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Update on Patients at Mercy Medical Center; Oregon Massacre: Social Media Now Part of the Investigation; Interview with Senator Richard Blumenthal. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:15] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. I'm going bring you right out to Roseburg, Oregon. This is at Mercy Hospital. This is an update on the victims from that terrible shooting on an Oregon campus. Let's listen.

DR. JASON GRAY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MERCY MEDICAL CENTER: The two, three that remain are expected to recover well and at this point remain in stable or stable critical condition.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you train for a mass casualty incident like this?

GRAY: You know, we have community wide training events for this exact situation as part of the Oregon trauma system. We're a level three trauma system. And we integrate with the level two and the level one trauma hospitals throughout the state.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you give us any indication on who these victims are? Young? Old? Male, female?

GRAY: You know, they are mixed, male and female at this point. Of varying ages.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLY MORGAN, CEO, MERCY MEDICAL CENTER: We just want to honor the privacy for the patients. That's why we're not going to provide their names today.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What was the age span?

GRAY: You know, the age span we'd say was on the younger side.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Doctor, if you could say again, there were 10 patients admitted here, and just explain that again what you just went over.

GRAY: Sure. We received 10 patients from the UCC. Of those three were transferred to a higher level of care for services which we don't have available. Two of them were treated and released from the emergency room. Four of them required operating room procedures. One patient was deceased in the emergency room. Of the four that underwent surgical intervention, one was discharged yesterday. One will likely be discharged today. And the remaining two, one is in critical condition and one is in stable condition at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you say what type of injuries?

GRAY: All of the injuries were gunshot wounds, to the abdomen, thorax, head, extremities at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you explain -- there's a disparity between the sheriff's office saying there were seven people wounded and yours saying that there are 10 people admitted here.

GRAY: I cannot explain that. I know we received 10 patients in total. And that's the information that I can vouch for.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Talk about the challenges dealing when -- when you have so many coming all at once. How do you respond?

GRAY: You know, from a medical standpoint we're trained for this. Obviously this is an overwhelming situation but we practice it. The outpouring of the community, the outpouring of our staff coming in on their days off. Retired physicians coming in, nurses coming in, staff coming in.

One of the challenges obviously is coordinating support for the friends, the family of the victims and coordinating information. Been very difficult.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Doctor Gray, we've heard time and again that everyone knows somebody who's been impacted by the shooting. Has this personally impacted you as well?

GRAY: I have staff members who have been impacted and I know at this point we do not know all the names of the victims.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But for your personally, to -- I mean, this is your town. To see this happen here, and just trying to -- how do you cope with helping with -- helping these people and dealing with the emotion at the same time.

GRAY: You know that's been one of our biggest challenges is supporting not only our -- the patients, the families but our own caregivers as Kelly mentioned. Yesterday was a challenging day. The days and the weeks to come will be the most challenging and how do we continue to support our staff, the family, the victims here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're saying you don't know all the victims' names even as you guys are taking care of them.

GRAY: We do not know all the victims names that are out there at the college.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you update or do you know the conditions of the victims up at Springville at all? Do you have contact with them?

GRAY: I have not been in contact with them this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK. . But you said they were the more severe, more life threatening injuries?

GRAY: The patients were transferred to Peace Health that required services which we don't have available. Typically neurosurgery.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The one person that's deceased. Is it in addition to the 10 that were announced yesterday? Or --

GRAY: You know, I cannot vouch for those numbers.

KELLY: Yes. We don't know if that's one of the 10 or not. We don't know that.

GRAY: But again all four here that were admitted here expected to survive and do well.

KELLY: Yes.

GRAY: One is already out, the other one leaving today.

KELLY: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And your background, Doctor, have you seen something of this nature before?

GRAY: In a small community like this, this is the first time in a small community. At larger facilities, and as Kelly mentioned it really shows how the community came together. Look at our first responders, the law enforcement officers, the staff here, our nurses. The community outpouring. We received support from across the country. It's quite amazing. Pizzas delivered from hospitals in Louisiana and Georgia. Coffee from the local coffee vices. Really shows the best in the community unfortunately.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sorry, sir. Can your emotions when they showed up and you (INAUDIBLE)? First the doctor.

[09:05:00] GRAY: You know, the initial emotions are disbelief. It can't be happening. And then it is focused on treating the patients. And then us and the staff go through the rest of the range of emotions from disbelief, from anger, from sadness to resolution. And you know it is still -- it is less than 24 hours. It is still very raw for a lot of people. And I think you will find most -- many people are quite numb.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK. What is next for you and the staff here? You have two more people that you're tending to, and then what?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it two or three more people?

GRAY: There are currently three here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK.

GRAY: One will likely be discharged today. So there were two. So we will continue to focus as a hospital on the well-being and medical care of them and then emotional support of family, the victims and especially our staff here.

MORGAN: And we have our pastoral clergy ready to go to have some time with our employees today as well as early next week so they can walk through the emotional trauma also.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The people who have been transferred, can you describe the difference of their injuries?

GRAY: The three that were transferred were either services that we don't provide here or that in our state trauma system met the criteria to be transferred to a level one or a level two trauma center.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That was in Springfield that they were transferred from?

GRAY: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: PeaceHealth, PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center. They sent out a news release to us last night saying two are listed as critical and one in serious condition. Have you heard that as well?

GRAY: That would fit with the description at the time of transfer.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do either of you know anyone personally at this school or have any family members of your own at the school?

MORGAN: Well, I think all of us have, you know, different family members and friends that either work out there or that are students. Obviously we don't know who the victims are at this time but I will assure you every single person here at the hospital and in our community will be impacted by somebody out of UCC.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When can we expect another update on victims or at least the conditions of the victims you have here?

MORGAN: Once we know an update on the three people that are still here I'm sure we'll send out a press release on that. For the victims out of the college, that is something you will need to work with the sheriff's office on.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We understand that the sheriff's office (INAUDIBLE). Can you talk about (INAUDIBLE)?

GRAY: We do not believe the shooter was treated here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What can the community do to help you? MORGAN: You know, I think this is a time of trying to pray as much as

we can and to be peaceful and to be supportive of each other. There are things that the community can do, we are going to have a blood drive later today at our community center it. That will be at noon. So if people want to participate with that, that will be really helpful. But I also think just spending time with friends and family to support them as we walk through this. We know it is going to be a long process of grieving, as well as support. So that's what's we're going to need from everybody here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) other people were in shock and had to be admitted or hospitalized or seen CPR?

MORGAN: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: People who were in shock, not necessarily the injured. People that relatives who like collapse or had to, you know, fell back.

MORGAN: None of those were admitted. But obviously a lot of emotional and a lot of pastoral support for those families.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So you're --

MORGAN: Our mental health professionals are available for people here also. You know, whether you are employees or whether it's other people in the community. So I think the mental health providers are going to be available. So that's what we want to coordinate also with the community.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're saying definitively the shooter was not treated here. Correct? I want to make sure I understand.

GRAY: To the best of our knowledge the shooter was not treated here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

MORGAN: You bet.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going step away from this news conference at the Mercy Medical Center but you heard 10 patients were admitted after that shooting on the Umpqua campus. All but three have been released from that hospital. Two are in stable condition and one is expected to go home a little later today. So that is a bit of good news.

Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is standing by at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg to tell us more.

Hi, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. You know, this hospital is about five miles away from the scene. And this was the closest hospital. I talked to the two folks you're seeing there doing the press conference just for a little while ago. They told me they got about a 10 to 15 minute notice prior to all of these patients showing up. And so they felt that they were -- they had some notice and they were prepared. But this is a level three trauma center. It is not really equipped to be able to take care of all of these patients with some of these types of injuries.

I can also tell you that the three patients that were transferred out were patients that in fact had gunshot wounds to the head. They did not have neurosurgical care here. That's why they were transferred to another hospital and the status of those patients were serious to critical. And so we're going to be getting some update.

[09:10:02] But as you heard again, Carol, I mean, a little bit of good, I guess, here. All the patients that are still in the hospital seem to be doing well. One is expected to be discharged today.

So I'll just tell you as well. I know, you know, this is a small town. People know each other here. They sort of alluded to this. But everyone, there were staff members here at the hospital that had a direct relationship in some way with some of the victims. So it's been a very -- very emotional on so many different levels here, Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. And just to go over, I'm just going over my notes from this news conference. He said most of the patients admitted to the hospital were in their 20s, right, male and female. And most of them I heard were either shot in the head or the abdomen, correct?

GUPTA: Yes. So the head, the abdomen, the chest and the limbs, arms and legs as well. The three patients that were transferred to the other hospital were all women. And these three women that were shot in the head, they're between the ages of 18 and 34. They wouldn't give us the exact age. They sort of gave us that window of age. But you get an idea, I think as you're alluding to, Carol, a picture, of who these people were.

COSTELLO: All right, Sanjay Gupta. We're going to take a break and we'll take you back to the scene of the crime after.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:33] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More than one hundred investigators are on the case, scouring Umpqua Community College and talking to anyone who was close to this killer. They will also focus on social media and a chilling online blog believed to have been written by the killer and link to his email.

He praises another gunman who found infamy after killing a news crew live on television. "A man known by no one", he says, 'is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems like more people you kill, the more you are in the limelight." That's a quote from the killer's e-mail.

Ashleigh Banfield is host of CNN's "LEGAL VIEW". She's in Roseburg, Oregon, this morning to talk more about this.

Good morning, Ashleigh.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST, "LEGAL VIEW": Good morning, Carol. That was so disturbing to read that. And it might just be the reason, Carol, if you think back to the time line, as to where the sheriff when he made his pronouncements of not wanting to ever utter the killer's name, perhaps he actually read these blog posts prior to that news conference. He was spitting vinegar, he was so angry about this notion.

Now, not like anyone wouldn't be given the environment we're in. It's pitch black out here right now. But if you could just see behind me, this rolling hills and this quite bucolic countryside where this college is located. It is honestly, you hear it in every incident but it is the last place on earth you would expect something like this to happen and perhaps the last place, Carol, you would expect to read something like that.

But it does sort of bring that up question, right? What's our responsibility if we read those things?

COSTELLO: And I wanted to quit into that what is our responsibility? Because -- I mean, these postings were quite public. Somebody must have seen them. So why didn't anyone alert authorities?

BANFIELD: So, that's a great question. And I think it is the first thing everybody wants to know when they read that vitriol.

And here is the problem: you go online, you can read a lot of that. That is everywhere. It doesn't necessarily represent a direct threat. People have celebrated monsters for years and years and millennia. It doesn't represent a direct threat.

And then there is that whole other issue of we don't have as citizens a duty to report. I know that sounds counterintuitive. But effectively we don't. Morally, you betcha. But legally, not so much.

And that doesn't necessarily play true to what happened in Charleston with that church shooter, because his friend was arrested but he's been charged with something a little different, lying to the authorities and not being forthcoming knowing about an incident while it is actually in play and this guy was on the run.

So, it's a little trickier. But effectively so much that is online, Carol, is anonymous anyway. So, that's your first roadblock. And then secondly, just because you read something ugly: (a), doesn't mean it is going to happen, and (b), doesn't mean you need to be involved, sadly, legally speaking.

COSTELLO: All right. Ashleigh Banfield reporting live from Roseburg, Oregon, this morning. Thanks so much.

This is something we should politicize. That was the message from a visibly angry and frustrated President Obama, as he addressed the nation and slammed Congress for not doing enough to change gun control laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It's not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America -- next week, or a couple of months from now.

We don't yet know why this individual did what he did. And it's fair to say that anybody who does this has a sickness in their minds.

Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We've become numb to this.

[09:20:00] We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.

And what's become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation.

We spend over a trillion dollars, and pass countless laws, and devote entire agencies to preventing terrorist attacks on our soil, and rightfully so. And yet, we have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths.

How can that be?

This is a political choice that we make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. If the president's message sounds familiar, that's because he had to do this 15 times following a mass shooting since he's been in office. The president also called on the media to expose the number of people killed by gun violence compared to those killed by terrorism.

So, here are those numbers. According to the CDC, between 2003 and 2013. More than 316,000 people have been killed on U.S. soil by firearms. Compare that to those killed by terrorism. We should point out this number includes suicides and other accidents. But still it is 1,000 times more.

Since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, more than 87,000 Americans have been killed by guns. That is according to a Massachusetts gun control group.

And that brings us to this letter sent by the Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin. He's the law enforcement officer now dealing with his own mass shooting in Oregon on the college campus. Two years ago, after Sandy Hook, he wrote a letter to Vice President Joe Biden. It read in part, quote, "Gun control is not the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings. Any actions against or in disregard for our U.S. Constitution and Second Amendment rights by the current administration would be irresponsible and an indisputable insult to the American people", end quote.

Sheriff Hanlin appeared on "NEW DAY" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JOHN HANLIN, DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON: My position on it has not changed.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN: So, you still believe that it is not about gun laws. It is not about uniform background checks. None of those things would help, sir.

HANLIN: Again, I want to stay focused on this investigation and the welfare of the community and the welfare of the families and the victims in this horrific incident. And I'm not going to waste the time today or any time in the real near future having the firearm debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk about this, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. He represents the state of Connecticut where the Sandy Hook massacre took place.

Welcome, sir.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sheriff Hanlin believed so passionately that gun control is not the answer. He refused to enforce any gun laws coming from the Obama administration. Your reaction?

BLUMENTHAL: My reaction is that he is in a very small minority among the law enforcement community. Police, prosecutors, federal agents all across the country have recognized and very powerfully and eloquently said that we need to close the loopholes in our present laws, and enact common sense, sensible measures like universal background checks.

No check, no sale. No backgrounds check, no purchase. And ban on illegal trafficking.

COSTELLO: But, sir, I mean, Sheriff Hanlin believes passionately gun control laws are not the answer. It is a mental health issue. And until we deal with that he might say then we can get into the gun laws and check them out. But he says even today after this happened in his own community that he hasn't changed his mind.

BLUMENTHAL: As a former prosecutor and attorney general for the state of Connecticut for 20 years, I can tell you he does not represent the vast number of folks who have to confront dangerous people on our streets.

And it is a public health crisis. It involves mental health. But keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people requires gun violence prevention measures like background checks and a ban on illegal trafficking, and school safety measures, and probably a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

These kinds of common sense measures should be voted on by the United States Congress. I'm going to press for votes in the wake of this tragedy. And the small minority of people who are quoted, perhaps like the sheriff, fail to represent the vast majority of American people who support these measures.

[09:25:10] COSTELLO: There has been some movement as a result of, you know, people like you who are fighting for stricter laws and fighting to restrict the sale of certain kinds of guns for example. Walmart has stopped selling AR-15 rifles and you are trying to get other sporting good stores to do the same. Any success?

BLUMENTHAL: We are having some success with organizations like Walmart, which is to be commended. But right now, there is a loophole in the law that requires background checks that permits sales. Doesn't require them. But allows them after 72 hours, even if the background check is not complete.

So, we've written to Cabela's and EZ Pawn and Bass Pro asking that they do the same voluntarily. We are going to press for stronger laws. And the American people should hold accountable a Congress that is by now really complicit in many of these mass murders by failing to act responsibly. And they can express that accountability this coming election.

COSTELLO: Senator Richard Blumenthal, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Quick note for our viewers. Next hour, we're going to hear from someone on the other side of the debate. John Lott is the author of "More Guns Less Crime." He'll join us in the hour to come.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Hurricane Joaquin lashing the Bahamas, but even if the storm doesn't hit the U.S., is the East Coast still about to get socked?

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