Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Virginia Had Long History of Workplace Complaints; Obama: Guns Kill More People than Terrorism; Asia-Pacific, U.S. Markets Recover as Europe Looks to Recover; Germany's Angela Merkel Hears from Angry Citizens on Migrants; Trump Slams Asian Negotiators, Circles Back to Old Feuds. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired August 27, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:07] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Two journalists gunned down on live TV by a former co-worker. Now we're hearing more about the killer's 23-page suicide note.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The Dow surges more than 600 points, snapping a six-day losing streak. We'll look at whether the Asian markets are following suit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: German Chancellor Angela Merkel heckled by anti-migrant protesters.
CHURCH: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.
BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. We're with you on CNN for the next two hours. Thanks for joining us for CNN NEWSROOM.
CHURCH: A shocking episode of violence on live television leaves a reporter and cameraman dead. Their gunman later commits suicide as police close in on him.
BARNETT: Outside of the Roanoke television station where the pair worked people are leaving flowers and balloons in a make-shift memorial.
CHURCH: Stunned friends and co-workers are mourning Alison Parker and Adam Ward. The woman they were interviewing was also shot and she is in stable condition after surgery.
BARNETT: The gunman had a history of grievances at his various television jobs.
CHURCH: He also left messages about his complaints even as he fled police.
Brian Todd has details of the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The entire incident unfolded live on the air. Alison Parker and her cameraman, Adam Ward, shot dead.
JEFF MARKS, GENERAL MANAGER, WDBJ: Is it my very, very sad duty to report that we have determined, through the help of the police and our employees, that Alison and Adam died this morning.
TODD: The shooter is Vester L. Flanagan, a former reporter at the station whose on-air was Bryce Williams, who was fired by WDBJ two years ago. Flanagan apparently shot himself in a confrontation with police.
MARKS: We have an unhappy former employee but this happens.
TODD: Shortly after the shooting, a series of tweets linked to an account under his an-air name said this, quote, "Alison made racist comments. EEOC filed a report. They hired her after that. Adam went to H.R. on me after working with me one time." And then this, quote, "I filmed the shooting. See Facebook."
VESTER FLANAGAN, FORMER REPORTER & ALLEGED KILLER: A major controversy --
WDBJ station manager, Jeff Marks, claimed that a claim was made to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, but the claim was dismissed. He told CNN that he doesn't know why Flanagan attacked victims, Parker and Ward.
MARKS: I cannot figure out any connection with those people who were among them, the kindest, nicest people who worked here. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that.
ALISON PARKER, REPORTER GUNNED DOWN DURING LIVE BROADCAST: We've got all the information --
TODD: 24-year-old Alison Parker was a reporter for the station for about a year, a recent graduate of James Madison University. Adam Ward, 27, was a camera man and a graduate of Virginia Tech. They worked as team.
PARKER, REPORTER SHOT DURING LIVE BROADCAST: Hey, everyone. I'm Alison Parker. Photojournalist Adam War and I are putting the final touches on a special report.
TODD: Both were in relationships with other colleagues at the station. Parker was dating station anchor, Chris Hurst. Ward was engaged to Melissa Ott, a producer for WDBJ's morning show. She was in the control room when this happened. They were preparing to move, and today was reportedly scheduled to be Ott's last day at WDBJ.
MARKS: I can't tell you how much they were loved, Adam and Alison, by the WDBJ 7 team. Our hearts are broken. TODD (on camera): Just how did the shooter know that the journalists would be in this parking lot early Wednesday morning? Authorities say that is a key focus of the investigation.
Brian Todd, CNN, Moneta, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Chris Hurst is an anchor at the station and Alison Parker's boyfriend. They had just moved in together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS HURST, WDBJ EMPLOYEE AND FIANCE OF ALISON PARKER: My memory of her when we had our sixth-month anniversary. She made a scrapbook for me and put all the pictures we spent together for the first six months, even pictures I didn't want to be in there. She put them in there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Parker's friends and co-workers describe her as a rock star who loved her job and took a general interest in the people she interviewed.
Now a spokeswoman for Vester Flanagan's family in California spoke to reporters after the shooting.
CHURCH: The statement was short and expressed grief for the victims. It did not mention the shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FRIEND OF THE VESTER FLANAGAN FAMILY: It's with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward and praying for recovery of Vicky Gardner. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims' family and with the WDBJ television family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:05:20] CHURCH: Law enforcement officials say a gun recovered from Flanagan is a Glock 19. That is a .9 millimeter pistol. He legally purchased it and another Glock pistol in July.
BARNETT: Ballistic tests will be performed to determine which gun was used. In his message to ABC, Flanagan claimed he put a deposit on a gun two days after the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
Now Brandon Foster says he was involved in a road-rage incident with Flanagan last month in Roanoke. He, quote, "called Flanagan out at a red light for driving like a maniac," end quote.
CHURCH: Foster said Flanagan followed him to his destination while driving recklessly. He posted this video to YouTube after Wednesday's murders. BARNETT: CNN caught up with Brandon Foster earlier. Listen to what
he said about the encounter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANDON FOSTER, ENGAGED IN ROAD-RAGE INCIDENT WITH FLANAGAN: I parked in a way that I wouldn't have 00 get blocked in and got out of my vehicle so I wouldn't be in a cage where someone who was following me. I was making a beeline to the store, to population, to have other people around because he was obviously not in the right mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: By his own admission, Flanagan was an angry man. After the shooting, he faxed a 23-page document explaining his feelings.
BARNETT: He apologized to his friends and family for dumping on them and wrote about being bullied and suffering injustices, but admitted being, quote, "somewhat racist against whites, blacks, and Latinos."
Drew Griffin takes a deeper look at the messages that Flanagan left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day he was fired from WDBJ TV, February 1st, 2013, the shooter told his bosses, "I'm not leaving. You're going to have to call the F'ing police." Colleagues say he threw a tantrum. The sells staff took shelter in a locked office. And police escorted him out of the NEWSROOM.
Internal memos obtained by CNN show his employment was wracked with aggressive behavior, poor journalistic performance, and warnings from management that he was making his co-workers feel threatened and uncomfortable. The station referred him to mandatory counseling.
After his firing, former colleagues tell CNN they were concerned for days that he would come back.
Jeff Marks is the station's general manager.
MARKS: It was, I guess, bothersome that he was in town and would be seen by our employees. But again, what do you do?
GRIFFIN: The shooter sued WDBJ TV claiming discrimination, the suit dismissed last summer. The station was the last stop in what appears to be a spotty career in local television. Records show he worked at TV stations in Greenville; North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Midland, Texas; and San Francisco, not far from his hometown.
In 2000, he was fired from a station in Tallahassee, Florida, for what the news director described as odd behavior. And after he was fired, a lawsuit filed alleging racial discrimination, and the suit was dismissed. This morning, allegations of racism would emerge again, this time, in
a disturbing string of tweets on the shooter's Twitter page. Hours after the shooting, he writes, "Alison made racist comments," meaning Alison Parker, the reporter he killed but never worked with. It's unclear if they ever even meant. A minute later, he writes, "EEOC complaint," meaning a claim of racism with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Another tweet, "And Adam went to the H.R. with me after working with me one time." He met the station's human resources department. Adam was Adam Ward, the photographer killed.
The station's manager says no one saw this coming.
MARKS: He did make some accusations against people some time ago. You could never imagine that someone's going to come back and act on those issues that were so old.
GRIFFIN: About a week ago, the shooter started posting pictures, an apparent life history, highlights from his childhood through high school and beyond. And in the rambling 23-page fax to ABC News, he says his plan to kill was set in motion after the killings in South Carolina earlier this summer. "Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15." Later, he writes admiration for the South Korean national mass killer at Virginia Tech, and the Columbine High School killers. His final tweet, "I filmed the shooting. See Facebook."
Drew Griffin, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:10:16] CHURCH: CNN law enforcement analyst, Cedric Alexander, joins me in the studio.
These are tragic circumstances that we speak of this situation where we see a gunman kill two journalists live on television, film it, and post it on social media. Have you ever heard of such a thing? And talk about the type of individual who would do such a thing?
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Certainly, I have not ever seen this before. I don't think many of us have. This is very new and different in terms of the way in which he managed this whole horrific crime.
You know, it's tragic. It's horrible and heartfelt by all of us in the U.S. and around the globe, too. But this is just a really horrible event.
But this individual, when you think about him, you must be thinking about someone who had a lot of internalized anger, someone who reflected even in his tweet of some deep-seated anger he had been carrying for years as it relates to separation from various news stations, and someone who clearly had emotional and psychological issues going on as well, too.
CHURCH: For our American audience, they know how easy is it to get a gun in this country. For our global audience, a lot of people would be shaking their heads, saying this man clearly had a lot of anger issues. He was clearly unstable. How does an individual like that get such easy access to guns?
ALEXANDER: You know, considering the fact that in this country you go into a gun store. You can purchase a gun with some waiting period, a cooling-off period but if there is no previous criminal history, if there is no mental health history that has been documented inside the system, he or she can go in and buy a firearm. That's one way. That's the legal way. And then of course you can buy a -- purchase, not even purchase but a lot of firearms are stolen, are borrowed. From someone as well too, but we're going to learn more about that as this investigation goes on as how he acquired that weapon but it's the accessibility to those weapons in this country as you well know is pretty easy.
CHURCH: You also talked about the situation before us where you have a man who clearly identified very closely with the job that he worked and he lost this job on a number of occasions. What is your advice to some of the -- like the station in question here and to other stations that employed him and for other situations where people have left their employment and they're angry and those circumstances have been very difficult, what do you suggest? What advice would you give to those employers as to what they should do to ensure that something like this isn't repeated?
ALEXANDER: You know, any time anyone leaves one job and goes to another, we call and see what his or her work ethic and abilities were in the job prior. If there is an indication in your background investigation of an incoming employee that he or she left with some very strong ill feelings, particularly that may have been articulated or acted out in some type of way, that could be a red flag you have to pay close attention to.
CHURCH: Cedric Alexander, thank you for joining us.
ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.
BARNETT: And to Cedric's point, this news station, WDBJ, did contact another station to let them know this man was looking for employment. They warned them. It's all about this issue of sharing information like that. We're not sure what's to be done.
Alison Parker's father released a statement calling her -- I'll read it word for word -- "a bright shining light extinguished by yet a crazy person with a gun."
CHURCH: Andy Parker later appeared on FOX News, along with Alison's boyfriend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY PARKER, FATHER OF ALISON PARKER: Everybody she touched loved her and she loved everybody back. I'm not going to let this issue drop. We've got to do something about crazy people getting guns.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives Americans the right to bear arms, and with few exceptions, there haven't been many restrictions placed on that right.
BARNETT: It's a topic that keeps coming up for the 2016 presidential candidates. President Barack Obama believes it's well past time to look at some type of gun control legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:15:02] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarves any deaths that happen through terrorism. We're willing to spend trillions of dollars to prevent terrorist activities but we haven't been willing, so far, at least, to impose some common sense gun safety measures that could save some lives.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: There is so much evidence that if guns were not so readily available, if we had universal background checks, if we could just put some time-out between the person who is upset because he got fired or the domestic abuse or whatever other motivation may be working on someone who does this, that maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage. So I hope that in addition to expressing sympathy for those directly affected, that this is maybe, for the media, for the public, for elected officials, for every American, what it hopefully will finally take for us to act.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just crazy people. It's violent people committing the crimes. It's not the guns. It's the people doing this. Here's the problem that I have.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: First of all, the Second Amendment is in the Constitution. I didn't write the Constitution, but I support it. And I think the Second Amendment is an important part of the Constitution that needs to be adhered to. Here's the second point, the second point is this, the only people who follow gun laws are law-abiding citizens. Criminals, by definition, ignore the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Just to put this gun issue in context for you, private citizens in the U.S. own more guns than people in any other country in the world, an estimated 270 million civilian-owned firearms, according to the 2011 Small Arms Survey Report.
BARNETT: That survey also reports the U.S. has the most civilian guns per capita, 89 firearms per 100 people, and that is well ahead of the top five nations, Yemen, Switzerland, Finland and Cyprus.
Unfortunately, there was another gun incident, act of violence on Wednesday in the U.S. This time, it was in Louisiana where a police officer was shot and killed. Authorities say he was responding to a call where a man stabbed three women. One of those women also died from her injuries.
CHURCH: The two other women, including the suspect's wife, are in the hospital. The suspect was captured after he barricaded himself inside a convenience store.
BARNETT: Wall Street breaks a six-day losing streak in dramatic fashion. Coming up next, we'll go live to Hong Kong and see how the markets in the Asia-Pacific region are fairing today. Stay us with.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day. I'm CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam with a quick look at your weather watch.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:22:00] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A nearly two-decade hunt for a man the FBI calls one of its most-wanted terrorists is now over. An Arab intelligence source says that Ahmed Ibrahim al Mogowsil (ph) has been captured in Lebanon.
BARNETT: A U.S. court indicted him in 2001 for his alleged role in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, a U.S. military housing complex, in Saudi Arabia. 19 American servicemen were killed in the incident. The source says that Mogowsil (ph) he was nabbed in a Saudi-led operation in Beirut, quote, "bundled into a plane and taken to Saudi Arabia to be interrogated."
Now to China where police have arrested 12 people in relation to the devastating explosions earlier this month in Tianjin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(EXPLOSION)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Such incredible scenes back then. The blasts killed 139 people, injuring more than 700 and forced thousands from their homes.
CHURCH: China's state-run news agency says those in custody are the chairman, vice chairman and three managers of the company that stored the chemicals inside the warehouse that blew up. State media said 10 senior executives with the firm had been detained.
Financial markets in the Asia-Pacific region are in positive territory today after a huge rally on Wall Street.
BARNETT: Such a different scene than Monday. You see so much green. The Shanghai Composite is up fractionally at .4 percent. Trading has ended in Tokyo with the Nikkei up 1 percent. Australia's SNX200 finished the day up just over 1 percent. Hong Kong up almost 2 percent.
CHURCH: And European markets are looking to recover today from a mid- week slump. The FTSE finished down 1.6 percent. Stocks in Paris and Frankfurt were also lower. Zurich saw the day's worst losses, off by 2.4 percent.
BARNETT: And it was a different story on Wall Street. The Dow surged 690 points on Wednesday. That's the third biggest one-day gain in history. It follows six straight days of losses that wiped out more than $2 trillion in value according to the S&P, Dow Jones indices.
CHURCH: We want to bring in CNN's Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens, live in Hong Kong.
Good to see you, Andrew.
The markets across Asia are in positive territory after a volatile few days in trading. Was it all about the Wall Street rally or did the intervention from China have something to do with it as well?
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Wall Street is a big influence across the Asia-Pacific region. The Wall Street rally was underpinned by the comments from the U.S. Fed chairman, William Dudley, that an interest rate rise looked less compelling in September. That gave investors a good chance to pile in and buy stocks that had been beaten down. But the actions in China have helped. Shanghai up at 2 percent. There has been a little bit of volatility. But it looks like yesterday in Shanghai. The markets are swinging around a bit but nothing like this week. Shanghai was down 20 percent over the past five days. The calm is returning, Rosemary, but no one at this stage can say with any degree of certainty how long it will last.
[02:25:40] CHURCH: Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you whether it signals an end to China's market woes for a little bit perhaps. But what about the current economic troubles of the country?
STEVENS: We've seen this before, this -- which turned into a lull, a calm between storms, when the market came off sharply after in July, after peaking in June, there was massive falls in Shanghai which were only stopped by a lot of government intervention that the company directors were hold they were not allowed to sell shares. Companies took themselves off trading. That stopped the fall in Shanghai. And we had a period of relative calm and then the selling resumed again. We can't say this is a flaw in any shape or size. We have seen China moving back in and making big macroeconomic moves like freeing up more money to lend. This will help the real economy but how much? We have had interest rate cuts in the past and easing of bank requirements. That hasn't done enough to get the economy moving to the degree that the rest of the world would want to see.
It's interesting, Rosemary, yes, it does look like the Chinese economy is growing quite a significant amount more slowly than official figures. But this is also a part of this whole bigger picture of China transitioning from its earlier economic model of flooding the world with cheap exports to a consumer-based economic model. And there is going to be a pain associated with that. There may be a lot of pain associated with that transition.
CHURCH: Yeah, it seems that way. And as we're talking, we are watching the Shanghai Composite dip a half percent there. We'll keep an eye on that. And soon we'll be looking at the European markets as they open for the new day. We'll see what happens there.
Andrew Stevens joining us live from Hong Kong. Thanks to you.
BARNETT: An American man who helped stop a gunman on a Paris-bound train is back home in the U.S. and is being hailed as a hero.
CHURCH: Anthony Sadler was one of five passengers who disarmed the gunman last week, potentially saving many lives. Sadler was honored in his hometown of Sacramento, California, on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY SADLER, HELPED STOP GUNMAN: After such a crazy few days, it's good to be back on American soil, especially in Sacramento. This is my home and I'm glad to be back here to see everybody. It's overwhelming for me. I didn't expect all this to happen. But I just appreciate you all for coming and it's good to be back home. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Meantime, the Moroccan suspect in the train attack spent several days at his sister's home in Belgium before the incident. A European Counterterrorism official says the woman's home was raided by police earlier this week, but she is not suspected of having a role in the attack.
CHURCH: The official says investigators believe a group of French ISIS fighters may have supported Ayoub el Khazzani but they are not in a position to confirm that yet.
BARNETT: Our coverage of a deadly shooting of a U.S. news crew continues. Ahead, a look at the shooter's history of conflicts at work and the impact they may have had on Wednesday's attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:32:42] BARNETT: Hey there, everyone. Welcome back whether you watching in the U.S. or around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.
CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. We want to update you on the stories we're watching this hour.
The former reporter who shot and killed a cameraman and reporter on live television in the U.S. long message detailing his anger. In a 23-page document, Vester Flanagan admitted to being racist against whites, blacks and Latinos. After the shooting, Flanagan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. BARNETT: A U.S. judge has sentenced Colorado movie theater shooter,
James Holmes, to thousands of years in prison. The 27-year-old received 12 life terms without parole, one for each of the victims killed in the massacre three years ago. He also received more than 3,000 years in prison-related convictions.
CHURCH: We're seeing -- well, look at that. We're seeing a lot of green arrows today. In Tokyo, the Nikkei finished up about 1 percent. In Sydney, the ASX ended the day higher. There is about 30 minutes to go in Shanghai. But you can say there, it is up one-third percent there. Of course, just moments ago it was down .5 percent. It is still volatile. And Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up more than 2 percent.
BARNETT: Will the Shanghai end up or down? We don't know.
We want to return to the shooting in Virginia. As more former employees discuss Vester Flanagan's behavior at work, it is clear the shooter carried anger for years.
CHURCH: The news director who hired and later fired Flanagan from a station in Florida described his demeanor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN SHAFER, FORMER NEWS DIRECTOR: He was a weekend anchor. It was his second job. We brought him in. He was a good on-air performer and pretty good reporter. And then things started getting strange with him.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: What happened?
SHAFER: I don't want to say too much about it but we had to terminate his contract and let him go. He sued us --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: For bizarre behavior?
SHAFER: For bizarre behavior and for fighting with other employees. He threatened to punch people out and he was running roughshod over other folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:35:00] BARNETT: Dr. Erik Fisher is a licensed psychologist and joins us at CNN Center to try to process what we have all witnessed.
It appears the gunman carried many grievances, was let go a number of times from various jobs, and put real planning and effort into this shooting. What was that and what is in his manifesto tell you about his mental state?
DR. ERIK FISHER, LICENSED PSYCHOLOGIST: Here's somebody who for a long period of time felt they had been persecuted and bullied and shamed and feeling weak. What he was seeking to do was to try to get his power back, potentially. His role in the media had him knowing how the get attention and his use of social media, he knew he would get some attention, whether it's infamy or not, but the outcome is tragic. And we have to look at this as a society and not focus on the individual.
BARNETT: You're saying this is a larger issue? This is the first time we've seen it on live television and he recorded it and posted it on Facebook as well.
I want you to hear what WDBJ's station manager, Jeff Marks, had to say about what is was like working with the shooter. Let's listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARKS: In his personal relationships, he was aggressive, and people were shy to work with him. He was just not a pleasant person, as it turned out. He seemed to have anger and distress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: So he seemed to blame others for his own shortcomings. We have people in our newsroom who have worked with him at previous stations who say the same thing. Is that a common trait in disturbed people, to blame others and not take on responsibility? What changes a regular person to someone who can take on a violent act like this?
FISHER: Again, this is someone who externalizes. If he was more narcissistic -- at the core of every narcissist, which is somebody who looks at the world like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, at the core of every narcissist is a shattered ego. They can't deal with any more blame or shame or guilt. So they project it outwards. If this is someone with persecutory delusions who might have been potentially borderline psychotic, and we won't necessarily know that, then you are looking at someone who looks like the world is against him. That can overlap into some of the narcissistic traits. So what we have to look at here is, he saw the world as him against the world. What he then did with the South Carolina shooting is he found his cause to attach to. In his mind, he was trying to say, I'm going to represent the African-American societal culture and fight that battle for them, and he was able to focus that on his targets of two people he felt affected his employment at the last news station. And he held a grudge for so long. It wasn't just about them. It was about all the people that wronged him. And he projected all of that rage and anger and hatred onto those individuals.
BARNETT: Some incredible insights.
Dr. Erik Fisher, great to get you in here. Clinical psychologist. Appreciate your time. Thanks a lot.
FISHER: Thank you.
CHURCH: CNN's John Berman has a look back at the lives of those two young journalists, Alison Parker and Adam Ward.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PARKER: I'm Alison Parker. Photojournalist Adam Ward and I are putting the final touches on our special report.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their love of the job, their passion for their work, it leapt through the screen.
PARKER: Witnesses say this is a day that they will never forget.
BERMAN: They informed and delighted a community.
ADAM WARD, PHOTOJOURNALIST KILLED DURING LIVE BROADCAST: In Salam, Adam Ward, News 7 Sports.
BERMAN: A community in a state of disbelief.
MARKS: This place is in shock, as you might expect. There is a lot of crying and hugging going on.
BERMAN: Colleagues say that 27-year-old Adam Ward and 24-year-old Alison Parker, of affiliate WDBJ, were unfailingly positive, relentlessly hard working, and never shied away from a story.
PARKER: I wanted to go through a sleep study to see if my job impacts how I schmooze.
BERMAN: Or a challenge.
PARKER: My hobby is white water kayaking --
BERMAN: In this profile from the station earlier this year, Parker spoke of her love for the outdoors and the arts.
PARKER: My dad was on Broadway back in the day.
BERMAN: Her father released a statement saying, "I find my grief unbearable. Not hearing her voice again crushes my soul."
Both Parker and Ward began as interns at the station, eventually becoming a morning show team, as staff reporter and photographer.
MARKS: Adam was the kind of guy if he were on the way home and knew of something that needed to be done he would turn around and go do it.
BERMAN: Ward was engaged to morning show producer, Melissa Ott, seen here in a tweet this morning, celebrating what was reportedly supposed to be her last day at the station. Instead, she was in the control room when her future husband was gunned down.
[02:39:58] BERMAN: WDBJ anchor, Chris Hurst, says he is numb after the news. Parker was his girlfriend of nine months and just moved in with him.
"She was the most radiant woman I ever met," he posted on social media today, "and for some reason she loved me back."
Parker's last interview was with Vicky Gardner, the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. She was live on air when gunfire rang out. Gardner was shot in the back and is recovering at hospital today.
And as this unfolds, WDBJ stays on the story. With a broken heart, but not broken, because there is no greater tribute to great reporters than to keep reporting.
MARKS: This doesn't happen in our part of the country. But yet, it has, and we will be forever scarred by it.
BERMAN: John Berman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The Italian Coast Guard says about 50 migrants were found dead inside a boat off the Libyan coast.
BARNETT: The Swedish Coast Guard and European Union border control crews found the bodies after answering a distress call on Wednesday. About 430 people on the boat were found alive. Italian media reports the victims most likely were asphyxiated.
Some residents across Europe don't want anything to do with the migrants.
CHURCH: In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel got and earful from angry citizens Wednesday when she visited a town where migrants have congregated and anti-migrant sentiment recently turned violent.
CNN's Ian Lee has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
[02:44:49] IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): German police clashed with anti-migrant protesters in the eastern city of Hydonel (ph). Xenophobia front and center as the country witnesses a rise in attacks against refugees.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, under pressure to react, visited on Wednesday, greeted by hecklers.
(SHOUTING)
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translation): We must put all of our efforts in to making clear there's no tolerance for people who question the dignity of others. There's no tolerance for those who are not willing to help where legal and human help is required.
LEE: Xenophobic attacks on the rise in Germany. One of the latest, they suspect arsonists torched this shelter for asylum seekers in the town of Nown (ph), as Europe's most populous country buckles under the massive influx of refugees. Berlin expects 800,000 of them will apply for asylum by the end of the year, four times as many as 2014. Overall, the United Nations predicts more than one million, fleeing war, repression and instability, will arrive on the continent in 2015, causing some nations to take drastic measures, erecting walls with razor wire and dog patrols to try to keep the desperate refugees out.
(SHOUTING)
LEE: Hungarian police tear gassed hundreds at an overcrowded registration center on Wednesday.
GEOFFREY ROBERTSON, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: There's plenty of evidence that democracies turn right. They turn rabidly nationalists where there are immigrants on the horizon.
LEE: But even as Europe tries to fortify its borders, many countries on the E.U.'s fringe are finding it impossible to stem the flood of migrants seeking a better life.
Ian Lee, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Let's take a look at global weather for you now. We move the focus to the Americas. Parts of the Caribbean and the southern U.S. may be the target of an upcoming hurricane.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Yeah.
BARNETT: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us with more on that.
JAVAHERI: Guys, we have seen a hurricane drought. In the United States, people have a hard time believing, but the last time a catalog 3 hurricane struck the U.S. was back in 2005, in fact, 118 months. And President Obama is the only president in 122 years to not have a major hurricane on his watch.
(CROSSTALK)
JAVAHERI: Benjamin Harrison was the only other president to go without a hurricane category 3 or higher.
(CROSSTALK)
BARNETT: You full of history.
JAVAHERI: Yeah. We'll talk about what is happening with Tropical Storm Erica. It has a potential to become a hurricane. Others saying a cat 1 is a likelihood. A thunderstorm bubbling over this region where we have tropical storm warnings and watches. Working your way to the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas as well. If the storm system goes off shore of the east coast we are talking category 3. If it stays on the western side, potentially a category 1. A Florida impact down the line is what we're looking at. Here's the forecast track right now. The cone of uncertainty rides to the eastern coast of Florida as a category 1. Not a menacing feature but worth noting. But we have had heavy rainfall south of Sydney. I'll show you video coming out of this area. Tremendous rainfall and entering the dry season in the coming couple of weeks here. Half a meter in a few places coming down in this region south of Sydney where 1300 emergency calls made. About 80 water rescues and getting the heaviest rain in 13 years. And you notice the outlook on the graphic, July, August, September and into the spring and summer season, it's on the dry end of things.
And here's what is going on in parts of Europe. In Poland and Germany, extensive drought. An incredible finding out of a river tributary, off the longest river in Poland, we talk about the water levels at historic lows. Officials finding a World War II-era plane on the bottom of the river bed with the crew on board, with parachutes and weaponry as well found there. They knew the plane was there but they water levels had never gotten this low, and they unearthed it.
BARNETT: Unearthing a piece of history there.
JAVAHERI: Absolutely, yeah.
BARNETT: All right, Pedram, thanks very much.
JAVAHERI: Thanks for having me.
BARNETT: Appreciate that.
[02:49:37] CHURCH: U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, slams Asian negotiators during a campaign stop. But it's the way he did it that is stirring up yet another controversy. We're back with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Rachel Nichols with your CNN World Sports headlines.
Manchester United secured their European football after missing out last season for the first since 1990. United went into the game 3:1 up and the result was never in doubt as Wayne Runny (ph) scored his first goal for the new season for the win. Runny (ph) grabbed a hat trick with Andre Correra (ph) scoring the fourth.
At the World Athletics Championship in Beijing, two of the fastest men on earth have continued to eye each other. Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin (ph) both qualified for Thursday's final in the 200 meters. Each man won his seat. Gatlin (ph) crossed in in 19.8.7 seconds but wasn't running his hardest. Obviously, easing up at the finish line. And then there was Bolt. He finished in 19.9.5 seconds, his first time of the year. But he was so relaxed during it, he actually took the time during the race to exchange a laugh and a joke with a fellow competitor.
Now, off the track, the IAAF announced the two Kenyan athletes have accepted provisional suspensions following positive drug tests. It was confirmed in a statement they will provide full support and cooperation to the IAAF.
That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Rachel Nichols.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Donald Trump has no trouble doubling down on old feuds.
BARNETT: That's right. He has circled back to one of his favorite targets, a fellow Republican presidential candidate.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has details on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: She should be apologizing to me.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump, front and center, taking on anyone who stands in his way.
TRUMP: Excuse me. Sit down. You weren't called. Sit down. Sit down.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Sit down.
MALVEAUX: Today, Trump is standing by his decision to have security forcibly escort Univision Reporter Jorge Ramos out of his Iowa press conference Tuesday night.
TRUMP (voice-over): I would have gotten to him very quickly. He stood up and started ranting and raving like a madman. He was totally, absolutely out of line.
JORGE RAMOS, REPORTER, UNIVISION: You cannot deport 11 million --
MALVEAUX: This morning, Ramos telling CNN it was his duty to stand up.
RAMOS (voice-over): As a reporter, I believe you have to take a stand. I think the most important social responsibility as a reporter is to prevent and denounce the abuse of those who are in power.
MALVEAUX: Trump's opponent, Jeb Bush weighing in this morning, taking sides with Ramos.
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I think the people of the press should be treated with more respect and dignity. How about that?
MALVEAUX: Bush also calling on Trump to get serious about putting forward immigration solutions. BUSH: This guy is now the front runner. He should be held to
account, just like me, and be asked, as he was yesterday, how you going to pay for it?
[02:55:09] MALVEAUX: Trump responded.
TRUMP: We are responding a fortune, not only the crime and all the problems that is being cause but we're spending a minimum of $130 billion. We're not going to pay for it because we're not going to be spending that kind of money. That's one way we're not going to pay for it.
MALVEAUX: And Trump's attacks in Iowa didn't end with Ramos, as he offered up this impersonation of Asians.
TRUMP: Negotiating with Japan, negotiating with China, they say we want deal.
MALVEAUX: And as usual, Trump did not spare his Republican rivals, --
(CHEERING)
MALVEAUX: -- putting Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio with this.
TRUMP: And I watch these two guys hug and kissing and holding each other.
(LAUGHTER)
Very much like actually Chris Christie did with the president.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: No. I'm only kidding.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: There you go. That was CNN correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting.
And you may want to see this. CNN's Chris Cuomo will have an interview with Donald Trump later today at 7:30 a.m., eastern time if you're in the states. That's 11:30 a.m. GMT right here on CNN International.
CHURCH: Make sure you watch that.
And you have been watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.
BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. We're back with more after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
