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Ten Killed in Oregon Campus Massacre; Who Was the Oregon Gunman?; Obama Admonishes Nation for Not Fighting Gun Violence; Oregon Governor: 'These Types of Tragedies Must End'. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is outside one of the doors shooting through the door.

[07:00:05] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I yelled at her, there's a shooting, get in the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Multiple shots were fired.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least ten people are dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came in and there was gunfire immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were running away from the building, so I knew exactly what had just happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was going through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope I make it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Asking people one by one what their religion was.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are the only advanced country on earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There may have been this overwhelming sense of rejection.

OBAMA: This is something we should politicize.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching NEW DAY. And we are following breaking news for you on the campus massacre in Oregon.

Authorities have identified the shooter. What they do not know is why he opened fire. Nine people were killed and at least nine others wounded. Did he target Christians in this killing spree?

CUOMO: Some of the victims and witnesses say that's exactly what happened, that they were targeted because of faith. What was the motivation is unknown.

Meanwhile, President Obama is outraged, saying new gun laws, not prayers, are needed to stop the violence. We have every angle of the story covered as only CNN can.

Let's start with CNN's Ana Cabrera in Roseburg, Oregon. Ana, the latest?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Chris and Alisyn.

Right now, there are more than 100 investigators, state, federal, local investigators all searching for answers to what happened and why. This is a very small town. Seems everybody here has been touched by this tragedy.

And this morning, we're hearing more from the students here at this college, describing the horror as that gunman opened fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC: "TAPS")

CABRERA (voice-over): Overnight, a massive candlelight vigil for the victims of Umpqua Community College's deadly mass shooting. Disturbing new details coming from a father whose daughter was hit in the back by a bullet, describing how the gunman targeted those who said they were Christian.

STACY BOYLAN, FATHER OF VICTIM: "Are you a Christian? He would ask them? And if you're a Christian, stand up." And they would stand up, and he said, "Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second." And then he shot and killed them. And he kept going down the line doing this to people.

CABRERA: Thursday morning, around 10:38 a.m., 911 dispatch receives the first calls for help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The active shooter, UCC, 1140 Umpqua College Road.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is outside one of the doors, shooting through the door.

CABRERA: Oregon police say the 26-year-old gunman was carrying body armor and loads of ammunition, enough for a prolonged gunfight, along with three pistols and one long rifle. Entering a classroom, he opened fire, shooting a teacher at pointblank range, according to witnesses. Students overheard the gunshots.

HANNAH MILES, UCC STUDENT: It was just rapid fire over and over and over again. You could -- you could hear the people -- you could hear them moving and crying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said to the teacher, we need to get out of here right now. And then we heard the second and third gunshots. CABRERA: Within minutes, officers swarmed the campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exchanging shots with him. He's in a classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy, Rezik (ph) 17, exchanging gunshots right now with the male. He's in a classroom on the southeast side of Snyder Hall.

CABRERA: The shooting began in Snyder Hall, but it didn't end there. The shooter continuing his rampage into the science building, casualties found in at least two different classrooms.

SHERIFF JOHN HANLIN, DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON: I will not name the shooter. I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act.

CABRERA: The gunman shot dead at the scene.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Now, the sheriff praising some heroic actions of two officers who were the first to arrive within minutes of those 911 calls. And when you think about that, this is normally a gun-free college. We've learned that there were no armed security officers on campus at the time. You think about the ammunition, the number of guns this shooter had. It's likely that the responding officers' quick actions may have saved lives -- Chris, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Ana, thanks so much for all the latest. We know at least nine people were injured. The mass shooting at Umpqua Community College. So for more on the victim's condition, let's go right to CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's live at Mercy Hospital in Roseburg for us.

What have you learned, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're about five miles away from the scene. This is a relatively small town, Alisyn. We know that ten injured were originally brought here. One person died in the emergency room here behind me.

And the other nine patients, three of them were transferred to another hospital. They were all women. They were between the ages of 18 and 34. And they all suffered gunshot wounds to the head. They're now being cared for in another hospital. You know, four patients got operations in this hospital overnight. We know one person still remains in critical condition. But a little bit of good news we're hearing from the hospital. Everyone now in this hospital behind me is expected to recover. They're saying that cautiously, but that is the expectation.

[07:05:19] I should also point out, this particular hospital has been through this sort of thing before. They describe themselves as seasoned. Why? Because back in 1998 there was a similar mass shooting. Twenty-three people were injured and brought to this hospital and others in this area. So this is a community. This is a hospital that has seen this sort of thing before -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Yes. Too many times before we've seen this as a nation, as well. Sanjay, thanks so much. We'll be checking in with you again.

Meanwhile, federal and local investigators are digging up disturbing new information about that 26-year-old killer. Why? Why did he do it? What caused him to gun down nine innocent people? Were signs missed?

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is here with the latest for us. Deb, what are we learning?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, that's exactly what investigators are looking at. Was there something that they missed? Could this perhaps have been prevented. But here's what we know so far of the gunman. We take a look.

We know that he is 26 years old. We know that his name is Christopher Harper Mercer. He, according to "The New York Times," witnesses say that he wore military type clothing a lot. He had a very close relationship to his mother.

Now, his mother was interviewed along with his father. The mom, apparently, lives in Douglas County, Oregon. That's very close to the college. That's where the college is, as a matter of fact. There's an e-mail address that links this man, the gunman to the college. His name also appears in a theater listing where he's described as a production assistant. Several -- his dad, who does live in Southern California, did speak to the media after he identified his son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any questions right now?

IAN MERCER, SHOOTER'S FATHER: Obviously, it's been a devastating day. Devastating for me and my family. All I ask is, I know you guys are here to do your job. All I ask is please respect our privacy. So far you've done that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any surprise at all?

MERCER: Shocked. Shocked is all I can say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And you can just see how emotional the father is.

As far as the gunman's online profile, what we can tell you, he was on a Torrent website. That's a site where a lot of people share different kinds of information. He posted five times since July. He references two shootings. One of them is the shooting of the Virginia Tech reporters. He also references a shooting by -- of a police officer near Houston who was executed at a gas station.

What we do know is some of the arsenal, some of the weaponry that he was carrying. He had a long gun. He also had three handguns. He was in the possession of body armor. And he had a lot of ammunition, as you heard Ana Cabrera reference. It appears that he really was going to do the maximum amount of damage.

He went not to one class. He went to two classes. On that blog site, we're getting a little bit of information. He talks about being alone and unknown. And he says, seems the more people you kill, the more in the limelight you will be. Investigators now looking as to whether his motive was to question the religion of those that he shot -- guys.

CUOMO: Deb, you and I know all too well this fits a pattern that he was deranged, that he did this, people knew things, but they couldn't get him help. He didn't want help. A lot of this story repeats itself. In fact, 15 times. That's the number of times that President Obama has taken to a podium following a mass shooting. He is very angry about what he says has become all too common. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And, of course, what's also routine is that somebody, somewhere will comment and say, Obama politicized this issue. Well, this is something we should politicize. It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic.

I would ask news organizations, because I won't put these facts forward, have news organizations tally up the number of Americans who have been killed through terrorist attacks over the last decade and the number of Americans who have been killed by gun violence. And post those side by side on your news reports. This won't be information coming from me. It will be coming from you.

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?

[07:10:03] This is a political choice that we make. To allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: But inaction on what front? What law would have made a difference? What might make a difference?

To get some insight into how important this fight is for President Obama and for really, frankly, all of us, former senior adviser, CNN political commentator, Dan Pfeiffer.

Now, look, the president's frustration is obvious. It has been in the past. The focus on gun laws when something like this happens, what law would have made a difference here?

DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I don't know that we know all the details yet about what would make a difference here. But what we do know... CUOMO: Let's see if it fits the pattern. Right? He was deranged. People knew it, but he didn't want to get help. They couldn't get him help. He felt isolated. He was able to go online or go to a store and buy weapons, because he had no criminal history and no adjudicated mental illness, which is all the law covers, right?

PFEIFFER: Here's the issue we had, which is the United States does not have a monopoly on the mentally ill, on sort of disenchanted, disenfranchised use like this. What we do -- but we have more shootings like this then than any other country in the world. And what is different between us and all the other developed nations is our gun laws are more lax. Doesn't mean that every -- any law we pass is going to solve all of them or stop all of them but the idea that we would do nothing...

CUOMO: Don't we have more gun laws than anywhere else in the world?

PFEIFFER: There is greater access to guns here than in almost every developed nation. As the president said, in Australia -- I heard this -- heard the president in the briefing room yesterday. This is a conversation I've had with him many times. In Australia, they had one mass shooting. They changed the laws. They haven't had one since then.

In the president's second term, there's been one mass shooting every single week for his second term. And the idea that we would do nothing infuriates him.

CAMEROTA: It felt like after Newtown, Newtown was so hideous, I mean, it shook the country so deeply. It felt like, if there was ever a time that there would be a tipping point, that it would be after Newtown with all of those little children killed.

And I believe that the president, after that, did propose all sorts of things, an initiative that consisted of 23 executive actions and three presidential memoranda, most of which would have required congressional approval.

CUOMO: Right.

CAMEROTA: The president has taken executive action to bypass on other things such as immigration. If he feels this strongly, why not go around Congress? What do you think?

PFEIFFER: He took a number of steps in the wake of Newtown. There are limits -- you know, particularly in this one, here in terms of what you can do on your own without Congress. And I'm confident the White House people can get through any additional steps they can take.

But the point the president was making yesterday, which is, right now, even though many of these positions have majority support in the country, and significant support among Republicans in terms of public opinion, people who are for additional common-sense gun safely laws are getting outworked, out-organized by the NRA.

And until politicians in Washington are more afraid of the average voter than they are the NRA, we're going to be stuck right where we are after Newtown, which is we have another tragedy, politicians go out and say, "I send my thousands and prayers." The news media covers it and then nothing happens.

CUOMO: Yes, that's because -- you know why that is. Right? I mean, look, full disclosure. I'm a gun owner. And when you look at gun laws, OK, so you're going to come up with as many ways as you can to keep someone like me from getting a gun. But a bad guy who wants to get a gun will be able to find 100 different ways to do it, person-to- person sales, secondary market sales, online sales. So you're really just restricting the lawful, not the unlawful.

PFEIFFER: See, that's not what we're trying to do here. I think what is important -- like he can't -- the argument can't be we're going to do something or we're going to do nothing. Right? There has -- there are a set of common sense things. I don't think closing the gun show loophole or background checks or limiting assault rifles...

CUOMO: What about enforcing the laws that are on the books more? Why don't we make it that if you catch somebody with a gun in the commission of a crime with a gun, they go to jail forever? Why not pay for the additional prosecution? Why not put money into mental health?

PFEIFFER: We should do all of those things. But it can't -- the argument can't be that we're going to do nothing here. And the problem is you hear Republicans say enforce the law. Do you know who has been blocking for years and years and years funding for the ATF, for confirming an ATF director? Republicans.

They create this strawman argument, where it is we need no additional laws. We just have to enforce the ones we have. This is just simply not true. Look at state laws. The states that have tougher gun laws have fewer gun deaths than the ones that don't.

CUOMO: About enforcement.

PFEIFFER: Right. It does not mean we should do nothing else. We can -- we should enforce the law better. We should do more with mental health. It does not mean we should do nothing else.

CUOMO: Those areas that we say we should do things on, we do almost nothing on them. Mental health matters, and we don't do anything on it.

PFEIFFER: In -- within the list of things that the president talked about, there are a number of executive actions, put those in place. There was an effort in Congress. There's more to be done in all these things. But it shouldn't be just that we're not going to make the common-sense steps that, clearly, we've seen on the state level make sense. There's no reason we can't do this federally.

[07:15:06] CAMEROTA: Dan Pfeiffer, thanks so much for all the information. Thanks for being on NEW DAY.

We want to go right now, because we are joined by the Oregon governor, Kate Brown.

Governor, thank you so much for being on NEW DAY on this terrible day in your state. Can you tell us what you've learned in the past 12 hours about what happened?

GOV. KATE BROWN, OREGON: Well, my focus right now is on supporting the entire community of Roseburg and helping the students and families heal.

CAMEROTA: Governor, will this tragedy make you reconsider anything about how you do business in your state? Will you want to change anything, be it gun laws, be it dealing with the mentally ill, whatever? Will you change something because of this?

BROWN: It's very clear that these types of tragedies must end, not only here in Oregon but across the country. But today, along with my fellow Oregonians, I'm focused on providing comfort and care to the families of Roseburg.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Governor, you know, we've just been having this conversation, because there's just this feeling of resignation in the country. And you heard it from President Obama. You heard it in his voice. He's had to make these speeches too many times.

And you as a governor and other governors across the country having to come out and comfort victims, it feels as though we have to be able to get our arms around this situation. And yet, today, it's hard for anybody to come up with a solution. Do you have any thoughts on this?

BROWN: Those are conversations for the days ahead. Right now, I'm focused, along with Oregonians across the state on supporting this community. We're hearing from Oregonians from across the state. They're sending donations. They're sending their support. and they are sending their blood to help support, comfort and care for this Roseburg community and the students at Umpqua Community College.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about the victims, nine lives lost and at least nine injured. Do you have any update for us on the status of those injured?

BROWN: Those details I will leave to law enforcement at this time.

CAMEROTA: The sheriff who is investigating this said yesterday that he's not going to name the shooter. And in fact, we do have just scant details about the shooter. We are happy to oblige. We don't need to name the shooter. We don't need to know much about the shooter.

But it does help to know if there was any sort of motive or what his background is, because, of course, everyone tries to see if there were any red flags or anything that can be changed in the future. Do you know anything about the investigation?

BROWN: I hope those answers will come in the future. Right now, the community of Roseburg needs our support, and I would ask that my fellow Americans send their thoughts and prayers as this community begins to heal.

CAMEROTA: Everyone is, Governor. Everyone around the country are sending their prayers for their community. Do you know anything about reports that we've heard from the surviving victims that Christians were targeted?

BROWN: Again, I'll leave those details to law enforcement at this time. My focus is providing support to the families. I will be meeting with administration and staff at Umpqua Community College today to offer my condolences. I will be offering my condolences to the family. And I will be meeting with our law enforcement community, firefighters, police officers, first responders, who did an incredible job yesterday under very difficult and harrowing circumstances.

CAMEROTA: Governor Kate Brown, our prayers are with you and your community as you move forward. Thank you for joining us -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn. The community of Roseburg, Oregon, a small Pacific northwest city along the I-5 corridor in Oregon, rocked by that college massacre. Ahead, we're going to get the latest on the investigation from the local sheriff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:23:08] CUOMO: We have more breaking coverage of the campus massacre at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. A 26-year-old gunman opening fire, killing nine people, wounding at least nine others. This shooting fits a pattern we've seen too often.

One of the good pieces of news in this is that he was stopped by police before he could do more damage. The man responsible for that, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, and his men and women, joins us this morning.

Sheriff, thank you for your work stopping the madness before it could spread further. What do you know from those responding at the scene to what the intentions of this shooter were before -- beyond what he had already done?

SHERIFF JOHN HANLIN, DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON: Good morning, Chris.

Obviously, we're still early into this investigation. And detectives have been working all night, conducting follow-up investigates, going door to door, canvassing neighborhoods, trying to develop more information into this horrific act. They've done a complete sweep of the college. They've been processing the scene. They've been to the residence of the shooter. And again, it's really too early to tell what the motive was. But we hope to get to the bottom of that here in the coming days.

CUOMO: But he was certainly armed to the teeth, and he was certainly bringing it to those who responded to the scene. And that's why they had to take him out, yes?

HANLIN: That's correct. CUOMO: Now, when these situations happen, of course, it's new to

where you are up there, and thank God for that. We often ask the question how do we avoid it the next time?

You've taken a step in that direction. You say I'm not going to tell you this guy's name, because he doesn't deserve the notoriety for this. There should be no upside to what he did. That's something that's been debated in the world of journalism. But we applaud you for it here on NEW DAY. What fuels that decision?

[07:25:07] HANLIN: I'm sorry. What was the last part of that question?

CUOMO: Why take that? Usually, law enforcement puts out the information pro forma. You don't want to do it. Why?

HANLIN: No, I don't. I don't want to glorify the shooter. I don't want to glorify his name. I don't want to glorify his cause. And as -- in order to prevent that, I'm refusing to state his name.

The Oregon state medical examiner's office will put out a notice identifying who the shooter is, but, again, that's the only information that will come out. You won't hear his name from me or from this investigation.

CUOMO: Have you heard from those processing the scene whether or not it is true that he was asking people about their faith?

HANLIN: I haven't heard that. Again, we hope to get some of those answers and details of the actual shooting and what transpired in the classroom as this investigation progresses.

CUOMO: How do you stop a man like this from getting a gun?

HANLIN: You know, the debate and the discussion over firearms is going to occur. Now is not the time. We want to focus on completing this investigation, doing a thorough investigation and more importantly, we want to focus on ensuring that the victims and the family of victims make it through this difficult time.

CUOMO: Right. But Sheriff, in the past, you've taken opportunities to talk about it, because this is when we talk about it. Right? I mean, in the moment of crisis is when it matters. And then, once it fades, only the families are left carrying the legacy of the burden in these situations. And, you know, you've in the past, said, "Gun laws aren't the answer. I'm not even going to enforce them." You wrote a letter to Joe Biden saying, "I'm won't enforce any more gun laws, because they're an infringement of constitutional rights." What do you believe the line is?

HANLIN: Again, Chris, I want to stay focused on completing this investigation and focus on the families of the victims. The discussion over firearms and control of firearms will occur. And I'll dime in at a later time. But now is not that time.

CUOMO: The families of the victims are going to ask for this to not happen again. You're going to learn this there firsthand. Those of us who have covered these have learned it dozens of times. That's what they're going to want. Please don't let this happen again. Please don't let someone else be taken this way. Mental health is going to come up and what we can do about it. Guns are going to come up, and whether or not there's any law that could have stopped this. In your mind, do you believe that we're a law away from this not having happened?

HANLIN: I can't tell you one way or the other at this point.

CUOMO: Do you think that that discussion is part of the solution in situations like this? Or do you think it's avoiding what the answer to the solution is?

HANLIN: Do I think the discussion surrounding firearms...

CUOMO: Yes.

HANLIN: And the control of firearms is the solution?

CUOMO: Yes. Do you think it's part of the solution?

HANLIN: It's -- it's certainly got to be part of -- part of the discussion. The discussion has to occur.

But, again, I want to stay focused on this investigation. I want to stay focused on ensuring that the investigation is conducted thoroughly and concisely. And I want to ensure that this community has an opportunity to heal as well as the victims' families. And right now, that is my focus.

CUOMO: I totally hear you on that. It's something we observe very scrupulously every time. And I say every time, because I've been to more of these than I've probably been to anything else when it comes to news coverage.

But I do think it is respecting the families. I do think it is part of the healing process. Because what they want most is to not see this again. What do you think of what President Obama just said that we are fooling ourselves, and we're not caring about each other if we continue to ignore the role of guns in these crimes?

HANLIN: Well, respectfully, Chris, I'm just not going to get involved in the gun debate at this point.

CUOMO: Why am I pushing you on this, Sheriff? It's not because I don't want -- don't want to respect the victims. Because you weighed in on it in the past. And I want to know if your perspective is different now that you're knee deep in one of these situations. Someone who was seeing it from afar.

HANLIN: Well, my position on it has not changed.

CUOMO: So you still believe that it's not about gun laws, it's 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.

CUOMO: Sheriff, look, no one is going to fault you for that. Take care of your community. Take care of that scene. And do what you can for the families. No one can ask you for more than that.