Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Shooting At Connecticut Elementary School

Aired December 14, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: People have been shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This is in Newtown, Connecticut. It is about 60 miles north of New York. First calls coming into police around 9:40 local time this morning. Children were being evacuated. The schools in the area all on lockdown.

Now, we have learned that the shooter is dead. We are also hearing multiple local reports of fatalities. I want to go to our CNN's Jason Carroll for the very latest.

First of all, just outline, if you will, how many people we know are dead, who has been killed, and who has been injured.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, let's just go back to the beginning. We started receiving reports at about 9:40 a.m. That's when police, Suzanne, reported that a shooter was in the, quote, "main office" of the school. And then at that point we had also heard a report that a person in one room had numerous gunshot wounds. This coming to us from one of our affiliates there.

Our Susan Candiotti has also confirmed through one of her sources that someone has been shot, the alleged gunman involved in the shooting at the school, and that two weapons were recovered from that particular gunman.

We are also getting information in coming from the mayor. The mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, who said that, according to him, three people taken to Danbury Hospital. The nature of their injuries at this point unknown. We did -- as we dipped into local affiliate coverage there, as you see some of the pictures, we did hear reports that one teacher was shot in the foot. That was according to one reporter there. Also, another report that a child had an injury to the face and another child with an injury to the hand. One of -- a father actually had called into the CNN news room earlier today, Suzanne, as all of this was developing, saying that he saw one child taken away with, quote, "serious injuries."

I can also tell you that a press conference is scheduled for just about an hour from now. That will be with Connecticut State Police. And at that point, hopefully we're going to be able to get some more details, confirm some more information about the alleged shooter in this and more details about all of those who were hurt.

Suzanne. MALVEAUX: And, Jason, you had mentioned earlier that there were local media reports of multiple fatalities. Where are these reports coming from? Are these police officers? Are these officials on the ground who are saying that there's the potential for multiple fatalities? Is this coming from the hospitals? Where do we -- where do we suspect this information is coming from?

CARROLL: Well, one of those is coming to us from one of the local papers there, "The Hartford Current." Another coming to us from WABC. The only details they are giving at this point is that, quote, "multiple fatalities." We are still waiting to confirm that particular report.

What CNN can confirm at this point is that at least three people taken to local hospitals, Danbury Hospital, with, quote, "serious injuries." So that --

MALVEAUX: All right, Jason, we want to listen in and we want to dip in, if we can, to our affiliate, WFSB, and the latest reporting that they are -- that they have here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, WFSB: Excruciating news for a parent to receive not to go there to wait for that information. But we do know that a message did go out to parents giving them some information. So hopefully if you are a parent in that area, you'll receive that message.

The superintendent did immediately, after getting reports of this shooting, put all schools in Newtown on lockdown. We heard some private schools in that area went on lockdown as well. And in addition to that, Robert Goulston, our New Haven bureau chief, reporting that many neighboring towns also went into a heightened state of security at their schools as well upon hearing this.

And, of course, one of the big things that we are waiting to hear and that police are working on right now is what possible motive could be behind this shooting at this school? We do know at least one person, other than the gunman, has been shot, and the gunman is dead at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, WFSB: And as our sister station in New York City is saying, at least three people were injured, two children and one adult. They say all three have been taken to Danbury Hospital. But they also say that they're looking for a car. A maroon or red-colored vehicle with the back window blown out. That is something that WCBS out of New York City is reporting. Again, we're just trying to give you the information. It's coming in from so many different sources, choosing the ones we know to be the most reliable, the Associated Press and our sisters stations WCBS who say law enforcement officials have confirmed this to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is -- to give you an idea of how chaotic of a scene as you look and see many of the resources, that is just to the rear of firehouse that's being used as a staging area. Probably about a quarter-mile down the driveway from that school. But just to give you an idea, Robert Goulston, when he arrived on the scene, and he is right near that firehouse where he has reported live for us earlier this morning. Robert reported that police officers came out of the woods escorting a gentleman who was telling people there, "I had nothing to do with this." But that's the kind of response we're talking about, where anyone found in this area was at least questioned by police and they want to talk to anyone who was there.

Police also, just as we are, working right now to try to get a handle on exactly what has happened there. It looks like the helicopter pictures are having a little bit of freeze-up. But that was a shot of the firehouse where this took place. And you can take, again, a look at pin point news tracker to get a better idea of what that scene looks like. The firehouse is just above that label that says Dickinson Drive at the middle of the map. The building you can see just to the upper left of that label is that firehouse. And that is where Robert Goulston has been going live and reporting live for us this morning.

And then you see that long driveway. There's the firehouse. The white building there. The long driveway leading down into that school. And that's where police have been swarming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are now organizing an effort (ph) to have a news conference. It was a 1:00 time. Now that time may be a little bit more fluid. We understand they're going about two miles away. And they realize that the public is certainly wanting to know as much as possible, especially parents. A reverse 911 call has already gone out to the residents of Newtown informing them of this school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. "The Danbury Times" is reporting that students started to hear the gunshots during the morning announcements.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kyra (ph), I'm sorry to interrupt you. CBS is now reporting that at least one child at the school has died as a result of this shooting at an elementary school, Sandy Hook Elementary School. At least one child at that school has died in this shooting. So, obviously, we had feared that that would be the news that we would be getting, that there was more casualties. We know that the gunman is dead. And now we are hearing CBS News confirming at least one child there dead as well. Just heartbreaking news.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely heartbreaking.

Let's go live to Robert Goulston. Robert Goulston is live there on the scene.

Robert.

ROBERT GOULSTON, WFSB: Yes, there is a lot of tenseness here and a lot of confusion. Parents just showed up here, of course, after they started getting information that there was some sort of shooting incident here at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And just look around. You can see all of the emergency vehicles, all of the parents mixed in together. Of course, the police are trying to secure the scene over at the school. We do know that there have been at least several people shot. Parents are getting information from emergency officials that one of those people shot may be the principal. We are still trying to confirm that. State police is staging an area about two miles from here where they will be doing a news conference to get out some official information. Lieutenant Paul Vance (ph) will be the one leading that in the next 20 to 30 minutes. Of course, we will be at that news conference.

But right now, over at the school, parents just confused. We're hearing that. They are very tense. As we were showing up, a lot of the parents were walking out with their children. Very young children. Third, fourth graders. And they were, of course, very emotional. A lot of them were crying. One parent telling us that his child told him that someone walked into the classroom and shot the teacher. That's just some of the information. We asked that parent how your child's doing. He was running up the street saying, I don't know at that the point. So they're still trying to figure out that.

There's just a lot of information that's coming out. Again, the news conference will be happening about two miles from here. We have a crew there. We will be getting that information very shortly. And hopefully to shed some light, Lieutenant Paul Vance telling us this is going to be one of the worst shooting incidents that we've seen in this state in a very long time. Those were direct words from him. But right now, Newtown police here trying to work with the parents. It seems that state police are the ones who are actually handling the investigation. We've also seen federal agents here, including from the ATF. There's a lot of heavy weaponry that's being used to go into there.

We also are hearing reports that at least one of the gunman, if there are just -- if there is just one, maybe more, was shot and killed. We don't know if that was self-inflicted or if he was shot during the initial response.

Excuse me. This is live right now. You can see some of the ambulances leaving the area. They're coming out of the school. And we know that several people were injured in this. And right now we're just trying to figure out exactly who. We've talked to the first select (ph) woman. She says at this point they do not have details on who was actually shot, but there are some reports that there have been at least two fatalities, maybe more.

But, again, Lieutenant Paul Vance telling us this is going to be one of the worst shootings that they've seen in a very long time. And that news conference is supposed to happen momentarily about two miles from here. And we do have a crew there and we will be bringing that to you live.

For now, though, we are live at the Mobile Newsroom (ph). Robert Goulston, Channel 3 Eyewitness News.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Robert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robert, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And setting the scene there again, this picture that's so telling as the children crying. We also have an eyewitness who was there at the school. And joining us on the phone line, we're just speaking, so if you could identify yourself, sir, or ma'am. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Liz (ph).

Liz, what can you tell us?

LIZ: I was bringing my son, Devon (ph), to school when all the police cars and emergency vehicles were driving by. So my gut told me that they were headed to the school. And we drove down and confirmed that they were headed to the school.

They were surrounding a dark SUV or van with a tooele (ph) on top. And there was a strange burning smell. And we left. And we went home. And on the way learned that there was a shooting at the school. The school puts out a blast. So I didn't bring my son to school, the high school. We just went home, where friends who have children in the school asked us to come to a friend's house that's next door to the school and see if we could find out anything, if their children were OK. And that's where we met Lynn (ph) and have been helping him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liz, about exactly --

MALVEAUX: We've been following this breaking news story. We've got stunning new details from a eyewitness who was inside the school. We are going to bring that to you after we take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're following this breaking news story. A school shooting that has taken place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. We are learning new details. Want to bring in Meredith Artley. She is managing editor of cnn.com and she just spoke with an eyewitness who was inside of the school. I have to warn our viewers, I understand that some of the details about what she actually witnessed, it's pretty gruesome.

Meredith, what she convey to you?

MEREDITH ARTLEY, MANAGING EDITOR, CNN.COM: Hi, Suzanne.

She conveyed to me that she was in a meeting this morning. She said it was around 9:30, 9:35. And she -- there were about seven people in the room. And it was a meeting regarding one of -- one of her kids. She has children at the school. And she volunteers at the school as well. And she heard -- she described it as a pop, pop, pop in the hall. And they all heard it. There were about seven people in the meeting room. They heard that sound in the hall and they -- she said three people went out into the hall, the principal, the vice principal and the school psychologist. And to hear her describe it, she said, three people went out into the hall and only one -- only one person came back, which was the vice principal, she said, who was shot in the leg or the foot, who came crawling back.

And she said that she cowered under the table during that moment and called 911, as did the other people in the room. She said she never saw the shooter that she was under the table, that the shooting happened in the hallway and, to hear her describe it, she said there was -- there must have been 100 rounds. And I asked her to clarify that. I said really, truly 100 rounds? And she said, at least.

MALVEAUX: When the vice principal came crawling back, what up happened at that point? What did she say?

How did the vice principal manage to move or escape? Did she describe what was the situation as he was crawling back?

ARTLEY (via telephone): She described -- she said that there was confusion. There was yelling, understandably. She said there was yelling in the hallway and she couldn't tell for a while if it was the police or the shooter.

When I talked to her, she was still inside the school. The school is on lockdown, so she couldn't tell -- she didn't know if the shooter was dead yet or still there.

MALVEAUX: What did the vice principal look like when she saw him return?

ARTLEY (via telephone): I didn't hear her describe that. She said -- you know, she said, listen, this is a nice town. This is a nice school. These are the kinds of things that don't happen there.

She noted this was not so high-powered meeting. It was, you know, about my -- about one of my children who is in second grade there.

And, you know, she's tearful. She's -- you know, just understandably panicked and she said they marched, at some point -- I don't have the length of time -- but she said at some point after the shooting they marched us out in the hallway right past the two bodies laying in the hallway in a pool of blood.

MALVEAUX: When she talked about the two bodies, is that of the principal and the school psychologist when she said those two had not returned? Are those the two individuals she was talking about?

ARTLEY (via telephone): Yes, that's right. That's right.

MALVEAUX: And did she say or describe in any way what their conditions looked like when she passed them in the hallway?

ARTLEY (via telephone): No, she did not. She did not.

She -- we had a short conversation. She's understandably emotional.

Those are pretty much the gist of -- that's the gist of our conversation.

You know, she was wondering, how can the -- you know, how could someone get in? It's a locked school. You have to be buzzed in.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

Meredith, I'm sorry. Did she -- were there any kids in the hallway? Were there any children in the hallway as they had moved past the two bodies?

ARTLEY (via telephone): She said, yes. She said the children -- she said there was some children still right there in the school right now.

She said some children had to be walked past that pool of blood, past the bodies.

MALVEAUX: How long was she in that room when she heard those gunshots before there was silence?

ARTLEY (via telephone): Well, she said she was there -- she said she got there at 9:00 -- or she said the meeting started at 9:00, 9:30.

She said that she feels like it was right at the start of the meeting, so she said, around 9:30, 9:35, they started to hear the pop, pop, pop in the hall.

And it sounds like she knew what it was. I asked her. I said, look, a lot of people don't know that's what they're hearing, gunshots.

And she said, no, we all knew that something was being fired in the hall and three people went out and only one person came back.

So, that meeting started at 9:30 and she's stilled locked down in the school.

MALVEAUX: Does she have any idea how long a time that was when she was hearing all of that popping noise, all that gunfire?

ARTLEY (via telephone): No. No. She said it, you know, it went quickly, and then she said, alternatively, you know, it was 100 rounds that went on seemingly forever.

MALVEAUX: Was there anyone treating the principal and the psychologist when they were in the hallway?

ARTLEY (via telephone): She didn't mention that.

MALVEAUX: Did she see anybody who might have been coming to their aid, or were they just escorted -- just walked past the two bodies?

ARTLEY (via telephone): I believe, Suzanne, she said that she saw a stretcher or someone coming to their aid. I think she mentioned some kind of assistance.

But, again, she was -- her main focus at this point was really to try to tell the story of, you know, they were there in that room, seven people and what happened and how she went under the table and called 911. And, you know, three people out and only one came back. That was the gist of the story.

MALVEAUX: Did she describe at all, Meredith, what it was like, the scene? Whether or not it was calm or whether or not it was chaotic when they were ushered out of that room and out of the school?

ARTLEY (via telephone): No, she didn't describe it as either calm or chaotic.

When I asked her what it was like, now, she said it's -- you know, they're just trying -- I asked if there were any, you know, messages going over the loud speaker, if there's, you know, what's being said.

She said there's nothing like that happening inside the school right now. She said everyone's still on lockdown, so it's -- sounds like they're keeping people, you know, where they are. She said there are still children in classrooms here.

MALVEAUX: All right, Meredith Artley, thank you so much. I really appreciate it ...

ARTLEY (via telephone): Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: ... and, obviously, we're going to try to be getting in touch with some of those people, including the woman you spoke to who experienced just a harrowing experience, those seven people inside of a room, hearing the gunfire and then having to walk past those who were shot in the hallway.

I want to go back to our affiliate, WFSB, for more details.

ROBERT GOULSTON, REPORTER, WFSB: .. wonder if that person was involved. That person was taken to a police car. We do not know where that person is at this point and, again, we do not know if there was one shooter or more shooters. That is all still being sorted out, I think.

And they were also trying to secure this area. They were allowing us a lot closer, but now as they've secured the area, they're kind of expanding the zone as this investigation begins.

And, of course, we have this other information that they are trying to track a van and they may have an area over in Danbury that they have that van, so we obviously have a crew over there, as well, but I think the main information right now is coming from a news conference within the next half hour.

Kara (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Robert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Robert Goulston, we appreciate it.

Obviously, we're going to stay on the air. We're going to bring you that information just as soon as that press conference, that news conference, begins. We're going to take that for you live from there in Newtown.

Let's recap what we know at this point. Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, a K-to-4 school with about 600 students, the scene of a shooting this morning. One child confirmed dead. The gunman dead as well.

At least one other person was shot, although police say that they do believe that there may be other victims involved in this.

At this point, the school is completely surrounded by police officers who responded to that area from all around the state of Connecticut. 9:41 this morning, just about three hours ago, that call came in reporting that shooting and from that time all around the state of Connecticut, state police, SWAT teams and other resources heading there to the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

You can see the ambulances there. An enormous response to that school and we did hear reports, WCBS out of New York, reporting that the firefighters were helping to escort children out of the school. They were telling those children to cover their eyes and run as they went by the office, the school office, obviously, an ominous warning.

You see here. This is a picture from the "Newtown Bee" showing some of those children being escorted out by state troopers. The woman in front is a state trooper as is the gentleman to the left and you can see the huge, just, glut of vehicles that came in there as people came trying to get information.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very chaotic and just horrifying scene for the people who have children in that school.

Representative John Frey who's serving his seventh term there in the Connecticut House of Representatives, the minority whip, he's describing on his Twitter account -- he was saying his sister was going there because his niece and nephew go to that school and that she witnessed first-graders running from the school, crying.

And she among other people took those children and people have been assembling at the firehouse. Here we see the pictures of adults and presumably teachers taking away distraught children and walking them to a safer place.

Robert Goulston telling us that many of those children have reunited with their families, but they are remaining at the firehouse because they're unable to leave this very active scene where there possibility -- there's the possibility that they're still looking for a second gunman from what we are hearing from our folks on the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we do have on the phone with us Jessica Norton. She's with the group Survivors of Homicide and they're so active here in the state of Connecticut.

Jessica, can you give us some idea just from your own personal experience and from dealing with your group what these families right now are dealing with?

JESSICA NORTON, SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE (via telephone): They are absolutely terrified right now, especially at the fact a lot of them don't even know what is going on with their children and whether or not they're safe.

MALVEAUX: We lost our affiliate there. We've been following this breaking news story, this shooting, school shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown Connecticut. CNN can confirm now that at least two have died. That is including the shooter.

This took place, started, pretty early in the morning, about 9:40 in the morning, at this elementary school.

We're getting multiple reports of multiple fatalities. That has not been independently confirmed, but we expect a news conference from local police to outline and try to sort out a lot of the details and conflicting stories.

But we are get stories from people inside of the building, eyewitnesses and people who heard the shooting. One eyewitness we just spoke to saying that they heard 100 rounds and saw at least two people who had been shot and who were in the hallway, bleeding.

We're going to take a quick break and then we're going to be right back with more details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Following this breaking news story. We have new details. This is a story we're following. Sandy Hook Elementary School out of Newtown, Connecticut where a gunman opened fire on this elementary school earlier this morning about 9:40 local time.

We are learning now that three people are dead from this shooting, including the gunman himself. It's unclear whether he shot himself or he was killed, but we do know and we have from eyewitnesses their accounts and this is parents, these are people who were inside of the school who tell the story of hearing at least 100 rounds of gunfire inside the school this morning outside of an office.

We have now learned and confirmed that both the principal and the school psychologist have been killed, that they were shot inside of the school, and we have also learned, as well, a source with knowledge of the investigation, that the shooter's body is inside a school classroom.

That is the very latest here. There's still a lot of unanswered questions about those who were injured. We have reports, local reports, of multiple fatalities. We need to clear that up and find just whether or not that involves students.