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New Signals, Still No Debris, In Search; Mass Stabbing at Pittsburgh Area High School; Hospital Update on School Stabbing Victims

Aired April 09, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: While we are getting possible clues with signals, there is still no sign of debris. What could that mean? Could that mean the plane landed intact and then broke apart as it sunk beneath the water?

Here to help us sort through that, CNN correspondent Martin Savidge and pilot, Mitchell Casado. They're inside that flight simulator. Good morning, gentlemen.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes it's a pretty interesting theory that you bring out as far as the possibility of a landing on water. And every time we've done this scenario previously for you, we've always done it from the consideration that the aircraft ran out of fuel and then simply fell into the ocean.

But as Mitchell brought up just the other day to me, what about the possibility that as this aircraft ran low and whoever may have been in control of it actually decided to land on the water intentionally with the engines running. Why would you do that?

MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER, 777 COCKPIT SIMULATOR: Well, I mean it's just you are scanning the instruments. The pilots, if they were doing their job would be noticing their fuel level is dropping. And the reason why you would want power is because you have more control for the landing.

SAVIDGE: So if you are going in on the water and why don't you demonstrate how we make this approach. You want the engines running because it gives you second chances.

CASADO: That's exactly right you can make minor adjustments as you get closer to the water. It's a very precise maneuver and the more power you have, the more control you have.

SAVIDGE: So we're going to set this up for you, Carol. We're going to come down as close to the water as we can. Remember we're not going to land it in the water. We would never want in any way if something went wrong for families to see that. So we're just going to show you the lineup. And Mitchell would tell us about what is necessary for the aircraft performance when you are coming in like this.

First of all the wheels don't go down. CASADO: The wheels stay up Martin and the flaps -- I put it into an optimum lift, which is about 15 degrees, so not too much drag and not -- nothing at the same time. And we bring the speed way back, so I'm approaching 140 knots. I got the nose high, the tail is low. And I'm 340 feet right now over the water.

SAVIDGE: So take us down as low as you think we can go.

CASADO: Yes.

SAVIDGE: And this pretty much -- is it just like you were landing on land with the exception of the wheels.

CASADO: Not really. I mean you are going to have trouble judging your height here. You are not going to have the altimeters. They are not going to be accurate. But essentially yes range level you know a stable descent --

SAVIDGE: And that's critical here, Carol. You want stability. You are coming up to an ocean. You can't control the waves but at least you can control the aircraft. You must keep the wing tips and the engines from catching on a wave, because that will force the plane to twist like that, tumble and break apart.

You want to do just like they did on that miracle of the Hudson, tail first. Can you give us the outside view? I know you are struggling to keep us just above the water. Let's take a look at what the plane would look like. See how you've got that tail down posture. You want to set it literally tail first on the water. The rest of the plane, gently, albeit at a very high speed, touches down. That's one way.

I don't think we should go too much lower. One way you could set this down and possibly keep the aircraft intact. We do not have any way to tell you that's really what happened.

COSTELLO: And -- and the reason we're telling people about this is it is strange that no debris has been detected -- smaller amounts of debris. So if a plane landed on the water like this it would break apart in bigger pieces, right?

SAVIDGE: If well, I mean, as the miracle on the Hudson showed, it is possible to land the plane intact, open ocean versus, you know, a waterway is a different matter here. But Mitchell, what do you think? It would be possible to set it down intact?

CASADO: It would be possible. Yes you're going to hit tail first, you're going to bounce. The first skid is going to be a bounce and then you are going to get back in the air and then you're going to settle down. So it is possible with a little bit of luck and skill, you could do it, yes.

SAVIDGE: So that would mean little or no debris. The plane would just sink on its own, relatively intact.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks, gentlemen. I've to go back to Pittsburgh for our breaking news. As you know there has been a terrible stabbing at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. This is Dr. Chris Kaufmann from the Forbes Regional Hospital filling us in some of the victims let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CHRIS KAUFMANN, FORBES REGIONAL HOSPITAL: We did receive seven patients from the scene who are teenagers and an adult person additionally. Two of the patients are right now in the operating room and a third one is being transported to the operating room at this point. These are all patients who had stab wounds of the chest and abdomen. So these were significant injuries. And the patients are being appropriately managed.

There are additional patients right now who are having CT scans and x- rays performed. It may be that additional patients will require operative care throughout the day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So in total, eight patients here?

KAUFMANN: Yes, from that scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From that scene. We understand that seven of them are students. One of them possibly an adult.

KAUFMANN: Yes there are patients of teenage years are seven of those and then an adult, who is older than 21 as the eighth patient.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In terms of severity of the injuries, that's three that are going to need surgery, right; two that are in the O.R. and one going to the O.R.?

KAUFMANN: Yes, yes correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the others don't need surgery -- superficial wounds?

KAUFMANN: No, these are not superficial wounds either. These were patients who are hemo-dynamically stable and so we have to stage the patients. The patients who are unstable with the most severe injuries go to the operating room first. Some of those patients don't even need any type of imaging. You can tell based on their stab wound and their blood pressure that they just need to go to the operating room. Other patients who come in stable with the normal blood pressure, normal heart rate, we have time to do a more typical approach, to do a CAT scan and see what's injured inside and make a plan according to what we see.

And so there are patients who just now have completed their CAT scans. The radiologists are looking at those and will help us with the interpretation of what we see on those images. And again some of those patients may also require an operation. It's less likely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any of the injuries that you've seen so far life threatening? KAUFMANN: Yes, yes patients --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many?

KAUFMANN: -- patients who are stabbed in the abdomen and chest have by definition life-threatening injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So would you say all of them are life threatening?

KAUFMANN: I would say that half of them are life threatening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the remaining five patients that were brought in, they are not superficial wounds we are looking at?

KAUFMANN: None of these are superficial wounds. These are all significant stab wounds, every one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were able to say specifically chest and abdomen for those three. Can you tell us anything more about those other five (inaudible) so we have a better idea of this not being superficial?

KAUFMANN: Sure. All of the patients have torso stab wounds -- chest, abdomen, back, flank -- so all of their stab wounds are in the area of the torso.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For all eight.

KAUFMANN: I haven't seen the adult -- all of the seven teenagers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the seven teenagers.

KAUFMANN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us more about the -- what you guys have been doing in the trauma --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right we're going to break away from this. But you hear the extent of the injuries that some of these students suffer. That was Dr. Chris Kaufmann -- he is the director of the Trauma Center at the Forbes Regional Hospital. Most of the stab wounds these victims suffered were to the torso area. Some suffered stab wounds to the abdomen.

I want to bring in FBI analyst, Tom Fuentes and psychologist, Jeff Gardere. Welcome to both of you.

Wow. Tom, I want to start with you and take you back to 7:13 a.m. Eastern. That's when this incident initially went down inside the Franklin Regional High School. Apparently, according to police that we have talked to, this took place just as school started, just as it went into session. Kids were in the hallway and that's where the initial stabbings took place, in the hallway and then it moved on to hallways and into some classrooms.

We also understand and we just got this information confirmed by CNN, that the suspect in custody is a boy. He is a sophomore, a tenth grader at Franklin Regional High School. We don't know much more than that. We do know he was armed with a knife. But we don't know if it's one knife or more.

Tom, just give me your impressions from what you have seen so far.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Well you know what we're hearing is that for some reason, this student decided to attack all of these other students and at least one adult.

As far as trying to find out why, I know in addition to the local police, the FBI has deployed a number of assets to help in this, including evidence response team members, computer examiners and victim assistance individuals who will help the families of each of the victims that have sustained wounds in this and also additional agents to help conduct interviews and through the interviewing process, with witnesses and hopefully with the victims that are able to talk, they might be able to come up with a better idea of why this occurred or what caused this person to start this type of rampage, if you will, in the school.

COSTELLO: Yes and I wanted to post that question to Dr. Jeff. I'm sorry -- Dr. Jeff, stand by. KDK, our local affiliate has some new information. Let's go to Pittsburgh now.

THOMAS SEEFELD, POLICE CHIEF, MURRYSVILLE: -- male security guard with a stomach wound nearby. To the officer -- the officer at that time had the subject, the 16-year-old subject in custody and handcuffed. At that point, we called in other resources and law enforcement had emergency management medical routed to our location. Further checking of the first floor hallway revealed multiple victims apparently by the knife that the actor had.

So our priority at the time was the people that needed treated medically, safety to the staff, the students are our priorities.

Thanks to EMS and the surrounding agencies with their assistance. The scene was quickly attended to. The injured were handled, taken care of. And so like I said the subject is under arrest. So the incident was brought to a conclusion at a fairly rapid pace. And I do thank and commend school staff. They played an integral part in this. And I believe that's part of the school emergency plan and operations that they have.

That would lead to him being put in custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, we understand one of the students may have hit the fire alarm when he saw this attacking hitting an effort to get the school out as possibly cleared given what's going on. Is that in fact what happened to the library?

SEEFELD: The school alarm was pulled, the fire alarm. Again, you know under these circumstances, it causes chaos and panic. And what we teach and we try to talk about is the first thing you want the students to do is to run. You know and upon my arrival and the arrival of the other officers that's what we saw. We saw a chaotic scene outside with people running everywhere.

So yes the fire alarm being pulled probably assisted with evacuating the school. And that was a good thing that was done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, we saw the suspect leave the police department in a police car. Can you tell us where he is going and what is his status at this point right now?

SEEFELD: I'm not going to tell you where he is going right now but I can tell you that he has some injuries to his hands and he is being medically treated right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How was he taken into custody? How was he taken into custody?

SEEFELD: Again, the school principal had interaction as well as the school resource officer who handcuffed him and he was secured.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard that the suspect may have been bullied and that may have led to this.

SEEFELD: I don't know anything about that. And I'm sure that will be part of our investigation.

(inaudible)

SEEFELD: Well, there is really no need to discharge a weapon. We only do that in a situation where we feel that it is needed to. The situation was brought under control in the best manner there was.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the resource officer injured?

SEEFELD: I don't know that yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resource officer injured?

SEEFELD: No he wasn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) the security guard?

SEEFELD: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he stabbed --

SEEFELD: No the principal was not hurt. I can tell you that he is being looked at though. But he was not stabbed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the male guard had a wound to the stomach. SEEFELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were all the victims students? We are hearing mixed reports that there were some adults and some students.

SEEFELD: Well as we know right now all were students but one. One is a security guard, an adult male.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You talk about the process with the vast crime scene about securing the school. It is time-consuming?

SEEFELD: It is time-consuming. We will be here for a while. And you know thank goodness for resources, and through the county and to the FBI and state police. It is a very intricate process. The process is going take a while. So we'll get through that and it could take a matter of a couple days to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What have you learned about how the staff reacted here today?

SEEFELD: Well I think the staff and I don't speak for the school. I think at a later point they will be talking to you. I think school staff is very versed on emergencies. The police department works closely with the school district. And the SRO is part of that school. Every day he is down there, full-time emergency police officer. And we very often exchange ideas on emergencies that would occur.

It is my opinion that today as unfortunate as it is and again you know, our hearts go out to all the victims and their families, I think it could have been a lot worse if there wasn't immediate action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other than the security guard you described, are there other security measures daily here? Are there any metal detectors or other types of setup of security?

SEEFELD: There are security measures. But I'm not going to elaborate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 20 injured total?

SEEFELD: That's from what I understand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK 19 and one. 19 students and one security --

SEEFELD: That's -- that's the best we got.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they life-threatening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can we talk about life-threatening or nonlife- threatening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The four students who were seriously injured, are those life threatening injuries?

SEEFELD: I believe they are critical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So there's four students that are in critical condition.

SEEFELD: It's the best information I have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that the suspect knew all of this people, was it random? Do you have any idea?

SEEFELD: We don't know that yet. But that will be part of the investigation. Initially we don't know what led up to this but that would be part of our investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard there may have been a threatening phone call last night made between the suspect and a fellow student.

SEEFELD: We are checking in on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know why students were found in so many different locations?

SEEFELD: Well, again, I'll go back to saying that, you know, in a situation like this, you want the students to run, you know. Going back to the fire alarm being pulled, I mean that's the purpose is to evacuate. You want the kids to get out of the area. And they did. They did right. That's what they should have done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How were so many injured?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How were so many injured?

SEEFELD: The juvenile went down the hallway and was slashing two knifes around and injured the people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So like one in each hand?

SEEFELD: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did police (inaudible) --

SEEFELD: I am not going to confirm that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he actually tackle the students?

SEEFELD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The school resource officer is also an emergency policeman?

SEEFELD: He is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Repeat your name, please. SEEFELD: Thomas Seefeld -- S-E-E-F-E-L-D. Thank you very much. Chief of police. Murrysville.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you be updating us again later or is this the last.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to step away. That was Thomas Seefeld from Murrysville -- he's the Murrysville police chief actually.

We found out more information from the impromptu press conference. We found out that the suspect is a 16-year-old boy. He was a student at the school. He was armed with two knives. And we heard that he ran down the hall stabbing people. We also heard that a security guard tried to intervene. He was stabbed in the stomach. We presume he is the 60-year-old in one of the hospitals in the Pittsburgh area right now.

We also understand the principal assisted with this situation to end it. There was also a school resource officer on the scene -- that school resource officer handcuffed the suspect, alerted police and then police arrived at the school. At least I think that's the timeline. I'm not sure right now.

I want to go back to Tom Fuentes. I know the FBI has been called in to help with this investigation. What will the FBI do?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Well, the FBI, Carol, will be helping to process the evidence through the forensic work in the school. They will also be examining the suspect's computers, phone records and all of that. They will be doing interviews -- all of this in assistance to the local police department, you know.

Because this is a student we are going to assume for now that it is not terrorist-motivated and he is not a member of organized or an international drug cartel. So therefore this will be the jurisdiction of the local police and the local prosecutor. But the FBI will be completely providing any and all assistance that they ask for.

COSTELLO: I want to bring in Dr. Jeff Gardere, too. He's psychologist. He often helps us sort of try to make sense of these things -- things that you just can't make sense of -- right Dr. Jeff.

DR. JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: We understand now this 16-year-old boy was armed with two knives. The stab wounds he inflicted on these victims were deep and serious. Several of the victims are in critical condition. He stabbed people mostly in the torso and in the stomach. I don't know -- what do you make of that?

GARDERE: Well, what I make of this Carol is this was someone who was intent on killing. We have to look at whether he was not just homicidal but also suicidal. As we know with these mass rampages, when these actors or perpetrators go in, their plan is not to come out alive or to be taken alive.

We understand that there was an intervention made perhaps with the principal. I wonder whether he was talked down and cuffed or whether they had to subdue him. I'm also very, very concerned as to whether there are any past disciplinary actions against this young man. We heard some rumors possibly of bullying and perhaps a call that was made last night between this student and another student.

So, all of those things become part of the clinical picture. I will tell you, one of the things that they will do is keep him on a suicide watch because of being perhaps homicidal and suicidal. As well, they will be doing a mental health evaluation as quickly as they can. And of course, they will be talking to family and friends --

COSTELLO: Right.

GARDERE: -- of this individual to find out whether there was something brewing at home.

COSTELLO: All right. We want to go back to Forbes Regional Hospital in nearby Monroeville. Doctors are describing the wounds of some of the victims. Let's listen.

DR. MARK RUBINO FORBES REGIONAL HOSPITAL: Most of them were to the lower abdomen. And they seem to actually almost have a pattern. Most of them were to the right lower abdomen and the right flank. And that created some of the criticality of their wounds and the nature of their injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they have (inaudible) three that were in the OR this morning, do they have significant injuries to internal organs --

(CROSSTALK)

RUBINO: Yes, they do. Yes, they do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you talk about that?

RUBINO: I would say that to just summarize to a degree -- two of them have relatively severe injuries to their abdominal organs. They are undergoing, like I said they're undergoing surgery right now. Another one has injuries to the upper abdomen, also being operated but relatively stable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These puncture wounds, slashes, how would you characterize?

RUBINO: They were puncture wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stab wounds?

RUBINO: Stab wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How deep were these (inaudible)?

RUBINO: I know nothing about the perpetrator or the injuries of how they occurred. We were just really dealing with the victims. But I would have to say that they are deep, penetrating injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Initially, when these injuries came in, what was the immediate response, who did you attend to first and what was the protocol?

RUBINO: The response was really done by the trauma surgeons and actually a collection of almost all the surgeons in the house responded. I looked up at one time and I think I saw 20 surgeons in that emergency room ready to respond to these injuries.

It was -- you know I have practiced at this hospital for the majority, if not all, of my career. I looked around and I saw a team of nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons. We were ready to handle what came in the door.

Now, because of the trauma certification we had, we had four trauma surgeons there. The trauma surgeons did the initial management of these injuries. And really, they were quickly triaged in that emergency department and taken to the operating room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Emotions had to have been running high. I can see you are kind of getting overcome with emotion and I know they were overcome with emotion earlier. Can you explain what those emotions were like today?

RUBINO: I'm an obstetrician, gynecologist. A number of these patients, their moms are our patients in our practice -- these are kids that we very likely delivered. But I think that the team doesn't really react with emotions.

If I'm emotional, it might just be coming out now as opposed to earlier the response was a clinical response aimed at what you had to do. One thing about being a doctor that lives in the community that you serve, you can become emotional because these are your friends and neighbors in addition to your patients. But I was proud of the response.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Rubino, was the clock literally ticking on these injuries for these students? Was it really critical to get them treated as soon as possible?

RUBINO: The three that are in the O.R. were critical. The response absolutely was ticking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were they alert? Were they able to communicate at all?

RUBINO: I would say that two of them actually had undergone intubation in the field. I think the critical part of this as well is the paramedics that responded to the nature of these injuries were unbelievable. I even think that from my understanding, there was a story of a friend that helped respond to one of the victims. So they came in appropriately managed in the field. I think one actually already was intubated, had an endotracheal tube already established.

So the critical response that occurred that brought these students in and I could say two of them immediately went to the O.R. They were immediately -- and the reason they were able to immediately go to that O.R. after they had their initial stabilization in the emergency department because of the initial care that they received in the field.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Kaufmann briefed us earlier. He expected that all of these patients would survive. Do you now at this point?

RUBINO: I do, but I do want to stress the critical nature of their injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anything else you can tell us about the response this morning and your part in all of this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: I originally got the call at 7:30, around 7:15 this morning that there was an incident at the school. My role is that I immediately enacted our code triage, which is our disaster response team because we do not know the number of victims that we would be receiving.

Again, I echo what Dr. Rubino had said -- our staff, our pre-hospital partners, all of the response to this incident and the true collaboration of everybody on this campus is what made the difference. It was the response that we would expect and what we prepare for during drills throughout the year. We prepare for such events that we hope never happens but we do prepare for them. And our preparation served us well today, because we all acted as well as we could given the situation.

Again, as Dr. Rubino said, very emotional for a lot of the employees in this building, because they live in the community and know many of those affected. And our prayers do go out to everyone who has been touched by this situation today. We know it is far reaching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you explain what code triage was?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: That means where a hospital pulls all its resources together and mobilizes to the areas needed. So teams of doctors, nurses -- really everybody who is available in the hospital O.R. staff, anesthesia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that mean people come in from outside?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: They do. We did have people come in from home to help until we stabilize the situation in view of our need. We had people that had stayed over past their shift to make sure that their help was not needed. It is really an all hands on deck callout we need to manage a situation within our campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you do that? Do you have like a phone tree?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: We do. We have a page that goes out. So I immediately called our command center and they sent the page out to everyone and then we all set up a command center and then each person has a role in that command center in public relations, you know, operational management, staffing management, physician O.R. management, capacity management. We all met in that room and then we have lists that people are in charge of calling staff to see where we need to mobilize our resources to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how many days these patients are expected to be here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: We would not know that this early.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you describe what you saw the atmosphere when the students struck were brought in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: As Dr. Rubino said, it was a clinical atmosphere. We all responded as health care providers do. We take care of our patients when they arrive on this campus and our staff response could not have been more professional, more empathetic for these families.

We had social services on scene immediately. Extra resources called in -- chaplain, support. We had everything mobilized in two separate areas to care for not only our victims but the families we knew we would be receiving. We made provisions for our families to be cared for and then we mobilized just about everybody that we could in the building. And the atmosphere was one of clinical skill and empathy towards this situation that has touched the community today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are the families right now and what's being done to assist them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: We have many supports in place right now from social services to psychological support and offerings being arranged for the victims, the children at the school. We have plans to help the school district heal from this as well.

We have chaplain support on site. The families, many are with their children right now. And we actually just had finished rounding some of them and they're -- as you can imagine obviously concerned for their child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are here now though. All the kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE DOCTOR: They are all in the building but they would be in separate areas. They have their own kind of space and then some parents are having to come in from outside the service area, you know, they are having to fly in. They have others, grandparents, who may have been involved in the growing up of these kids. So we're having to deal with all those kinds of circumstances.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have been able to see their children yet?

RUBINO: I have met with most of them. We did match them up when possible. I talked to a dad that's flying in from Boston for one of the victims that's in the operating room.

Everybody has reached out. The clergy has responded. They are meeting with some of the parents. So I think that's being been managed well right now. It never was out of control. I think that the parents came in. They were all appropriate. We did not have anything that -- we did not have any other unlikely responses like parents pulling up just to check to see if their child was possibly here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said that because they didn't know what condition their children were in.

RUBINO: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you describe just getting that phone call initially when they say, we are going to need you. This is happening. I know that clinically, you guys have to react and you know what to do. But there has to be some sort of emotional feeling coming into that and thinking, "Oh, my God, this is happening."

RUBINO: Well, it was interesting. I was just getting ready to see a patient in this building, actually in my clinical office. And I immediately went to the emergency department. By the time I arrived at the emergency department, the teams were all in place. No one had come yet but the teams were all in place.

Dr. Kaufmann, who heads the trauma team, was ready there to begin triaging patients. And as they came in, they were appropriately placed into the rooms according to their level of severity. The team was ready.

And in addition to that, all the other surgeons responded in the house. So we had cardiovascular surgeons, thoracic surgeons, urologists, they were all there ready to assist and to help. Their services were utilized as need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have any of the patients been released yet and do you anticipate anybody being able to be released today?

RUBINO: I don't have any of that information right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE DOCTOR: We do not anticipate any discharges of the children today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doctor, are these multiple wounds on these critical patients or one stab wound each or how would you characterize the wounds themselves?

RUBINO: I'm not really exactly sure with how many had actual multiples as opposed to a large, single stab wound. Again, I'm not really aware of the events that occurred at the hospital -- at the school and what was described there. The students that are in the operating room had pretty severe injuries with -- that were pretty penetrating in affecting them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going forward -- a stab wound versus another kind of injury, what's that like recovery-wise? What can they expect to see?

RUBINO: Well, you can't -- the one thing about youth is they are resilient, you know. Someone who is younger and strong can often tolerate these injuries better than someone else.