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Remembering Newtown Victims; Journalist Held Hostage Finally Released

Aired December 18, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here, live on CNN. Good to be with you. I'm Brooke Baldwin live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. My colleague there, Don Lemon, in the midst of Newtown, Connecticut, where, today, two more young victims are being laid to rest.

Services for 6-year-old Jessica Rekos held at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. As her relatives grieve, they're also trying to help her baby brother, Travis, understand why he can't play with his best friend anymore. Her family says she loved everything horses, horse movies, drawing horses, apparently asked Santa Claus for a new pair of cowgirl boots this upcoming Christmas.

Also today, 6-year-old James Mattioli was buried. That funeral also held at St. Rose of Lima Church there in Newtown. The family posted a public obituary on the funeral home's Web site calling him -- quote -- "our beloved prince." They say James loved school, spent hours and hours playing hockey. And these are just two of the 20 little lives lost Friday morning.

Don Lemon, I know you and many of the crew watching some of the e-mail traffic talking about how difficult it is being in town, watching the hearses passing by and seeing the teeny-tiny caskets inside.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: yes. It is really it is really sad, Brooke. I have friends here, and they don't realize I'm on television. They're just coming up and they're talking to me. And guess what? They can. You guys can interrupt me any time.

You're Patty (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

LEMON: And you're Jessie (ph). And where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fairfield.

LEMON: Fairfield. And you're out here because?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, because I happened to attend a church where a lot of people from Newtown go and because one of my best friend's granddaughters is in the first grade at Sandy Hook.

LEMON: Yes. And they're getting off my microphone but they just walked up to me and talked to me and guess what? Anybody can. It doesn't matter if we're on television. Thank you, ladies. Thank you for coming out. Bless you.

We have been here, of course, for a couple of days, Brooke. And we saw this memorial just grow tremendously here. It started just over there way just a couple of candles and now it has grown so far. Police have to direct traffic here. And there are layers upon layers of teddy bears and flowers and candles and cards. And most people are bringing 26 of every single thing. And it doesn't matter the cost. Doesn't matter. They're bringing expensive teddy bears, expensive flower arrangements, expensive candles, like these candles that are solar that are here.

And they just want to come out and show their support. I want to tell you about the school system here. They are not going to be in school. At least the folks who are in Sandy Hook, they're not going to be in school. Newtown schools went back today. The kids who did go back in the other school districts, they're going to be seeing more counselors, more police officers on hand, and also the teachers union here saying they're going to talk to the kids with counselors, of course, and it is going to be age appropriate.

But I want to bring in our Kate Bolduan now. She's been checking up on the schools.

You found new information. They're not going back until January. What other things are you finding out?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have obtained this letter from Newtown school officials to family and staff informing them -- there was a lot of questions of when the children in Sandy Hook would be brought back to class and it is informing them, finally, a definitive thing, they will not be going back until January after the holiday, which the holiday was set to begin on Friday.

But, meantime, this may be one of the moving vans we're seeing behind us right here that was taking all the materials from Sandy Hook to move to the new facility.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You're probably right.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: They're moving entire classrooms in these vans over to this new facility because they want to replicate it as close as possible to exactly what this -- to make it comfortable for the Sandy Hook students and where the trucks are going, just six miles away, to Monroe. And they're working around the clock to get ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Truckloads filled with everything from desks to bulletin boards leaving Sandy Hook Elementary, heading here to the neighboring town of Monroe.

(on camera): Book cases that's -- STEVE VAVREK, MONROE, CONNECTICUT FIRST SELECTMAN: That's the students' materials, the backpacks that they left. When the children come in, whenever the school is started, they walk into a classroom that is as close as possible as their classroom that they left.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Steve Vavrek is the town's chief executive. He said as soon as he heard about the horror at Sandy Hook, he offered up Chalk Hill Middle School. It's empty because it closed recently. Vavrek met with some of the students and teachers at Sunday's vigil.

VAVREK: Most of them were very thankful they had a chance to go back to work. The children and the teachers were -- it was emotional.

BOLDUAN: All day, contractors from around the region donated their time to transform this former middle school into an elementary school.

JIM AGOSTINE, SUPERINTENDENT, MONROE PUBLIC SCHOOL: Just to give you a sense. The toilets all have to be replaced to a smaller size. You know, things have to be made accessible. Towel dispensers, things like that, lowered.

BOLDUAN: Jim Agostine is Monroe's school superintendent.

(on camera): Why is it so important to get the students of Sandy Hook into a building like Chalk Hill and back in their classroom?

AGOSTINE: Well, that's exactly the sense of normalcy that they need to begin the healing process and to feel safe and protected and to get back into a routine.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): One change every parent will notice at schools across the area after Sandy Hook, police patrol.

(on camera): Is that a protective measure? Is that the new normal? Or is that more a way to help families and students alleviate some anxiety as they return to class?

AGOSTINE: All of the above. All of the above. Unfortunately, it may be the new normal. It may be the way we have to take course, take action in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So, Kate, when is the school going to be ready? Do we know?

BOLDUAN: That's been a question as well. We spoke with the fire marshal today for an update. Originally yesterday, they believed the building could be ready as early as today. And then it would up to Newtown school officials when they would be ready to start classes.

But the update is that they're still working on getting the building recertified, getting things like fire alarms, door locks, sprinkler systems recertified and updated to be ready for the kids. And they said the building will be ready likely more towards later in the week, but clearly now we know when their start date is. The building, Chalk Hill Middle School, will be ready for Sandy Hook at the beginning of the year.

LEMON: Kate, let's you and I step out here and talk and let the photographer go over.

You look at the expensive arrangements and you seem some monks even here on the scene and just people. As it gets closer to 5:00, we will see more people show up because they're coming from work. Just in a moment of transparency, it has been really obviously nothing nearly as tough as what the families are dealing with here.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: But our colleague Wolf Blitzer, such an amazing man, he knew this was very stressful for all of us. He took us to dinner last night. And you and I went to dinner and we were talking just about how tough it is seeing these families and even the rescue workers.

As you have been around town today and the funerals started yesterday, and there were two today, what has been your biggest impression?

BOLDUAN: My biggest impression the entire time we have been here, you see it here and when you saw the memorial started as a small memorial to the victims, and look what it has grown into. It's an entire block at this point. It continues to grow.

My big impression as we have been here and I'm honored to be here with this community is just how close the community is. I have heard more and more often than not that Sandy Hook, the community, Newtown, does not want to be remembered as the tragedy. They want to be remembered as the community that came together and their strength and they fought back against the evil and the tragedy and they were together and they became stronger and healed altogether for it.

LEMON: I have to tell you, you know, it has been real. We have been saying I have been on the verge of tears and even cried privately. But today, as I was coming in, as I told our viewers earlier, I passed a funeral procession and I had to pull over and stop.

I was on the phone with one of the producers and I just stopped and put the phone down and just see the faces of the people inside of the cars in the funeral procession. I was standing here earlier in the back, and I know this is terrible to say, but just a little white casket and you realize just how -- it is unfathomable.

BOLDUAN: And you realize that at various different steps. It hit me when I saw a mother and her child in a cafe and just saw this small child that was the same age as the kids that were in the classroom, and when you see those small, small caskets, it is -- you know, it is one reminder after another of just how horrific.

And we heard it on air, we heard it from everyone we talked to, there are no words and that is the truth.

LEMON: Yes.

Brooke, I'm sure the same sentiment as you're walking around. Brooke, you had a very moving piece with some of the rescue workers and you see these, as I have been saying since I have been here, these big lug of a guys and they will come up to you and say, oh, my God, and they barely get their words out and they start crying.

BALDWIN: A lot of them don't want to talk about it right now. I'm not going to force words out of them I think right now. It is very difficult for them. I just flew back this morning.

I talked -- last night spent dinnertime with these two volunteer firefighters actually who, you know, Friday morning, they were in their day job mode, they heard what happened, the call came in and they went into firefighter mode, Rob Manna and Ray Corbo. They have actually served the community there in Newtown for more than 20 years each.

But the morning they got the call, they said nothing, nothing, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: How long have you all been volunteering as firefighters?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have got 21 years in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost 25.

BALDWIN: And where were you Friday?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was working probably about 2,000 feet from the school, on a stone wall, in the business district in the center of Sandy Hook. So my response time was very quick. I was there very soon.

BALDWIN: So you were there. Did you have any idea what you were walking into?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all. Matter of fact, we were just talking about that, we had a fire call a few minutes ago, and we were talking about that on the way back, and you get the initial dispatch and you really don't know what you're coming into. But for the most part, you're ready for it. And this time, that's not the case.

BALDWIN: You're never ready for this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I don't think anybody, anybody anywhere, if they tell you they're ready for something like this, they're not, being honest with you.

BALDWIN: I don't want to get into specifics, but help us understand in the school, were people panicked, were they screaming, were they running? What did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very chaotic and very emotional probably the best way to describe it. BALDWIN: Kids emotional. Teachers emotional.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was emotional.

BALDWIN: What were they saying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The law enforcement was pretty emotional. It was everybody. This affected every single person that was there immediately. It was, you know, it was -- I shouldn't say immediately, very early on. It was determined that this was bad, really, really bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I asked them about a couple of things and one thing I asked is what was that one moment that is really seared into their memories and they told me, like so many people did, it is the parents. It was the parents, the moms and dads waiting Friday morning, waiting for their children, the children who would not be coming home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As the children were coming down the street, little by little, classroom by classroom, however they were doing it, all holding hands, parents were claiming, you know, their children. After a little while, once they claimed their kid and signed them out, I'm not exactly sure how they worked it, but they left.

The ones that didn't -- you know, you noticed there is some that are still sticking around. And that's when you realized they're probably not going to be leaving. They're going to get their confirmation soon enough that, you know, they're not going to be grabbing their child and hugging them and taking them home. Their life has changed forever.

BALDWIN: You realized that in that moment?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That was something that, like I said, a couple of times, we had to go back down to that staging area and, you know, you look around and you make sure there is nobody else in distress that might need our assistance, and you notice this, you know, parents right there in the front of the line for two hours now, and there is no more kids around to take home.

And, you know, you know this is bad. They're going to get some bad news. And I'm sure that they at that point knew it, but there is that shred of hope that there is somebody hiding in a closet or, you know, they missed. But ultimately that wasn't the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So much of the interview took on such a somber tone, but a little later in the hour, I promise I have something that will make you smile. I promise. Because they were joking as firefighters try to use humor, right, to cope, they were talking about how part of their new job description is delivering truck loads of teddy bears thanks to firehouses across the country. We will share that moment in the interview with you in a matter of minutes.

I know a lot of you are wondering how can you help? How can you help the people affected in Newtown? You can. CNN has basically compiled this list of charitable organizations, so all you have to do is go to this Web site, go to CNN.com/impact and you too can help -- Don Lemon, back to you in Newtown.

LEMON: Hey, Brooke.

You and I have been talking a lot about guns and gunmakers. Gunmaker stocks are plummeting today, tumbling as big retailer are pulling rifles off the shelves. We will go to the New York Stock Exchange and get more about that right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, the newest chapter in the old debate over guns just getting started. Today in Washington, we heard more voices speaking out here. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, they held a news conference featuring families who have lost loved ones in mass shootings, including the father who lost his son at Columbine High School.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM MAUSER, FATHER: These people here before you, because they refuse to be statistics, they want to be the stories, the stories of ordinary Americans who have been through the -- they have been through hell and back. And they don't want it to happen to the rest of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: At the U.S. Capitol, a Republican lawmaker came out of a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, said he is ready for serious discussions on guns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVEN LATOURETTE (R), OHIO: The speaker said, look, this is this is an obviously horrible event that touched everyone in the country and certainly devastated the community. We need to be respectful. We need to be diplomatic in our remarks. Remarks like, well, we should just arm the principals and teachers are probably not appropriate. And that we're going to have to next year engage in a discussion about what is appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Included here today, Texas Governor Rick Perry. He's weighing in on all of this at a Tea Party event just yesterday. He came down in favor of the right to carry a legally purchased concealed weapon throughout the state of Texas. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: If you go through the process, and you have been duly backgrounded and trained and you are a concealed handgun licensed carrying individual, you should be able to carry your handgun anywhere in this state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We're learning today that the investors who own the company that makes that Bushmaster rifle used in Connecticut, they want to dump their investment. This is an unusual move in a highly profitable industry where public opinion rarely affects business decisions.

Christine Romans, let me bring you in here. And just tell me why this -- why doesn't Bushmaster's parent company, why don't they want to own this gunmaker anymore?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They say this is a watershed event and that there will be a difference in the way the nation is feeling about these gunmakers.

Private equity investors that own Bushmaster Firearms will sell the company. Bushmaster manufactured that gun used to kill the teachers and children in Connecticut and now it says -- quote -- "It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level. It is not our role to take positions or attempt to shape or influence the gun control policy debate. There are, however, actions that we as a firm can take."

Let me tell you this, Brooke, making guns and ammunition is quite profitable. Bushmaster's parent company is a collection of 10 gun and ammo makers. It earned $232 million profit last year. High-capacity magazines, Brooke, and guns like semiautomatic military style rifles, these are the fastest growing parts of the gun market and, by the way, the rifles that Bushmaster makes, they're also the preferred weapon of Mexican drug cartels, one of the preferred weapons.

It is really rare I got to tell you for a private equity to dump out of an investment like this, Brooke, but today, Cerberus is saying they will sell Bushmaster, the parent company that made that gun.

BALDWIN: This is the military-style rifle, this is one of several that the shooter had Friday, killing the students, killing the teachers and sort of in a twist here, it turns out California teachers, they're investors in Bushmaster, is that right?

ROMANS: That's right. It is true. The California state teachers retirement system invested millions of dollars in Cerberus. Cerberus then formed Freedom Group, that's a group of 10 companies. It includes Bushmaster. It's got other ammo and accessory makers too, vest makers, khaki makers. That means look at the flow of money. Follow the money.

That means California teachers retirement plan fund own 2.4 percent of the Freedom Group when you go all the way down the line.

A spokesman tells us they're reviewing that investment, California is reviewing that investment, the California treasurer wants to make sure there are no public sector workers' money that is sitting there in investments in guns. But, clearly, the optics of a teachers retirement fund investing in a company that makes a product that was used to kill students and teachers, the optics are pretty difficult.

We're also told right now as well that the New York comptroller, New York state has investments in the gunmaker Sturm and Ruger and Alliant Techsystems, which makes ammunition. They're reviewing those investments. New York City is reviewing its investments as well in any companies that could make firearms or something that could be used in an attack like this -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Christine Romans, thank you so much for us in New York.

Want to take you back to Newtown, Connecticut, and Don Lemon -- Don.

LEMON: Thank you very much, Brooke. You know, two of the biggest retailers, biggest retailers reacting by pulling some of their guns off the shelves and off their Web sites as well. I'm sure that's affecting stocks.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

LEMON: Back to my colleague now Brooke Baldwin in Atlanta.

Brooke, I think this is -- this is an interesting -- it's a watershed moment when it comes to guns in this country, gun legislation. Don't know which way it is going to turn out, but it is certainly going to be something that is interesting to watch over the next few months and next few days and months.

BALDWIN: Agreed.

Don Lemon, we will come back to you momentarily. Want to cover some other news here, including this terrifying, absolutely terrifying ordeal here. Five days after their capture, an American journalist and his production crew, they are out safely of Syria. Today, the journalist spoke of this ordeal. You will hear it, his own words, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, and his production crew, they are free today. They're free, though, after being held for five days inside of Syria.

Engel spoke with reporters in Turkey shortly after he and his team escaped during a deadly firefight between their kidnappers and Syrian rebels. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ENGEL, NBC: The last five days were very difficult. We're very happy to be out. We're very happy to be back in Turkey. We love being here. We love this country. We appreciate all the help. The last five days are some days that we would rather forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Want to bring in Hala Gorani, CNN International, in Washington.

And a bunch of questions for you. First, when did Engel and his team go missing and do we even know who his kidnappers were?

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We heard from him directly just a few hours ago. He was actually able to speak live with his colleagues in New York on "The Today Show." We got a sense of what happened to him, what must have been an extremely terrifying ordeal for them.

They were in Northwestern Syria, traveling with rebels. At one point more than a dozen armed gunmen, Richard Engel, said ambushed them and took them into custody, threw them in the back of a pickup truck and drove them to a location. They were blindfolded. They were bound for several days.

They were subjected to mock executions. They went through really a terrible time. And this is part of what Richard told his colleagues on "The Today Show," just a few hours ago, about what they went through while they were in captivity. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ENGEL: Then they took us to a series of safe houses and interrogation places. And they kept us blindfolded, bound. We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed. They made us choose which one of us would be shot first. And when we refused, there were mock shootings. They pretended to shoot Ghazi several times and when you're blindfolded, and then they fired the gun up in the air.

It can be a very traumatic experience. And at end of this, we were being moved to yet another location in the late -- around 11:00 last night local time. And as we were moving along the road, the kidnappers came across a rebel checkpoint, something they hadn't expected. And so we were in the back of, like, what you would think of as a minivan, and as we were driving along the road, the kidnappers saw this checkpoint, started a gunfight with it. Two of the kidnappers were killed. We climbed out of the vehicle and the rebels took us. We spent the night with them. We didn't get much sleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, Brooke, you heard it there. Essentially, they were they were rescued by rebels, close to the Syrian regime. This is an unbelievably lucky escape.

Let's be honest here. It could have gone horribly wrong a million different ways, held captive, kidnapped, in a house, transported to a second location, at that point, running into a rebel checkpoint completely by accident and getting into a gunfight where two of the kidnappers are killed and yet Richard Engel and his crew are able to get out. But I want to tell our viewers about who Richard says he believes were his kidnappers, because for several days, Brooke, we thought essentially perhaps it was a rebel unit, a jihadi unit. He is saying he believes it is the Shabiha. Our viewers may be familiar with that term, pro-government militia, who are really making no secret of their sympathy for the government of Bashar al-Assad.

And this adds another, yet another layer of danger to reporting out of that country.

BALDWIN: Just to be blindfolded, to think you're being executed multiple times and not happening, they escape, it is a terrifying ordeal and it just really underscores that, really, you know, these correspondents and the crews and radio and TV and the writers, everyone risking their lives to get into Syria to tell the stories of the Syrians being slaughtered month after month.

GORANI: Yes.

BALDWIN: Hala Gorani...

GORANI: And there are more in captivity, I wanted to say also -- more in captivity. And ordinary Syrians now being subjected to kidnappings for ransome.

BALDWIN: Horrible.

GORANI: The situation is deteriorating rapidly.

BALDWIN: Hala Gorani, thank you so much.

We'll stay on it. We'll be watching what happens in Syria.

Want to tell you about this, though: One man, across the United States, found a unique way to honor the victims in Newtown. You will meet him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)