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Florida Braces for Storm; Remembering Hurricane Katrina; Shooting Survivor Recovering; Prep School Rape Trial: Jury Deliberations Happening Now. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 28, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:07] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my friend Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me this Friday morning, 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. And we are talking about a potentially major storm. Preparations under way in Florida. But it now appears Tropical Storm Erika may not strengthen into a hurricane. We will see. If that's the case, it is a major relief when you look at the havoc it is wreaking in the Caribbean.

Take a look at this river raging uncontrollably. Torrential rain now being blamed for the deaths of four people in Dominica and more than 20 are missing there. Earlier this morning, Erika was on track to make landfall in Florida as a possible hurricane. It has been nearly 10 years since the sunshine state has seen that. Meteorologist Chad Myers joining us from the severe weather center in Atlanta with the latest.

So it looks like it's changing course, weakening?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It did change course overnight. The models have shifted it to the west. And let me talk about that. A couple days ago, let's back you up to like Monday and Tuesday, we were coming in here over the Bahamas and kind of making a big right-hand turn. And then as we looked at some of the other models that were way over here, they were Cat 5 storms. They were big 150 mile per hour hurricanes. But because it stayed in the water so long, that's how it got bigger.

So now if this thing travels over the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and over parts of Cuba, and gets to the U.S., into parts of Florida, and I don't know whether it's going to be the dry Tortugas (ph) or Grand Bahama Island, but somewhere in there. We're not going to see that intensification into a Cat anything, I don't believe, because of so much interaction with land, Haiti, Cuba, not so much Turks and Caicos because they're pretty flat and don't have a lot of topography.

But as it moves on up into Florida, it is still forecast to be a very significant storm. A 60 mile per hour possible flood maker. And even 60 miles per hour will push some things around and could even damage some of your property and certainly you.

There's the model from this morning. Here is the model from last night. So let's go back to this morning, back over here into parts of Florida. There are models that are left and right and there are even models that will take it all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. And if that happens, then all bets are off because you know what happens in the Gulf of Mexico when a storm gets there. The water's so warm, things can really pop up. Things can get going very, very significantly.

But - I would say the Dominican Republic and Haiti are really in line for the next big part of the rain. Dominica picked up 12 inches of rainfall in a couple hours and it just flooded there. That was a tremendous flood and a dangerous situation going on there. But as the storm moves over the Dominican Republic, maybe Punta Cana (ph), over Haiti, that's where I think the rainfall is going to be, at least in the next 12 to 24 hours, as it makes its way on up toward the U.S. somewhere from the keys all the way to the Bahamas.

Poppy.

HARLOW: We'll be watching, tracking it all weekend. Chad Myers, thank you.

MYERS: Yes.

HARLOW: Tomorrow marks ten years since Hurricane Katrina hit and devastated New Orleans. Former President Bush is set to speak in that city right now. He and his wife, former First Lady Laura Bush, are at the historic Warren Easton Charter High School. That is the same location where the former president spoke in 2006 on the first anniversary of Katrina. Later today, they will be in Gulfport, Mississippi, for an event honoring first responders.

Martin Savidge was one of the first reporters on the ground covering the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. He recalls the heartbreaking appeal of people whose lives have suddenly been completely ripped apart with nowhere to turn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was in the Superdome when Katrina struck. A couple of days later I was here at the Convention Center. This place was far worse. There were thousands and thousands of people and days in without any help. They were desperate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't take this. We've been out here for there days.

SAVIDGE: They begged us to take them with us. They assumed that we were leaving every day.

CROWD: We want help!

SAVIDGE: We weren't. We never left the city.

And so when we told that to them, they then said, well, you've got to have some way of talking to people. We said, well, we have satellite phones. And that's when people began tearing up pieces of paper or grabbing any cardboard or writing down telephone numbers. It was certain if someone knew, that they would come and be rescued. And they gave me the numbers and begged that I'd call. And every evening when I got done with work and when there were a few free moments, I'd start making my way down the list.

The first thing I realized is that nobody answers their phone anymore. It's always voicemail after voicemail. And the message I would always leave was the same, you don't know me. I'm a reporter. I'm in New Orleans. I saw your uncle today in the Convention Center or I saw your aunt, I saw your sister. They're OK.

One of the people actually wrote specifically what I was supposed to say on the phone call. And it goes, "please call my daughter Amethyst and tell her her daddy, quote, ain't dead yet." I hung onto that note all these years, just because it was a reminder of how desperate people were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:35:13] HARLOW: Remarkable reporting. Martin Savidge, thank you very much.

All right, I do want to check Wall Street this Friday morning. The opening bell rang just about 5 minutes ago in one of the most wild weeks on the street that we have seen in years. Take a look there. The market. The Dow Jones Industrial average off 57 points here at the open. We will see where this day takes us on an incredibly volatile week.

Still to come here, the sole survivor of Wednesday's deadly attack in Roanoke is awake and talking to her family. Thank goodness. Find out what she had to say after this tragedy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:09] HARLOW: The sole survivor from Wednesday's tragic shooting is now recovering following a second surgery. Vicki Gardner was being interviewed by Alison Parker when they shooter ambushed the two of them, along with their cameraman Adam Ward. Her husband says she has lost a kidney, she has lost part of her colon as well. Thank goodness she survived.

Let's get more on her condition, how she's doing, how her family's doing. I'm joined by Pastor Troy Keaton. He is the chairman of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, also the spokesman for the Gardner family.

Thank you for being with me, Troy.

TROY KEATON, GARDNER FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Vicki's husband told our Chris Cuomo, she now has, quote, a long recovery period ahead. I'm wondering what that looks like.

KEATON: Well, any time you are shot and your internal organs are damaged and - and - as hers were, it's - it's a long road to recovery. We are very optimistic. Yesterday was a very good day. She had a second surgery in the morning, came through the early afternoon. And early in the afternoon they were able to take her out of her medically induced coma. She awake and was speaking. And yesterday was an extraordinarily encouraging day for the Gardner family.

HARLOW: What did she say?

KEATON: From what I have received from the family, she is very lucid and vid in her memory of what happened. I understand the first communication that she had with them was in regards to Alison and Adam and her concern and condolences about them because she understood, I think, when it happened, what had happened. And she remembered that. And she was expressing her concern and regret and sadness over that.

HARLOW: Yes.

KEATON: She's also learning of the size and the magnitude of this story, which she wasn't obviously aware of, but is grateful for all the support. And she's very - her and Tim and the family are very interested in sending out their sympathies to the others who have been affected and involved.

HARLOW: Yes, of course. Amazing that's the first thing out of her mouth was her concern for others.

The Bridgewater Plaza, that area where she was being interviewed when all this happened, it reopens today for the first time since the shootings. I know a memorial - a big memorial has been set up. What's your reaction to that and the opening?

KEATON: Well, I think over the next few days we're all going to see how great a community Smith Mountain Lake really is. And we're excited about the fact that we will triumph evil with good. And tomorrow the Chamber of Commerce reopens our office -

HARLOW: Right.

KEATON: Which Vicki runs on a day to day basis. And she is such an exceptional leader that she has a great team and the team is going to be there. I'll be there. And we're going to be reopening tomorrow at 10:00. And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of things going on and memorials and so forth over the next few days. And we're going to walk it one day at a time, confident that we will triumph.

HARLOW: Yes. Did - did you say, maybe I misheard you, did you say she's going to be there?

KEATON: No, no, Vicki is not going to be there, obviously.

HARLOW: Right.

KEATON: No. She's got, you know, probably at least several more days in the hospital.

HARLOW: OK.

KEATON: And so the staff will be there. The staff has come together. We have a tremendous staff at the chamber, a tremendous board and executive committee that Vicki is really instrumental in mentoring and leading. And so her work is now going to shine bright in her - in her time of recovery.

HARLOW: You know, we have heard from the father of Alison Parker, the young reporter shot and killed, also the boyfriend, both saying they are turning their sorrow, their grief, their anguish, into a mission and a mission for more gun control, different gun laws in this country. I wonder if Vicki has said anything about that, having experienced this herself being shot.

KEATON: Not to my knowledge. I know that Vicki and all of us send our condolences to the families. And we admire Alison's father and all those that are working and committing themselves to work to do something to make it better. We all want to do something to make it better. And I think that's all of our mission. And we - we just need to understand and try to discern what that - what it looks like to prevent this kind of stuff. And our hearts and thoughts and prayers and Vicki and Tim's hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to those families today and they admire them greatly.

HARLOW: Absolutely. I am glad to hear that she is doing a bit better. Please send her our best, Troy.

KEATON: Thank you so much, Poppy. I will be certain to do that.

[09:45:01] HARLOW: All right, Troy, thank you very much. Also the pastor there for the family.

I want to tell you, we're getting new details about the funeral for slain journalist Adam Ward, the cameraman with a smile as big as you can imagine in every photo I have seen of him. The funeral will be held next Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time at the First Baptist Church in Roanoke. We will pass along any more details as we get them. But if you are looking for ways to honor the victims, go to cnn.com/impact. Again, cnn.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:07] HARLOW: All right. You're taking a look at images from moments ago. Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush visiting the Warren Easton Charter School in New Orleans. This is a very significant school because this is a school -- you're looking at live images of them now with some of the students there. This is a very significant school because this is the school in New Orleans that they visited on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina back in 2006. Back here today, of course, in remembrance of what happened ten years ago tomorrow when Hurricane Katrina struck with such devastating force.

Also this, jury deliberations underway right now in Concord, New Hampshire, where a prep school graduate is on trial for alleged rape. The accused rapist, Owen Labrie, claims his encounter with the then- 15-year-old classmate was not rape but consensual, adding that the pair never had sex. That's what he said when he took the stand this week. The prosecution says not only did Labrie plan the sexual assault, he took the girl's virginity as a source of pride.

Boris Sanchez has been on this case from the beginning. He is now there in concord, New Hampshire, with the latest. Boris, the jury still deliberating on this, right?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. The jury now entering their fifth hour of deliberation. The jury's made up of nine men and three women. Two men were randomly chosen as alternates yesterday. They're going over nine charges against Owen Labrie, the most serious ranging from felonious sexual assault and the most minor, a misdemeanor for endangering the welfare of a child.

Yesterday the jury heard closing arguments in the case. The defense arguing that they never had sex and that the encounter between them was consensual. Again, they brought it to the jury. These messages exchanged between the accuser and Owen Labrie after the incident that seemingly contradict the accuser's account. They said that Owen Labrie had a moment of divine inspiration during the encounter and he chose to stop it.

Meantime, the prosecution arguing that this was his plan all along, that he had hatched a plan earlier in the school year sharing a list with his friend of senior salutes, girls that he wanted to have sexual encounters with. The accuser's name was in all caps on that list. Here is a taste of what the defense and the prosecution gave as closing arguments yesterday in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.W. CARNEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If you conclude that she was not being truthful to you, then I submit it taints her entire testimony. She had to make the decision whether it would be her reputation that was going to go into the toilet or Owen's, and she took the easier choice.

JOSEPH CHERNISKE, PROSECUTOR: And on the last night before graduation, nothing, not even a girl saying no and holding onto her underwear was going to stop him. She said it with her words. She said it with her actions. And he had sex with her anyway. The state asks you hold him accountable for his decisions and find him guilty of each and every one of the crimes that he's charged with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Both sides giving the jury a lot to think about, as you can hear there. There's been a lot of testimony, especially from the defense, arguing that the administration at St. Paul's failed the students by not keeping a closer eye on them. The defense repeating over and over that they winked at the senior salute. After this case wraps up, it's a good bet that there may be a civil suit against the school as well. Poppy?

HARLOW: Boris Sanchez reporting for us from Concord, New Hampshire. Of course, when we get a verdict in that case we will bring it right to you. Thank you, Boris.

Quick break. We're back on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:03] HARLOW: All right. You're looking at pictures that we're going to pull up in just a moment of Jeb Bush speaking just moments ago about Donald Trump at this town hall in Norfolk, Virginia. Let's listen.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump supported Hillary Clinton in 1988 -- in 2008. I supported John McCain. I think most of you all probably supported John McCain. So if he's going to be held to account, I respect the fact that people are supporting him for legitimate reasons of anger about the dysfunction in Washington, but when they hear what his views are, the cost of building the whole immigration deal, it's not a conservative proposal he's making. It's going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars, violate civil liberties, challenge our freedom in so many ways. Let's have a debate about the ideas that people have as candidates and when they do, I think I'll do a lot better than Mr. Trump. Yes. Look -- I'm sorry.

HARLOW: All right. Also checking some top stories for you now.

One student is dead following a shooting overnight on the campus of Savannah State University in Georgia. A lockdown of the campus has been lifted, but the search for the gunman continues. The shooting apparently followed some sort of altercation at the student union. No one else was injured.

In the Middle East, ISIS not only destroying ancient sites across Syria and Iraq, it is also plundering priceless artwork and trying to sell those pieces of art on the black market to finance their terrorism. The FBI sending out an alert to the international art community to be on the lookout for any relics from the region that may have been stolen by ISIS. The agency warns that possessing looted art, even without knowing it, is a federal crime.

And in China a group of people waiting for a bus were suddenly swallowed up by a giant sinkhole. One woman clung to pipes to keep from falling -- wow, unbelievable. Clung to pipes -- you see her right there -- to keep from falling in. Everyone eventually pulled out. No one, miraculously, seriously hurt.

All right. The next hour of NEWSROOM begins right now.