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Abducted Boys Found in Cuba; Stabbing at Lone Star College; Lost Hikers Talk about Ordeal; Boy Shoots Deputy's Wife; Should Lead be Labeled in Baby Food?

Aired April 09, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Been following breaking news from Havana. This is exclusive video we just got in here. What this shows is a boat where Patrick Oppmann found two missing American boys as well as their father. The father is accused of abducting them from their Florida home. We are talking about a 2-year-old Chase Hakken and his 4-year-old brother, Cole.

Attorney, Danny Cevallos, is a legal analyst. He's joining us from Philadelphia.

First, explain to us, these were kids who were originally in the custody of their parents. The parents lost custody of the kids. They have been taken from the grandparents and brought to Cuba. What can the grandparents do to get the kids back?

DANNY CERVALLOS, ATTORNEY & LEGAL ANALYST: Everything was happening in the United States, then they would have a clear right to custody. When, as in this case, the police came upon the parents and they were doing things that led them to believe that the parents weren't able to take care of the children and the children weren't safe, the state institutes a petition and can temporarily take away the kids unless and until the parents demonstrate that they are able to take care of them. In this case, my understanding is that the grandparents were granted what is called permanent legal custody. That means that a court said that these parents weren't able to demonstrate that they could take care of the children. Every state has a different definition. If the grandparents were granted permanent legal custody or permanent custody that doesn't mean that the original parents have a stay away order. That individual has the legal custody of those children. So because of that --

(CROSSTALK)

CEVALLOS: Go ahead.

MALVEAUX: So now that they are in Cuba this complicates matters.

CEVALLOS: Absolutely. Here is why. We do not have a standing extradition treaty with Cuba because we have had an embargo with them since 1960 that arose out of the soviet missile crisis. Because of our relations with Cuba we don't have a legal means to get the children back. We might have more ability in Mexico or Canada. We had legal relations or extradition agreements this is not the case. Cuba may and is certainly may consider granting them some kind of asylum and ignore the United States request to return the children and return the fugitive. These people are accused of kidnapping. Once a court takes away custody you can be charged with kidnapping your own biological children because you no longer have legal custody of the children.

MALVEAUX: So, Danny, are there any legal channels here? Perhaps the State Department can talk with Cuban officials or at least through a third party talk with Cuban officials to try to get the boys back and even perhaps the parents diplomatically, of course. Legally is there any maneuvering they can do?

CEVALLOS: When you cut off all legal relations with a country, as we have with Cuba, there is no legal way to do it. You have to request it of Cuba and essentially hope Cuba says OK. The problem is Cuba has granted a form of asylum to a number of individuals, including people who have been accused of killing police officers. There are several people who have lived in Cuba for many years. Some of them arguably flaunting their ability to move to Cuba and escape extradition and prosecution in the United States.

This case also draws parallels to the Gonzalez case. There are differences. These present parents had no legal custody. However, the United States chose -- they were not forced to give Gonzalez back to Cuba. Cuba will make a decision, a political decision whether or not it chooses to honor any requests from the United States. The United States, short of sending in an aircraft carrier again, like it did in the '60s, cannot force, in the political sense, Cuba to give up the children.

MALVEAUX: Danny, we are going to be paying close attention to see how the boys are doing and what ends up happening to the parents. It is a very complicated and sensitive situation.

Danny, appreciate it.

This woman here, an unbelievable story here. She thought she was being eaten by a python. She spent four days lost in the mountains and was hallucinating, of course. She ate dirt to survive.

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MALVEAUX: This is a campus in Texas. This is Lone Star College. Our CNN affiliates are reporting that as many as 14 people injured on that campus having been stabbed. There is one suspect who has been detained. The school is now saying that there could be another, an armed person who is still at large on that campus. We are following the details very closely. This is a developing story. At least 12 to 14 people potentially stabbed on campus. One person in custody. One person who is still potentially on the loose.

And imagine this, being so weak, so scared that you eat dirt to try to stay alive. That is what happened to a hiker. She was lost for four days. This is in a rugged area in southern California. Kyndall Jack and a friend got lost. The cell phone died. They couldn't call for help. The friend was rescued. This happened last Wednesday. A day later, rescuers found Jack. Now they are talking about this ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYNDALL JACK, RESCUED HIKER: I only remember the first night. And the last thing I remember of the first night was fighting off some animal with Nike. I remember the last day scooting down a little hill. But it wasn't little. It was like a cliff. And just resting on my little rock for the rest of the time. I know I ate dirt. I tried to eat the dirt and rocks. I came to the hospital with a big mouth full of dirt. That was all I remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We are so glad she is OK. Jack doing better as well after staying in the hospital. She says she is still in pain and still recovering from the whole incident.

This weekend cookout turning into tragedy. This is a 4-year-old boy. He accidently shoots and kills the wife of a sheriff's deputy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Following the developing story here. This is Lone Star College. We understand that 12 to 14 people might be injured here in a stabbing. We know that one person is in custody and has been detained. School official saying another person is still armed and on the loose there. This is an aerial of the college campus there. Obviously, a lot of tension and a lot of concern. Up to 12 to 14 people we understand injured from this incident. We are going to be following this very closely to see if we can get more information about what the state of the college is there, whether or not it is on lockdown, and the manhunt for the person they say is armed and dangerous.

This next story, this is just unbelievable. It's hard to even talk about. This 4-year-old boy picks up a gun at a family cookout, accidently ends up killing the wife of a Tennessee sheriff's deputy. This happened in Lebanon just east of Nashville. The sheriff says that the gun belongs to the deputy and somehow ended up in the hands of this kid.

Pamela Brown is following the story.

Tell us what happened.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, this was the sheriff's deputy's nephew. By all accounts, the accident happened in a split second. It happened inside a home just east of Nashville during what was supposed to be a casual family cookout over the weekend. According to authorities in Tennessee, a deputy was showing a relative his gun collection inside the home's bedroom. Later, the deputy's 48- year-old wife and the 4-year-old little boy entered that room. At some point, the little boy picked up a loaded pistol off the bed and, in a single shot, his wife was dead.

Here's what Wilson County Sheriff Robert Bryan had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT BRYAN, SHERIFF, WILSON COUNTY: They were in a locked gun cabinet at the time. And he was actually -- he pulled another rifle out to show another family member that was present at the house. He had to move the pistol out of the way to do it. And set it on the bed. The small child runs into the bedroom and the first thing he sees is the gun on the bed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Authorities say the pistol used in the accident was his personal weapon, not his service pistol. In an e-mail to CNN affiliate, WKRN, Fanning says he set down his off-duty weapon only seconds before the tragedy. And, Deputy Fanning and Josephine had been married for only about a year.

MALVEAUX: It is just sad all around. It is kind of unbelievable that something like that can happen so quickly. Are police potentially filing charges over the accident?

BROWN: The bureau's case will remain open until final the autopsy and evidence is analyzed. At this point, authorities say charges will not be filed. They are calling it an accident investigation and a terrible tragedy.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you.

If you are a parent, grandparent, you might want to listen up to this. The food that you give your baby might have lead in it. The manufacturer might not have to warn you about that. Should they have to warn you? That is the question being discussed in court. Coming up, how one state is trying to make sure that you know what is in your food.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Breaking news that we are following here. This is a stabbing, Lone Star College. The campus is on lockdown. You see the web site. The big alert. Lone Star College emergency alert going out to the community there. That is because CNN affiliates reporting that there are multiple victims, potential stab victims. There's one person who has been detained, but several people have been transported to area hospitals. You're taking a look -- these are the aerials going over the campus, trying to figure out how many people this has impacted. But the campus is on lockdown. There is at least one person detained but officials also telling us that there is somebody who is armed and still at large, and that there are multiple injuries as a result of this incident. We don't know much more than that. But, of course, we're going to be following this very closely to see how people in that community are coping and just what the extent of those injuries are. Multiple injuries. Several people taken to area hospitals. We're going to bring you more as soon as we get more information.

And the question we are asking, should baby food makers be required to post lead warnings on their products? That is what an environmental group in California wants. It is now suing to make that happen.

Elizabeth Cohen is joining us.

And is there really lead in baby food?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this group went out -- the Environmental Law Foundation, went out, bought a bunch of baby foods and had them tested and said many of them, not all of them, but many of them had lead in them. So this group says, look, in California, the law is that you're supposed to label things with lead. And so that's their interpretation of the law. And they say, so we think there ought to be warning labels on them.

MALVEAUX: Is it safe?

COHEN: As a parent, I want to know. I don't have babies anymore, but you want to know the answer to that. CNN spoke to an expert and this is the way she put it. She said, look, there may, in fact, be lead in baby food because there is often lead in produce. Comes from the soil, may come from air pollution that falls on the crops, but, yes, there could be lead, very well be lead in baby food. She said, when we see children who have been damaged by lead -- and they can tell, brain damage, other kinds of damage -- it is usually something like lead paint in their house, dust with lead in their house. Those are the big kinds of things that they worry about. Now, she said, I can't tell you that lead in baby food is harmless, but I can tell you that the big exposures are from things other than food.

MALVEAUX: Is there anything that parents can do? They're buying baby food, they want to make sure it is safe. What is the best thing?

COHEN: Basically, two things you can do. Both of them are kind of difficult. I'll say them anyhow. Be sure you're not getting lead in your baby food. Have your own soil in your backyard tested. Make sure it doesn't have lead in it, grow your own food and make baby food out of that. That's it.

There is one more. Here is another one. I had to put it out there. It is very limited. The other thing you can do is go to the grocery store, buy your own sweet potatoes, apples and peel and wash them really, really well and cook them up. It is not going to guarantee you're not going to have lead, but it could decrease the amount of lead in the produce. It is important to say there often is lead in produce.

As a matter of fact, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, who represent these groups that make baby food, here is what they had to say. They said, "Many minerals including lead are found naturally in soil and water throughout the world." The thing is, that's the truth. So it is really hard to get baby food that you are guaranteed won't have lead in it, unless you test your own soil and grow your own.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: That's kind of -- not really an option many people have.

COHEN: I think that's safe to say.

MALVEAUX: Elizabeth, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.

We're following breaking news story, Lone Star College, this is out of Cypress, Texas, that is in the metro Houston area. Reports now of multiple victims being taken to the hospital. There is at least one person who has been detained, but another person still at large on the campus. And so we're going to be following this breaking news story and we'll get more information. We'll have more on the other side of this quick break.

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MALVEAUX: We have got more information. We are following breaking news story here. This is out of Cypress, Texas. This is in the Houston metro area. This is Lone Star College here. You're looking at these aerials. We also have some ground shots, I believe, of the campus. But now CNN affiliates are reporting that you have multiple victims here, potentially stab victims, that they were stabbed on campus. There have been several people, we have been able to confirm, who have been taken to area hospitals. We do know that there is at least one suspect who has been detained. The school says there is still one person who is still at large that is potentially armed and dangerous.

Also want to read here as well, a witness account, from one of the students who was trying to exit the campus. Said that one of their classmates was stabbed. Said, "I just left class, out of the Health Science Center Building. As we were leaving, we saw the cops coming. I called to check on another classmate who was still inside the building and she said the classroom was on lockdown. And she said one of the classmates had, in fact, been stabbed. It happened in the hallway, she says. We have a lab, a lecture and, down the hallway, it is all lab classes. And a classmate in the lab class got stabbed." This is from an eyewitness, somebody who was actually on the campus, saying that one of their classmates had been stabbed.

We also have an account here, this is KHOU, a reporter, explaining what they know on the ground. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Started -- it was just really scary after hearing about it, you know. I didn't know anything like that could happen here. So it was scary.

UNIDENTIFIED KHOU REPORTER: One of those things that you can't really control, but you just -- you don't think of it, but when it happens, it is like a shock to you.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Yes, it is definitely a shock. I mean, here is somebody leaning -- yes. It is a shock.

UNIDENTIFIED KHOU REPORTER: When the shooting happened at the other campus a couple of months back, did it ever cross your mind that something similar could happen here?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Yes, it did. It sure did. But I wasn't too worried about it just because it seemed so far away from us. And here, I mean, it is a nice campus, I mean, there isn't a lot of security, I don't see a lot of security, but it is just -- no, I didn't think it would happen here.

UNIDENTIFIED KHOU REPORTER: Tell me your name?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: My name is Sherry.

UNIDENTIFIED KHOU REPORTER: Thank you for taking a second for me.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED KHOU REPORTER: We'll let you get on going.

MALVEAUX: That was a reporter talking to one of the students on the ground there, explaining what it is that she saw, and that she really couldn't believe it would happen there on that campus.

As, again, we are showing you, these are aerial shots of the campus. What we know so far there are conflicting reports, but perhaps as many as 12 people who might have been stabbed or injured on that campus. One person, who has been detained. Another person, who is still on the loose. We'll be following this breaking news story throughout the afternoon.

Want to bring in my colleague, Brooke Baldwin, who will take it from here.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thank you.