Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Sunday

Ferguson Police Officer Shot In The Arm; U.S.-Led Air War Against ISIS Expands; Volcano Erupts, Dozens Feared Dead; Storms Ground Flights In Phoenix; Police Officer Shot in Ferguson, Missouri; U.S.-Led War on ISIS Expanding in Syria; Investigation of Workplace Violence at Vaughn Foods; Difficult Weather Conditions for Air Travel; Moms Collect and Distribute Kids' Stuff to Help Other Mothers

Aired September 28, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Joe Johns in for Victor Blackwell.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: It's good to have you here.

JOHNS: It's really good to be here on a Sunday morning. Just loving Atlanta.

PAUL: We have some breaking news.

JOHNS: We do. Breaking news as well as fresh violence, Ferguson, Missouri, where a white police officer has been shot in the arm during what began as a routine patrol stop. Police tell CNN the suspect is a black man. The officer is recovering.

PAUL: But here's the thing, just three hours later then an off-duty officer in nearby St. Louis was sprayed with gunfire as he drove. We need to point out his personal vehicle. This was near the airport. Now that officer wasn't hit and we do not have descriptions of the suspects in that case.

JOHNS: A lot of details to sort out here at this point. Neither incident is thought to be tied to the continuing unrest in Ferguson over the shooting death of last month of black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white police officer.

PAUL: George Howell has been following the latest developments, though. And George, I think this is evidence, has it not, that the tension is still very much alive there.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that's fair to say. You know, this happened when we were on air overnight. You see these two unrelated incidents. Crowds started to grow there and people are concerned about this. You can tell that tensions are very high.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL (voice-over): Tense moments overnight in Ferguson, Missouri, after two separate shootings that happened within a span of hours. First, a Ferguson police officer was shot in the arm while on patrol. Authorities say he went into do a building check and saw someone run away. When the officer got out of his car to chase, police say the suspect turned around and shot the officer. The incident drew crowds and raised nerves in a city already on edge from weeks of unrest. And the question many people were asking --

(on camera): Is this in any way related to the protest?

CHIEF JOHN BELMAR, ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI POLICE: I don't think it is. It didn't happen within the proximity of the protest area. This is an area that is fairly secluded. I wouldn't have any reason to believe right now that it was linked in any way, shape, manner or form with the protest.

HOWELL: The shooting happened near the Ferguson community center. The officer survived. The wound said to be nonlife threatening. Exactly three hours later, another shooting took place this time a drive by on Interstate 70 near the St. Louis airport.

Police say someone opened fire on an off duty officer in his personal vehicle. The officer survived with a few minor injuries from broken glass and did not return fire. It's still unclear whether he was targeted or the victim of a random act of violence.

Earlier in the night, Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson tried to speak to the crowds hoping to diffuse any possible confrontations.

CAPTAIN RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI HIGHWAY PATROL: What I have to say is -- a police officer was shot. A police officer has been shot tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who else got shot?

JOHNSON: That's the only person that got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police told me someone else got shot.

JOHNSON: I'm going to ask you to leave, but I'm only going to ask you one time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are our streets. These aren't your streets. These are our streets.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: So Captain Ron Johnson there trying to talk to the crowd, trying to make sure that there are no further conflicts. You listen to that sound there, you know, we had people in the newsroom taking different thoughts about what they heard there.

Some heard disrespect of the officers. Others heard people in the community who are frustrated. So many different narratives that are playing out here. What happens even when you have unrelated incidents in Ferguson, tensions are just high.

JOHNS: Right, but just tensions and this was dialogue that we were listening to and nothing more, right?

HOWELL: Dialogue or maybe the lack thereof. Some would say when a conversation tries to happen, it shut down. In that particular case, Ron Johnson talking, you could hear some people, you know, not really wanting to hear what he had to say.

PAUL: Right. All right. George Howell, thank you so much.

JOHNS: Now before any of this latest violence erupted, President Obama last night in Washington spoke about the root of unrest that has gripped Ferguson since Michael Brown was killed August 9th. The president addressed the Congressional Black Caucus foundation dinner, a crowd that included Brown's parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The anger and the emotion that followed his death awakened our nation once again to the reality that people in this room have long understood, which is in too many communities around the country a gulf of mistrust exists between local residents and law enforcement.

Too many young men of color feel targeted by law enforcement. Guilty of walking while black, driving while black, judged by stereotypes that fuel fear and resentment and hopelessness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The president went on to call on members of Congress and others to complete the, quote, "unfinished work of equalizing opportunities across society from the criminal justice system to the workplace."

PAUL: Joining us now, law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes. Tom, thank you for being up with us again this morning. I want to get your initial thoughts on what happened overnight in Ferguson and St. Louis.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think the Ferguson incident first, Chief Belmar said that he believes it's completely unrelated to the protests. This is just police officers doing police work and it's a dangerous line of work. Sometimes this happens. Individuals turn and fire on an officer who is not initiated a violent act against them but it just happens. Fortunately, it doesn't look like that's escalated out of control and they were able to keep a lid on it.

I do think that there was a great deal of that frustration and disrespect both when you see Captain Johnson trying to -- trying to disperse the crowd and they don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear what even he had to say.

And no police officer has been more reasonable and more peaceful and more respectful of people in the street protesting than Captain Johnson. So when they start to turn on him, I think that -- I hope that is just an isolated situation for him last night and that doesn't continue or worsen.

PAUL: Let's look at that sound again from Captain Johnson real quickly here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE: All I got to say is this. (Inaudible) tragedy, we all know that. I'm sorry. I said it -- (inaudible) you don't have to accept that. You don't have to accept that. That came from my heart. I had to that off my chest. That's been sitting there for two months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: OK, that is not Ron Johnson. Captain Ron Johnson is with the Missouri Highway Patrol. That is the sound we saw a few minutes ago. That is the police chief who on Thursday or Friday this week was out on the streets of Ferguson appealing to people to work together.

Essentially trying to say in some sense, Tom, the same thing that Captain Johnson was saying just a moment ago when he said all of this hate has to stop. But there are people obviously in that community who feel no matter what, they have not been heard.

How do you balance -- how do you find a balance here to calm the tensions and find some peace?

FUENTES: Well, that's true. I think the problem here is that what chief of Ferguson Police, Jackson, was trying to do is about six weeks too late. My view of that is on the night of the shooting or afternoon of the shooting, he should have been out explaining why the body had to lay in the street the length of time it did by Missouri law.

And he's apologizing for things he had no control over and wasn't in charge of. When there is an officer involved fatal shooting like that, the medical examiner's office for the county takes over. They won't allow the body to be moved until the forensic work by the crime scene investigative team is done.

And in this case, that didn't even start for an hour and a half because they were involved in another incident in another part of St. Louis County. So they don't arrive on the scene for an hour and a half.

And then that hour and a half, no one can touch the body, no one can cover or do anything like that because it tampers with potential evidence on the body. You can't screen it off completely without tampering the grounds around, which are part of the crime scene.

So he apologized for something that he cannot control. He could not have moved the body even if he wanted to by law. Secondly, he apologized for protecting the protesters. It is the county police that came out with the military equipment and pointing snipers at the crowd and things like that. That was not under his control and then the county police replaced later in the week by state police when Captain Johnson was placed in charge. So to apologize for things that he didn't control in the first place, just -- and having a public relations firm hired to help him do the apology, it just comes off as being too little too, late and on top of everything else, insincere.

PAUL: All right, Tom Fuentes, thank you so much. We appreciate your insight as always.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

PAUL: We'll continue this conversation throughout the morning.

JOHNS: Now to Syria. The U.S.-led air war against ISIS is ramping up for the first time airstrikes have targeted ISIS vehicles and sites near a town where Kurdish fighters are trying to hold off the militants. This is video from the U.S. military shows a missile slamming into an ISIS compound yesterday.

PAUL: Let's go to CNN's Phil Black. He is at the border between Turkey and Syria. Phil, the video you showed us a couple of days ago was just remarkable, this intense fighting there. What are you seeing now?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, Joe, good morning. Where I'm standing now is north of the Syrian border. Take a look behind me, you'll able to see a Turkish military watch tower and armored vehicle and beyond that a line of buildings. That line of buildings marks the Syrian border.

It also marks the northern extremity of the town of Kobani. That town is the target of ISIS advance that we are seeing through this region at the moment. ISIS forces are advancing from the south, east and the west.

And they are being met with some pretty tough resistance by local fighters, ethnic Kurds who are doing their best to stop them. They believe they are outgunned and outnumbered.

What we saw late on Friday was an extraordinary situation where we saw some of the fighting firsthand just west of here right on the border itself. And we saw in that situation those Kurdish forces really give the ISIS fighters something of a bloody nose.

The ISIS fighters took casualties. They were eventually driven back. But the local fighters tell us that is sort of a rare event. They're losing territory every day. They do not believe they'll be able to hold off ISIS without more support from that international coalition striking from the air.

JOHNS: Phil Black in the pouring rain there on the border. Apparently we're losing that signal. Thank you so much for that. Phil, stay safe.

PAUL: Take good care, you and the crew there. Now let's talk about the scary moments at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Violent storms tore off part of the roof of a terminal. Grounded flights obviously. Passengers say they could feel the planes shaking.

JOHNS: Plus there are dozens of people feared dead or buried alive after a volcano erupts in Japan. Scientists are warnings it could explode again. We'll head to Japan live coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: There are fears this morning that dozens of people were killed in a massive volcano eruption in Japan. Dozens more may be trapped or buried alive beneath the ash.

PAUL: A rescue effort we know for survivors is under way. But officials have no idea how many people are missing or where they might be and what's more, this volcano is still active. It is unleashing clouds of ashes we sit here and speak with you.

JOHNS: The pictures are just unbelievable. CNN's Will Ripley is live at the base of the volcano. Will, officials say they found more than 30 hikers without a pulse, not breathing, but there hasn't been any confirmation on the number of fatalities so far.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Joe, this is certainly really the worst possible news for the growing number of families that are gathering here. We are close to the base of the mountain. If it were light right now, you would see the large smoke plume that was up over my left shoulder during our other live reports when we still had sunlight here.

The reason why they're not yet pronouncing anybody officially is because doctors haven't had a chance to take a look at most of the 30 people who were discovered in what is described as cardiac arrest. They weren't breathing, no pulse.

We know that at least four of those people were carried off the mountains and you see the convoy that's have been passing behind me as this rescue operation wrapped up for the day. Saw a number of Tokyo firefighters walk past with backpacks.

They're making a three-kilometer trek to the summit, which is still active. There are still small eruptions happening as we speak. So this is about 10,000 feet up. They're having to carry these people that have no signs of life, they're carrying them down the mountain, placing them in ambulances and then taking them to medical facilities.

So earlier we were reporting that 32 people were missing and then to get the news that they have found more than 30 people in this state of cardiac arrest not breathing, no signs of life, it really will only be a matter of time before the news officially comes and these people are identified and their families are notified. A very, very sad and difficult situation.

PAUL: Will, I was reading there were about 250 hikers estimated in that area at the time and that some may be trapped in several cottages. What do you know about cottages in that area and their accessibility?

RIPLEY: Sure. I can tell you this is Japan's second highest volcano, but it is also a very, very popular area for hikers. This is one of the peak weekends of the autumn viewing season. The fall foliage is lovely right now.

This eruption happened on Saturday just before noon at a time when a lot of the hikers were reaching the summit, sitting down, taking pictures, having a picnic lunch when this happened with no warning.

And people who were farther from the summit describe being enveloped in this cloud of ash and gas in less than a minute really. But those who were closer to the summit, closer to this event are the ones that they're most worried about.

There are mountain lodges in the area. So people who had head lamps were able to put those on. It was pitch black just like it is right now. You have to crawl and find your way to get into the lodges where many of them spent the night. That's where they were rescued from and taken down the mountain throughout the day today.

PAUL: All right, Will Ripley, thank you so much for letting us know what's going on there.

JOHNS: There is nothing you could do.

PAUL: Thank goodness for the cottages and the lodges up there.

JOHNS: And there could be more. That's what's so scary about it.

PAUL: Yes. And again with that volcano still being active and seismologists believe it could erupt again in a bigger fashion within the coming days.

Do want to get to some of the other stories that are making news this morning. Liberian's top medical officer is in quarantine after her assistant died from the Ebola virus. She's expected to be in treatment for 21 days. According to the World Health Organization, the current outbreak is the worst in history and it's blamed for more than 3,000 deaths.

JOHNS: In sports, the head of the National Domestic Violence Hotline says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was moved to tears while visiting the group's headquarters in Texas. Goodell heard stories from advocates yesterday about the physical violence many women face. He's been heavily criticized over his recent handling of domestic violence cases inside the National Football League.

PAUL: And in politics, former Ohio Congressman James Traficant has died. A family spokeswoman says he suffered complications after being critically injured in a tractor accident earlier in the week.

He served in Congress for nearly 20 years, was convicted on several corruption charges in 2002. He earned a reputation as a maverick on Capitol Hill and was known for his beam me up signoff on the House floor.

JOHNS: He was truly one of a kind.

PAUL: James Traficant, he was 73.

JOHNS: Wow.

Running for cover, violent storms tore through parts of Arizona bringing with it damaging winds and lightning. We'll show you what the storm did to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: My goodness. Violent storms hit Phoenix Air Harbor International Airport, shut it down for an hour. Phoenix is not used to storms like this.

JOHNS: Absolutely. You can see the damage the storm caused. Look at these pictures. Some passengers had to wait out wind, thunder, lightning in planes on the tarmac. Here's Rebecca Thomas of CNN's affiliate, KPHO.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow! This storm is tearing up our freaking roof. Literally, look at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCA THOMAS, KPHO REPORTER: Operations at Sky Harbor Airport are returning to normal. Earlier Saturday flights were canceled from about 2:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon because of wind, because of rain and because of intense lightning.

At least 40 incoming flights were diverted. The FAA tells us that the control tower was briefly evacuated in the afternoon because of high winds and in fact they got 70 miles per hour was recorded here.

As for damage, Sky Harper official confirm significant damage at Terminal 2, at some of the gates and in baggage claim areas. Passengers and ground crew sent us some pretty incredible video from the security checkpoint, whipping wind tore off pieces of the roof and water is pouring into that terminal.

I did speak with a passenger who was stuck on the tarmac in a plane. He said the wind was so intense the plane was shaking violently. He saw that roof being torn off of terminal four and a rolling staircase went by. Again, obviously his plane did not take off. He was stuck in Phoenix. The weather has since calmed down. That is the good news.

But passengers are being advised to check with their airlines about status of incoming and departing flights because we are dealing with delays and cancellations in some cases here in Phoenix -- Christi, Joe.

JOHNS: Rebecca Thomas, thank you for that.

The situation in Phoenix follows that disturbing incident at an Illinois Air Traffic Control Center where police say an employee set a fire and then tried to kill himself. The fire canceled thousands of flights at Chicago airport.

Air traffic controllers had to file some flight plans manually. The FAA says it's going to being installing new communications equipment starting today.

More violence explodes in Ferguson, Missouri and nearby St. Louis. We'll have the latest on two shootings involving police officers.

And an emotional appeal from a top law enforcement official.

PAUL: Plus, the war on ISIS expands. New airstrikes target militants near the border of Turkey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: What a morning already on this Sunday. We want to get you up to par here. I'm Christi Paul.

JOHNS: And I'm Joe Johns. It's the bottom of the hour. Our top story this morning, a police officer has been shot in Ferguson, Missouri. This was the scene last night as investigators began searching for the gunman who shot a white police officer in the arm during a routine patrol stop. Police tell CNN the suspect is an African-American man. The officer is recovering.

PAUL: Also last night, an off duty officer in nearby St. Louis was sprayed with gunfire. As he drove and we should point out his personal vehicle near the airport, the officer wasn't wounded. No description yet of the suspect either. But at this point neither incident appears to be tied to protests over last month shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown by a white officer there in Ferguson. But tensions certainly are high.

JOHNS: They are. But last night the state patrol captain brought in Detroit to calm the unrest pled for peace with angry demonstrators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you have to say, sir?

CAPT. RON JOHNSON, MISSHOURI HIGHWAY PATROL: What I have got to say is (INAUDIBLE), a police officer is shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

JOHNSON: A police officer has been shot tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who else got shot?

JOHNSON: That's the only person that got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, right.

JOHNSON: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police told me someone else got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

JOHNSON: Not yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

JOHNSON: Not yet.

OK. I'm going to ask you to leave. And I'm only going to ask you one time.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are our streets. These are our streets. These ain't your streets. These are our streets!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's going to cause a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The U.S.-led war on ISIS is expanding in Syria. Warplanes this weekend struck sites in northern Syria where outgunned Kurdish forces have been trying to stop ISIS militants from advancing. The strikes are believed to be the first known coalition attacks near the border with Turkey, a country that is not participating in the airstrikes. Joining us now for more, Peter Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence and Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona is a CNN military analyst. Now, Colonel, why did U.S. and coalition forces wait until now to use airstrikes near the border? They've been clamoring for a long time to get some help out there.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, this is a real tough mission, Joe. Because you've got troops in contact. And any time you have got troops that close together, you have to be very careful where you put ordnance. Because you run the risk of causing a lot of friendly casualties. So you either have to have a spotter on the ground or you have to have well defined lines that you can strike and know what you're hitting. So, we have either been able to get somebody on the ground there to help or they've been able to designate the targets accurately enough that the fighter pilots feel safe in hitting them. The last thing we want to do is drop ordnance on friendlies.

JOHNS: Peter Neumann, it's been well known now that these Kurdish troops are simply outgunned by ISIS. And I think the question everybody is asking at this stage is are these airstrikes going to make any difference at all? What's your view? PETER NEUMANN, INTL. CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF RADICALIZATION: Well,

the airstrikes already made a difference because six or eight weeks ago before the airstrikes began, those Kurdish troops were losing battles. And ISIS was able to expand its territory, was able to take new villages and make the territory even bigger. The airstrikes have stopped that. And I think that continues to be the main, the principle task of the Americans and their coalition partners. It is to contain ISIS, to make the Kurds win battles again and to prevent ISIS from expanding its territory. It's really important.

JOHNS: Colonel Francona now.

FRANCONA: Joe, if I could just pick up on that. What he says is exactly right. Everybody's wondering why isn't the air power rolling this back? It was never designed to. As Peter said, the goal was to stop it and allow the ground troops to regain their stance and then they can move forward again.

JOHNS: Well, but let me ask you both. Shouldn't Turkey be more involved in this? This is on their border and they've sort of been in many ways a nonparticipant, at least in the unpleasantries.

FRANCONA: Yeah. I think that's right, Joe. The Turks will become involved when they believe that ISIS is a threat to Turkey. And right now they don't feel that is the case. ISIS has been very particular about not going across that Turkish border. Because I don't think they want to get the Turks involved in it as the Turks have a serious military. The Turks have access - direct access from right across the border. So, I think ISIS is being very smart not to bring Turkey into this.

JOHNS: Peter Neumann, the excuse has been, of course, that they have this humanitarian crisis on the border and that's the main thing they have to be focused on. Do you think that's really the reason why they're not so involved?

NEUMANN: Well, they have been very ambiguous. And this is going to be really interesting to watch. Because on the one hand, the Turks do not want for the west to have only one partner in the region. The Kurds which the Turks are trying to limit in their ambitions on the other hand, it is, of course, true that the Turks have this huge infrastructure on their side of the border of all the rebel groups including Jabhat al-Nusra and including ISIS. And for the Turks, it's an interesting calculation. On the one hand, of course they want to beat ISIS. On the other hand, they know that ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra are already within their territory and if they beat ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra too hard, the fear is that these groups will turn against Turkey and cause all sorts of mayhem within their country. So this is going to be really interesting to watch.

JOHNS: Colonel, we had reports last week that five or six civilians had been killed in the airstrikes. Do you think it's already time to start being concerned about collateral damage causing a political problem for the United States with regard to the bombing?

FRANCONA: Yeah. I agree. This is always a concern. And as Chairman Dempsey said, civilian casualties are going to be inevitable. We try and limit them as much as we can. And I think the United States and the coalition, especially the Arab coalition, they're very sensitive to this. And they're doing what they can. But as you know, there's no way to get around this. So far it has not been a political problem. But if there's a big incident, and that's why I'm saying it's very important we not drop ordnance on friendlies because that will cause that political problem that you referenced.

JOHNS: Peter Neumann and Rick Francona, thanks so much. Good to see you on this Sunday morning. Christi.

FRANCONA: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, gentlemen.

Ahead on "NEW DAY", we're learning more about the things Oklahoma beheading suspect posted on his Facebook account. Support for Islamic radicals. A profile photo of fighters holding weapons, posts about judgment day. What do police say all of this means?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 21 minutes past the hour. So glad to have your company here at "NEW DAY." The community of Charlottesville, Virginia, right now is just in full gear trying to find UVA student Hannah Graham. She vanished more than two weeks ago. Well, the city has added now additional emergency dispatch operators trying to help field incoming tips. In terms of the search, though, police we know are looking for clues in rural parts of the city including abandoned buildings. In the meantime, Jesse Matthews, the prime suspect in the case is being held in isolation in a Virginia prison cell. And he's been charged at this point with abduction.

JOHNS: The beheading at a food processing plant in Oklahoma has many struggling to understand how and why it happened. And the first step is learning more about the suspect, 30-year-old Alton Nolen.

PAUL: Nick Valencia has been investigating Nolen's social media account. Nick, what have you learned?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Joe and Christi, police have released some details about the suspect in this week's beheading in Moore, Oklahoma. But we're beginning to learn more about him from his Facebook page.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Police say this is the Facebook page of the man suspected of beheading a co-worker in Moore, Oklahoma. The images and messages on the page of Alton Nolen who goes by an alias here, appear to support Islamic radicals and ridicule Christianity. In recent posts, Nolen writes about judgment day, and criticizes the United States and Israel. The posts are a mixed array, some more disturbing than others.

It was on Thursday that police say Nolen brought horror to his workplace. He had just been fired from his job that day only to return shortly afterward with a knife.

SGT. JEREMY LEWIS, MOORE POLICE: He encountered the first victim and began assaulting her with a knife. He did kill Colleen and did severe her head.

VALENCIA: According to police, the suspect than began attacking a second woman when he was shot and stopped by an armed company executive. Mark Vaughn, son of the company's founder is also a reserve sheriff's deputy. Officials say it was his actions that prevented more deaths.

LEWIS: It could have gotten a lot worse. This guy definitely was not going to stop. He didn't stop until he was shot.

VALENCIA: The barbaric nature of the crime has led some residents and others to speculate the act could be tied to something larger. And was perhaps influenced by Muslim extremists. Adding to the theory police say that in recent weeks Nolen had tried to convert his coworkers to Islam. But in a statement to CNN, Oklahoma's governor warned not to jump to conclusions before the investigation is complete. The FBI is assisting local police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Nolen has a lengthy criminal history according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections including briefly leading police on a manhunt. The state trooper who had a physical altercation with Nolen four years ago, says after she found out what he is accused of, she wished she would have killed him when she had the chance. Joe, Christi.

JOHNS: Nick Valencia, thanks for that.

PAUL: OK, so I wish that I had better news for you here. Because if you're flying today, take a book. Buy a magazine. You can expect apparently tons of delays. We're going to tell you how bad it may get out there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: OK. So if you're getting ready to get on a plane, we have got bad news. There are lots of cancellations. Jennifer Gray? OK.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yep.

JOHNS: What's going on?

GRAY: Two days later we're still dealing with cancellations. We are talking about a lot of them, about 800 cancellations today across the country. A lot of those at Chicago O'Hare. 356 outbound and about the same inbound. And then it's creating that trickle effect like we have been talking about in the past couple of days. Minneapolis St. Paul affected as well as Reagan, Detroit, you are also affected. And we are also looking at delays tomorrow and even a couple into Tuesday. So do expect those numbers to go up. Another airport that had delays and cancellations yesterday, Phoenix. Of course, unrelated to what happened in Chicago. They had some

incredible storms push through there yesterday. In fact, we have some video of damage to the airport. About 30 flights were diverted. They had damage to one of the terminals and the baggage claim area and also it's one of the areas where folks are waiting on the gates. The windows were even blown out. So just a scary situation in Phoenix yesterday.

But back to the maps. We had about one to three inches of rain just to the north of Phoenix. We had four to six inches north of Kingman and then just to the south of Cedar City about four to six inches. So a lot of rain not only on the west side of the country, but also the southeast. Heavy rain expected for the Gulf coast as well as a flooding threat again for portions of the west. So we are going to be watching for that today as far as rainfall totals, expected through Monday. Two to four inches possible around Boise.

We're also going to see one to three inches in spots across Wyoming and then for the Gulf Coast, Florida, yes, you're still in on this rain. Four to six inches around Tampa. One to three on the west coast around Fort Myers, Naples. So a lot of rain even Atlanta getting in on the action with some rain today. Most of the rain, though, south of the city, guys.

JOHNS: Not looking forward to this. I'm getting on a plane today myself.

GRAY: Yeah. Maybe you'll miss it. Get out early enough. Get ahead of it.

JOHNS: All right. Thanks, Jennifer.

GRAY: All right.

JOHNS: Christi?

PAUL: Good luck with that, Joe. That's all I can tell you. Good luck with that.

A new series, CNN original series, I should say, debuting tonight. It is called "This is Life" hosted by award winning journalist and author Lisa Ling. And every week she is exploring, you know, people's unconventional lifestyles that really exist in our own backyards. First stop, sugar daddy's sugar babies. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LING, CNN HOST: Is there a typical profile on seeking arrangements?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The average sugar baby is 27, typically has a college degree or is going to college, the average guy is 40 years old. He makes $250,000 or more every single year.

LING: What percentage of sugar daddies are married?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roughly 40 percent are married.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: OK. So this week I sat down with Lisa to talk about the show and I asked her because you have to think with these unconventional lifestyles, wasn't it hard to get people to open up about what they're doing?

LING: We had a difficult time convincing people to talk on camera. But I think that I built up a certain degree of credibility with people out there. And they knew that I was not going to exploit or sensationalize their story. And so eventually both young women and a couple of older men agreed to talk with us on camera. And what I love about this episode and really this whole series is when you hear about the topics that we're covering, most people might be predisposed to have this preconceived idea about what the women are going to be like, what the men are going to be like. But inevitably, once you get to know them and know their stories, it becomes more nuanced. And you realize that no story is so black and white. And that was certainly the case with this sugar daddy-sugar baby show.

PAUL: Well, and that is funny you mentioned that. Because I wanted to ask, as a journalist, and we've read so many different stories even in this genre. Certainly you had to have gone through with some expectation or some of your own ideas. And I know we try to have a blank slate going in. How do you feel you were changed after these interviews?

LING: You know this is a phenomenon that is happening. And different Web sites have made it a lot easier. And so for me, as an ardent feminist, it was very hard initially to talk to these women who were essentially seeking out men's financial support to help them pay for things like college.

But a couple of the women said to me -- and this was just a perspective that I hadn't really heard before anywhere else. She said, look, we're of a different generation. And our generation has been the first to be consistently told that we are not going to make as much money as our parents. That job prospects are the most -- at the most dismal rate they've ever been, and so this is a way for us to make life a little bit easier. Some of them were working three jobs and found that by being a sugar baby and negotiating the terms of their relationship, they were able to afford college and actually spend more time studying to do what they ultimately want to do.

PAUL: I have to ask it because if I don't people are going to wonder why I didn't. Do these couples have sex? Is sex part of the package?

LING: So great question. And it depends on the couple that you're talking about. And what people who are involved in this world say is that the negotiation before the first date even happens is something that is very important. So that you set your intentions and you lay out your expectations so that once you actually do meet you're coming to the date or the relationship fully aware of what to expect and what not to expect.

PAUL: Do any of them really grow fond of each other? I mean is there a mutual friendship or relationship that forms?

LING: Well certainly that has been the case for some of these relationships. But very often men like to engage in these kinds of relationships because it's more of a no-strings attached relationship. There's a fairly large percentage of reputed sugar daddies who are even married and they are seeking out these young women for whatever reason.

Again, it's all part of the negotiations. But this episode really provokes people to think about the different kinds of dynamics that can play out in different kinds of relationships.

PAUL: Isn't that something? So you do not want to miss the premier of this "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING." It's tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. By the way, we have her full interview, as I talked with her, at CNN.com/NEWDAY. So go ahead and check that out. Joe.

JOHNS: Really looking forward to that. Coming up at the top of the hour, we go back to our top story. A white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot in the arm by a suspect who police say is black and just hours later more bullets rain down on another officer in nearby St. Louis. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: A mom is helping other moms who know all too well how expensive a new baby can be.

PAUL: Meet CNN hero Bridget Cutler (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love being a mom. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever experienced. On the flip side, the financial burden of having a child is just tremendous. So many people have such an abundance and so many others strive to afford even the basics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who wants the water?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember reading an article and it was about a mother who decided to give her child up for adoption because she couldn't stand to hear her crying from hunger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's that baby buck (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just thought that no mother should ever be faced with that choice. I started to collect excess baby gear and that was when Moms Helping Moms was born.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boys clothes are up to the right. Girls' clothes to the left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have drives at our storage space. We like to call them shopping days. Because they are essentially shopping. They're just not paying anything for it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really cool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every child deserves a fair start. And if what we're doing helps bridge the gap between people from different backgrounds even in a small way, then it's definitely worth all the hard work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)