: OK.
LEWIS: The latest on the situation is that the fire was deemed under control at approximately 9:30 Central Time this morning. An incident command post has been established at the refinery involving public safety officials from the Big Spring area, as well as refinery personnel. And they operated under our emergency action plans which, by every indication, have functioned exactly as designed.
And so our next steps are to get the fire completely tapped out. And then at that point, we can get in and identify the exact extent of the damages to the facility...
LEMON: Hey, Blake?
LEWIS: ... and also determine what -- what maybe, perhaps led to this incident occurring in the first place.
LEMON: Yes, exactly. But you said you have a total of four injured. Is that correct?
LEWIS: That's correct. We have the one -- the one employee who was hospitalized, and then we have three contractors that just are in the process of receiving some treatments.
LEMON: Any idea of with this -- I mean, you said you don't have for sure what caused it. But just quickly, any idea of what may have caused it?
LEWIS: No idea at this point. Again, you know, this is a situation where the wisest thing we can do is to get in as soon as we possibly can...
LEMON: Right.
LEWIS: ... and collect the facts and then operate from fact.
LEMON: Blake Lewis, a spokesman for the refinery there. We appreciate you joining us today. Thank you.
LEWIS: Thank you, Don.
KEILAR: Cleaning up now across the southeast after yet another round of tornadoes. Thirty-four were reported yesterday in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
Prattville, Alabama, took a direct hit, about 200 homes and business there were damaged or destroyed, nearly 30 people hurt. Survivors say warning sirens sent them diving for cover wherever they could: in grocery store coolers, laundry rooms and even in store bathrooms.
And those storms and the snow piling up, also, in the Midwest have left quite a travel mess, Chad Myers.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. I mean, let's focus on the tornadoes first, and then we'll get to the airports in the east. From the same storm, the airports are just a wreck in the East Coast today because of all of that wind, not tornadoes in the east.
But some of the worst video now we're getting in is actually from Prattville. For a while, we were seeing EF-1, EF-2 damage. Yes, power lines are down, roofs are off, lots of shingles gone. But just in the past few minutes, we've seen some aerial shots that you can really see some F-3 damage, which means the walls, some of the outside walls are gone. F-4, which means you can't even find the house, which is almost what we're seeing here. And then up to like the EF-5, you can't even find the pieces of house. They're completely gone.
The F scale that we talk about is a damage scale, not so much a wind scale. But as you put them together the wind, the damage we're seeing here, at least 130 to 140 miles per hour to get that much damage here. And that brings you up into a major tornado category.
Let's go over here to the maps and I'll show you here in Alabama where this actually was. Come on with me. Come on. Come on. Come on with me. Here we go. Alabama, Tennessee, we're going to zoom in to where Prattville is proper and see it's right on down into the city. The whole street, right across the -- kind of the northwestern part of the town itself, and then right through downtown. And all of these buildings, they're just still picking up pieces, obviously, this morning and will be for quite some time.
Now, we'll kind of focus on what else happened. As that storm pulled through and moved through East Coast, the airports have really -- I guess they got better now, but they were really bad this morning. The winds were 20, 30, 40 miles per hour, and we were seeing now those airport delays of two to three hours.
Now, sometimes you can get airport delays to go away by literally canceling flights, and that makes it look better, except you're sitting there without a plane. Now you're waiting for another plane. So it's kind of an artificial way to make it look better.
And now on towards the Palm Coast. A couple of showers and storms north of Daytona Beach and a couple more south of Orlando and southeast of Orlando and then back up into the northeast up into New York City. There are some storms forming in the Poconos at this hour. We'll see if they actually get into the city, but if they do, that will slow down the airport again -- Brianna.
KEILAR: That's right. You always know you're in trouble when you see that band of blue sliding across the East Coast there, Chad. Thanks a lot.
MYERS: You're welcome. LEMON: A school district in Michigan says it is tossing out ten tons of hamburger meat covered by the biggest recall in U.S. history. The recall includes nearly 40 million pounds of beef provided across the nation to the school lunch program. It was declared unfit for human consumption after a probe uncovered animal abuse at a California slaughterhouse.
In all, the recall covers a whopping 143 million pounds of meat. About 25 percent went to the schools, and much of the rest was sold to fast-food restaurants. The Agriculture Department says the possibility of human illness is remote, and no cases of sickness have yet been reported.
Next hour we'll look at possible health concerns raised by the recall. Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, will join us for that.
KEILAR: Republican frontrunner John McCain picks up a major endorsement. This morning in Houston, former president, George H.W. Bush, officially announced he's backing the Arizona Senator.
The former president calls questions about whether McCain is conservative enough absurd. But he does say McCain is not above reaching out to Democrats.
And John McCain's Republican rival, Mike Huckabee, is back on the campaign trail in Wisconsin, which holds its presidential primaries tomorrow. Last night he and his wife went bowling in Milwaukee. Huckabee has three campaign events today across the state.
After campaigning in Wisconsin late last week, Huckabee spent the weekend in the Cayman Islands, where he gave a paid speech to a group of young professionals.
In Wisconsin, one part of the puzzle in Hillary Clinton's bid to stop Barack Obama's momentum. She's going to be campaigning at four different stops today. The latest polls show the Obama/Clinton race very close in Wisconsin.
And Senator Obama made a stop yesterday at the home of former rival John Edwards. During the private get-together in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Obama said he and Edwards talked about how to move the Democratic Party in a direction that focuses on middle-class issues.
Edwards earlier had a private meeting with Senator Clinton. Both candidates trying very hard to win his endorsement.
Some heat on the campaign trail as Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife. A Barack Obama supporter showed up at this Clinton rally in Canton, Ohio. Reports say the man claims the former president became irate and may have even touched his face during their heated exchange.
Clinton campaign officials say no physical confrontation took place. The Obama campaign says the heckler was not a plant.
The next big stops on the campaign trail, Texas and Ohio on March 4. But there's certain to be plenty of action before then. And you can track it all, of course, at CNNpolitics.com, plus get analysis from the best political team on television, all of that and more at CNNpolitics.com.
LEMON: A pivotal election day in Pakistan. Security was beyond tight as voters made their way to the polls for the first time in six years. They're electing a new parliament. And CNN's Reza Sayah says their decision could make or break the current presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are purple thumbs in Pakistan, proof of having voted in one of most important elections in Pakistani history.
"Casting my vote was 100 percent necessary," says Malik Mohammed (ph). "If you don't vote, then how can you bring change?"
More than 64,000 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. throughout Pakistan. At this school in Islamabad, men lined up in one room; women lined up in another.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 50 percent of the nation of Pakistanis consisting of females in the participation, in the process of elections. It means that they are part of the politics of the country (ph).
SAYAH: A presiding officer watched as voters stepped in a booth, made their choices, then slipped their ballot into a transparent sealed box.
The votes in these ballot boxes will determine Pakistan's next prime minister. Also at stake, the future of President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf is not up for reelection, but polls show the majority of Pakistanis want him gone. If the two leading opposition parties win two-thirds of parliament, they'll have enough votes to impeach him.
Amid fears of violence and vote-rigging, many questioned if voters would show up. Tens of thousands of troops and police guarded polling stations. There were some disruptions. Most serious: gunfights between members of rival factions that left at least a dozen dead.
By mid-afternoon, after a slow start, voter turnout appeared to pick up throughout the capital. The election commission and a member of the European Union described turnout as good.
At 5 p.m. the polls closed. The doors were locked. The ballot boxes were unsealed, and the counting began.
"All I want," says this Dordana Pervez Kahn (ph), "is that one good human being comes into power who does good for the country."
(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: And Reza Sayah standing by for us in Islamabad. Reza, I have a question for you. What will it look like once the votes are tallied? Can you give us some scenarios? If one person wins what it might look like? If Musharraf wins, what that might look like?
SAYAH: Well, I've got to make it clear, Musharraf is not up for reelection. He just started his presidency, his latest term for presidency, last year.
LEMON: Pardon.
SAYAH: But this election, this parliamentary election is going to impact him. It's safe to say that one side is not going to be happy. If the two opposition parties win in polls before elections show they will win, it's the party that backs Musharraf that's not going to be happy.
If Musharraf's party wins, it's the opposition parties that aren't going to be happy. And they say if that happens, that's proof positive that there was vote-rigging, and they're going to take to the streets.
So election day is over, but the suspense continues -- Don.
LEMON: Reza, and that's what I, yes -- absolutely, I meant his party. I spoke with the senator, Joe Biden, who is there from the U.S., watching the election just a short time ago. We'll have that for you a little bit later on in the NEWSROOM.
Reza Sayah, we appreciate your reporting from Islamabad.
KEILAR: Five lives, violently cut short. Students, sons, daughters, the victims of last week's Illinois campus rampage, mourned and remembered today.
LEMON: Their killer, also mourned by someone who still loves him. We'll talk with the gunman's girlfriend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It is 1:15 here in the east. And here are three of the stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Imagine seeing this rising above your town. That's exactly what people in Big Spring, Texas, saw today after a powerful explosion at a refinery sent up a massive cloud of smoke. Four people were hurt. No word yet on the cause.
Schools across the U.S. double-checking their menus after the biggest beef recall in the nation's history. One hundred forty-three million pounds of beef products dating back a couple of years are now being recalled after video showed workers mistreating downed cows at a California slaughterhouse. A big chunk of the beef went for school lunches, but there are no reports of anyone getting sick.
It is up to the judge now. Former Beatle Paul McCartney and estranged wife Heather Mills have failed to reach a deal. So a judge will rule on the terms of what could be the most expensive divorce in British history.
LEMON: Well, students in Northern Illinois University not in class, but in mourning. Hundreds of people are now packing a suburban Chicago church to remember Catalina Garcia, and it's standing room only. Garcia is the first of the five victims of last Thursday's campus shooting rampage to be buried.
All the victims had hopes, dreams and loved ones who now will miss them dearly. I spent the last couple day at Northern Illinois University and got to know a little bit more about five lives cut violently short.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): Twenty-year-old Danny Parmenter was studying finance and sold ads for the campus newspaper. Friends say he was always offering people rides to class, helping with homework and doing community service. He was described as a gentle giant.
His adviser says the last time she saw him, he was stretched out on an old, beat-up couch in the newspaper's offices. She teased him about having his feet on the furniture.
Catalina Garcia, also 20 years old, was the youngest of four siblings in a family from Guadalajara, Mexico. They settled in suburban Cicero, just west of Chicago. She wanted to become a teacher.
Her father said she was adored because she wanted to become somebody in life. A high school teacher said she was shy, very bright, and a good student. Michael Perry said, "She always had a smile on her face, such a positive attitude and outlook on life. It was contagious."
Ryanne Mace's mother said they thought they were having a boy and named their only child Ryanne, pronounced like the boy's name. The 19-year-old sophomore was studying psychology at the university. Her mother says, "She was beautiful and brilliant and caring. She wanted to start a career helping people. She was in psychology to become a counselor. She was our only child, the light of our lives."
Thirty-two-year-old Julianna Gehant cam to Northern Illinois University after a stint in the U.S. Army, where she taught construction. Records show she was deployed to Kosovo and left active duty just last year. But she really wanted to become an elementary school teacher.
In her 2007 Christmas card, she wrote, "I have four more semesters until I'm qualified to teach second-graders."
She is remembered as an open-hearted young woman with a keen sense of humor and warm laugh.
Gayle Dubowski was a sophomore at NIU. Friends say the 20-year- old was a good person with a big heart. She sang in the high school choir, and her principal said she worked as a teacher's aide. He says, "She was a very positive student. She touched people."
A fellow NIU student saw her Thursday, before the shooting, and says, "She was sort of shy but always had a big smile on her face."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And as we mourn the victims, we are learning more about the killer from someone who knew, or thought she knew, him best.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA BATY, STEVEN KAZMIERCZAK'S GIRLFRIEND: I would have never in a million years guessed that when they -- when they said that there was a shooting at NIU -- I mean, no. There's no way. Steve would never do such a thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Steven Kazmierczak's girlfriend, she says she still loves him, and she spoke exclusively to CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: We've got some new video coming in here to the CNN NEWSROOM. As you can see, there are a lot of southeastern states having to clean up from tornadoes today.
Let's bring in Chad Myers. He's in the CNN weather center.
And Chad, this is from our affiliate WKRG, and I believe it's Molino, Florida, where there -- you can see all of this damage. What can you tell us about it?
MYERS: Right. This is a town six streets long, three streets wide. And it took a direct hit here yesterday. This is very close to Pensacola, probably no more than ten miles north of Pensacola. Luckily, I guess, it didn't go through downtown Pensacola. At least, it did miss it.
But as it was going through, basically, undeveloped brush land, it came upon the town of Molino, which is really just a stone's throw north of there. And as it came through, it knocked down that one house that we saw.
We're still getting more video in, and when we get more in, we'll show you what happened. But this is what you do. You cover it up and try to save what you can. But on the house here -- he's going to keep panning off to the left -- there's not much, really, to save, not really even worth picking through it at this point, they're seeing. But they are going to try to come through this.
Thirty-four separate reports of tornado damage yesterday. So we're going to keep getting this video in, one shot after another. It's going to be one town, then one town, then one town. So as it comes in, we'll bring it right to you.
KEILAR: Thirty-four reports. Just amazing. We know you're keeping your eye on that. Thanks, Chad.
And another bid by President Bush to save children's lives in Africa. Mr. Bush is in Tanzania today. He toured a factory that makes mosquito-resistant bed nets.
He said Washington's chipping in to distribute the nets for free to more than five million Tanzanian children. This is part of an ongoing U.S. effort to combat malaria. And it's actually believed that the disease kills more than a million African children each year.
Later in the NEWSROOM, we're going to have more on the president's trip and a report from CNN's Ed Henry, who -- he is in Tanzania.
LEMON: A growing number of foreclosures creating a sea of vacant houses, and you'll never guess who is moving in.
Really vacant homes, Susan Lisovicz, but also it means people are homeless. And kind of that's a double problem, too. We're talking about two different sets of homeless people here.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's a good point. I mean, it's kind of inevitable that this would happen, Don, that the homeless are moving in, not by invitation.
Foreclosed homes are pretty inviting. They have an advantage over the typical boarded-up variety. They're usually in much better shape, often have working heat, lights and running water. Homeless advocates say the homes are clearly an inviting option.
The Associated Press says in Cleveland, Ohio, there are about 4,000 homeless on the street on any given night and about 15,000 vacant homes due to foreclosures. So, you can understand how this is happening -- Don.
LEMON: Yes, and you know, it's kind of a reprieve against the winter cold for some homeless people. But it creates other problems, as well.
And also, you know, getting back to what you said, it's inviting, because some people can come in and there are things that you can sell, if you want to. You can use the copper and the metal, or what have you, that's in the home to buy things.
LISOVICZ: That's right. It doesn't really solve either of the problems that we're talking about. It doesn't give the homeless people who are squatting there the resources that they need. And it doesn't solve the foreclosure problem. Squatting, of course, is against the law, and it can lead to vandalism that Don was talking about.
Back to you Don.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Susan.
KEILAR: Accusations of conspiracy, murder and a cover-up continue. Mohamed al-Fayed in court, lashing out again at Britain's royal family.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in for Kyra Phillips, who is on assignment in Baghdad. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Smiling, happy, enjoying a day at a theme park, that's the picture you see here of Jessica Baty and Steven Kazmierczak in much sunnier times. Baty says this is the boyfriend she knew, not the one who went on a deadly shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University last Thursday. Baty spoke exclusively, and also tearfully, to CNN's special investigations correspondent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA BATY (voice-over): It says "you are the best, Jessica. You've done so much for me and I truly do love you. You will make an excellent psychologist or social worker someday. Don't forget about me. Love, Steven."
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Jessica Baty is reading the last words her boyfriend of two years wrote to her, a note that she got on valentine's day, the same day Steven Kazmierczak killed five students and himself at Northern Illinois University.
BOUDREAU (on-screen): Do you still love him?
BATY: Yes. I do still love him.
BOUDREAU: Is it hard to love him now?
BATY: No, it's not. Because I know the real Steven. The person that I knew was not the one that walked into Cole hall and did that. I mean, that wasn't the Steve I knew. He was -- he was anything but a monster. He was probably the nicest, most caring person ever.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): She say he had a troubled childhood and spent time in a group home as a teenager battling depression.
BOUDREAU (on-screen): Looking back, are there any warning signs?
BATY: He did cut himself and, you know, he showed me the scars on his arms and I made him promise never to do that, that if he was feeling bad he needed to talk to me and we would, you know, get through it.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): Baty is the person who likely knew Steven Kazmierczak best. During our two-hour conversation she revealed the medication he had been taking.
BATY: It was Prozac.
BOUDREAU: And she says NIU officials and police got some things all wrong.
BOUDREAU (on-screen): What are some of the things that you've heard being reported that you think are not true?
BATY: A lot. They've been saying that he was acting erratically in the time before he did this, and he wasn't acting erratically. He was just under a lot of stress from school. He didn't have a job, so he felt bad about that.
He wasn't erratic. He wasn't psychotic. He wasn't delusional. He was -- he was Steve. He was normal. He was on medication and he did stop taking it. And he stopped taking it because he said that it felt that it made him feel like a zombie and that he just, you know, was lazy and that's why he stopped taking it. He didn't behave erratically.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): They lived together for the past year, and she says she knew he had guns in the home.
BATY: Well, I knew about the shotgun and I knew about one of the handguns. I think I knew about the high point. But the other two, he bought on a day while I was at work. So I had no idea until I read about it and I was like, my god, he did this while I was at work.
BOUDREAU: Baty doesn't know what set off Kazmierczak's deadly rampage. She thought he was visiting his godfather, who was sick. She had no idea he was in De Kalb, near campus.
BOUDREAU (on-screen): You didn't see any struggle with him?
BATY: No. He called me that night when he got there and told me that he loved me and that he would see me on Thursday and he missed me. About midnight he called me before he was going to go to bed and he said that, you, know he told me not to forgot about him.
And he told me he would see me tomorrow and when we got off the phone he said, "Good-bye, Jessica." And he never said, "Good-bye, Jessica." He always said, you know, "See you later, Jessie." It was never, "Good-bye, Jessica." I thought that was strange.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): In the days after the shootings, she says police told her they confiscated packages Kazmierczak had sent to her. One contained these textbooks she want for school and a new cell phone. He also sent her "The Anti-Christ", by Nietzsche. Then she revealed what another package contained.
BATY: I think that there was a package with some ammunition and, like, a gun holster in it.
BOUDREAU: After all of this, she says she's not angry. She's just hurt and confused. BATY: I can't believe he's gone. I can't believe he took other people with him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Jessica Baty had more to say to CNN in this emotional, exclusive interview, and if you want to see it in its entirety, you can do that at CNN.com.
LEMON: He was on them, he was off them. The gunman in his last week -- in last week's campus rampage, had stopped taking his meds. We'll take a closer look at antidepressants and debunk some of the myths about them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The question everyone is asking, of course, why did he do it? Why did Steven Kazmierczak walk into a classroom at Northern Illinois University last Thursday and gun down five students before killing himself?
We're hearing he was on antidepressants, but stopped taking them just weeks before that rampage and we don't know if that had anything to do with the horrifying events that followed. But it is certainly a tragic talking point on campus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERRY SANTONI, WITNESS TO NIU SHOOTING: Yes. I just want to say, if anyone knows people with mental illness or friends of friends with mental illness, you know, you just need to take a few minutes out of your day to make sure they're taking their medication.
And because I don't think this individual had anyone that was keeping close enough track on him to take his medication. And I think that might have averted this whole crisis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Elizabeth, before I bring you in here, that was Jerry Santoni, interviewed him on Saturday. He was one of the students in the classroom when it happened. He's a sociology major.
He came out to talk to us because he said he thought it was important to tell people about the importance of taking medication, reaching out to people, if you know they're taking their medication or not taking their -- they're on medication and not taking it.
So he really wanted to talk about it, and he was in that classroom. So again, we don't know if it's that simple, that the medication -- but maybe it played something, Elizabeth, maybe it had something to do with it. Him going on and off that medication.
Well the psychiatrist that we talked to said it's not that simple. It's not as if someone who is on antidepressants for depression just -- if they stop taking their antidepressants it doesn't make them go shoot up a room full of people. That doesn't happen. We asked them, well what does happen when you stop taking an antidepressant?
And, there are some things that they know do happen sometimes, and not always, but sometimes. Suddenly going off of an antidepressant can lead to anxiety and sadness, and irritability, and fatigue and headaches. But you don't see violence in that list. Irritability and violence are really two different things.
So, we want to make it clear that going off antidepressants suddenly without the advice of your doctor is bad. You don't want to do that. But it's -- in and of itself it is not going to make you shoot up a room of people.
HOLMES: Having personally have dealt with depression in my family and people who are on anti-anxiety and depression medication, you're supposed to check with your doctor because they sort of -- they lower and lower and lower the dose. You just don't go off of it by yourself. That's something you shouldn't do.
Again, we're not saying that this caused it, because he did have that history of mental problems which played probably a bigger role than the medication. OK. So then, what really happened then?
COHEN: It is impossible to know, because we don't know everything about this man. We don't know everything about his psychiatric history. When I talked to a psychiatrist from the American Psychiatric Association, she pointed out, she -- look, he had incidents as a younger man cutting, inflicting injury on himself.
That speaks to more than just depression. This wasn't just a depressed person who went off his antidepressants. It's possible that he was on antidepressants and actually was schizophrenic, was hearing voices or was psychotic. It's also possible that he was involved in substance abuse. So, it had violent tendencies to begin with.
So, if you take that, put together -- let's say you have someone who's hearing voices, has violent tendencies -- and I'm not saying he did, but if he did, then going off an antidepressant would make him irritable and maybe that could help push him over the edge. So again, it's going off the drugs in and of itself, but combined with violent tendencies that could be a problem.
HOLMES: OK. Then you have all these signs, then he shoots up a classroom. But people say, pretty much he was just a normal guy, he acted normal.
COHEN: Right. That's what we heard over and over again. It wasn't like the Virginia Tech shooter, where that had been all these signs. Everyone kept saying how normal he seemed. Well, this is an important thing to keep in mind, psychiatrists we talked to said look, I've had patients who were hearing voices who hid it affectively from friends and from their colleagues for a period of time.
They might hear voices, or they might be involved in substance abuse and they just don't talk about it, because when you hear voices you don't want to talk about it to your colleagues because they might not trust you anymore, might think you're crazy. So, people try to hide these things sometimes. So, you can look perfectly normal, but in fact, have some pretty -- have a pretty, serious mental illness. It is very possible.
HOLMES: You never know what's going on in people's heads.
COHEN: Right, exactly. You just don't know.
HOLMES: Yes, all right. Thank you, Elizabeth Cohen.
KEILAR: Nancy Reagan is said to be doing well and in good spirits, one day after admitted to a California hospital. The former First Lady, seen here at last month's CNN Republican debate at the Reagan Presidential Library fell at her home yesterday. Doctors say the 86-year-old Mrs. Reagan did not break a hip during her tumble as was unusually feared. She actually may be released from the hospital today.
HOLMES: We hope so. Royalty in the house right here at CNN. We're not talking about Brianna, right next to me. There he is. We're talking about Prince Andrew, and he has a lot to say about the war, also about Prince Harry, and how our two countries are getting along these day. Very interesting conversation, you don't want to miss that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: A major endorsement today for Republican presidential candidate, John McCain. Former President George H. W. Bush says, the Arizona senator is the best choice to succeed his son in the oval office. So, joining us now, our Senior Political Analyst, Bill Schneider, he's with us from New York.
And, I guess the question everyone wanted to know, Bill, is this going to be a hindrance, or is it going to be a help to McCain?
BILL SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it will be a help. Bush one, the one who endorsed him today is not an intensely controversial president. An endorsement, which I'm sure will happen from the current President Bush, that is more controversial. And how McCain handles the sitting President Bush will be a very delicate issue, as the campaign goes forward.
But, this President Bush is a respected and honored figure. There's some controversy still from conservatives who didn't entirely trust him. The only risk here for McCain is that it does allow Mike Huckabee to say, you see that, the whole Washington establishment is wrapping its arms around John McCain.
He's the candidate of the beltway, he's the candidate of Washington, he's the candidate of the insiders. And if he can get anywhere with that argument, he's certainly going to try.
KEILAR: Oh, yes, he certainly will try. We'll be listening for that. And, Bill, let's take a look now at the Democrats. Senator Obama just met with John Edwards over the weekend, Clinton met with him before. How crucial is Edwards' endorsement for either one of the candidates?
SCHNEIDER: Every delegate counts. This campaign between Clinton and Obama is right down to the wire. Obama has a narrow lead among pledged delegates. Anything that they can get from the Obama camp would be of help because they're just -- it's really toe to toe over every delegate and over every super delegate. John Edwards has 26 delegates, which doesn't sound like very many out over 4,000, but they're fighting over every single one of them.
KEILAR: That's just some funny video. It kind of reminds me -- that's obviously, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, kind of reminds me of staking out Paris Hilton's house. Everyone wanted the video of that meeting there. But let's talk about tomorrow's contest. Is there a must-win scenario that's going to play out for either side here?
SCHNEIDER: Well, for -- Hillary Clinton, she would like very much to win Wisconsin because she wants to top Obama's momentum. If she wins Wisconsin tomorrow, which is the big primary, Washington is -- has a beauty contest for Democrats, but if she wins Wisconsin then a lot of people will stop and say, well wait a minute, is she -- is Obama's momentum over?
Obama does very well in red stated, like South Carolina and Idaho, but Wisconsin is a narrowly blue state. It might be very close there because there's a large core partisan Democratic vote. And the polls show that it's very, very close in Wisconsin.
What she wants to do is change the news cycle which seems to be reporting that she's not only -- is she no longer inevitable, but she's a loser. A win in Wisconsin could change that perception.
KEILAR: Yes, and she's certainly looking ahead to March as I know you talked a lot about.
SCHNEIDER: Oh, yes.
KEILAR: Our, Senior Political Analyst, Bill Schneider. Thanks for joining us there from New York.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
KEILAR: Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, will face off in another debate ahead of the big Texas and Ohio primaries. Those are on March 4th. You're going to want to watch their face-off Thursday night in Austin, Texas. And our special coverage is going to begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and you can see it only on CNN.
LEMON: A new round of winter tornadoes.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the scariest thing I've ever been through in my entire life. And I just finally got in touch with my parents and I walked up to our neighborhood and it's destroyed.
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LEMON: Her tone of voice speaks volume. A closer look at southern storm damage, coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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KEILAR: No matter what anyone else says, Mohammed Al Fayed says he's convinced his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana were murdered. He pointed an accusing finger today from the witness stand in the ongoing British inquest into the 1997 crash. He said Princess Diana told him, a month before she died, that she feared for her life.
Al Fayed accuses everyone from Prince Philip and Princess Diana's sister, Sarah, to driver Henri Paul, of being part of a murder plot in the coverup. Investigations by both French and British authorities have concluded, though, that the crash was an accident.
LEMON: Well, Britain's Prince Andrew just wrapped up a ten-day -- visit to the U.S. to promote international trade and investment. One of his stops, right here in Atlanta. And I caught up with him and covered everything from the U.S. election, to the U.S./British relationship, to the young princes, William and Harry, as well.
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PRINCE ANDREW, DUKE OF YORK UNITED KINGDOM: The interesting thing that is, is that we have a very short period of time for an election.
LEMON: Right.
ANDREW: We only have three weeks in the U.K.. Here you have a far longer period. And it's interesting to see how many more people are participating in the process.
LEMON: Right.
ANDREW: And their discussing what's going on, who's right, who's wrong, who's got the right ideas. It's anybody's race at the moment, by the signs of things.
LEMON: It must be fascinating to watch, though, from the U.K. and from other parts of the world, when you consider the history of America and you see what could happen in that election.
ANDREW: It is. But it's also very interesting to see how there is a wind of change around -- in the U.S. and also, that there is an increasing importance of democracy.
LEMON: Right.
ANDREW: And people are actually taking an interesting. People want to know who these people are, what their policies are and who the people there are around them, and I think that's extremely good news for the United States and for the world in general.
LEMON: Let's talk about the U.K. --
ANDREW: Yes.
LEMON: And about the U.S.. You said this an important ally for you --
ANDREW: Absolutely.
LEMON: And I was reading in the "Herald" that you were quoted saying that the war in Iraq -- you, in some ways, wish that the U.S. had listened to the advice of the U.K. and from your experience as well. What did you mean by that?
ANDREW: Well -- it was exactly from my experience of working so closely with the United States. We have a very, very close relationship. We've had a close relationship over the last, well, before your inception as a nation state of its own. And I've worked closely with the U.S. and we've always had a close relationship. And if you want a friend where should the friend be? He should be beside you and working with you. And so, we give each other advice.
LEMON: As a military person, what would you have done differently?
ANDREW: Well, that's too long a thing to go through in an interview we've got this afternoon.
LEMON: If you can -- capsulize it for us. Is there anything that you would have done differently, besides listen to advice from the U.K.?
ANDREW: We are -- I think that the point of the fact is, is that we are where we are. There's not much point in going back over either good things or bad things. We have to move forward and actually effect the change and effect stability in that region as a whole.
And the fact is, is that I think that you'll find that there are no two nations that are working more closely together, regardless of whether in the privacy of a study or a privacy of somebody else's country, advice was listened to or not it's irrelevant now. The fact is, is that we have to look forward.
LEMON: You fought in the Falkland Islands.
ANDREW: Yes.
LEMON: The two princes now both have military service. Are you proud of that tradition -- that it stills seems to be happening, even with the two young princes?
ANDREW: Absolutely. I think that -- I mean I did it, whatever it was, maybe 30 years ago now. They're just taking that tradition on even further. And I'm extremely proud of the fact that they are both serving for their country. It's very important in the U.K. for people to understand what the services stand for and what they mean.
And also, if you are going to be in a position like us, there is an element of leadership. And if you can understand that leadership, and if you can be a part of that organization, it helps enormously in other parts of your life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, we didn't get the hand shake in.
KEILAR: No. Well, you did shake his hand, though.
LEMON: I did.
KEILAR: Don, Don. But you know, it's really interesting because royals normally don't get controversial. But, he talked about Iraq and I guess you could say that was -- that's a controversial topic. Were you surprised that he got into that?
LEMON: Not usually. They usually save that for the prime minister, for someone like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, to talk about. Because anyone who is one of the royals knows that when they're speaking, they are representing the queen, and they're speaking from -- really kind of from the queen's mouth. So, it was a bit surprising that he did speak about -- out about Iraq and that he talked about something that was political.
KEILAR: Yes. So interesting. And of course he had an entourage bigger than P. Diddy's.
LEMON: It was gigantic.
KEILAR: Never mind that.
LEMON: And it was kind of weird because that was a little bit intimidating. I'm very much a people -- or people kind of person. And there was so much protocol. You have to say your royal highness and all these kinds of things. And, I've met presidents before, and it was much more protocol with him and much more of an entourage with him than with a U.S. president.
KEILAR: Yes, he is a prince, after all.
LEMON: Yes.
KEILAR: All right. Well, time now to check what's clicking on CNN.com. Bill Clinton: slapper-in-chief? We've got some conflicting reports here of the ex-president's reaction to a vocal Obama supporter at an Ohio campaign event.
Also, members of the Jamestown, Vikings, accused of pillaging a historic hotel in upstate New York. The minor league hockey team season was iced last week due to financial problems. Police think some of the players thought their boss bought the hotel, but whoops, deal hadn't been closed yet. And, memorials spring up on a Maryland road where eight people were killed over the weekend. They were hit by a car as they watched an illegal street race.
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