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Missing the Signs; Continuing Coverage of the Navy Yard Shooting; Navy Yard Victim's Family Speaks to CNN; Baseball Mom's Mortgage Surprise
Aired September 18, 2013 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello.
Were the signs there before the Navy Yard shooting and we just missed them? Benita Bell ran into Aaron Alexis, the Navy Yard shooter, twice last week at this Washington hotel where they both were staying. And as she told CNN's Joe Johns, the second meeting was a lot different than the first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENITA BELL, MET AARON ALEXIS LAST WEEK: I ran into him again on Wednesday. And his countenance was markedly different on Wednesday.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How so?
BELL: He was very hurried. He said that he was extremely tired. He said, I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I've got to go. I've got to go. I'm going to take my food up to the room. And --
JOHNS: Did you get a sense that he was troubled?
BELL: His demeanor on Wednesday was, as I say, the antithesis of Tuesday. And so he did appear troubled. He appeared stressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: He appeared stressed. He appeared troubled. Many in this nation just to don't get mental illness. We suspect that somebody might be mentally ill when we see it, but we have no clue about what to do. Sometimes it's not our fault. Jeff Gardere is a clinical and forensic psychologist.
Good morning, Dr. Jeff.
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. So - so what could we have done if we had met Aaron Alexis last week when he went through this personality change in a number of days?
GARDERE: Well, here's the issue. The issue is, connecting the dots. We just don't have enough information, people talking to one another, to be able to take these isolated incidents, put them together and get a comprehensive picture as to what is going on with that individual psychiatrically. But I would say to anyone listening, watching today, that if you see someone who is stressed in that way and it is a marked change from his usual demeanor, that you ask that person what's going on, but you also - any -- offer any kind of assistance you can right from a shoulder and an ear to actually saying to them, I will accompany you to your family doctor or to see a therapist or let's even go to an emergency room if you're thinking about hurting yourself or even someone else.
COSTELLO: Well, and, again, hindsight is 20/20. But you could see that Alexis was sort of crying out for help. For example, he called the Rhode Island Police last month. Said he was hearing voices coming through the walls and other very strange things. Rhode Island Police, due diligence, they called the Navy, told the Navy about this. It's not clear what the Navy did about this, but there were -- there were signs out there that this man was suffering from some sort of mental illness.
GARDERE: Well, those were very clear signs. And, again, as you know me, I don't like to point fingers. I'm not into the blame game. But if you're calling a police department and you're saying that you are hearing voices or, as he said, your microwave is sending vibrations through your body, there are people listening to you and following you, your job as law enforcement is to say, let's come to you right away. You're calling us. Let's take you to an emergency room. The Naval folks who were contacted, I don't know how they handled the situation. But clearly someone dropped the ball here.
Again, 20/20 hindsight. Maybe they felt it wasn't something that was as serious. But now that we look at it, those were very clear indicators. And I hope we learn from this as mental health and law enforcement professionals.
COSTELLO: And, you know, just -- it just strikes me, another example of how we really don't understand mental illness, because I frankly think most in this country are afraid of it. They don't know how to handle it because, you know, thereby the grace of God go I. I'm going to give you the example of Amanda Bynes. Everybody in this country knew, right, that Amanda Bynes was suffering from something.
GARDERE: That's right.
COSTELLO: But what did we do for the longest time? We laughed at her. We fed into her mental illness via Twitter, answering these bizarre tweets she would send out knowing there's something seriously wrong with this young woman. Why do we do that?
GARDERE: Because it is a clear ignorance, you're right, when it comes to mental health issues. There's certainly been enough stories that certainly you have covered here at CNN where actually we know what mental illness looks like. And then we look at these celebrities, we laugh at them, we think that they're just acting out, that it's just they're trying to get attention. But, yes, it is getting attention, but not the attention of the media, but the attention of loved ones, the attention of professionals who are saying, you know, they're pretty much saying, we need to get some treatment. And so I hope we learn from Amanda Bynes and we learn from others who have clearly indicated that they are troubled.
COSTELLO: Dr. Jeff, thanks, as always. I know there are no easy answers here, but at least you've helped us kind of understand it. Thanks, Dr. Jeff. We appreciate it.
GARDERE: A pleasure, Carol.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the family of a woman killed at the Navy Yard speaks out on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLASS GAARDE, WIFE KILLED IN NAVY YARD SHOOTING: I guess what I want them to know most about her is what a caring person she was, particularly how she cared about her family.
JESSICA GAARDE, MOTHER KILLED IN NAVY YARD SHOOTING: And I want them to know she lived. She's not a number.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: More of our exclusive, emotional interview after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: She is not a number. He is not a statistic. That's what family members of victims from the Navy Yard shooting want people to know. Kathy Gaarde was among the 12 people shot to death Monday morning. She was 62 years old. Here she is with her 94-year-old grandmother. She cared for her grandma. Her husband and daughter sat down exclusively with CNN's Anderson Cooper to talk about Kathy and what made her special.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLASS GAARDE, WIFE KILLED IN NAVY YARD SHOOTING: I guess what I want them to know most about her is what a caring person she was, particularly how she cared about her family. As I mentioned, we took care -- or she took care of her mother, who's lived with us for 10 years. She moved here when she was about 85 and lived here till she was 94. That's a lot to take on when you're, you know, a full-time mom and a full-time worker and she did a great job of that, in addition to raising our two kids, which, of course, is Jessica (ph) here (ph).
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "ANDERSON COOPER 360": And she loved - she loved nature. She loved animals.
D. GAARDE: She loved animals. We've got them tied up, but we've got two dogs and two cats and that's actually down from the number we used to have.
COOPER: You used to have more than that?
D. GAARDE: Yes.
COOPER: Wow. Quite an adventure (ph). D. GAARDE: Quite a houseful.
COOPER: What do you want people to know, Jessica.
JESSICA GAARDE, MOTHER KILLED IN NAVY YARD SHOOTING: I guess, in addition to what my dad is saying, I -- just with everything going on, I want them to know she lived. She's not a number or some statistic.
COOPER: You want them to know the person that she was and the life that she lived?
J. GAARDE: Yes. Because she was so caring and she would do anything for anyone she loved. And she really did have a deep heart for animals. No matter what the cost, if one of our animals was sick, she would do everything that needed to be done to make sure they were OK.
COOPER: You were planning retirement?
D. GAARDE: I am basically retired. She was -- we were trying to pick the best time for her to retire. She was pretty much planning on probably this January, toward the end of the year, unless -- sometimes they offer buyouts when the budget gets in the kind of situation it is. So she might have left a little bit earlier if --
COOPER: So she could have already retired?
D. GAARDE: Oh, yes. She was 62 with, what, 33 years of government service. So that's - would have been very comfortable to live out (ph), but --
COOPER: Does it seem real at this point?
D. GAARDE: Go ahead.
J. GAARDE: For me, it's very surreal, but it's also - it's like a constant tsunami, because I have these periods of numbness where it's like the water's receding and I just feel nothing. And something, whether it be a bill on the counter or, heck, I was in the bathroom and she recently bought me new towels and I just see the towel and it just all hits.
COOPER: Comes in waves.
J. GAARDE: Yes. It's --
COOPER: And you went down there yesterday.
D. GAARDE: Yes, I was sitting at my computer. Actually, she had sent an e-mail to me about 10 till 8:00. That was the last I heard from her. And, of course, as the day wore on, you know, at first you don't think it could happen to her. I mean there's 3,000 people in there. What are the chances of her being one of the 10 that was injured? But as, you know, it gets later in the day and you know if she was able to get to the phone, she would have called home. And then I kind of kept it from Jessica. I didn't bother telling her while she was at work. But when it was time to come home, she found out. And when she called me, that's when I told her, OK, you come home and take care of the dogs, I'll go down to the parking lot down there and meet Kathy there, hopefully.
And I got down there and it was probably about that time. I guess it was about 7:00 or so. And they were down to the last -- there was about, maybe, four or five series of buses still coming through. But it just -- the later it got, the more desperate I got. And it wasn't until later that I'd gotten a call from one of my wife's co-workers who said that she had talked to some of her co-workers and that they had seen Kathy was one of the ones who was hit. And at that point --
COOPER: One of her co-workers actually saw her?
D. GAARDE: Yes. Saw that she was one of the ones that had been hit. And at that point I kind of said, look, this is crap. You know, you guys -- you got to tell me what's going on. And it was at that point that they went back to a room further in -- behind the gates of the stadium there and came back out and they said, yes, she was one of the ones. That was it.
COOPER: How do you - I mean how do you deal with something like this? How do you get through?
D. GAARDE: I don't know. Haven't done it yet. I mean, I've lost my parents, so I know what that's like. And I'm not going to say I know what you feel, but I know that your life goes on beyond us, beyond your parents. I don't know where my life goes now. She was my partner. We had plans to do things. And all of it's gone. So I want my kids, you know, to have their own lives and so I don't know.
COOPER: It's incredible that you had 43 years together.
D. GAARDE: Yes, it is. I mean it's incredible on the one hand, and it's a huge loss on the other.
COOPER: Of course.
D. GAARDE: I mean like I said where I was -- where I was going before is I don't know where I go after this. You just go on, I guess.
COOPER: It's hard to imagine life without her.
D. GAARDE: I mean I've only had 20 years of life without her and 43 with her. So that's two-thirds of my life where she was always there -- always partners.
COOPER: Well, thank you so much.
D. GAARDE: Thank you.
COOPER: And I wish you peace and strength in the days ahead.
D. GAARDE: Thank you for coming.
J. GAARDE: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So you know what you have to do now, right? You have to turn to the person next to you and tell them how much you love them. I'm going to throw to break right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our "Top Stories" at 50 minutes past the hour.
The FBI has joined the search for a 14-year-old kidnapped early Tuesday from her home near Atlanta. Police say Ayvani Hope Perez was taken by two armed men during a home invasion. She was last seen wearing blue and gray Star Wars pajama bottoms and blue and gray superhero shirt.
Talk about a daring escape, watch as this burglary suspect reaches out the squad car window and opens the door and then he dives out of the car. Officers then quickly stopped the car and they got a-hold of him. And as you can see they handcuffed him. CNN affiliate WKEF reports the cruiser was going at least 50 miles per hour at the time. A police supervisor told WKEF the suspect should have been handcuffed in the first place and window should have been rolled up.
Siri is suddenly sounding a little more manly. Starting today Apple's iPhone voice assistant has an optional male voice. Siri also now offers Twitter and WikiPedia results in response to user's questions. It's part of a major U.S. overhaul of the iPhone's operating system which is seeing increasing competition from Google's voice search.
COSTELLO: Here is what's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM. The CEO of Starbucks has a message for customer, "Come and enjoy your latte but leave your guns at home."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD SCHULTZ, CEO STARBUCKS: Well we do believe that guns should not be part of the Starbucks experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: His full exclusive interview. You'll only see it here on CNN.
And Dennis Rodman has made headlines for his visits to North Korea, but now this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: The secret to world peace is pistachios.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The worm taking a crack at ad sales. But wait, it gets even nuttier. That's all new in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: One of the top Toronto Blue Jays' top young pitchers had a special surprise for his mom this week and it's one she will never forget. Andy Scholes is here with "Bleacher Report". This is so nice.
ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Yes, Carol, this is a really cool deal. You know Marcus Stroman was picked in the first round by the Blue Jays last year. And as you would expect he received a pretty nice signing bonus from the team. And this week he put that money to good use. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADELINE STROMAN, MOTHER OF MARCUS STROMAN: Marcus, what did you do? Marcus, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Stroman's mom Adeline breaking down in tears because her son paid off her mortgage. Stroman posted the video on Instagram saying he wouldn't be where he is today without his parents, with the hash tag "family first". Good for him.
Trending on bleacherreport.com today the story about Kevin Ware's road to recovery. The Louisville Junior suffered one of the most gruesome injuries ever seen on the basketball court during the NCAA tournament. But less than six months later, Ware is now back on the court and check this out, he's already dunking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kevin ware dunking, my boy back dunking. Comeback player of the year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Good to see ware out on the court like that. And after the injury he vowed to play again this season, and it's about two months away and it looks like he's on track to reach his goal.
COSTELLO: So he really will play again?
SCHOLES: Looks like he's going to play this season. That leg is s holding up good, as you can see dunking the basketball right there.
All right. We've seen the butt fumble in the NFL thanks to Mark Sanchez and the Jets. Now we have the butt slide. Astros/Reds last night, Houston's Jonathan Villar trying to stretch the single into a double and oh no, Villar slamming right into Brandon Phillips' backside. Carol, not only did Villar get fanny-slapped, he was also called out on the play.
COSTELLO: Oh, insult to injury.
SCHOLES: Even more, Astros lost 10-0 and it was the Astros' 100th loss of the season. What a miserable night for the team.
COSTELLO: But he'll live on in infamy. His name will now and forever be associated with that.
SCHOLES: The butt slide.
COSTELLO: Yes. Thank you Andy.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, an interview you'll see only on CNN. The Starbucks CEO says "Come on, grab a cup of coffee but leave your gun at home." How he found himself in the middle of the national gun debate.
