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Three Dead in Mall Shooting Rampage; North Korea Rocket Launch a Success; U.S. Recognizes Syrian Rebel Group; Boehner, Obama Spoke by Phone; Gunfire Terrorizes Oregon Mall Shoppers; SAG Award Nominations Announced

Aired December 12, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Soledad. Thank you. Have a great day, will you?

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, an Oregon shopping mall, bustling with the holiday crowd, shots rang out, random victims fall and hundreds of panic stricken shoppers scurry for cover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLOR PEDERSEN, WITNESS: People started hiding behind counters and eventually everybody went to the middle of Sears and on top of the escalators where -- you know, away from all the entrances and everybody could get together and sit there and we actually were watching the news as it was happening on the TV inside the entertainment center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: International community on edge after a provocative rocket launch by North Korea. It claims to have put a satellite in orbit. We'll tell you how the U.S. might respond to it.

Up in flames. A West Virginia natural gas line explodes, the blast shutting down a major route through that state.

It could be one of the holiest Twitter accounts yet. The Pope sending his first tweet. But wait until you see who he's following.

The NEWSROOM starts right now.

Good morning, everyone. From New York, welcome. I'm Don Lemon. Carol is off today.

Holiday horror. Panicked shoppers throw up their arms and rush to police after a gunman opens fire.

Here's the very latest for you from the deadly mall shooting just south of Portland, Oregon. This morning, three people are confirmed dead and a fourth victim is described as fighting for her life. Police say the masked gunman killed himself as they closed in, making the motive for the killing spree all the more unclear right now. Witnesses say he popped off at least 20 rounds seemingly choosing his victims at random. The shopping mall Santa was among the hundreds of people who heard the echo of rifle blasts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in the set there, there weren't too many kids at the time, so that was good. I heard two shots and then after that I heard about 15, 16 more shots, and decided that that was gunshots so I hit the floor. My crew that was working with me must have left. Everybody -- and I got up, there was nobody on the set but myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Not something you usually hear Santas talking about.

Let's get live now to the scene. CNN's Dan Simon outside the mall, in Clackamas Town Center.

Dan, what's the very latest?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hey, Don. The sheriff of Clackamas County, Craig Roberts, is saying this morning that, in fact, this was a random shooting. The victims were not targeted. He also says that at one point the shooter's gun jammed, which means that that may account for why there were not more victims.

What we know is that this all began about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, when the shooter walked into Macy's on the second floor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (voice-over): The scene at the Clackamas Town Center mall near Portland, Oregon. Holiday shoppers ran for cover as a masked gunman opened fire in the food court outside Macy's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The shots were really loud and really scary.

SIMON: Sergeant Adam Phillips with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office says the gunman killed two people and wounded another before taking his own life.

SGT. ADAM PHILLIPS, CLACKAMAS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We have tentatively identified the shooter at this time. We will not release his name or any other information other than he's an adult male until we have 100 percent confirmed that identity.

SIMON: The mall's Santa was visiting with children when the shots rang out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard two shots, and then after that, I heard about 15, 16 more shots, and decided that that was gunshots, so I hit the floor.

SIMON: Tylor Pedersen was at the mall applying for a job when panicked customers came running into the Sears Department Store.

PEDERSEN: People started hiding behind counters and eventually everybody went to the middle of Sears and on top of the escalators where -- you know, away from all the entrances and everybody could get together and sit there.

SIMON: Outside the mall, police talked with witnesses to piece together what happened.

PHILLIPS: You get 10 different people who saw the same incident and they're going to give you 10 different versions of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: The gunman is described as being in his early 20s. Police not releasing his name at this point, also not saying what the motive might have been. They're also saying that the two victims that were shot and killed, both are adults, one male and one female.

Don, we should tell you that the mall will remain closed today. Obviously not ideal in the middle of this holiday shopping season but of course that has to be done. Back to you.

LEMON: Absolutely. Dan Simon, thank you very much.

To North Korea now. North Korea today entered the space age apparently putting a satellite into orbit.

People in the capital seemed to welcome the news. The achievement carries a lot of symbolism. For starters it comes just days before the first anniversary of Kim Jong-Il's death. A former NASA engineer says the rocket was based on Soviet technology. It took off from North Korea's west coast, and traveled south near the Japanese island of Okinawa. Debris fell into the sea as far away as the Philippines.

Many in the U.S. and elsewhere were taken by surprise. The last time North Korea tried to launch was in April, which ended in an embarrassing failure.

To Chris Lawrence now, our Pentagon correspondent.

Chris, the U.S. officials had -- do they have any doubts that this is for real?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, if they did, those doubts are quickly disappearing. I just got off the phone with a U.S. official who confirmed to me that the object that North Korea did put into space is still in orbit and right now those officials are going through some of their final calculations to confirm whether it was indeed a satellite, as North Korea claimed.

Regardless of that, it is confirmed that North Korea did successfully go through three stages of this rocket, which is a jump in technology for them. This is the type of rocket that has the range to hit areas in Alaska or U.S. bases in Hawaii. So there is, you know, some concern over this success by North Korea -- Don. LEMON: So, Chris, how worried are Pentagon officials again about the successful launch? You said there is some success with this but how worried are they about it?

LAWRENCE: Yes. There are still some ways to go, Don, because they're worried down the road about North Korea marrying its nuclear weapons with this missile technology. In other words, being able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon, to put on a warhead, to also be able to aim that missile accurately and to have the type of heat shield that would allow it to come back into the atmosphere without burning up.

Now there's no indication North Korea, you know, has made that jump yet. That is a concern down the road. And there's also a concern about what help they may be getting. A U.S. official is telling us that one working assumption is that Iran helped North Korea with this launch.

We know in the past U.S. officials have detected North Korean engineers going to Iran, Iranian scientists coming to North Korea, Iranian scientists have been there for previous North Korean launches, so there is a real concern about the proliferation of this technology and it not being contained just to North Korea alone.

LEMON: Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence, thanks, as always.

Meanwhile, the U.S. deals another blow to the crumbling regime in Syria. Days after warning of the government's use of chemical weapons on its own people President Obama formally recognized the leading rebel group as a legitimate representative of Syria.

The move further bolsters the U.S. support for a new government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made a decision that the Syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime. And so we will provide them recognition and obviously with that recognition comes responsibilities on the part of that coalition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The White House says the show of support for the coalition falls short of what many rebels want. Spokesman Jay Carney says the U.S. will not provide weapons for the fighters.

Very busy night for the president. He also spent time on the phone talking with House Speaker John Boehner trying to negotiate a deal to keep the U.S. from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

House Republicans meeting right now and we expect to hear from the House speaker at the top of the hour.

Dana Bash, Capitol Hill, following the negotiations. How many times have I said fiscal cliff over the past couple of months. I can't even -- if I had a nickel for every time I'd be a very wealthy man.

Dana, good --

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We'd be able to avert the fiscal cliff.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Exactly. Very good. So much more clever and quicker than I am.

Dana, good morning. You know, the president and the House speaker offered new proposals. What do you know about them, if anything?

BASH: You know, they're being very, very careful. They're holding their cards close to the vest, which I think, you know, as a reporter is frustrating but as somebody who certainly wants to get -- to see this solved, I think that that is a completely non-partisan thing to say. It maybe is a good sign because both sides are being very careful not to let the cat out of the bag on some of the specifics because they don't want the process to blow up even before it really starts in earnest.

What we are told from Democratic and Republican sources is that it is still really just sort of the big picture that they're going back and forth on. Big picture meaning how much are they going to try to raise when it comes to revenue. We understand that the White House earlier this week reduced their number by about $2 billion. The president wanted to raise revenue by $1.6 billion and then he said well, $1.4 billion, which is a step in the right direction but nowhere near what the speaker wants to do, which is $800 billion. So that's someplace where the Democrats might have to give towards Republicans.

The other side of the ledger, so to speak, Don, is spending, and that's probably where we're going to hear the speaker talk about the need for the White House to be more explicit and what they're willing to give specifically on those entitlement cuts because that's another area that Democrats are going to have to give on to get to where both sides really want to be when it comes to overall deficit reduction money.

LEMON: OK, Dana, you're going to be watching this. Less than an hour it's scheduled. House speaker is supposed to speak out this morning, say something. Any word on what Speaker Boehner might say later this morning?

BASH: Well, he's -- as you said he's meeting with his House Republican conference, all the rank-and-file Republicans, as we speak, in the room literally right next door to where I am right now. So we're going to see -- our reporting we're going to see kind of what the mood of the Republican caucus is, where they stand, because, as you know, a big part of the dynamic here that we've been talking about for weeks is the fact that Boehner really is a bit hamstrung because many in his caucus -- most in his caucus really do not want him to give on that big divide over raising tax rates for the wealthiest Americans.

So we're going to see if there's any give on that in his caucus and then, of course, what he's going to do here is probably a lot of public posturing, which we've heard yesterday and the day before that and the day before that, but got to read between the lines on the public posturing so we'll tell you what happens.

LEMON: Public posturing in Washington? Never.

BASH: I know, who knew?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Dana, thank you. Appreciate it.

Other news now. A huge natural gas line explosion is making for some difficult travel in West Virginia. A 20-inch transmission line erupted Tuesday sending flames high into the air. The flames and intense heat damaged and shut down part of Interstate 77. Drivers have been using a 45-mile detour. At least one home was destroyed, several others were damaged.

It has been a tough few days for the Dallas Cowboys. They're honoring a teammate killed in a car crash over the weekend and now an eyewitness is revealing her side of the accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We go back now to Oregon in the horrible mall shooting.

Witnesses say a man ran through Macy's wearing a hockey mask and carrying a rifle before killing two people and himself. This happened in a suburban mall near Portland, Oregon. Crowds of panicked holiday shoppers ducked for cover, many fearing for their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR GIBSON, SHOOTING WITNESS (via telephone): I honestly didn't know where the gunman was coming from, where he was, what he looked like. I was waiting for him to come into view and see me, in clear view and shoot me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So it was so early on in the investigation. We don't know the names of the victims or the gunman yet.

There were scores of people in that Oregon mall last night. CNN spoke with one of them earlier this morning. Here's what she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXSIS WINTERHALTER, WITNESSED THE MALL SHOOTING: Downstairs, more towards the end of the mall, and the shooting happened upstairs in the center of the mall, but I was actually getting my hair done and the girl was blow-drying my hair, and we heard a very loud noise, it sounded like the ceiling was falling through or metal clashing as if something was falling and the gunfire was going off long enough that we had time to stop and say, what is this noise? And we realized, oh my gosh, that's a gun, that sounds like a machine gun.

And the receptionist at the hair salon looked out into the mall and saw people scattering and running everywhere, and we realized at that point, we needed to get out of there because we weren't sure where the gunfire was coming from, if it was near to us. And so we ran out the back of the hair salon outside, and we were hiding behind a dumpster for a few minutes until we decided that we were still way too close to an exit for comfort, and we weren't sure if the shooter would be coming out of that door at any moment.

So we decided to go in the parking lot and we were hiding behind some cars for a while, until my dad just showed up across the street and I ran there and I was picked up by him. And at that point, we still weren't sure what was going on, where the shooter was, but there was a constant stream of sirens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And I should tell you that coming up in just a few minutes here on CNN, we're going to talk to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department and see if they have any idea on the identity of the shooter and also any more information about the victims.

Other stories now that we're following for you this morning:

There is some good news for Nelson Mandela who is responding to treatment for a lung infection. That is according to a statement from South African President Jacob Zuma. Mandela, the former leader of South Africa, was rushed to the hospital over the weekend. He is 94 years old and many people are worried about his health, of course.

The man who taught Beatle George Harrison how to play his guitar died. Ravi Shankar was 92 and passed away last night near his San Diego home. Shankar won three Grammys for his legendary guitar performances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We should tell you also that Shankar was the estranged father of jazz singer Norah Jones.

Today marks another milestone at the World Trade Center's tallest building. This morning the first piece of a spire is being hoisted to the top of One World Trade Center. The 104-story building is near the memorial for those killed in the original Trade Center Towers on September 11th. A Texas woman who says she was one of the first people on the scene of a deadly accident involving two members of a Dallas Cowboys, now telling her side of the story. On Saturday, police say John Brent was driving his Mercedes when it crashed. In the car was his teammate, Jerry Brown Jr. When an engine caught fire, Stacee McWilliams tells CNN affiliate WFAA she heard cries for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEE MCWILLIAMS, EYEWITNESS: And I looked at him, I said, is there somebody in the car? Is there somebody in the car? And he was like, yes. So I said get him out of the car, mike. You can't just stand here and watch this man die, pull him out of the car, and he said to me, he won't get out. I said get him out of the car -- you know, commanding him, get him out of the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Brown died following the crash. Brent now faces charges in connection with the accident.

CNN has not independently spoken with Stacee McWilliams but Brent's lawyer has given us a statement. And part of it the statement says, quote, "It is believed Mr. Brown was already deceased and could not possibly have uttered the calls for help claimed by Ms. McWilliams. It has not been verified but it appears she called the media before calling the police."

The Screen Actors Guild kicking off the award season with this year's nominations and Nischelle Turner is there.

Good morning, Nischelle Turner. How are you doing?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don. Good morning. I'm good, Don Lemon. How are you?

This is the show where actors honor actors. And lots of love for a lot of your favorites this year, but there are some big omissions as well. I'll tell you what they are when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A winter chill in the air means only one thing in Hollywood. That means it's awards season and the Screen Actors Guild taking it off this morning, announcing nominees for the bestest of the best in the big screen and small, and film and on the telly.

Nischelle Turner at the event.

Nischelle, it is early, early out there this morning but tell us who the big winners are.

TURNER: Is that the nice way of saying I can see the bags under your eyes, Nischelle?

LEMON: I didn't want to say anything. I'm not a morning person either.

TURNER: It's OK. It's OK. We're here to serve the viewers.

So, we are up very early this morning for the announcements of the nominees for the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award. Now, this one, actors really love this awards show, Don, because this is when actors honor actors. And, you know, a lot of your favorites were honored this year.

I want to get right to it, because a lot of big names, big A-listers in Hollywood on the list this year. First of all, let's talk about the nominees for the outstanding actor, male actor in a leading role of a movie.

And, first of all, we have to talk about Daniel Day-Lewis because he is a two-time Oscar winner and this year, he is again nominated for his role in "Lincoln" and plays Abraham Lincoln. People say his performance was one of the most honest and authentic performances of Abraham Lincoln that they've ever seen.

Also nominated this year, Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook." He is a rookie to this event. He's getting a lot of love from the awards folks this year for his role in "Silver Linings Playbook."

Also nominated John Hawkes for "The Session," Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables." and Denzel Washington in "Flight."

Now, "Silver Linings Playbook" did get a lot of love from the Screen Actors Guild this year, because not only was Bradley Cooper nominate, Jennifer Lawrence was also nominated for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook."

Along with her, Jessica Chastain nominated for her role in "Zero Dark Thirty." Marion Cotillard nominated for "Rust and Bone," Helen Mirren for "Hitchcock," and also, Naomi Watts for "The Impossible."

Now, let's talk about the movies that were nominated this year, lots of movies that had a historic theme to them in the mix this year. "Argo" nominated, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" nominated for best (INAUDIBLE), "Les Miserables" nominated, "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Lincoln." Now, all of those kind of get a lot of love, a lot of buzz going into awards season.

But there were some omissions, some big names that we thought may get a nomination that did not.

LEMON: That's what I wanted to ask you.

TURNER: Yes. No Ben Affleck for "Argo," for acting; no Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master;" no Keira Knightley for "Anna Karenina."

And also, no John Goodman. He gave a lot of wonderful performances in "Flight," also in "Argo" this year, so people left off the list.

No Emmanuelle Riva for "Amour". There was a lot of thought that he may get a nomination as well.

But, yes, so we have the nominations. They are in, Don. So let at ward season begin.

LEMON: I always feel guilty during awards season. Another list of movies that I need to get to see, I feel guilty about not seeing them, Nischelle. I'm serious. You can't get to see them all.

TURNER: There are a lot of good ones.

It was a good year for movies. You got to get going, because there's a lot for to you to see.

LEMON: Thank you, Nischelle Turner. You don't have bags under your eyes. You look good. Looking good, girl. Thanks.

A historic day in Michigan. As union members protested outside, Michigan lawmakers snubbed organized labor by passing right-to-work legislation. We'll hear from the governor about why he says unions have no one to blame but themselves.

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