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Nine Killed Nine Wounded At Umpqua Community College; Gunman Dead; Gunman Served Briefly; Writings From Gunman Recovered; Army Vet Hero; Sheriff Updates Deadly Oregon Shooting Investigation. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 02, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with the campus massacre at a college in Oregon. A news conference set to begin any minute now. We'll go there live once it starts. We'll hear from the sheriff. He'll update us on the very latest.

Authorities want to provide details of what happened at the Unkwau Community College in Roseburg, Oregon that left nine dead and nine others injured. Hospital officials now say at least two of the injured are in critical condition. Authorities have not yet confirmed the identities of those who were killed.

The gunman's rampage began at Snyder hall in the southeast end of the campus. From there, he moved to the science building. The shooter was also killed but it's not clear, at this point, whether he was shot by police or whether he committed suicide.

Frantic students describe running for their lives when the gunman's -- when the gun shots rang out. Witnesses say, at one point, the shooter started singling out Christians. Here's what the father of one wounded student told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACY BOYLAN: 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 are a Christian, you're going to be see god in just about one second. And then he shot and killed them. And then, he kept going down the line doing this to people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's get some more on the investigation into the campus massacre and the latest on the victims. Our Correspondent Ana Cabrera is outside the Public Safety headquarters. That's where the authorities will be holding the news conference moments from now. Also joining us, our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. She has new information on the shooter. Our "LEGAL VIEW" Anchor Ashleigh Banfield is at the Unkwau campus. And our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is over at Mercy Medical Center there on the scene.

Ana, what do we know about a box that the gunman may have delivered to someone on campus?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're hoping to ask questions about this box reportedly delivered to one of the students in the classroom where he opened fire. What we understand is the father of one of the survivors, Anastasia Boylan, just 18 years old. She was shot in the back. He tells us that before she went into surgery last night for this shooting and her injuries that she sustained, she told him that the shooter, upon opening fire, gave someone who survived a box and said, you've got to deliver this. She did not know and he did not know anything more about what that box contained.

And, again, that's something we'll ask investigators during the press conference that's supposed to happen here in the next 15, 20 minutes or so. We were told, just a little bit ago, that their internal briefing went a little bit long. They had a lot of information to analyze before they're able to share it with the public.

A lot of unanswered questions here. The biggest question is what was the motive? Why did this 26-year-old gunman go into this really rural peaceful community college and open fire? And not just one classroom but at least two classrooms, leaving nine people dead before he was shot and killed.

We understand that nine others were injured, suffering injuries to their torsos, to their head, to their back. So, very serious injuries. And we are hoping to learn a lot more about the victims. Investigators saying they aren't releasing the identities just yet because of the protocol that comes with a mass shooting.

So, a lot of questions to be answered, Wolf, and we're hoping to bring those to you throughout the hour.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, we'll standby for that live news conference, Ana. What have authorities learned about the kinds of weapons this gunman had? And do we know why he targeted this specific college campus?

CABRERA: We don't know why he targeted this college campus. I can tell you, I just spoke, a little bit ago, to the president, the interim president of the community college, Rita Cavin. And she said, they do not believe that he was a current student at the community college. They're still looking into whether he was a past student.

She also told me that, again, they don't know why or if he had specific victims in mind. But where he opened fire initially was in an English class. So, bits and pieces of information are coming out. Investigators say they found four weapons on scene, presumably all the shooters, three pistols as well as a long rifle.

And that survivor, Anastasia Boylan, who spoke to her father before surgery said that it appeared that he was reloading a handgun before shooting some of these victims. Some of the students who, before he shot them, he asked if they were a Christian. And if they said, yes, he reportedly said something along the lines of, well, good, now, you're going to meet your god in about a second and shot and killed people one by one -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Chilling information indeed. Ana, stand by. We're going to have live coverage, as I mentioned, of this news conference that's coming up momentarily.

I want to go to the Pentagon right now. Our Barbara Starr has new information about the gunman's very brief stint in the U.S. military.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, just a few minutes ago, the U.S. Army was able to confirm that the gunman very briefly, several years ago, served in the U.S. Army as a recruit. What the Army is telling us is that from November 5th to December 11th, 2008 he was in basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Fort Jackson is an area where recruits go, a base where recruits go to get that basic training. But he was there really just one month. He did not complete basic training. He did not graduate from basic training, according to the Army. He received a discharge for what the Army is calling administrative reasons. They're not giving any more details.

But what we do know is when the Army says, administrative discharge, essentially, this does happen. Recruits come in. They may get discharged very early on from basic training for any number of reasons. It could've been not meeting physical standards. It could've been mental health standards. We do not know that. There is another category where, basically, the Army might say the recruit simply is not able to assimilate into military life. We don't know what the reason is. The Army is not saying.

I think it's fair to assume they're turning over every record they have on that brief, one-month stint to federal investigators working this case. But they are able to say he was recruited. He did go into the Army serving just over one month in basic training. He did not graduate. He was discharged -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Barbara, stand by. If you find out why he was discharged, if they release that information, let us know. Obviously, we're interested in that.

Sanjay Gupta is with us as well. Sanjay, I understand several of the victims, they are still there at the hospital where you are. What are their conditions? What do we know about the extent of their injuries?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, doctors are optimistic here, Wolf, about the remaining patients in the hospital thinking that one may be discharged today and the others probably discharged over the next several days.

Wolf, I want -- I want to paint a little bit of a picture to you as to what happened here, specifically. I talked to the chief medical officer who said they got about a 10 to 15-minute warning before all of these patients showed up. They were listening to the scanners, trying to get the details. These patients showed up. And, at first, 10 patients came here to this hospital. Wolf, this is a small town, a small hospital. This was a pretty big deal for these doctors, the entire staff to be able to take care of. One of the patients -- we now know, Wolf, we heard this morning, one of those patients died in the emergency room even before they could get the patient any kind of care. We know three patients were sent from this hospital to another hospital to just over 60 mile a miles away. Those three patients were patients who had all been shot in the head. They were all women, we now know. They were between the ages of 18 and 34.

I tell you this to give you a little bit of an idea of what it was like, what was going on here. Obviously, things happening very quickly here several hours ago. There are a few more patients who have been treated and have -- and subsequently have been able to be discharged from the hospital. And there are still three patients in the hospital now.

Again, they're optimistic about the recovery of those patients. But, Wolf, you know, it's kind of a remarkable thing. They -- it's such a small town. When people started to hear of this, people just started coming in, retired doctors, doctors who are not on call. This is what the chief medical officer told me. He also mentioned because the town is so small, that there were direct relationships between some of the staff and some of those patients that were coming in so it was very emotional, at the same time -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, totally understandable. Sanjay, stand by. We're getting some more breaking news. Evan Perez, our Justice Reporter, has just learned new information about the shooter. What are you learning, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: That's right, Wolf. This really portrays this gunman as someone who, frankly, was having mental issues, was having feelings of anger. We know that investigators have recovered writings from the -- believed to be from this gunman that include ramblings about his racial animus towards black people, that he had feelings of anger about being isolated. And, frankly, just being unable to make friendships and relationships. This is according to law enforcement that have talked to me, to Pamela Brown and to Scott Glover, our Producer from Los Angeles.

[13:10:01] The gunman's family has told investigators that he was suffering from mental health issues, and that he had sought treatment, sometime in the past, for those issues. And Barbara mentioned that -- you know, that he had been discharged from the military. We don't know exactly why that was. But one of the reasons could be -- for being discharged would be for having mental issues. Again, that's something we're going to have to check into.

We also know, Wolf, that among his writings and things that he's written online was -- seemed to be some kind of fascination with the Irish Republican Army. Now, we know from investigators that they have established no links with any established groups. They don't believe that he had any affiliations, per say. But from his writings and from things he posted online, on a Myspace page that is believed to belong to the gunman, they believe that he had some kind of fascination with the IRA which, again, is sort of unexplained, given the context of the mental health issues.

And we should also mention, Wolf, this this is still an investigation that is still underway. There's a lot they don't know. They're still talking to friends, to family. They're looking at everything that they can build a profile of this -- of this gunman to try to explain why this happened.

BLITZER: As far as the IRA is concerned, I've seen these reports. He was actually born in the United Kingdom and came to California as a little boy. His father is British. Have we confirmed that, Evan?

PEREZ: That's right. That's right. He was born in the U.K. and then moved to the United States as a child, according to his family. So, that is something that may or may not explain any of this.

And again, you know, a lot of times when these things happen, we try to find reasons. We try to explain why this happens. And, frankly, you know, this is inexplicable, right? The idea that someone would go into a community college and just shoot up people a bunch of people. It's just -- it's just not to be explained. And so, this is just by way of trying to figure out what was on his mind. Again, this is not going to ever really explain to these family members why this occurred, but this could put a -- put a little bit of an understanding as to what was going on with this gunman before this happened.

BLITZER: I just want to be precise, Evan. There is no indication at all that he was affiliated with any organized group out there, right?

PEREZ: Exactly. That's a very important point to emphasize which is that, really, there is no indication -- there is -- they found no indication that he had any links. This appears to be somebody who was a loaner. Somebody who really had trouble making friends, keeping relationships, getting a girlfriend. He pretty much was just funneling these feelings of anger, including against African-Americans which, again, is inexplicable, even today.

BLITZER: Clearly. He also, apparently, had some anti-Christian views as well, --

PEREZ: Right, exactly.

BLITZER: -- singling out the Christians for execution in that massacre. All right. So, we're learning a lot more about this killer, this shooter. Evan, thank you very much.

PEREZ: Thank you.

BLITZER: Ashleigh Banfield is on the scene for us. Ashleigh, tell us a little bit about -- one man described as a hero, Chris Mintz, who was also shot.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, "LEGAL VIEW": Well, the antithesis is who you just heard describe, a despicable person who never made it out of basic training, less than a month in the Army to someone else entirely heroic. A military vet who tried to save others in one of these classrooms where this carnage was meted out. And that's Chris Mintz. You said his name. He was 30 years old. He is 30 years old. Despite the fact that he took seven bullets, he survived, Wolf. He is in the hospital.

His family says his story is nothing short of absolute heroics. He, apparently, tried to barricade the door, and, yet, the shooter apparently shot through it anyway. He was shot several times. Fell to the ground. Met the eyes of the killer and pleaded with him that it was his son's birthday. Nonetheless, the shooter shot again. And he took several more bullets. And, yet, again, Wolf, he survived.

The family says that he has two broken legs after this attack, and that he's going to have to learn to walk all over again. But they said that he walked away with his life. And we can't say that about nine other of the victims who were around him. Victims he tried to save and may have well saved others. So, let's remember that name, Chris Mintz, 30 years old, military war vet and hero.

BLITZER: He certainly is. We will remember his name. Ashleigh, thank you. Don't go far away. We're going to get back to you.

We're only minutes away from the start of this briefing by the sheriff there in Roseburg, Oregon. We'll have live coverage. That starts once we come back.

[13:14:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:19:03] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking at live pictures coming in from Roseburg, Oregon. We expect a news conference to begin very shortly. The Douglas County sheriff, John Hanlin, getting ready to go to the microphones, answer reporters' questions, update us on what happened, the massacre yesterday, on this small community college there in Roseburg.

As we reported moments ago, investigators have discovered writings from the gunman in the Oregon campus massacre. Officials familiar with the investigation identify him as 26-year-old Chris harper Mercer. Neighbors describe him as quiet, withdrawn and skittish.

For more on this part of the story, let's bring in our national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick, and Mary Ellen O'Toole, a former FBI senior profiler.

Deb, what can you tell us about the blog post possibly associated with this killer?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very interesting, Wolf, because it does appear that he was becoming sort of fascinated or obsessed with some of these mass shootings or the shootings of individuals, most recently those two reporters in Virginia.

[13:20:03] On this file sharing website, one of the movies he recently downloaded was a BBC (ph) documentary called "Surviving Sandy Hook." Now he blogs about the recent shooting of the two reporters, and he describes the gunman, almost in a sympathetic way, saying, you know, he was alone and unknown and then all of a sudden, overnight, he was thrust into the limelight. His name known to everyone. And so he - whether he's questioning his own relevancy or his own place in the world order, he was kicked out of that military basic training, as Barbara Starr just reported. And so whether he was feeling isolated, that's some that investigators, in fact, are looking at.

There are things, Wolf, that don't make sense. You know, one of the witnesses said that his daughter was asked by the gunman, are your Christian? And then the gunman opened fire. But at the same time, on his dating website, he said that he's not religious but he considers himself spiritual. You know, another thing is that some of the writings that Evan Perez just described, he describes himself as having sort of a bias against blacks and yet he describes himself as ethically mixed. So all of these sort of discrepancies are things that investigators are looking at very closely to try to put together a more complete profile of who he was and what drove him to go over the edge.

BLITZER: Mary Ellen, we mentioned that neighbors described this gunman as quiet, withdrawn, even skittish. Is that typical in cases like this?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: It's not necessarily typical. We've had shooters that have been far more extroverted. But when you have an individual that's like this, they may stand out more. And the fact that they are isolated, they're separate from peers, they don't have a support network, they don't the ability to have a reality check, the behavior that begins to broad and evolve and grow does so in the basement of someone's home when it's - when no one can see it. And so it - that's how it can become really out of control.

BLITZER: Mary Ellen, what about this so-called quest for notoriety? Does that play into these kinds of mass shootings? Because I've been told by the experts here in Washington, it does have an element here of a copycat killer.

O'TOOLE: It absolutely does, in my opinion, and I've been involved with these cases for nearly 25 years. And there are a certain group of these shooters, the ones who design and carry out this very flamboyant type of mass shooting, they really are looking for international recognition.

BLITZER: And they want to be publicized, even if they know that this is - and either going to be - they're going to dye in the process or they're going to commit suicide, they want a lot of notoriety, they want publicity, is that what you're saying?

O'TOOLE: They want notoriety, publicity, and they want credit for this - for their actions. They want to know that they will be recognized as the person who's responsible for this.

BLITZER: All right, standby, both of you, Deb Feyerick, Mary Ellen, we're going to get back to you.

Once again, we're only minutes away from this live news conference in Roseburg, Oregon. They're getting ready. The sheriff, John Hanlin, expected to make a statement, then answer reporters' questions. We'll have live coverage when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:28] BLITZER: All right, this news conference is beginning now. There's the sheriff of Douglas County, John Hanlin. Let's listen in. He's going to update us on this massacre.

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

This morning I want to start with the victims and the families.

We have teams of investigators and victims' specialists working with each of the families. The purpose is to help facilitate the next of kin notifications and to provide counselling services, as well as to insure that each and every one of the - of them and the families receives the highest level of support.

These families are currently living through the nightmare in the most personal way possible. I would ask that the media respect their privacy, and let them grieve in their own way. As notifications happen, we hope to share their names and a little bit more about them in future press conferences.

On to the issues related to the campus.

If your car is still parked on the campus, you need to meet at the Douglas County Fairgrounds today at 3:00 p.m. At that time, buses will be there to take you back to the campus to retrieve your car. You should bring photo I.D. If you cannot find your photo I.D. and you believe you have left it at the campus, check in with an officer at the college and let them know, and they will assist you in attempting to retrieve it from one of the buildings.

There are also mental health counselors stationed at the fairgrounds, including counselors being provided by the Community health Alliance. Students and staff in need of assistance are strongly encouraged to seek out that help.

Also, in talking with the Umpqua Community College partners this morning, our current understanding is that they intend to reopen the campus early next week. Please stay tuned for more information on that.

[13:29:38] We expect that the medical examiner will release the name of the shooter sometime later today. Again, you will not hear anyone from this law enforcement operation use his name. I continue to believe that those media and community members who publicize his name will only glorify his horrific actions and eventually this will only serve to inspire future shooters.