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Shooter in Oregon Community College Rampage Identified; Witness to Shooting Interviewed; Hurricane Joaquin Poses Significant Flood Threat; Interview with Congressman Tim Murphy. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: This is NEW DAY. But we are dealing with something all too familiar. A small town in Oregon now in the national spot, mourning nine victims as the country's latest casualties of mass shooting. A gunman opening fire Thursday morning at Umpqua Community College. An outraged President Obama saying the country has become numb to these shootings. Have we? Isn't it up to the lawmakers and voters to do something about it?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This as investigators try to figure out why this 26-year-old went on a rampage. Were there warning signs missed? And what about those reports that he targeted Christian students? We are also learning more about the victims. So let's begin with CNN's Ana Cabrera. She's is in Roseburg, Oregon, for us. What have you learned, Ana?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can tell you that the college just behind me, just beyond these police vehicles, is closed today. Investigators are still processing what is being described as an extensive crime scene. We also know there are about 100 working this case, some of them interviewing family and friends of the shooters, all looking for answers into what happened and why. And in this small, tight-knit community that has rocked by this tragedy, we're hearing more stories, stories of horror from the students in the classes describing shot after shot after shot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: 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 to gunman targeting those who said they were Christian.

STACY BOYLAN, FATHER OF UCC VICTIM: "Are you a Christian" he would ask them. And if you are a Christian, stand up. And they would stand up. And he said "Good, because you are a Christian you are 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: 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 point-blank 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 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: Shots with him. He's in a classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're 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: 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, the governor, this whole community wanting to keep the focus on the survivors and the victims. We do know that the nine bodies of those who were killed plus the shooter's body were all taken to the coroner's office of the state medical examiner in Portland, Oregon, where he was expected to conduct preliminary autopsies overnight. We hope to begin learning some of the identities of these victims in the next few hours so we can share their stories. Chris and Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Ana, thank you for that. Nine people were also wounded in the mass shooting at Umpqua community college. So for an update on them let's get to CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta. He's live at Mercy hospital in Roseburg, Oregon. What do we know at this hour, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We know, I just spoke to the chief medical officer at the hospital here. We know that they had about a 10 to 15 minute notice before the ambulances started coming in. We're about five miles away from the scene. There were 10 people originally brought in. As you mentioned, Alisyn, nine of them survived. One person actually passed away in the emergency room after actually arriving here, just to give you a sense of what they were dealing with. They felt they were ready to take care of these patients, but

obviously so many patients at once made this a mass casualty incident as they called it, overwhelming number of patients. We know now there are three patients that remain here in hospital. There were three that were transferred to another hospital. All of them suffered gunshot wounds to the head. They were in critical condition. They were all women between ages of 18 to 34. We know there are others who have been treated and were subsequently discharged.

[08:10:04] There is one patient here who is still in critical condition, but the other patients are in serious to fair condition. So they remain optimistic, good news a little bit, Alisyn, optimistic that all the patients here that are still in the hospital are going to do well.

One thing I should say, you know, it's a small community. This is a small town. Everyone knows each other here. And there was some direct relationships between some of the staff that were caring for the patients and some of the victims that came in yesterday. So just emotionally heart wrenching stuff. And it is still ongoing. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I think it shakes any of us that are from a small town like that because you realize, you drive by people on the road and look into the cars to see if you recognize them. This is a tightknit community. Everybody is going to know somebody that is affected by this. Sanjay thanks for that update. We appreciate it.

So now disturbing details are emerging from -- about this 26-year-old shooter. Investigators are furiously trying to figure out a motive. What could have caused him to commit such a heinous act? Deb Feyerick is here now with the latest that we know. Deborah?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Michaela, here is what we can tell you about him. We do know his name, and we are reporting it. He's 26-years-old. His name is Christopher Harper Mercer. There are two things that link him to the college. One is a college e-mail address. Another is a theater group at the college in which he is listed as the production assistant.

We also know according to people spoken to by the "New York times," he military style clothing every day. He also had a very close relationship with his mother. His mother's address is about five miles from the community college. His father lives in southern California, and earlier he spoke to the press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 just respect our privacy. And so far you have done that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there surprise at all?

MERCER: Shocked. Shocked is all I can say. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Shocked indeed. We can tell you about the weapons he was using. Three handguns, a long gun, he had body armor. He also had an enormous amount of ammunition. He went to two buildings. That's where his victims were found.

Finally, his online profile. He listed himself as "Lithium Love." He talks about two recent shootings including one of the Virginia reporter in which he says, quote, "When they spill a little blood the whole world knows who they are. It seems the more people kill the more you are in the limelight." He was talking about the gunman being alone and unknown until the tragedy. Michaela?

CUOMO: I'll take it. A visibly upset President Obama admonishing the nation for not doing anything about gun violence, saying somehow these mass shootings have become routine in the U.S., calling for tougher gun laws to stop the violence. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws and to save lives, and to let young people grow up. And that will require a change of politics on this issue. And it will require that the American people individually, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent, when you decide to vote for somebody are making a determination as to whether this cause of continuing death for innocent people should be a relevant factor in your decision. If you think this is a problem then you should expect your elected officials to reflect your views.

And I would particularly ask America's gun owners, who are using those guns properly, safely, to hunt, for sport, for protecting their families to think about whether your views are properly being represented by the organization that suggests it's speaking for you.

And each time this happen, I'm going to bring this up. Each time this happens, I am going to say that we can actually do something about it, but we're going to have to change our laws. And this is not something I can do by myself. I've got to have Congress, and I've got to have state legislatures and governors who are willing to work with me on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:10:00] CAMEROTA: Well, that was President Obama expressing his deep frustration, and it sounds like resignation at some times about what's happened in Oregon.

We want to bring in now Melody Boqua. She's a student at Umpqua Community College. She witnessed the massacre, and her husband Shawn Boqua joins us well. Shawn, Melody, thanks so much for being with us. We know it is 5:00 a.m. your time. It's been a long night. Melody, how are you doing. MELODY BOQUA, WITNESS TO SHOOTING: I'm doing OK physically. I'm glad

I'm OK. Mentally, I'm still pretty stake shaken up and in kind of in disbelief.

CAMEROTA: You were in the library at 10:00 in the morning when all of this unfolded. Tell us what you heard.

MELODY BOQUA: I just heard a bunch of yelling. And I stood up to look, as anybody would, and saw a bunch of people running, just a bunch of chaos right outside the door -- or right outside the window. So I heard a lot of people saying get out of the library. Another girl and I just stayed in there and hid.

CAMEROTA: And why did you stay and hide under a desk instead of running out?

MELODY BOQUA: You know, honestly, I have three kids to think about. And I didn't know where the shooter was. I didn't want to be a running target if he was right outside of where we were.

CAMEROTA: I know that you heard people yelling "shooter, shooter!" and "Let's get out of here." But you stayed and hid you should the desk. How long did you hide under that desk?

MELODY BOQUA: I believe we were under the desk for at least an hour.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. And what was happening during that? What were you hearing? What were you thinking?

MELODY BOQUA: I had heard some gunshots. I had heard people yelling right out -- from what sounded like right outside the library windows. Honestly I just sat under the desk and prayed. I didn't really know what else to do.

CAMEROTA: Shawn, when you heard there was something terrible happening at the community college and you knew your wife was there that morning, what happened on your end?

SHAWN BOQUA, HUSBAND OF SHOOTING WITNESS: Initially I just -- I texted her just to try to touch base with her, and then eventually tried calling her a little bit later. And when she wasn't getting right back to me it made me a little worried. But, you know, she eventually did.

CAMEROTA: How long did you have to wait Shawn before you knew she was OK?

SHAWN BOQUA: I had probably pretty close to a half hour or so.

CAMEROTA: And what was that half an hour like?

SHAWN BOQUA: It was nerve wracking. I hear guys on the radio at work talking about it and everything going on. A few of them talking about how they couldn't get ahold of their loved one that was there. And so hearing that and then realizing that my wife was there too and not being able to see her, you know, it was pretty nerve wracking.

CAMEROTA: Did you think she was one of the victims?

SHAWN BOQUA: I was trying not really to think about that too much. I was more or less waiting for the call and hoping and praying she does call me back.

CAMEROTA: Melody you were under the desk, as I understand it, with another student. Were you having a conversation? Were you talking to each other?

MELODY BOQUA: No, she actually wasn't under the same desk that I was. She was actually a row over from me. We could see each other under where we were at. But we weren't speaking. We were just trying to stay invisible, I guess, is a good way to put it.

CAMEROTA: So Melody, did you hear the gunman? Did you hear any talking?

MELODY BOQUA: I had thought I did. Honestly I'm not really sure what I was hearing because there was so much chaos. I know I heard gunfire. And I'm having reason to believe that the gunfire was that coming from the sheriff's office and not the actual gunman himself.

CAMEROTA: When did you realize that it was safe so go out? And how did you trust it was safe to get out from under the desk?

MELODY BOQUA: We thought we heard "all clear." And the other girl poked her head out and I looked and said is it clear? Is that what we just heard? And she said I think so. So we got up together. And I saw out the side window where we were walking that there were some officers and students standing in the grass. So we proceeded to the front of the library. And we both looked at each other and said we're not comfortable going out there. We still don't know what's out there. So we went back to where we had seen the officers by where we had been hiding and went out the emergency exit. So we knew there were officers standing by so we knew we were safe.

CAMEROTA: And Melody, you seem incredibly composed for having lived through this. But does this -- does this get, sort of, into your bloodstream and, you know, your DNA?

[08:15:02] And how do you plan to be able to feel safe again and go back to school?

MELODY BOQUA: Honestly, I don't know. I was a wreck yesterday. I'm actually surprisingly composed this morning. I don't know. Just hearing somebody when I was at a church last night just pop a water container and hearing that popping sound just completely freaked me out. So honestly I don't know how this is going to go in the long run.

CAMEROTA: Shawn, you took to Facebook yesterday to try to process all of this. I mean, how do you make sense of what happened there in your town yesterday? SHAWN BOQUA: You know, none of this ever makes sense no matter where

it's at. I mean, yes, I took to Facebook because I know there are some media sites and pages on Facebook they follow. And they generally are pretty up to date on what's going on. And so, you know, it's so early on in the process what's going on, you don't see this on the news on TV.

CAMEROTA: Yes. No, I mean, basically your message. What message did you want to get out there?

S. BOQUA: You know, I guess for somebody that wanted to do this, I mean, I don't understand myself personally how you can get that way and be able to do what these people are doing.

But, you know, I mean -- it's kind of hard really to say. You know, think about what's going on? Why do you need to involve people? And then of course message out to everybody involved, you know, we're really sorry for anything that may have happened to you or your families. And you know we pray you can get by and heal through all this.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Melody and Shawn Boqua, we pray that you will heal as well from the trauma of yesterday. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

M. BOQUA: Thank you.

S. BOQUA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Our hearts are with them. That is a terrible thing to have a witnessed.

We're going to get back to our breaking coverage of the shooting in Oregon. First, we want to give you an update on Hurricane Joaquin. The powerful category 4 has been lashing the Bahamas. Even though some models say it may miss the eastern U.S., we do know it is still expected to damp a whole lot of rain.

All right. Meteorologist Chad Myers, give us the new forecast. Track it for us. What do we know?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The forecast from the Hurricane Center does keep it off shore for the U.S. the entire time. Moves it up towards Atlantic Canada but really even missing that, like Newfoundland in that.

But other than this, how many times in your lifetime could you talk about the category 4 hurricane, 130 miles per hour, 360 miles from Miami and not really worry about it? I can't even think that I've ever thought about that in the 52 years I've been alive.

A hundred thirty miles per hour, but the suction of this low pressure center should draw it up and away from the U.S. if it doesn't -- and there are still computer models that say it may not -- it may not get all the way over there, then we could see some impact. What we don't -- I don't think we're going to see wind impact, we're not going to see eye wall, but we're going to see flooding impact.

We have all of this tropical moisture, and it is going to get sucked into the Carolinas, into the Virginia, maybe even Georgia. And that will cause flooding, an awful lot of rain, up to 10 inches and I've seen computer models saying up to 15.

So, how does this happen? How do you get up to 15 inches of rain? Well, you have a significant tropical storm here. You have a low pressure system here and it is going to suck all of this moisture and throw it onto the mountains, it can throw it onto the Appalachian mountain chain and it's going to go up the hill and that rain is going to come right down the mountains and through the rivers and into the valleys and into the cities that live along those rivers and we could see significant flooding this weekend. We'll be here.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I know you will Chad and I appreciate you're following these models, there are no clear answers right away and you take us through that and it is the nature of it. We'll check back with you in just a little bit.

Also breaking over night, we have to tell you, 11 were killed including six U.S. service members and five civilian contractors when their military transport plane crashed at a Jalalabad airport in Afghanistan. That's right near the Pakistani border.

Now, the Taliban has claimed responsibility for it, at least on Twitter. The U.S. military denies that hostile fire was involved. They are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash and we're going to follow all the developments.

CAMEROTA: A massive hack of credit reporting agency Experian is expecting 15 million T-Mobile customers -- sorry, it is affecting them, 15 million of them this morning. T-Mobile says hackers stole Social Security number, driver's licenses and passport numbers of new T-Mobile applicants who requested credit checks.

[08:20:01] This is between September 1st and September 15th. Banking and payment card information was not breached they say.

PEREIRA: A bit of clarification now from the Vatican, now explaining the circumstances behind the pope's meeting with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. A deputy Vatican spokesman says she was one of several dozen people that Pope Francis met with briefly at the Vatican embassy in Washington, and that the only real audience he granted was with one of his former students and his family. The Vatican says the meeting does not mean the pope supports Davis' position. You will recall she spent six days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

CUOMO: It seems like we're always bringing you stories about gun violence, doesn't it? We're always asking, what can we do to stop it?

Well, we're going talk with a lawmaker who is doing exactly that. We know mental health matters in these mass shootings. We don't do anything to address the problem. He wants to. Hear his solution and why he says that solution is being frustrated, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We're back now with more on the campus massacre.

The numbers do not lie. Here are some statistics for you. The states with the most lenient gun laws simply have more gun-related deaths. Those with more strict gun laws on the books have fewer.

Speaking of laws, one congressman has been working tirelessly to push through mental health legislation to help families deal with troubled loved ones before tragedy happens. It's been stymied virtually every step of the way.

[08:25:01] Joining us now is that congressman, Pennsylvania Representative Tim Murphy.

Tim, you and I have come to be friends over this issue. And I'm sorry to once again have the exact same situation that brings us together all too often. What can you tell the American people about what common root causes are in these mass shootings are at least and what we are not doing to help stop them?

REP. TIM MURPHY (R), PENNSYLVANIA: What we are not doing and this comes from both the legislative and executive branch, the slow, snail space approach to dealing with serious mental illness reform. It gets pushed aside and say, let's look at this another week, another month, another year. And in the three years I've been working on this, hundreds of thousands of deaths from suicides, drug over doses, homicides, the slow motion death of all have occurred.

Here's what happens, we have a federal government which has policies that toward serious mental illness quite frankly are abusive and neglectful. What is worse is they are even more discriminatory towards those who are minorities and in poverty.

We have a federal system that is more interested in protecting people's rights to be sick than their rights to be well. We have a criminal justice system more interested in putting people in prison than getting them hospital beds.

We don't have enough providers. We don't have enough places for care. We spend and waste billions on absurd programs like making collages and the buying paintings and the having websites with the sing-along songs and refuse to even acknowledge that schizophrenia and bipolar illness exists.

And then what happens because you have folks out there that say they don't ever want to be involuntarily committed, you end up stymieing those laws which say that if someone is seriously mentally ill and propensity towards violence because they don't have a involuntary commitment, they can still purchase weapons. What is wrong with this picture?

CUOMO: Let's take it one step at a time. The first thing they say is not now, Tim. Not now.

MURPHY: That's right.

CUOMO: Let the blood dry. Be there for the families. Let's know all the facts. Don't politicize this.

You say what many say and increasingly more are saying which is, no, now is exactly the time.

Explain that to those who say you're wrong.

MURPHY: Precisely. You know, Congress will probably have another moment of silence when we get back next week. And I like many Americans will be sitting there extremely frustrated saying we don't need silence. We need action.

And if Americans want to do anything, they ought to pick up a approximate pen or go to a computer or pick up their phone and call Congress and say, move this comprehensive mental health legislation, HR2646, the Helping Families and Mental Health Crisis Act. Because once again Congress will say, you know, we've got other priorities to work on.

And again I put blames on both sides of the aisle, leadership from top to bottom who push this aside.

What we have to understand is, instead of talking about, well, maybe we think about this more, maybe we ought to compromise more, these families of the victims, they are hurting. They are in pain for the rest of their lives. They don't want people talking about compromise and putting this off. They need action now.

CUOMO: They say --

MURPHY: So I hope Americans speak up.

CUOMO: The families say don't let this happen to anybody else. The advocates, many healthcare advocates, specifically mental health part of healthcare say, woe, don't paint all the mentally ill with the same brush. Don't take their privacy rights.

What about the HIPAA laws? You can't tell people to get treatment. We don't want their records out there so that people can review them. We don't want some bank of information that the government has with your mental health.

We don't want any of this, Tim. Don't take us down this road.

MURPHY: Well, and you know what? My legislation nor any legislation is going to take us down the road to take away people's rights to privacy.

But when you have federal laws that are set up that actually prevent families from helping and then blame families for not helping, that's perverse. When you have federal laws that say family members can't know when someone has an illness, when you have colleges that are more worried about being sued than notifying family members when there is a problem. When you have federal agencies that specifically pay for groups to go out there and take people out of hospitals and then block them from getting help, that's the perverse problem.

My legislation is supported by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, National Alliance for Mental Illness, Mental Health of America, many programs out there doing it. Congress has to get offs its tough and deal with this comprehensive problem.

Look, America, we should all be incredibly frustrated but don't just be frustrated. Be vocal and tell Congress to move this legislation.

CUOMO: Who are the obstacles? How can we ask questions to those who are stopping this process to see what it is that's motivating their recalcitrance?

MURPHY: Well, the recalcitrance comes I think from a lot of times from lawmakers wanting to do something but not really understanding. So, when someone says, "Gee, we don't want to take away someone's rights to refuse treatment", I don't to take away their rights either. But they have a right to be well. Families have a right whether here in Oregon now or issues in Connecticut, or California, those families had a right to see their children grow up.