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Deputy Darren Goforth Shot And Killed At Texas Gas Station; Mother Of Sandy Hook Victim Sends Letter To Alison Parker's Parents; French Experts Say Piece Of Debris Found On Reunion Island May Not Be Part Of MH-370; Donald Trump Still Leading In Polls; Wall Street Holds Its Breath For Tomorrow's Opening; Memorial Service Underway For Alison Parker And Adam Ward; 60-Year-Old Gregry Murray Tumbled Out Of Stands During Yankee-Braves Game. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 30, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JIM ADAMS, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: When you're nine days into it and starting to wonder if the dividend is going to pay off for you and have such a success story, it's utterly amazing and tickles us all to death that we have good news at the end of nine days because that's an amazing survival for that length of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Incredible story of survival there. Rescuers say Harwood was conscious, talking and very grateful when she was found.

We've got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.

[15:00:39] WHITFIELD: All right. Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, Alison Parker's mother and father talk about their daughter and talk about their new mission, changing gun control laws in our country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY PARKER, ALISON PARKER'S FATHER: If it's the only thing that's given me strength right now, to go to take on this cause because, you know, I know that somewhere she'd be looking down and saying, you go, dad. This is what she would want me to do.

BARBARA PARKER, ALISON PARKER'S MOTHER: I can just -- I can see how it is her fight and I can see Alison sitting there going -- because that's what she'd do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Plus, a terrifying fall. A fan plunges to his death from an upper deck DURING A Braves-Yankees game at Turner field.

And new polls show Bernie Sanders closing the gap between he and Hillary Clinton. NEWSROOM starts right now. Hello again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm

Fredricka Whitfield.

We want to take you live to Roanoke, Virginia, where TV station WDBJ is now holding an interfaith service for its two fallen colleagues, Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Ung see right there the father of Alison Parker there, Andy Parker. Let's listen in a little bit.

All right. Well, people there are beginning to assemble and take their seats as this service will soon be getting under way. Among those who will be speaking, Jeff Marks, who is the station general manager and, of course, you're seeing them open up with a video tribute of Alison and then I'm sure Adam.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: All right. The general manager of WDBJ will be speaking soon to those gathered there in Roanoke. Earlier today he spoke on CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" about how the tragedy has forced his newsroom to rethink how they do their jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MARKS, GENERAL MANAGER, WDBJ: The plan going forward is to look at each live opportunity separately and make the proper decisions. But I'm not going to go here and say, every live shot is going to have three or four people because there are crazy people out there and I think it's best if we keep our plans to ourselves but it's certainly a subject of discussion here and I can imagine every newsroom in the country that routinely does what we call these live shots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Polo Sandoval is joining us now from Washington.

So Polo, you've just returned from Roanoke. What have people been telling you about how they are coping?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, they are in disbelief. Just yesterday I ran into a woman standing outside of the memorial at the studios where these two young journalists used to work at and this woman told me that she just can't believe that tomorrow morning she will turn on the television and she will not see that familiar face that woke her up every day on the news. And that's one of the reasons that this community has been dealing with a tremendous pain.

We discussed this yesterday, Fred, the news business, a very transient one. Reporters and anchors move from one place to another but these two were very different. Both Alison and Adam lived in the community. They were from there and so they really did come to know everybody from when they were young on the way to their professional lives.

So I think that's one of the reasons why we expect a tremendous show of support, to reach these high points in just a few minutes here as they begin -- it's actually already begun at that memorial service, expected to be likely standing room eventually as this ceremony, this memorial continues.

WHITFIELD: And Vicki Gardener was the woman that Alison was interviewing. She has been hospitalized. What do we know more about her condition today?

SANDOVAL: That is perhaps some of the good news that has been coming out here recently. The family releasing, really, just an update a few moments ago saying that she remains in ICU but she is awake. She's conscious. She is talking. In fact, just late yesterday she was able to get up on her own. So that is a very promising sign as Vicki Gardener, the lone survivor in Wednesday's terrible shooting continues to improve. But really, it's the emotional scars that are going to take a long time to heal.

[15:05:13] WHITFIELD: Indeed.

All right. Polo Sandoval, thank so much in Washington.

So the parents of Alison Parker's parents say unlike past act of gun violence, they are determined to use their daughter's death to achieve stricter background checks on gun purchases and stronger restrictions to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally disturbed. Earlier today, both parents spoke with our Poppy Harlow in an exclusive interview. And this is the first time that we heard from Barbara Parker who received an open letter from the mother of a Sandy Hook victim. Poppy read that letter to them and got this reaction.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I understand the overwhelming need to make something positive come from this. The need to save lives as part of your daughter Alison's legacy. I can see the shock in your eyes and the potent mixture of anger and grieve bubbling under the surface threatening to overcome you at any time. I have insight into the journey ahead for you and can sadly say that it will not -- never get easier, but there is hope and that is what you need to hold on to. People say, if Sandy Hook couldn't deliver change, nothing will. I disagree. What do you say, Barbara?

A. PARKER: And --

B. PARKER: I absolutely agree with that. You think that how could that many children be killed and nothing happen, for it to be ignored? But what we have to do is, there are people out there whose minds we will never change. They are the people that are unimportant in this fight. The people who are important in this fight are the silent majority who feel the way we do that some kind of gun control measures are necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So the author of that letter was Nicole Hockley who is 6- year-old son, Dylan, died at Sandy Hook. She joins us now by phone.

So, Miss Hockley, clearly, you are still grieving the loss of your little boy. You write about how hard it has been, particularly this time of year with back to school, seeing the buses. So how were you able to reach so deep inside to write this open letter to the Parkers?

NICOLE HOCKLEY, SON DYLAN DIED IN SANDY HOOK MASSACRE (on the phone): Well, first of all, I really want to say thank you for sharing that letter with them because I had no idea how to reach them and didn't know how to help them in any shape or form. But I do - you know, after every act of gun violence, the scar on my heart strip open yet again. And my heart believes to all of the families in the community that is affected. I want to reach out to every single one. Sometimes it completely overwhelms me and I am unable to do anything in the situation.

You know, on Friday, I said, you know, I have to write something and I wrote very quickly over lunch time and sends out and just a hope that it might reach them. So thank you for that.

WHITFIELD: And you wrote this very moving, very poignant letter. And you also write that when the shooting happened, you were advised to get away from media. Don't watch what's happened, tried to remove yourself from this experiences as the nation was now grappling with yet another shooting. What happened upon that instruction? Did you do that? Did you stay away from media? Did - what else did you --?

HOCKLEY: I stayed away from media for a little while every news report, every press report takes me immediately back to my own experience. And it re-traumatizes you every single time. And knowing that they have been executed live on television, I was very concerned that I might accidentally stumble across that video and I really did not want to see it because I can easily see Alison's face and transpose that with that of my son. And I don't -- I have nightmares about his last moments regularly. I don't need to see it play out on TV and re-traumatized myself or have anyone else re-traumatize that way. So I did allow my friends and colleagues to get the information for me and filter it to me and helps me, recommend to me which articles I should read as more details came out.

WHITFIELD: You also write that, you know, Sandy Hook was a catalyst that started significant change. And I'm quoting you now from your letter that more people are discussing gun safety but then you hear the Parkers', you know, situation and you hear, you know, from Andy Parker who predicted that after everyone talks about it, the conversation will change and then people will stop talking about it and it will be an uphill battle, you know, to try to promote any kind of change. What do you advise them to do in their ongoing fight?

[15:10:17] HOCKLEY: Yes. In terms of the change, even for sensible gun safety and mental illness registration, it's absolutely an uphill battle. But there is movement being made and the conversation has never fully stopped since Sandy Hook. It goes in ebbs and waves, you know. It comes and goes but it's always still there. And unfortunately, more shootings and more gun violence continue that conversation, but always at a notch higher in terms of its volume.

And what Mrs. Parker said in her interview there, she is absolutely spot on correct. This is not about the views of extremes on either side. This is about the silent majority, which I used to be part of. This is about having the everyday sensible America stand up and say that we are going to do whatever it takes to get this done because this is about protecting our own communities, our own children and there is progress that can be made and you just have to keep forging ahead. Change is slow. Change takes time but change will happen.

WHITFIELD: And how has what happened to your little boy Dylan and what has happened to you as a family, how has that changed your purpose in life?

HOCKLEY: Well, before Dylan was killed, I didn't know anything about gun violence in America. I admit, I didn't even know who the NRA was. You know, this was not on my radar whatsoever back in 2012. I was a mom on a corporate leave of absence about to start up a smoothie business with one of my friends, you know. My focus was on my boys. We had just returned to the states after I had been away for a number of years. And I just wanted to get them settled. And now there's really nothing of my former life that is similar. I mean, I'm still me but there's a very different me. My personality has changed. The optimist that I once was, you know, she's still in there somewhere but there's a lot more realism now. And I don't plan as much in the future as I used to. You know, I had a plan for life. I knew what I wanted to do and I had goals for my boys and now everything is much more unclear.

WHITFIELD: So you wrote this letter to the Parkers but you've reached a lot of people through it. And I'm wondering if you can envision joining forces with if not just Barbara and Andy Parker, but perhaps even the parents who lost children in the Aurora movie theater massacre or perhaps parents who were still grieving after what happened at University of California, Santa Barbara. Do you see that ultimately that all of you joined forces with this kind of commonality?

HOCKLEY: Without a doubt. And there are a lot of -- I've had contact with some of the families from Aurora, such as the Andy and Lani Phillips. I count them as friends. I met Richard Martinez. We are all on the same path but we're all going about it a slightly different way. After the first six months of losing Dylan, I focused on background checks. That was my first big step. And when it failed in April 2013, I learned a hard lesson that policy and politics aren't really what changes the country. It's the hearts and minds of people. And I decided, although I still advocate for gun legislation and mental health (INAUDIBLE) on a regular basis, I decided with Sandy Hook promised the organization that I lead along with other families who have lost their children and loved ones at Sandy Hook, we decided that our mission was to get ahead of the violence. What can we do more upstream to help stop violence before it happens. And that's our primary focus, rather than focus on the firearm, let's focus on what we can do to prevent -- to get help for people and prevent the wrong people from accessing firearms.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nicole Hockley, thank you so much. Our hearts continue to be with you and so many of the other parents from Sandy Hook, and, of course, to the family of the Parkers as well as to the Wards. Thanks so much.

And a reminder that Poppy Harlow's exclusive interview with the parents of Alison Parker airs tonight at 5:30 eastern time.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:24] WHITFIELD: All right, now to Texas where investigators are trying to determine why a man shot and killed the sheriff's deputy, execution style, as he was gassing up his patrol car. Harris County police have arrested a suspect, 30-year-old Shannon J. Miles. He is charged with capital murder. This happened at a Houston area at gas station Friday night. Police say Miles approached the deputy from behind, said nothing and fired multiple shots. Deputy Darren Goforth was a ten-year veteran. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Houston at the gas station where this happened.

So Ed, a vigil was held there last night for the deputy and today people are streaming in, as I can see behind you.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a poignant scene here at pump number eight here at this Chevron gas station where community members have come and have just been flocking here endlessly throughout the day coming and leaving flowers, teddy bears, notes, messages and those sorts of things. And the organizers here have also been taking up a collection for the family of Deputy Goforth and his wife and two children.

They have raised nearly $25,000 over the course of the last 24 hours. And that is in addition to a go-fund me page that's been raising money online. Last I heard, the fund was up to $30,000 as well. So, an incredible outpouring of support for the family of this deputy, as we have seen here.

His wife described Deputy Goforth as someone who is incredibly passionate and tough yet gentle. And that is the way that many community members say they remember the deputy, the man who helped organize this collection here, Deputy Goforth was one of the deputies that would patrol his neighborhood and had gotten to know him over the course of the last several years.

But also, Fredricka, a great deal of attention being paid to the investigation trying to figure out exactly what was the motive behind this brazen attack that's been described as cowardly and cold-blooded and execution-style by the investigators working this. So far we have not been told of any kind of motive that might have motivated Shannon Miles to allegedly gun down this officer right here as he was finishing up his shift. In fact, just moments before, or about 30 minutes or so before the attack, he had been working a traffic accident and was presumably on his way home for the weekend - Fredricka.

[15:20:44] WHITFIELD: All right. Ed Lavandera, a terribly sad situation there. Thank you so much.

All right. Straight ahead, the disappearance of MH370 just got more mysterious. What French investigators are now saying about the wing debris found last month.

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[15:24:47] WHITFIELD: All right. This weekend marks one month since the biggest clue in the disappearance of Malaysia airlines flight MH370 washed ashore. But experts in France are now saying that piece of debris found on the island of the Indian Ocean might not be from that plane. The piece of wing called a flaperon was taken to France for forensic testing and analysis while investigators have been able to confirm that it's from a Boeing 777, they are still waiting to match the serial numbers with the manufacturer.

So joining me now is CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector David Soucie.

All right. Good to see you, David. So officials were so positive it seemed at first, that this could have been from the MH370 mainly because it's the only 777 missing from that region. So how does this news strike you?

[15:25:37] DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, it's really kind of contradictory to me, which we're used to in this investigation. The Malaysian government comes out and says, yes, it's definitely this, a week later they are saying, well, we're not so sure about it. So it's not uncommon what's going on and tragically for those who are the loved ones who were on the airplane. They are being pulled back and forth.

But there's an explanation for this kind of information back and forth. And that is that who it is that is saying it and who it is that has to bear the responsibility of saying this is 100 percent from that airplane and that's the burden on that is on the French right now. And these are professional investigators. I've been to this laboratory. This is the best of the best and if they are not 100 percent certain that this is from that airplane, then they are not going to say that they are.

So they can't just use process of elimination and say, look, it's most likely that it is because professionals don't do that. Investigators don't. So they are waiting until they get the absolute, positive 100 percent confident that it's from that particular serial number aircraft. The only way to do that is to get the serial number off of the part and then validate that with the person who manufactured it who is in Spain. And it just so happens during the month of August the guy who can only make that determination has been on vacation the entire month.

WHITFIELD: And so, if it's not related to MH370, then the inference is there are parts falling off 777s and that that wouldn't be unusual. But that can't be the case, can it?

SOUCIE: No. I mean, just logically, that's not the case. Here's the rub, though. Let's say that this remote possibility of this conspiracy theory, which has been out there since the beginning, is that this airplane was intentionally brought some before else and then used a diversion to say, well, go search for this airplane in this area where we are now and somehow intercepted these handshake signals we have from Inmarsat.

Now, if that's the logic and where we were going with this, wouldn't it pan out that perhaps the perpetrators of this horribly complex crime would have come up with a flaperon on their own and put it out in the water to further throw off investigators. So while that, in my mind, is completely preposterous, it's still in the minds of some. So therefore, the investigators -- that's why us, as investigators, professional investigators, have to be 100 percent certain, not 98, not 99, but 100.

WHITFIELD: Because there's been so many theories as it relates to this plane. In fact, the New York magazine has floated this theory saying that quote "the part might have been a replacement part not yet put into service or spare part pulled off a scrapped air frame. What do you think about that potential theory?

SOUCIE: Well, I think it's incredibly wrong because we have, in the United States and worldwide, what we call a suspected, unapproved parts program. Now, what that does is, if there's a serial number issued for a part on an airplane, then that is tracked individually so it's not like you could have an extra one hanging around. Those are all accounted for by flaperon, not just been aircraft, so any there in inventory, any of their under manufacture, any of that is registered with the suspected unapproved parts program to avoid someone from another country less reputable country, perhaps, manufacturing them and allowing the substandard parts to get into our aircraft system. So that is very closely regulated. And that to me is really far- fetched.

WHITFIELD: This tragically becomes more mysterious.

David Soucie, thank you so much.

SOUCIE: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Donald Trump continues to lead the polls in Iowa. Still to come, we'll ask if his campaign could be challenged by changing voter demographics in that state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:37] WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A new poll out of Iowa is showing that Trump still has a very sound lead over his Republican rivals. Among like Republican caucus goers in the Des Moines Register Bloomberg politics poll, Trump is on top with 23 percent support and Ben Carson is making gains, now getting 18 percent support. Jeb Bush is in the middle of the pact with Marco Rubio. They have a slim lead over Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee all in the single digits as you see there.

So let's bring in Ron Brownstein. He is in the CNN senior political analyst.

So, you're in Iowa today which is obviously where the first caucus takes place. But this year's caucus may look a little different than in years past. A key Latino voting group, in fact, is working to increase Latino caucus turnout by 10 to 20 percent. How much would impact, do you see this Latino base making on Trump's success or failure in the caucus?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, it is really a fascinating question. Iowa is changing. You know, we think of it historically as a monolithically white state. As recently as 2000, 93 percent of the population was white. It's gone down to 88 percent and the change is even more pronounced among the young.

We have seen a little bit of impact of that in a general election context, bot so much on the caucus in either party. But as you point out, you know, LULAC is trying to organize Latinos to attend both party caucus. And I would say that it's a bit of an uphill climb in the Republican side, I mean, you know, given the tenor of the debate. But on the other hand, these are pretty small turnout affairs. Only about 120,000 people are likely to vote in the Republican caucus unless it increases. So even small numbers could have an impact.

WHITFIELD: And then you call Iowa an overlooked backdrop. What do you mean by that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, because I think that Iowa is, you know, as I said, thought of as a monolithically white state but it's really testament to this extent which diversity is recasting all of America, not just the place we historically immigrant destinations like Miami, and L.A., and Dallas and Phoenix.

In Des Moines, here, the largest city in the state, a majority of the students in public school system are now nonwhite. If you look over the last 14 years, analysis that was done by (INAUDIBLE), it shows that the state has 88,000 fewer white kids younger than 20 than it did in 2000.

Meanwhile, the minority population under 20 has grown by almost 80,000 in turn and, Fredricka, that points towards an accelerating change in the future because those are the kids who are brought to form the future households. So Iowa, I think, is really emblematic of the changes going on across America that are reshaping all of our institutions, including politics.

[15:35:14] WHITFIELD: And when we talk about that poll, that new poll we saw, that Trump more than 20 percent but in a very strong second place, we are talking Carson with 18 percent. So why, in your view, is he doing so well in Iowa?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think, first of all, I think in that poll you see the impact of the first Republican debate, the 25 million people watching, another one coming up, obviously, on CNN in a couple of weeks. Impressions are still pretty shallow about all of this candidates. People don't know them yet that well. So, something big like that debate can happen. In fact, that of course, in Carson's case, he's also very strong with the evangelical Christian community that is a big portion of the Republican primary electorate. In the caucus electorate, both in 2012 and 2008, voters who identified as evangelical Christians were in absolute majority of all the participants in the caucus. That's what really distinguishes this from New Hampshire which is much more secular and somewhat more moderate. And so, it is a good terrain for Ben Carson in that sense.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. Ron Brownstein, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, we look at what you can expect from the markets this week after last week's very rocky ride.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:39:58] WHITFIELD: All right. Investors are hoping the opening bell on Wall Street tomorrow morning won't be anything like a week ago when the Dow fell dramatically.

Joining me right now is Rajeev Dhawan. He is an economic forecaster and the director of the economic forecasting center at the Georgia State University.

Professor, good to see you.

All right. So a lot happened in the last week. Even though it, you know, kind of ebbed and flowed and people were starting to feel a little bit more positive to again. But they are still very nervous what could potentially happen this week. So what would be the potential influence or was would it any difference from what they saw?

RAJEEV DHAWAN, DIRECTOR, ECONOMIC FORECASTING CENTER, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: I think people are coming to the terms with the fact that China has slowed, you know, and that steadied the whole thing and the market is still digesting it and then you have this momentum trading, then you have electronic trading and then you have the total, you know, uneasiness.

Last week, you saw that panic. You and I felt it on Tuesday, market is changing so much. So that's to be expected, you know. And then the fed meeting is coming up in September. In September there's some concern about will it more or will not move. So that causes for nervousness and volatility. And that's going to be there.

WHITFIELD: And of course, this could happen at any time but since we're in that moment right now, I guess people are a little more conscientious of perhaps another big fall, another big dip happening in the near future as opposed to something that is far off in the distance.

DHAWAN: You know, nobody can rule it out. I mean, it can happen. If you go by the price to racial metrics, it seems to be overvalued. But that's been there for a while. But I think the real thing that happened is in the last couple of months, China which is the factory of the world and buys all of the commodities and everything, people finally, even the devalued, people finally woke up, yes, there is a problem. Growth prospects are lower. So they need to adjust.

WHITFIELD: OK.

All right. Professor, I'm going to stop you right there because, as you know, in the last 40 minutes or so, a memorial service has been under way in Roanoke, Virginia, to honor the two journalists killed. The general manager of WDBJ, Jeff Marks, is speaking. Let's listen.

JEFF MARKS, GENERAL MANAGER, WDBJ: Do we show our temper to our children, to our friends, to our co-workers, if so, can we change? Can we allow ourselves to breathe? Look. We all inherited traits from our upbringing. My favorite cartoon shows a large auditorium like this with hundreds of empty seats and two people sitting in the audience. And the banner in the back says, welcome to the annual convention of the NACNP, the national association for the children of normal parents.

Mohammed said in the Koran, shake hands and rankle will disappear. Give gifts to each other and love each other and enmity will disappear. What does it say about us that we can be so quick to anger and so slow to forgive and who is the first person we need to forgive most of the time, it is our own self. In 12-step programs, the individual does not make amends to others until she's done so to herself.

There are mental health services out there. There need be no stigma on getting counseling. A man I know, a man racked with anxiety was leaving a party and his wife asked him why he was so quiet and withdrawn at the event and he said, you have to understand, anxiety disorder is like a broken leg. It's real. You just can't see it.

Our mental health system is not perfect. It needs a lot of work. But services exist and we must use them for ourselves and for those we know who have uncontrolled anger. We must learn to speak directly to anger. You are angry and that must be making you feel awful. I know where you can get some relief. Let me go with you.

I spoke this week with Governor McAuliffe and Congressman (INAUDIBLE) about the need to increase our embrace. Yes, our embrace of mental illness just as we do with cancer or ALS or heart disease. Mental illness cannot exist on the periphery of health care. It should be obvious that it needs to be center staged because most of mental illness is treatable if we can get to the sufferer. In this case, we didn't.

This morning, I asked one of my employees, did you ever see Adam angry? She said may be -- she couldn't recall for sure but if so the anger was gone in five seconds. I suspected Alison ever became angry. She might have said an emphatic darn and started working on whatever positive thing she could do next.

Adam and Alison saw it as their mission to awaken us to what was good and fun in life. You've heard that Adam was the newsroom cut-up. You may have heard Leo said that Adam many days would take a piece of candy and take the wrapper and hide it on the weather set to see if he could later see it on the air, meaning Leo had not found it. Leo says he found one of those on Wednesday. When Alison started doing those live reports last year, Kelly Zuber,

the news director will remember, she had a tendency to sort of wave the arm that was not holding the microphone. Kelly showed her the video and I'm sure she laughed at herself and I know that she quickly fixed that. I say she must have laughed because this was a woman who never seemed to get down. Chris Hurst has shared with us the descriptions that she wrote in their photo book, completely loving and uplifting.

And Adam, Mr., hey, why don't we try this. I chatted with members of his family. They were just like he was, positive and even able to laugh a little amidst the tears. It must be in the genes. Growing up in the Ward home had to have been a loving, nurturing experience.

And the Parker home, if you've heard from the Parkers this week, you know they must have instilled in Alison her drive to excellence, her confidence and her positive nature.

I want to play softball with Adam again. And I want to see Alison dance. And I will in the wonderful memories they gave me, they gave us.

[15:46:26] WHITFIELD: All right. The general manager there, Jeff Marks at WDBJ, paying tribute to Alison Parker and Adam Ward.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[15:51:04] KIM CARTER, CNN HERO: When I was 17 years old, I had my first hit to crack cocaine. I didn't know then that that I was going to lose the next 12 years of my life. I was recycled in and out of the system. I stayed out on the streets. I wanted to change. What I needed was a place to change at.

This guy, Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Had no shoes, no food, no nothing, nowhere to go.

CARTER: You're strong. And you're ready and you're willing because you wouldn't have came here if you wasn't.

We help homeless women and children to reclaim their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been homeless almost six months.

CARTER: We meet women where they are. We'll pick them up and put them into an environment where they can heal.

When a woman transfers from myself to program to our permanent supportive housing, they stay connected with us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's beautiful. CARTER: A lot of women come in very traumatized. We have licensed

counselors that work with women on some of the deep issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK to be angry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I left with nothing. I got my two girls and left. I worked so hard to not lose them and then I lost them.

CARTER: Any mother that comes to us who doesn't have her children, we help get her children back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a long journey fighting for them, trying to get them back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Miss Carter. Thank you.

CARTER: Homeless women, children, I call them individual people because we pretend that we don't see them, but I see them. And I know there's something that we can do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:52:47] WHITFIELD: All right, checking the top stories right now.

A rising star who made history on Broadway suddenly fell to his death. 221-year-old Kyle John Baptees (ph) died Saturday after he fell from a fire escape. He was the first African-American to play the lead role in a Broadway production of Les Miserables.

And Europe is calling for change in railway security after the recent attempted terror attack on a train in France. They want an inquiry and identity in baggage checks at station. More police patrols on board international trains and better coordination on intelligence and security across Europe's border-free travel zone.

And Pope Francis addressing crowd at St. Peter's Square today, spoke out about the migrant crisis in Europe. And he specifically mentioned the recent death of 70 migrants who were found dead in a truck in Australia last week. The Pope said these crimes quote "offend the entire human family." And he called on people to work together to address the migrant crisis.

And a horrible incident at last night's Atlanta Braves basketball game. A fan died after falling from the upper deck of turner field. 60-year-old Gregory Murray tumbled out of the stands during the 7th inning of the Braves-Yankees game. He landed on a concrete walkway in front of a row of fans.

CNN's Andy Scholes has more.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Fredricka, this was a big game. A sellout crowd was on hand to see Alex Rodriguez in the Yankees' take on the Braves in the inter league series. And since this is at a national league park, A-Rod wasn't playing the entire game since he was designated hitter. In the 7th inning, he came to the plate for the first time as a pinch hitter. So these were fans in Atlanta's first time to yell and booed A-Rod because that's what baseball fans do these days. And witnesses in the upper deck section where Murray was yelling at A-Rod from, say he was standing in the first row right here up against the railing. At some point, he just fell over dropping 50 feet all the way to this lower level section right here on the way down. He hit one of these wires that hold up the netting behind home play. And luckily, no one was sitting where Murray landed. This is generally where the players' families sit during the game. Obviously, even though no one was sitting right where he landed, a very traumatic experience for everyone who was around this section that witnessed Murray fall.

Now, witnesses say paramedics immediately began performing CPR on Murray. He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Now, there was never any delay in the ball game. They kept playing as usual during this entire ordeal.

Now, this, unfortunately, is not the first time a fan has fallen from the upper deck at Turner field. In 2013, a man died after falling 85 feet. That death was ruled a suicide. And in 2011 in Texas, firefighter Shannon Stone died after falling out of outfield seats trying to catch a ball from Josh Hamilton.

After that incident, the Texas rangers, they did a complete review of the stadium's safety measures and they made many changes to the railings around the ballpark in Arlington. So it is going to be interesting to see what the Braves do. Next season is their last at Turner field before they move to a new stadium -- Fredricka.

[15:55:57] WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Andy Scholes.

All right. Gregory Murray's family says he was a season ticketholder with the same seats for 23 years now and watching the Braves was one of his favorite things to do.

All right. Right now, live pictures from a memorial service for Adam Ward and Alison Parker in Roanoke, Virginia. We'll bring you the highlights.

Plus, the parents of Alison Parker open up about their daughter in an exclusive interview with CNN.

All that and more right after this.

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