Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Police: Shooter Fired Through Church Windows at Children; Fifth Grader Shares what Happened During Shooting; Interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Two Children Killed, 14 Children and Three Adults Injured in Shooting During Mass at Minnesota Catholic School; Shooting Suspect Graduated From School in 2017, Yearbook Shows; Shooter Carried a Rifle, Shotgun and Pistol. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 27, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERS VISTISEN, DANISH MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: ... transfers going back and forth in an attempt to affect internal affairs within the Kingdom of Denmark and misinformation campaign and so on and so forth. So, it is basically along the lines of interference and attempt to control and manage public opinion within the island of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Anders, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Stunning, but such an important story and thank you.
VISTISEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks to all of you for joining us. Anderson starts now.
[20:00:43]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, yet again, tonight, another American community is dealing with the horror of a gunman killing children. It happened once again at a school, this time inside a church during mass, the Annunciation Roman Catholic Elementary School in Minneapolis. Two children, an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old were killed.
The gunman fired into the church where students and adults were celebrating their first mass of the new school year. Fourteen other children were injured, ranging in ages from six to 11, three adults were injured as well.
What should have been the happiness and excitement of their first week back at school turned into terror and heartbreak. Police say the gunman barricaded at least two of the doors to the church from outside to prevent people escaping. And just before 8:30 A.M., opened fire into the church.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF: During the mass, a gunman approached on the outside on the side of the building and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mass.
Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building. The shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The parents rushed to the school to find their kids. One boy, a fifth grader, shared what it was like inside the church.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WESTON HALSNE, FIFTH GRADER: It was like shots fired and then we kind of like, got under the pews. It kind of, they shot through the stained glass windows, I think and it was really scary.
REPORTER: What did you do after that?
HALSNE: Well, we waited like, 10 to five minutes. I don't really know. And then we went to the gym and then the doors locked, just to make sure he didn't come and we waited in the gym for more news, and everyone was okay. Most people were okay.
REPORTER: Your friend --
HALSNE: My friend got hit in the back.
REPORTER: Did he go to the hospital?
HALSNE: Yes, he went to the hospital.
REPORTER: What went through your mind when you saw that?
HALSNE: I was super scared for him, but I think now he's okay.
REPORTER: Yes.
HALSNE: Yes.
REPORTER: Did you get reunited with your parents?
HALSNE: Yes, My mom was waiting outside of the church when it happened.
REPORTER: Yes, what was it like seeing her?
HALSNE: I was super happy because, like, I was scared that I wasn't going to see her because didn't know what was happening, really. I was just in shock.
REPORTER: Was it kind of, was it behind you where it was happening in front of you? Just kind of -- HALSNE: It was like right beside me. I was like two seats away from the stained glass windows. So, they were like -- the shots were like right next to me.
REPORTER: Scary.
HALSNE: Yes.
REPORTER: You went under the pew after that happened?
HALSNE: Yes and got --
REPORTER: That's what everyone tried to do?
HALSNE: I think I got, like, gunpowder on my neck, yes.
REPORTER: When you heard the shots, what went through your head?
HALSNE: I was like, the first one, I was like, what is that? I thought it was just something that I heard, again, I just ran under the pew and then I covered my head. My friend Victor, like, saved me though, because he laid on top of me but he got hit.
REPORTER: Your friend laid on top of you?
HALSNE: Yes and he got hit.
REPORTER: Is this something that you practiced before?
HALSNE: Yes, we practice it like every month or I don't know, but, yes, we've never practiced it in the church, though only in school, so it was way different.
REPORTER: Was your mom super happy to see you?
HALSNE: Yes.
REPORTER: Gave you a big hug?
HALSNE: Yes.
REPORTER: What was that hug like?
HALSNE: I just felt like relieved, kind of, I was very happy.
REPORTER: You're really brave, do you know that?
HALSNE: Yes.
REPORTER: Did you have any brothers and sisters there or was it just you?
HALSNE: Oh, my brother is in the sophomore year of De LaSalle, he used to go to Annunciation. He got out early because of it.
REPORTER: You guys were at, like the mass that they do at the beginning of school?
HALSNE: Yes, and then it was like maybe like three minutes in the first shot fired and then the police were really good because they showed up really quick.
REPORTER: Did everybody try to make you feel safe?
HALSNE: Yes.
REPORTER: But it has to be probably the scariest thing of your life.
HALSNE: Yes, it was super scary.
REPORTER: What do you want to say to your friend who helped protect you.
HALSNE: He's really brave and I hope he's good in the hospital.
REPORTER: What do you want to say to everyone that had to go to the hospital?
HALSNE: I hope you're okay and I'm praying for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's a fifth grader. Minneapolis Police have identified the gunman as a 23-year-old man with no prior criminal history. And we're not going to say his name or show his picture on this program. We don't do that with active shooters. These school shooters, they want their names known. We don't want history to remember this person's name. We should remember the names of the kids whose lives were taken. They've yet to be announced.
Police say they do not have a motive at this time, but his weapons were recently purchased legally. And they're investigating what they say is a video the shooter made that contains some disturbing writings. Minneapolis mayor had this to say earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: There are no words that can capture the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act. Children are dead their families that have a deceased child. You cannot put into words the gravity, the tragedy, or the absolute pain of this Situation. These were Minneapolis families. These were American families and the amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary. And don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.
They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance. This kind of act of evil should never happen, and it happens far too often.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has more tonight from Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'HARA: The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Two children are dead and 17 others wounded in Minneapolis after gunmen fired through the windows of a church.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any Troopers responding, we just need a lot more medical.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): Police say, dozens of children and worshipers were attending a morning mass to mark the start of the school year at Annunciation Catholic School.
O'HARA: Two young children, ages eight and ten, were killed where they sat in the pews.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): Principal Matthew DeBoer says teachers were crucial in saving lives.
MATTHEW DEBOER, PRINCIPAL, ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: Within seconds of this situation, beginning, our teachers were heroes. Children were ducked down, adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children. And as we heard earlier, it could have been significantly worse without the heroic action.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): Of the 17 people injured, authorities say 14 of them were children. All remaining victims are expected to survive according to police.
DR. TOM WYATT, CHAIR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: Two of them were adult patients. Nine pediatric patients, four of them require the operating room.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): The shooter was armed with three weapons, according to police, a rifle, shotgun and a pistol. Officials say all three weapons were legally purchased by the shooter, recently.
O'HARA: The coward who fired the shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): Ten-year-old Weston Halsne, a fifth grader at the school, described the unimaginable.
HALSNE: I just ran under the pew and then I covered my head. My friend, Victor, like, saved me, though, because he laid on top of me. We waited like 10 to five minutes. I don't really know. And then we went to the gym and then the doors locked just to make sure he didn't come. And then we waited in the gym for more news. My friend got hit in the back.
REPORTER: Did he go to the hospital?
HALSNE: Yes, he went to the hospital.
REPORTER: What went through your mind when you saw that?
HALSNE: I was super scared for him, but I think now he's okay.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): Some neighbors also rushed to help after hearing the gunfire. Patrick Scallen comforted three young victims.
PATRICK SCALLEN, NEIGHBOR: I told them and assured them, I'm not leaving you until the ambulance gets here, and they're going to take good care of you. You're going to be okay, and you're going to be with your parents real soon. And I think that's all I could do.
PROKUPECZ (voice over): The mayor of Minneapolis, clearly frustrated after yet another all too familiar American tragedy.
FREY: Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[20:10:32]
PROKUPECZ (on camera): Oh, Anderson, so, in terms of where we are right now, we're at a vigil here tonight. This was put together. I just kind of want to quickly show you the crowd. There are some 1,500 about close to 2,000 people here. We're expected to hear from the governor. He's here.
While there is this massive investigation that's ongoing here, Anderson. The focus tonight is on many of the victims we've seen some of the people who attended the school -- we've seen people hugging and parents here hugging kids, and this is really a moment for this community to come together. And as one person here told me, it's about hope now. And that's why they're doing this, they're getting together here.
And just to look at this turnout, I think for the people who are here, it's certainly going to give them a lot of hope to see so many people in this community getting together like this tonight.
COOPER: Yes, Shimon, thanks very much.
A number of families live very close to the school. Carla and Pedro Maldonado have two kids who were in mass during the attack. They live close enough to have heard the shots, and they rushed to the scene. Thankfully, neither of their kids was wounded. I spoke to Carla and Pedro just before air time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Carla, let me start with you. I'm so glad your kids are safe. You live very close to the school. You and your husband heard the shots and you ran to the school. What did you see? What happened then?
CARLA MALDONADO, PARENT OF STUDENTS AT ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: Yes, so when we -- when I ran over to the school and I got down the street that leads to the church, I saw some orange smoke up to the right side of the school. And at this point, I had no idea what was happening. I thought maybe there were fireworks. I had no idea. My husband had said that earlier, before we left the house, that those are gunshots and they're at the school. So, I took off running.
And when I got an eye shot of the church, there was that orange smoke on the side. And at that same time, a mom -- another school mom that lives near the school on that street was outside. And I asked her what's going on? And she said, I don't know. You know, not long after that, I feel something hit my ankle and it felt like something, like, something ricocheted off the ground like a piece of pavement or something, like, hit my ankle. And then that's when this other friend, mom friend said like, holy sh*t, he has a gun. And so, we both ran inside the house. At that point, I was already on the call or had already called 911.
COOPER: Do you think the gunman was actually shooting in your direction? It was some sort of a ricochet of some gravel or something. Or do you know -- you don't know what that was?
C. MALDONADO: I'm speculating that he did shoot in our direction.
COOPER: Pedro, how long was it before you were able to see your son and your daughter and you knew that they were okay. And have they told you about what they saw?
PEDRO MALDONADO, PARENT OF STUDENTS AT ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: So how it started is that Carla and I were at the house talking, and then I heard the first round of shots, and I told Carla, those are gunshots. I was barefoot, so, I told my wife, run to the school, to the back side and while I put my tennis shoes on. So, I put my tennis shoes on and then I was like, you know what, I'm going to drive to the front of the school because this is so recently that I'm sure the police is not there.
So, I was driving to the school. We live a block away from the school, a block and a half. And while I was driving, I was like in a mission, like I am going to try to save as many kids as I can, even if I have to give my life away. As soon as I open the door of my car, I heard one last shot and I ran towards the back side of the school of the church to look for this guy, and I couldn't find him. Probably a minute after, and then the first cop show up and I told the cop that was in the back of the school and the church. And then the second cop arrived and then I told them as well, that it was in the back of the school.
And then that's when my wife was in the back of the school, back of the church, and then the third cop arrived, and that's when the teachers at the school opened the church. They opened the church, and I walked inside the church with the police officer, with the first one. And the things that I saw, I don't wish any parent will see ever in their lives because it was horrific. And I hope that nobody else goes through this because it is horrible.
[20:15:22]
COOPER: Carla, did your -- did your kids know any of the victims? How are they doing right now?
C. MALDONADO: So yes, both of our kids and us as well know the families of the victims. We don't know at this point all of the victims yet. We don't have names but we do know the families of the two children that have passed. And we knew that our kids were okay because, Pedro, when he got to the church, were yelling for them, and he found our daughter, who was seven, and then, we didn't know about our son who was 11 until a little bit later he had been escorted to the basement of the church for safety, but he was okay and ended up getting escorted outside of the church.
COOPER: Pedro, have your kids had active shooter drill, which is, I mean, it's a bizarre question to even ask, but, I mean, it is a sign of the times.
P. MALDONADO: Yes, they have all the time and even Carla is volunteer at the school often.
C. MALDONADO: Yes.
P. MALDONADO: And they have drills very often.
C. MALDONADO: Yes, two years ago I was volunteering in one of the classrooms, and I was present during one of this -- one of these the kids call it lockdown drills. And so, I, you know, got to see how the teachers handled the classroom and the kids and getting them to a safe spot. So, the answer is yes, they do have like, active, like dangerous person on the premises drills. And I have such mixed feelings right now. So, many of them but I am just incredibly grateful that the school, did and had been preparing and also just incredibly sad and angry that this has to be a thing in any school that we have to, like, prepare our kids to protect themselves. Like, from an assault, from a firearm assault at school.
And my mind is going everywhere. Like, this is not the first time. I'm not the first parent to express these concerns. I'm not the first mom to say how many more kids have to get killed. And so, it's a little bit like, this is feeling like a broken record, and it's not okay. I'm so grateful to the staff and the first responders, they did amazing. And I do believe that they saved lives today. And the lives that were lost is too much, one is too much. And it's just -- it's not okay.
COOPER: Carla and Pedro, I'm so sorry for what everybody there is going through. And I'm so glad your kids are okay and I appreciate talking to you, thank you.
C. Maldonado: Thank you, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, still ahead, much more of our breaking news coverage of the shooting at Annunciation School in Minneapolis, including my interview with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I don't know of anything, but these kids praying in a church packed into the pews, joyful about their first week in school. Their new teacher, and then getting shot through church windows. If that isn't enough to move people that we have to make some changes in this country, I don't know what is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:23:32]
COOPER: Authorities say two children, an eight-year-old and a ten- year-old were killed today at the mass shooting at the Catholic school in Minneapolis. Their names have not yet been released, 17 others are injured, 14 of them children. All of this during a mass at the school. The students and staff gathered in prayer. CNN's Laura Coates joins us now from the school.
So, I know you grew up in the twin cities. What more can you tell us about this community and what you've been seeing throughout the day?
LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: You know, the tragedy here is just unspeakable. There was a school shooting not too far away outside of a school, excuse me -- Not too far away from where we are right now. Just yesterday, this is a week where schools are supposed to rejoice at the return of students, where you actually have a marquee behind me that still scrolling the welcome to the students, kids gathering. You know that I have an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old, and they're preparing for school to start. And you know, those conversations inside your household are all about the excitement of the new friends you're going to meet, the moments of gathering.
We're told, of course, what happened here today makes it all the more tragic. Thinking about those young children who were inside and the people who were trying to save them. We are in a neighborhood where you've got a supermarket not too far away. You've got a restaurant nearby and behind this school you've got communities where on the front lawns, as you're walking through, speaking to people, there are lawn chairs set up, neighbors convening and gathering, trying to process what has happened. Even neon poster boards with Sharpie pens, written family, and an arrow of where you can reunify with your children.
This is a community that is unaccustomed as, frankly, every community across the country ought to be unaccustomed to this level of depraved violence and sickness that we have seen play out right here. This is a community also in Minnesota, where it's a hop, skip and a jump to Saint Paul and other areas where they're all preparing for their schools to start. And now officials are wondering how they're going to control their environments as well. It is unbelievably tragic to look at this environment.
COOPER: Yes, Laura. Thanks. Laura is going to be broadcasting live from the scene at 11:00 P.M. Here on CNN. Thanks, Laura.
Just before air time, I spoke with a Senior Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, who was also there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Senator Klobuchar, I understand one of your former employee's daughter was in the mass when the shooting happened. How are they doing? How is the family? What are your thoughts tonight?
KLOBUCHAR: It's, I mean, these stories are the most horrific things. This was a young girl, seventh or eighth grader. She was there with her siblings. There were three kids from this one family, but she witnessed two of her friends get shot. One in the stomach, one in the neck. The kids were crawling under the pews and then she ran out. And she was the one that told the dad of one of the kids that his child had been shot.
I talked to another friend whose relative's kid was on the operating table, thankfully survived. I think one of the most extraordinary things that's going to come out of this, Anderson, is a heroic act of the school staff, of the church staff, of the kids, some of the older kids protecting the little kids. And we mourn the loss of this eight- year-old and ten-year-old. And this is just horrific, and those that were injured.
But the stories of how the people had the presence of mind to save lives and put themselves at risk, first responders, getting them to both Hennepin County Medical Center as well as Children's Hospital in time to be saved.
All of these stories will be told later, but today we think of this family, this church, this neighborhood where people are very, very close and hurting.
COOPER: It's -- correct me if I'm wrong, did you say that it was a child who told a parent of one of her friends that, that child had been had been.
KLOBUCHAR: Yes, and I think those kinds of stories, because right after a mass shooting like this, especially when the madman shot himself, then the kids are coming out and they are seeing the other parents. I remember hearing this in the Sandy Hook massacre of the parents waiting together in a fire station, and one by one, the kids came in and pretty soon the parents left, knew that their baby wasn't coming back.
So, there's this intermingling of people and with fear and with tears and with joy when they see their own kids. And I think that was one of the points that the mayor, who I've talked to through the day and seen today, made this morning, was that these are everyone's kids, that, you know, your reaction, of course, is one of horror. And then you think, well, my kid wasn't in that room or my kids in a neighboring school. But then you realize it could happen anywhere.
And I've been a long proponent of doing more on guns from the time I was a prosecutor to now. And I don't know of anything, but these kids praying in a church packed into the pews, joyful about their first week in school. Their new teacher, and then getting shot through church windows. If that isn't enough to move people that we have to make some changes in this country. I don't know what is.
COOPER: Do you believe it really will?
KLOBUCHAR: Well, we have once we did the bipartisan bill with Senators Murphy and Cornyn. I had the provision in there for convicted domestic assault offenders and that they shouldn't be able to go out and get a gun. But, you know, we just skimmed the surface and we should do much more on assault weapons.
One thing I remember about Sandy Hook that I'm sure will happen here is those parents came to Washington to get a stronger background check bill, knowing that wouldn't have saved their babies. And they told me, we have the courage to do this with all of our grief, to show up in this Capitol, knowing that this may not have been the thing that saved our kids because of the fact that the guns were in the home. But it will save other kids and other people, and so, we're willing to advocate it.
And then there are people in Washington, they don't have the courage to stand up, to vote for it. The real story, they want to get the story out. We want to be transparent, get to what happened. But the story is how do we stop it from happening again? And that's -- yes, safer places of worship, safer schools, but it's also about doing something about guns.
COOPER: Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you for your time.
KLOBUCHAR: It's great to be on. Thank you, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Up next, I'll talk with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who has long been pushing for new gun safety legislation since the Sandy Hook School shooting nearly 13 years ago.
And as others, including Minnesota's governor, again call for change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): It's Minnesota's day today, and it is my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever experiences a day like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:30:43]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:35:00]
COOPER: More on our Breaking News tonight. Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz earlier said that Minnesotans wouldn't just step away from this tragedy today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: Double ourselves to do the best we can to understand what we can do to prevent any parent from having to receive the calls they received today, from any school dedicated to children having to respond to a situation that, as we said, is unthinkable but that's all too common, not just in Minnesota, but across this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, this is the 44th school shooting just this year. Joining me is Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut. Since 2012, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he has relentlessly pushed for gun safety legislation. Senator, this is, as I said, the 44th school shooting. This one coming just a few days after the school year started. I mean, will it change anything?
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, (D-CT): I guess, there's sort of two things I think about on awful, awful day like today. The first is really to understand the scope of this tragedy. Oftentimes, we think about just the number of kids who were killed, but every single child who was in that building, their life is fundamentally changed. Every family who is impacted by what happened there, their lives are changed.
The first responders, the doctors, the police officers who were in there, dealing with the carnage. That's what we know from Sandy Hook, is that it's not 20 kids. It's not three or four kids. It's an entire community, and you just have to understand that impact. But I also think about this. Yes, one school shooting, one mass shooting is too many, but the rate of mass shootings and school shootings in this country is coming down, not going up.
And it started coming down in 2022 when we passed the first significant Anti-Gun Violence Bill in 30 years. That bill made five changes, none of them transformational, but all of them important, trying to keep guns away from dangerous people. There was a specific provision in that bill to try to make it hard for young people to get their hands on assault weapons, young people whose brains might be breaking. And what we saw is that as soon as we passed that bill, the number of homicides and the number of mass shootings started to come down.
Now, 44 is obviously 44 too many, but we now have proof of concept in this country that if you are more careful about putting guns in the hands of dangerous people, you can save thousands of lives. The mythology that the gun lobby has disseminated across this country for decades, that more guns makes us more safe, that's just empirically false. And so, I am hopeful that we will learn from our experience in 2022. We passed a bill over the objections of the gun lobby. We saved lives and we can continue to do that if we continue to put the safety of our kids ahead of the profits of the gun industry.
COOPER: It's interesting, I mean, earlier when asked directly what we can do to make sure this doesn't happen again? The Minneapolis police chief said he didn't have an answer. What do you -- I mean, what do you point to in that 2022 legislation that you think worked?
MURPHY: Well, one thing we did, as I mentioned, is that we essentially required young people under the age of 21 to go through a really rigorous background check and a waiting period before they got their hands on a weapon. Now we're learning all the facts here, but it does look like this individual bought the guns shortly before they carried out this crime. And so, waiting periods, training, licensure on all weapons, that makes it a lot harder for somebody who is in crisis to run out and get a weapon and commit a crime like this.
So we've seen that just being more careful and more rigorous before you transfer a gun to somebody, that makes sense. I mean, why on earth do you have to go through more paperwork in this country to own a dog than an assault weapon? What we also know is that wrapping services around youth in particular that are at risk, that works. One of the things we did in that bill in 2022 was we put a lot of money on the ground to look at kids whose lives were falling apart, to look at groups of kids who were trending toward violent behavior. And we put services and supports around them, and we saw urban violence go down all across the country.
So, it's not a matter of not knowing what works. We actually know what works, keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, more rigorous training, waiting periods, and more support services in our communities, in our schools. That works.
COOPER: Is there something particular you are working on now or you would like to see, I mean, a next step?
[20:40:00]
MURPHY: Well, I just think we have to be honest right now that we don't have the leaders in Washington right now to get anything passed. Donald Trump is bought and sold by the gun industry. Republicans in the House and the Senate are actively trying to loosen our gun laws, right now. They're trying to ram or provision through the Senate, as we speak, that would take tens of thousands of seriously mentally ill people, people with schizophrenia, off the list of those who are prohibited from buying weapons.
So, I just want to be honest with folks that until we have an election where the voters choose to put in charge of Congress and the White House people who take our kids' safety seriously, it's going to be really hard to get anything passed. We got that bill passed in 2022 because we had a president who cared about our kids' safety and we had Democrats in charge of the House and the Senate. We got Republican votes for that bill. We did. A bunch of Republicans voted for it, but Republican leadership is never going to bring up bills to prioritize our kids' safety right now. And that's unfortunate, but it's the unfortunate reality.
COOPER: Senator Murphy, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Coming up next, what authorities are saying tonight about the suspected shooter and what they discovered about him on YouTube. Also, 20 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf region, we take you back to the flood waters and some of the most powerful moments we reported on from New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A lot of the people who no doubt drowned, drowned inside their homes and their homes are still flooded and rescuers haven't been able to get to them. It's a sickening site and it is just incredible to think that you're in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:46:20]
COOPER: Authorities haven't determined a motive for today's attack on children and others in Minneapolis church. The city's chief of police gave an update a short time ago and said they're investigating disturbing writings and postings on YouTube from the shooter. Joined now by CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller.
So, you have some reporting about the shooter's writings, they've been calling a manifesto. I don't know if that gives it too much sort of glory. But, these ramblings uploaded to YouTube, what have you -- what have you come across?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, there's two sets. One, there is a book set where on the video he places it down and opens it and literally pages through it, so you can read it, but it's in Cyrillic, which is an Eastern European alphabet that they're still translating. But based on the work that's been done on that, it is much less a manifesto about cause and ideology than they might be expecting. It's a lot of suicidal ideology.
The clear English couple of pages of notes he wrote to his family and friends just talks about how he is in pain. He is going to do this thing. And he thanks his friends for being his friends and for the good time and for his parents for being good parents. But he says, this is going to be my last act, basically getting back at the world for all my pain. And yet, even from the plain English version, you don't get why that school, why those defenseless children?
And Anderson, you know this better than I do. When we go through these things and we dig for the so-called motive, we are trying to attach rational reason to irrational acts. When we learn the reason behind it, it never is satisfying nor does it make sense. This case won't be any different.
COOPER: The shooter graduated from the school in 2017. You mentioned the notebook with the hand drawn diagram of inside the church. It seems to match the layout. It seems like they'd also scrawled things on their gun. And also, were very aware of other school shooters and mass killers, which is something we've seen time and time again with these school shooters. They seem to kind of study others, which is why I think not saying their names and sort of talking about them as if they have some glorious manifesto is important. MILLER: Well, it is, and I mean, Anderson, the thing that we should be thinking about here is, we have learned why do they do it? They do it so that they can go out with a bang, or the ones who intend to live through it, so that they can get that dark, notorious notoriety. And one of the things that we think about, and one of the things that this show in particular, and you have pioneered, is deny the objective. If it's all about killing yourself and all those people who really had nothing to do with your problems, to get your name out there and become one of these figures, let's not deliver that.
COOPER: There were 2x4s barricading the doors to the church. The shooter also reportedly used a smoke device at some time. I mean, there was clearly a level of planning and thought that went into this.
MILLER: Great deal of planning and there's two stages to that. One is the planning for the attack; that appears to have gone on for months. The other is the preparing for the attack; that at least went on for weeks. But in the videos that I've screened, he shows the 2x4. It has the gas canister that pops the orange smoke attached to it. And he says, this is for the emergency exits. And when you slide those through the door handles, they can't be opened. This apparently was his part of a plan to achieve containment. So as he fired through the windows, his victims did not have a ready route for escape.
[20:50:00]
COOPER: John Miller, I appreciate you being on tonight. Thank you. Up next, the firings against some FEMA workers who went public claiming the Trump Administration is gutting the agency. This comes as we mark 20 years this week since Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, some of the coverage we did 20 years ago from New Orleans and Waveland, Mississippi. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:00]
COOPER: This week marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and Waveland, Mississippi and the Gulf Coast, killing at least 1,833 people. It was the costliest natural disaster in American history. I reported from the area for weeks during the storm and during its aftermath. And this week, we're revisiting some of those moments. I want to warn you some of the footage in this next piece is disturbing, but this is what we saw 20 years ago this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): No one who was there at the time could believe what we were seeing. Bodies in the streets, human beings decomposing for days. About a week after the storm hit, I was in a small boat on a flooded street in New Orleans. We came across the body of a man laying on top of a car. I've never forgotten the moment.
COOPER: It's a horrific site. There's a man dead on top of a car just a few feet away. He drowned in the flood waters. He's terribly decomposed. There's no way to tell how many people have died here in New Orleans. A lot of the people who've no doubt drowned, drowned inside their homes and their homes are still flooded and rescuers haven't been able to get to them. It's a sickening site and it is just incredible to think that you're in the United States. I've never seen anything like this in the United States. This is something we've seen in Rwanda in the genocide, in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. But a week after a storm, to still have bodies exposed, just laying out dead is -- it's mind boggling.
COOPER (voice-over): For years, the memory of that man on that car haunted me. Then in 2015, we learned his name, Jerry Peters. It turned out his family went back generations in New Orleans and we went back to find them.
Jerry Peters' great-grandfather founded a small church on this plot of land in New Orleans's Seventh Ward back in 1918. His name was Joseph Davis. Today, the church is run by Jerry Peters' nephew, Pastor Jerry Darby.
COOPER: Hello. Hey, it's so nice to meet you, Pastor.
PASTOR JERRY DARBY, UNCLE DIED IN HURRICANE KATRINA: Pleasure to meet you, sir.
COOPER: Thanks, mate. Thanks so much for having us.
COOPER (voice-over): It turns out Pastor Darby was named after his uncle, Jerry Peters. This is Jerry Peters dressed as a Mardi Gras Indian. It's the only photo of him that survived the storm. Jerry grew up in New Orleans, one of 11 kids, and he had two children of his own.
COOPER: What was your uncle like?
DARBY: Very, very loving person. Very, very supportive. He was my baseball coach, of course.
COOPER: He taught you how to play baseball?
DARBY: Taught me how to play baseball. Taught me how to play football.
COOPER (voice-over): The morning of the storm, Pastor Darby called his uncle. The rest of the family were evacuating to Houston.
DARBY: You know, it was our understanding that he was going to leave that evening. And obviously, we're quite optimistic and hopeful that he would be well.
COOPER: Do you know -- do you know why he didn't get out?
DARBY: He just chose not to, thinking that in the evening time, it would still be conducive to his being able to get out. One thing I also mentioned about him, Anderson, he was a non-swimmer. I know that --
COOPER: He didn't know how to swim?
DARBY: He didn't swim at all, and he was deathly afraid of water.
COOPER (voice-over): Jerry Peters' body was eventually recovered on September 11th. When the family got word, Pastor Darby was devastated. They didn't know how he died or how he ended up floating in the water six blocks from his home. Pastor Darby didn't know that his uncle's body was found on top of a car until now.
COOPER: I mean, I saw your uncle and I always worried as a reporter that I didn't want family members seeing their loved ones on television. I thought so much about him and it's why I want to -- when we were able to track you down, I wanted to meet you because there's always -- there's some things you never forget and some images you never forget. And seeing your uncle is something I'll never forget.
DARBY: To know that you vividly, in a very picturous way from what I'm gathering, you saw him.
COOPER: Yeah.
DARBY: Yourself on the car. That does bring some measure of comfort to at least know that somebody saw him and he wasn't just on some heap pile.
COOPER: Right.
DARBY: You know?
COOPER: To not be able to put a name to the person that we were seeing was one of the things that always struck me as particularly painful.
DARBY: Yes.
COOPER: And so, to be able to finally put a name to your uncle --
DARBY: Absolutely.
COOPER: -- is -- is for me --
