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At This Hour

New Information on Las Vegas Shooters; Sterling Not Going Down Without a Fight; Active Shooter at Reynolds High School in Oregon.

Aired June 10, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A live image to show you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're live here.

PEREIRA: We are live. But there's the other live image we wanted to show you, Hillary Clinton arriving at the book signing here in New York City. Quite a crowd has been forming outside of the store watching for the arrival of the former secretary of state. An author and question mark, potential 2016 presidential candidate -- John Berman?

BERMAN: Our view obscured already surrounded by people. Maybe trying to avoid the media spotlight here hiding behind the --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: I feel like you're reading into it.

BERMAN: That's a live picture of the book signing just starting right now. Glad we could bring that to you.

Now we'll move onto this. We're learning more about the married couple behind the Las Vegas killing spree. Jarad and Amanda Miller left a trail of views and clues on social media, YouTube, on TV, and with their neighbors, about their disdain, public loud disdain for law enforcement. It drew them from Indiana to Nevada where they joined the anti-government protests at Cliven Bundy's ranch. Jarad Miller was on the local news talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARAD MILLER, ALLEGED MURDERER: I feel sorry for federal agents that want to come in here and try to push us around or anything like that. I really don't want violence toward them. If they're going to come and bring violence to us, well, if that's the language they want to speak, we'll learn it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Interesting phrase there. Bundy's son says protester considered the Millers' view too far out there and told them to leave. No one there thought their hatred would turn homicidal, even when Millers left their apartment on Sunday armed to the hilt. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLEY FIELDER, NEIGHBOR: I got five deaths on my shoulders. I should have called the cops.

I mean, a cart full of just ammunition, guns, everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were they carrying them?

FIELDER: They were carrying them because they said they were going underground. I'm so, so, so sorry to everybody that -- I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: The neighbor of the Millers there in Las Vegas obviously shaken up by what she has learned her neighbors did.

Dan Simon is in Las Vegas and we bring in criminologist, Jack Levin.

Please to have you both here.

Dan, why don't we start with you? What's the latest in terms of the investigation?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that police are investigating the couple's possible ties to militia and hate groups. Right now they think this is an isolated incident. We know they were drawn to the Cliven Bundy movement. They were there for a period of time at the ranch. We know that they were kicked out. They were ostracized. Their beliefs were too radical for that group. We know that Jarad Miller was frustrated about that. He wrote about that online. Whether that caused some kind of deep seeded anger or led him to commit these killings, we don't know but his entire past is under investigation -- Michaela?

BERMAN: Jack, I want to ask you about something that the Millers wrote about their time at the Bundy ranch. They wrote, "We sold everything. We had to buy supplies and quit our jobs to be there 24/7. How dare you ask for help and shun us as dedicated patriots." Talking about being thrown off of the effort there.

I guess my question to you is having an issue with the government is one thing. Everyone has their own issue with the government, where does it turn from gripes to this violence. Is there any way to see that coming?

JACK LEVIN, CRIMINOLOGIST, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: First of all, the Millers are far from typical of right wing extremists who blame the federal government for all of their personal problems and think that Congress is being unconstitutional and that our sovereignty as a nation is being abolished. These were criminals. We're talking, when we talk about the Millers, about people who had a personal gripe against law enforcement. Mr. Miller had a long criminal record. This is not something that just happened yesterday. This has been going on in his life for some period of time. But typically, in a right wing extremist group, the idea is that they

predict a revolution but they don't initiate revolution themselves. And they're not doing it for personal reasons. They believe sincerely that the federal government is unconstitutional. They love law enforcement at the local level. The Millers despised the police.

PEREIRA: So many people are struggling to understand this. One of the things you naturally do is look to the family either for insight, answers to try to piece together what happened here and what led people to commit such terrible acts of violence. The "L.A. Times" was able to speak to Amanda, the woman's father, and talked about the fact that he begged her not to marry this fellow and begged her not to move to Las Vegas. Quote, "He was into all this patriot nation conspiracy theory stuff and the next thing I know, the phone was getting shut off and she was getting isolated from us. The whole world was against him. He was just nuts. He was just nuts."

It sounds almost like she was turned from rationale thinking. It seems like brainwashing, Jack.

LEVIN: You know, when we see a team of killers, we often see one who is dominant and the other who is submissive. One influences the other to go along. When it's a man and woman, which is usually isn't, when this rare event does happen, the woman is usually seen as the accomplice who went along for the love of her husband or her partner.

But keep in mind that when somebody has murderous intention, it's probably too late to stop them. They should have been stopped long ago. Not because they were troublesome but because they were troubled people. They had lots of personal issues. As I said, Mr. Miller had a long criminal record. We should be getting involved and intervening long before somebody decides they want to kill because once they do that, there's not a lot we can do about it.

BERMAN: Jack Levin, great to have you here. Your insight about how these people were unique, remarkable within this world, even within this world of extremism. Appreciate your time.

Dan Simon, thanks to you as well.

PEREIRA: Should we talk basketball? Guess what? Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, says the deal to sell the team is off. He will not sell the Clippers. But does that matter what he says at this point? We'll look at some of the legalities over the Clippers ownership when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, not going down without a fight. The 80-year-old that made those infamous racist comments is withdrawing the support of the sale of his team. The question is does that matter? His wife, Shelly Sterling, agreed to sell the franchise to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

PEREIRA: Sterling is asking his lawyer to go ahead with the $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA, saying in a statement, quote, "From the onset, I did not want to sell the Los Angeles Clippers. I worked for 43 years to build the team."

If you ask Clipper fans, it's a different story.

Joining us is Jean Casarez.

There are some questions to ask about this.

JEAN CASAREZ, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: So many layers.

PEREIRA: So many layers. Is this point even moot? Is he even a player in the sale of the team at this point?

CASAREZ: Let's go back to the beginning. Originally, he had to agree to the sale, right, as a co-owner. Now, Adam Silver said on CNN in our exclusive interview that Rachel Nichols did that he has been found to be cognitively impaired. Why is that important? "The New York Times" is reporting the trust document has a clause in it saying that if one or the other spouse is cognitively impaired, the other spouse needs to take ahold of it and make all of the decisions for the trust and the L.A. Clippers. However, he can fight this. Could be cognitively impaired -- this is what the CDC says cognitive impairment is -- memory loss, frequently asking the same question over and over again, repeating the same story, not recognizing familiar people or places, having trouble exercising judgment and changes in mood or behavior.

PEREIRA: I suffer from many of those things.

CASAREZ: This is a fight of a neurologist.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: If you read the article, it points out that Shelly Sterling convinced Donald Sterling --

CASAREZ: Which is another issue.

BERMAN: -- to get checked out, and according to the article, doctors there did say he did suffer from cognitive impairment. This is what will be decided. I suppose the question there is, by whom? Again, the rules of evidence apply in a court of law. Do they apply in the NBA?

CASAREZ: But there is trust law. We may have a probate court involved at this point, because if the trust does have that clause, and there are dueling neurologists, and he's determined by a court to not be cognitively impaired, he would have a say whether his team is sold. And if he says no, that could create another issue.

PEREIRA: Adam Silver was clear they wanted to quickly deal with this and settle this matter. These feel like delaying tactics. This is not ending any time soon.

CASAREZ: That's a good question. Would they proceed with the sale --

PEREIRA: Yeah. CASAREZ: -- in light of this federal lawsuit that he now says will not be dismissed because a court could determine it would be an illegal sale? It would be a stalling tactic. The NBA could say we had a time line and we're going forward.

BERMAN: Whatever are in these documents, owners can vote to say we're forcing him out, and by the laws of the league or bylaws of the league, in theory, he's out.

CASAREZ: Here's another question. Why is he saying he's not for the sale? Because he did say he would agree to the sale, right? He also says in this federal lawsuit that he believes the lifetime ban is excessive. Willful and malicious.

PEREIRA: He's the one suing them for $2 billion.

(LAUGHTER)

When does the season start? October, something like that.

BERMAN: It's still going on, yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: I'm just saying, when does it start again?

BERMAN: In the fall.

CASAREZ: In the fall.

PEREIRA: Will it be done by then?

BERMAN: I think yes. I think yes. I think there's one way out of this and everyone knows it. That's just my opinion.

Jean Casarez, great to have you with us.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Another story up ahead, that he and I have differing opinions on. He hid money all across California. You're going to hear from the man behind hidden cash coming up next.

BERMAN: And terrifying video right out of a bad dream. If you have elevator phobia. An elevator going up, not down, up fast, furious and out of control with a helpless man trapped inside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Time now for the "Hot Flash," the stories that have people talking now.

PEREIRA: Let's start with the story that is probably going to give you pause the next time you go in an elevator. Something went terribly wrong in an elevator in Santiago, Chile. It goes up at a high rate of speed. The elevator actually rocketed up 30 floors in some 15 seconds before it smashed into the roof. The man was seriously hurt. He injured his head and his leg. Apparently, the elevator or the building was only built some eight months ago and they have no idea what happened. I often think about the idea that it could plummet. I've never thought about it sort of blasting up like a rocket.

BERMAN: No, it doesn't keep me up at night thinking that way.

PEREIRA: But will it now?

BERMAN: One more thing to worry about.

PEREIRA: And you're welcome.

BERMAN: So we know who is giving away cash in envelopes around San Francisco and Los Angeles. Here he is. His name is Jason Buzi. He's a real estate developer who made millions flipping homes during the foreclosure wave. He said he was sitting around with his friends trying to think a way to give back and make the one percenters not so loathsome. They come up with the idea of leaving clues on the Twitter account @hiddencash. They've given away $15,000 in just two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON BUZI, @HIDDENCASH: I think there's also a lot of people that don't trust the motive. They think this is some kind of business scheme or, you know, there's something that we're try to get out of, and we're really not. We're doing it to give back in a fun way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Look, I applaud him for giving back. I don't think it's a business scheme. He just said a social experiment.

PEREIRA: What's wrong with that?

BERMAN: I think there's something wrong with leaving money around and watching people scamper for it. What if people need the money? There are charities you can give to rather than --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: What if he likes to cut out the middle man? I support charitable organizations. He says he's doing it in addition to that. Why not just let somebody find 100 bucks or 40 bucks? On a day they might need it?

BERMAN: Not particularly comfortable with it but we can agree to disagree.

PEREIRA: I love that. That's fantastic.

Let us know what you think. You can comment on our Facebook page. Visit us @THISHOUR.

Should we take a break? BERMAN: we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: Breaking news. A shooting at a high school in Oregon. It is the Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon. This is about 10 minutes outside the Portland area. The shooting happened a little less than an hour ago right now. You're looking at live pictures from the scene from our affiliate, KPTV.

This is what we know from the police department. A semiautomatic weapon was involved. This did happen when the school was open at about 8:00 pacific time. We have been told there are injuries. We don't have a specific number yet. We have no information on fatalities.

PEREIRA: What we do know is there is a massive police presence, as you can imagine. Given the news of the last few months and years, the sensitivities are heightened. People are going to react very quickly to this. First responders will immediately respond. We can see that the sheriff's department and other law enforcement officials have arrived on scene. It is an active shooter situation.

BERMAN: Let's listen in to our affiliate, KPTV.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER, KPTV: And that person January that Olson told us her husband had texted her at about 812 this morning to tell us of the situation at the school.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER, KPTV: And as we look at these pictures and you see the response, we can continue what the Reynolds school district is telling us to tell parents. There are parents watching now. This is what the district is saying. They're asking parents to stay away from the school while police are responding. They will put out a statement shortly.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER, KPTV: Kate had mentioned just a moment ago that parents are being asked to go to the Safeway parking lot and keep everybody together there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER, KPTV: You would imagine there's probably going to be conflicting instructions as various agencies say one thing and are not necessarily all communicating with each other. But certainly they're taking the situation very seriously, as we are as well. Reports of this active shooter at Reynolds High School.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER, KPTV: Go ahead, Tony.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER, KPTV: I was going to say, I can share some information, again, coming from some students there at Reynolds High School, via Twitter. Take this with a grain of salt. These are not confirmed facts. These are what students are tweeting. One says, "A suspect, police using robotic device to search the building. They mentioned one building --

PEREIRA: All right. We want to bring in our Evan Perez because we know we're getting a few details in. Again, an active shooter situation at Reynolds High School in Oregon about 10 minutes outside of Portland.

Evan, the school district is advising worried parents. As you can imagine, they want to keep them out of harm's way. They're telling them to sort of shelter at a nearby parking lot at a grocery store. What other details were you able to find out?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, very few details at this point. It does appear they recovered a semiautomatic weapon or they know that a semiautomatic weapon was being used at the scene there. We know that the authorities are on their way. This is typically something that obviously the FBI and the ATF would respond to, especially because there have been so many of these incidents and they have some expertise in being able to work these scenes.

What they're probably going to do at this point is just try to make sure the kids are safe. So that involves doing the searches. They're going to go classroom by classroom. This can take hours. This is something that will probably bear watching for a little while.

The parents unfortunately are probably not going to get a lot of information immediately and they're probably not going to see their loved ones, their kids, immediately, because first they want to make sure there's no further danger, there's no other shooters there perhaps. We believe it's only one shooter but, you know, it's very sketchy information at this point -- Michaela?

BERMAN: Evan Perez, thank you so much.