CNN.com - Transcripts

Transcript Providers

Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Authorities in Northern Virginia Officially Connect Last Night's Shooting to Sniper; House Votes in Favor of Resolution

Aired October 10, 2002 - 22:00 ET

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

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

AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again. I'm Aaron Brown.
We're in Los Angeles tonight. And to say the program is jam- packed would be an understatement. We came here yesterday to talk with the parents of reporter Danny Pearl for a piece tonight on the day he would have turned 39. There is a wonderful worldwide music event in his honor tonight. And we'll have both the interview and a bit of the music a little bit later in the hour.

And we confess that no trip to L.A. would be complete without lunch of Pinks (ph) chili dogs. If we look a little bit green tonight, it isn't the lighting.

Out here we've heard less talk about the East Coast sniper, another sniping confirmed today, and more talk about Iraq. The ratings on Monday night's speech by the president proved how engaged the country has become, finally, on the subject. Though the major broadcast networks didn't carry the speech. They weren't asked to by the White House and perhaps even discouraged by the administration from doing so.

Seventeen million people watched on cable. As we say in our business, that's a huge number. There was plenty of talk about Iraq this summer around the country. I'm not sure many people were listening.

They seem to be listening very clearly these days. And whether you support the president's position or oppose it, that is not just good news. That is important news to report. And we have news to report on Iraq as we go tonight. But we begin "The Whip" with the latest on the sniper attacks again this evening.

Ed Lavandera starts us off from the scene of the latest murder. Ed, the headline please.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, just a few hours ago authorities here in Northern Virginia were able to officially connect last night's shooting to this sniper. And that has prompted school officials here in northern Virginia to cancel after school activities and sporting events through Sunday.

BROWN: Ed, thank you. Back to you at the top tonight.

Where the broad investigation stands in this case tonight, Kathleen Koch is in Rockville, Maryland, for that. Kathleen, once again a headline from you please.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, police are saying less and less about this investigation. That, while the killer apparently said more than we thought in a message to police.

BROWN: Kathleen, thank you.

Congress, Iraq, the resolution, Kate Snow on Capitol Hill. Kate, a headline from you tonight?

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the House with a ringing endorsement for the president, voting very much in favor of this resolution. Authorizing the president to use force, but with quite a number of Democrats voting against.

BROWN: Kate, thank you. Back to you in a minute. Back with all of you.

Also, coming up in the hour ahead, an interesting mix of stories from out West. Not all in California. Another dropout from a Senate race, this time in Montana. And the circumstances are extraordinary and very different from what went on in New Jersey. Candy Crowley sorts it out for us this evening.

And after all that, something we could use: the sunny skies of Sonoma, a fine glass of Cabernet, and the good company of two intrepid winemakers. That's segment seven tonight. We look forward to the wine, but unfortunately we begin with the hard stuff.

Evidence that a man killed last night at a gas station in Northern Virginia was yet another victim of the sniper who has turned the Washington, D.C. area into his personal shooting gallery. The victim's name is Dean Meyers.

When he was shot he was doing nothing more exotic than going about his life. He shared that with the other victims. It's hard to say whether his killing makes going out and about life any tougher tonight. It is tough enough already.

Tough enough for the police as well. All we can say tonight is there is one more victim, one more crime scene, and we can only hope more evidence for police to go on. We have a number of reports tonight. We start with CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Like the others, there was no warning, no sign of what was coming, just the sudden blast of a single gunshot that killed 53-year-old Dean Harold Meyers. He had just stepped out of his car at this Manassas, Virginia gas station. New evidence confirmed to police the sniper had murdered again.

CHIEF CHARLIE DEANE, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA: As a result of the autopsy, ballistic evidence has linked these cases.

LAVANDERA: A large crime scene was roped off around the gas station. Authorities say that was done because the sniper appears to be shooting his targets from a significant distance, which means clues and evidence could be far from the victim.

Authorities say they're talking with several witnesses and reviewing surveillance video from the gas station and other locations. The evidence they're gathering is now feeding into the larger investigative picture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our part of the investigation is going to be very much linked with the Montgomery County and the other jurisdictions. This is a regional investigation and we will be coordinating moment to moment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Now this is the third murder that has occurred at a gas station since the shootings started eight days ago. And, Aaron, when asked, authorities here, what kind of precautions people can take as they go about their daily business, as you mentioned off the top of the show, all they could say is to urge people to be more vigilant and more precautious, look out for anything that might stand out of the ordinary as you go about your daily business -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well that's tricky to do if a guy's shooting from 100 to 200 yards away. Are there any theories that you've heard about why gas stations?

LAVANDERA: They are urging -- when asked about that, they won't say that there's any kind of connection at this point. And it's also important to note at this point that as authorities talk about these investigations and the evidence that they do have, outside of the basic information that they've released to this point, they aren't releasing much more than that.

So at this point, saying that three of these shootings have happened at gas stations, authorities aren't saying that there is any kind of connection that they've been able to point out at this point that leads them to believe that that is some sort of pattern.

BROWN: OK. I guess we'll figure that out for ourselves if there is a pattern to the fact that three people have been shot at gas stations. Ed, thank you. Ed Lavandera in Manassas, Virginia tonight.

So investigators now have an additional crime scene they must deal with. Hopefully they are finding some evidence there. As you heard, not much being said about what they're finding or the significance of anything they have found. The most intriguing clue so far remains the Tarot card, in what experts believe it might mean.

Here again CNN's Kathleen Koch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): The Tarot calling card that may or may not have been left by the killer has more than a grim statement to police. Besides the words, "Dear policeman, I am god," a highly placed source close to the investigation says there was writing warning police not to make the message or the existence of the card public.

Police believe the sniper may have been trying to make contact and had hoped to establish a rapport with the killer. Experts say the instructions are revealing.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: He doesn't want (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He wants to think he's above them and controlling them. But he wants to start some kind of communication so he can have fun with this.

KOCH: Meanwhile, as police struggle with an investigation that now spans four counties and the District of Columbia, they've set up a new centralized tip line run by the FBI for all of the shootings. Montgomery County's police chief was asked if the federal government should take over the case.

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: It really doesn't matter to myself or Mr. Duncan who runs the investigation. We would like to find the person or people responsible for this, arrest them, indict them and get a conviction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: And that is one of the few things that Chief Moose would comment on today since the Tarot card revelation. He has chosen his words even more carefully than usual. And, Aaron, we believe that's because there is a growing acceptance of the fact here that this killer or killers, that they are likely watching everything police do and say. And so police want to be very careful and not to either tip their hand or provoke him.

Back to you.

BROWN: Last night from out here, it was a little unclear why the chief was so upset about the revelation of the Tarot card. It does make a little more sense today. But I guess that information was leaked as well.

KOCH: It was indeed, Aaron. It's a very difficult tight rope that everyone here is walking. Members of the media getting these tidbits. Obviously Channel 9, a local station, going forward with the release of that Tarot card before they knew everything that was written on it. And police -- again, our sources today were very firm that in trying to explain, these words were on there.

We were told not to reveal this. By this now getting out to the media it looks like we have broken any sort of potential bond or potential rapport we might have been able to establish with this killer. And this could really set the case back.

So it does explain it. But it doesn't make anything any easier here in this game of trying to get information and communicate it but not jeopardize the case.

BROWN: Right. And I know that people sometimes have different views about this. The fact is, no reporter working this sort of story is trying to jeopardize anything. Clearly, the guy that left the card knew he left the card, or the person who left the card knew he left the card.

Has it changed the dynamic between the investigators and what now I assume are dozens, if not more, reporters who are working the story?

KOCH: Well, I believe it has. We have noticed a clear change. Again, Chief Moose's briefings are getting fewer and fewer. We started out the initial days of this investigation we had a briefing every two hours. Now we have three a day.

And tomorrow we've only been told there will be one first thing in the morning. At each briefing the chief is saying less and less. So it's clearly changed, what they're saying, how often they're offering themselves up and what they're willing to share with us.

BROWN: Kathleen, thanks. I think in the broader sense we all look forward to the day when there are no more briefings, because who's ever done this is in jail. Thank you. Kathleen Koch, who has been on this since it started.

On to Iraq. More on the snipers, by the way, a little bit later in the program. Want to deal with Iraq first.

It looks tonight like the president will get almost exactly what he wants from Congress. A little tweaking here and there on the resolution, but he wanted a tough resolution supporting the use of force against Iraq that doesn't limit the United States to any decision the United Nations eventually makes. And it appears he's going to get it.

Here's CNN's Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): It wasn't even close, but no one thought it would be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ayes are 296, the nays are 133. The joint resolution is passed.

SNOW: President Bush indicating the strong vote would help him make his case globally.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The House of Representatives have spoken clearly to the world and to the United Nations Security Council. The gathering threat of Iraq must be confronted fully and finally.

SNOW: The resolution encourages the president to try diplomacy first, but gives him the authority to use force against Iraq if he sees no other way. House Republicans and Democrats spoke of war as a last resort, but an option the president must have.

REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY WHIP: In the wicked litany of crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein has composed a scarlet chapter of terror. Our only responsible option is to confront this threat before Americans die. REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: September 11 was the ultimate wakeup call. We must now do everything in our power to prevent further terrorist attacks.

SNOW: But while their leader backed the White House, a majority of House Democrats voted against the resolution, 126 in all.

REP. BARBARA LEE (D), CALIFORNIA: I plead with you to oppose this rush to war. It is morally wrong. It's financially irresponsible. And it's not in our national security interest.

SNOW: Opponents said their numbers would have been even larger if lawmakers weren't so worried about losing votes in November.

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: Yes. There were a number of my colleagues that would have joined me in opposing this resolution had we had not this imminent election. We don't have an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein. We do have an imminent election.

SNOW: In the Senate, an angry Bob Byrd accused his democratic colleagues of having no backbone.

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Let us stop, look and listen. Let us not give this president or any president unchecked power. Remember the Constitution.

SNOW: But on the other side, a solid wall of support for the president. Even the Senate's democratic leader, who last week refused to sign on to the White House resolution, came on board.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD) MAJORITY LEADER: For me, the deciding factor is my belief that a united Congress will help the president unite the world. And by uniting the world, we can increase the world's chances of succeeding in this effort and reduce both the risks and the costs that America may have to bear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Senators have talked about this decision as being agonizing. Senator Hillary Clinton called it the hardest decision she is ever going to have to make. Aaron, at this hour the Senate still in session, still debating. They may go all night with this one.

But it is a foregone conclusion. We expect a majority of the Senate, like the House, to vote to support the president -- Aaron.

BROWN: And then -- I mean we are a month out from the election now. Is Congress close to recessing? Are these senators and representatives close to going back to talk about the issues I think they want to talk about? And that may depend on which party.

SNOW: They are close. You know they had hoped to be out by the end of this week. It looks like that's probably not what's going to happen. In fact, tonight the House took up a debate -- I want to make this as simple as I can. They took up a resolution to extend the time to next week that they can keep operating under last year's budget. Because you know they have all these spending bills that they haven't resolved yet.

So they've continued their time until at least the end of next week. So there's some talk they may all be back here next week and then maybe leaving by the end of next week. But that even could float into a little bit later.

They're hoping to take a break so they can go campaign. And then maybe have to come back after the elections -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kate, thank you. Kate Snow on Capitol Hill tonight watching the Iraq resolution.

U.S. officials, by the way, are once again warning of the possibility of a new terrorist attack or attacks. Last night the FBI sent a threat advisory to local law enforcement around the country. The State Department today issued a warning to Americans overseas. A number of reasons for this concern.

For one, suspected al Qaeda members seem to be talking among themselves a lot again. That's the communications chatter we hear about every now and then. The recent tape warnings from top al Qaeda lieutenants also seen as significant. And so, too, is the attack on the U.S. Marines the other day in Kuwait.

Also figuring into the mix, the massive explosion aboard a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. U.S. and French officials now are calling it an act of terrorism. Investigators found TNT residue in the wreckage, as well as pieces of a small boat that could have been used to deliver the bomb.

The explosion gutted the ship, killed one sailor. Yemen newspapers reporting an Islamic group is claiming responsibility for the attack, which happened not far from where the USS Cole was bombed two years ago in much the same manner.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, stories from out West. A new Senate drama, this time in the state of Montana.

And we'll head up to Sonoma a little later in the program, visit a beautiful and quite successful winery.

But up next, we'll continue our look at the shootings outside Washington and the challenges facing police. This is NEWSNIGHT tonight from Los Angeles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: I want to talk more about the shootings around Washington and the enormous difficulty in catching the killer. Sniping is an especially solitary crime, of course. Most snipers are loners. Loners don't leave much of a trail. This one certainly hasn't, as far as we know.

Add to that a terrible irony expressed by a New York City cop hunting another serial sniper some years ago. "If this guy stops killing," he said, "we'll never catch him." They never did. So how do you catch this one?

We're joined tonight by former Los Angeles Police Department detective Tom Lange. It's nice to see you again. It's been a while.

There is -- it's not a perfect truth, but there is some truth to the idea that if all of a sudden this guy picks up -- or this person picks up and stops doing this, police have a problem if they don't have much to go on now, right?

TOM LANGE, FMR. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE, L.A. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Possibly, but possibly not. Actually, it cuts both ways. I have been involved in serial killing investigations where there has been a lull in the killings. And it's actually helped us to identify the killer.

BROWN: Because you have some time where you're not running from one scene to another? You get more time to analyze?

LANGE: Partially. But what one tries to do in a serial killing investigation, among 100 other things, is develop some kind of a timeline as to victimology and potential suspects. And when you do this, if there are any gaps, such as here we have a so-called spree killer, there's very few gaps.

Many times with a classic killer you have gaps. But you look for these gaps. In the instance that I referred you to, a number of years ago there was a gap between number 10 and 11, a very significant gap where there was no activity.

So number one, the killer is dead. Number two, he's moved on. Number three, he may be in jail.

So we went the jail route and eventually found him and identified him and solved all of these murders. So sometimes a gap in these killings can help. In this case, though, this is a different situation in that most serial killers target a specific group. Prostitutes...

BROWN: Young women.

LANGE: ... gay men, transients. Here this is very random and it is going to make it very difficult.

BROWN: Let me ask you a couple quick things. I assume, though I don't know this for a fact, I assume that when the chief got quite angry at the reporting on the Tarot card yesterday, you were with him. Why -- since the killer obviously knows he left that card there, in terms of the investigation itself, what difference does it make if I know that or my viewers know that?

LANGE: Because it's what we term a key, an investigative key. Many times in high profile cases you're going to have copy cats. This is one way by having specific keys only known to yourself and the killer that you can eliminate potential individuals who may portend to be the killer and who really aren't.

BROWN: These are false confession people. LANGE: False confession people, that's one thing. The other thing is, in any investigation you're going to want to keep a lid on all evidence that you have because if you're interrogating someone, or if there's an interview situation, you want to make sure that there's something that you can inculpate them with. Something that's not common knowledge known to the world.

So it's very important. That's why the caliber of this weapon, I was a little surprised to see it released.

BROWN: Really?

LANGE: If I am a killer and I know there's a .223 out there, I'm not going to have that .223 very long.

BROWN: Do you make certain assumptions about someone who -- I'm sure you make some assumptions. Someone who's doing something like this? For example, does he believe he'll get caught?

LANGE: You don't make those assumptions as a homicide detective. Many times this will be where you'll employ your psychological profilers, which is a tool. They do fine work, but there's never been a profiler that's solved a murder.

You don't look at those types of things. You look at the evidence and you go where the evidence takes you. Those types of things are probably best left to a profiler of some type who may or may not help you down the line.

BROWN: Twenty seconds. Many people I'm sure watching this recognize you and they know you and they now know you're retired. When a case like this comes down, do you at any level miss the business of solving crimes?

LANGE: Miss it tremendously when it comes down to something like this. This is truly a mystery. And you just love to go back out and get involved. Yes, I definitely miss it in that regard.

BROWN: Nice to see you. I trust you're well. It's good to have you with us tonight.

LANGE: Thanks.

BROWN: We noticed in this a difference, by the way, in the people that we've interviewed over the last several days in the Washington area. More and more we find that people aren't just shaking their heads or furrowing their brows. We see more tears, more breathlessness. We certainly see the anxiety in parents.

Terror almost like a vice grip on entire community, and a community that is getting more broad by the day, it seems. Here's CNN's Jason Bellini.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pumping gas from inside the car. Most people who come to this Kensington, Maryland gas station know what happened here last Thursday. They see the memorial for the 25-year-old woman who was shot dead while vacuuming her van.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are not standing still. They are moving. And also they are making the -- their car as kind of a cover shield.

BELLINI: People in the sniper zone are aware, anxious, watching their backs, but going about their business. Blanca Cruz (ph), out in front of the same gas station waits for her bus to work.

(on camera): It looks like you're kind of hiding here behind this bus stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm waiting for the bus. My nervousness is terrible right now.

BELLINI (voice-over): At the Michael's craft store, where police believe the sniper fired a bullet through the front glass, John Walsh from "America's Most Wanted" brings drama to the parking lot.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": I'm here in Montgomery County, where a terrifying shooting spree that started right here has people frightened and searching for answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's "America's Most Wanted." So it has to be big.

BELLINI: Parents, the worrying kind, now have a good reason to tell their kids no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Normally I'd like ask my mom a million times if I can go outside and play with my friends. But I just haven't.

BELLINI (on camera): And you say no?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Today they got to watch cartoons and do homework and play computer games and practice the piano.

BELLINI (voice-over): People aren't afraid to admit they're scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're scared.

BELLINI (on camera): You're scared?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I am from Africa. I am running away from guns. And I came here to protect myself. And here again I am really scared.

BELLINI (voice-over): Jason Bellini, CNN, Kensington, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, a global remembrance of the slain journalist Danny Pearl. We'll talk with his family tonight.

Up next, yet another Senate candidate dropping out amid controversy. This is NEWSNIGHT from L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And we thought that the state of New Jersey had a monopoly on the sordid Senate soap opera of the year. Now comes quite a saga from the state of Montana, where the Republican Senate candidate, Mike Taylor, today dropped out of the race. There are a few general theories for what happened.

Mr. Taylor ended his campaign because the Democrats destroyed his chances and perhaps his reputation with one lowdown dirty ad. Or was Mr. Taylor so far behind anyway the Republicans weren't willing to throw anymore of their precious dollars into a lost cause?

The answer, of course, depends on who you ask and who you believe. The story tonight from CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Republican running against Montana Senator Max Baucus has had it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And never in my wildest dream did I...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we lost video. We'll try and figure it out and get it on before we leave you tonight.

A few other stories we want to get to in the meantime, beginning with a terrible bus accident in Eerie Township, Michigan. A truck crashed into the side of a school bus that was on a field trip. Three dozen children and adults were hurt; eight kids were hurt critically. The bus was carrying kindergarten, first and second graders. My goodness.

A bridge collapsed today in Upstate New York. One worker was killed, 10 others hurt. The pedestrian bridge was under construction at the time. It crashed onto an unfinished highway 20 feet below. The investigation there goes on.

A better story to end the roundup. A good day's work for more than -- rather more than 200 miles above the earth. Two astronauts floated outside, wired up a new girder to the international space station. They brought the girder with them aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis when it took off the other day.

Now, as we were saying, we thought New Jersey had the monopoly on the sordid Senate soap opera of the year campaign.

Let's check out Montana. Here again -- cross your fingers -- CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: The Republican running against Montana Senator Max Baucus has had it.

MIKE TAYLOR, FORMER SENATE CANDIDATE: And never in my wildest dream did I ever imagine that a sitting U.S. senator of 28 years would sanction the use of a 22-year-old picture about my character.

CROWLEY: Things can get rough out west, but Mike Taylor thinks this was downright brutal.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: State Senator Mike Taylor once ran a beauty salon and a hair care school until the Department of Education uncovered Taylor's hair care scam for abusing the student loan program and diverting money to himself.

CROWLEY: Taylor, who is married, says Democrats are trying to suggest that he's a homosexual and a crook, neither of which, he says, is true.

Taylor is pondering a lawsuit, but for now he's quitting and wants some other Republican to step forward and run.

TAYLOR: Someone who is yet unpoisoned by my opponent's venom. Someone with stature to enter this race as a write-in candidate who could win and put an end to my opponent's vicious self-serving ways once and for all.

CROWLEY: Taylor's problems went beyond the nasty ad. At midyear, his campaign had $124,000. His opponent, Democratic Senator Max Baucus, had $2 million.

Polls follow the money. Baucus is up by 19 points. So how come a Democrat is doing so well in a state that went 58 percent Bush, 33 percent Gore?

Well, there is this other ad from Baucus who, we remind you, is a Democrat.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A year ago tax relief was said to be a political impossibility. Today it becomes reality because of the bipartisan leadership of members like Max Baucus of Montana.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Max Baucus: reaching across party lines to do what's right for Montana.

CROWLEY: On top of that, as Taylor's poll numbers sank, his campaign became low on the totem pole of national Republican priorities.

Republican hopes to retake the Senate hinge on pouring resources and attention into cliffhanger races in Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota. There is money, too, for Georgia and Louisiana, seen by the GOP as doable wins. What now for Montana? Well, not former governor Mark Racicot, one of the most popular figures in the state. He, according to his office, is going stay put as chairman of the Republican party.

Besides, it's too late to take Taylor's name off the ballot and any substitute would have to be a write-in. So, it's possible no Republican will step in where Taylor has stepped out. Montana, said one Republican, is not a part of our strategy to retake the Senate.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Later on NEWSNIGHT, a talk with the family of murdered journalist Danny Pearl on what would have been his 39th birthday.

Up next: terror and bravery on the streets of Tel Aviv.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Another suicide bombing to report. It happened at a bus stop outside of Tel Aviv, Hamas claiming responsibility.

The facts differ little from many we've seen before, but the outcome did and the bus driver you're about to meet is one of the reasons why. You'll hear him call himself a coward.

But to our ears, it sounds exactly the opposite.

Here's CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The man who helped divert a major calamity when he tackled a Palestinian suicide bomber who tried to board his bus in Tel Aviv. Baruch Neuman: hero or just plain lucky?

In his view, the latter, Neuman told CNN's Mike Schwartz, who put it to him, there are not a lot of people who have come face to face with a suicide bomber and survived.

MIKE SCHWARTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You had a minute with the bomber.

BARUCH NEUMAN, BUS DRIVER (through translator): Yes, that's true. I looked at him during those moments and I thought to myself, Why is he doing this? First of all, we had captured him and everybody had run away. He could have said that he would surrender. He did not have to blow himself up. But it seems that he was programmed; that he would explode in any case.

If it was alone, if it was with two people or if it was with half the world, he was going to explode. And that is what they've brain washed him to do. He was programmed. You could see it in his eyes. Whatever happens, he would explode. It didn't matter when.

KESSEL: It could have been a lot worse, a whole lot worse. Bus 87 packed with morning rush hour passengers in the Tel Aviv suburb. A man tries to board through the back door but the door shut on him. He's knocked to the ground. The driver and passengers, including this young soldier, rush out to treat him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We thought he was badly hurt. But when we lifted his shirt to try to revive him, we saw wires. Suddenly someone put two and two together. It's a belt bomb, the driver yelled, telling people to clear the area.

We were running in every direction.

KESSEL: The driver and a paramedic keep the man pinned down but then as he comes to, they also decide it's time to rush away. The bomber scrambles to his feet, moves toward standing people at the bus stop a little way away, and blows himself up.

NEUMAN (through translator): The explosion -- we saw this kind of red flame, red and orange that burst into the sky. And all of his body exploded. It was an open place so it spread over hundreds of meters. That's why people at a distance were injured, because objects were sprayed over a distance.

Were you afraid? When? Today? I'm a coward. You know what a coward I am? You have no idea what a coward. But during this whole thing, I didn't even sweat. I don't know why. I didn't sweat. I was programmed to catch his hands and not to leave them. I wasn't even scared and I'm a coward.

KESSEL: A 71-year-old woman was killed when the bomber set off his explosives. A dozen other people were wounded and many more treated for shock.

SCHWARTZ: Are you afraid now that you think about it?

NEUMAN (through translator): I don't think about it. Maybe tomorrow when I go back to work I'll think about it. I'm glad we got over the attack, but I'm sorry about the people who were wounded and the woman who died. We couldn't prevent it.

KESSEL: Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we go up to Sonoma, California to take a look at a winery and the couple who found a new career there.

Up next, though: remembering journalist Danny Pearl on what would have been his 39th birthday.

This is NEWSNIGHT from L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: A few things we've brought you over the past year or so stand out in our minds as generating an enormous response from viewers.

And one was a song: "For a Son" it was called. It was written by a friend of the murdered journalist Danny Pearl for the newborn son that Danny would never meet.

Tonight is for a son as well: the son that Danny Pearl was to his parents on a day that is surely a difficult one for them, the day he would have turned 39.

Difficult, yes, but a celebration also; one that, tonight, stretches literally around the globe. A celebration of the life that Danny lived, the words he wrote, the music he made, the people he knew and, perhaps most importantly, all the people -- and there are millions -- who never met him in life, but have come to know him and care for him in death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): In a series of still photos, the world came to know Danny Pearl. Not the one with the gun to his head, it was all the others: the joy of a fiddler, the pride of a new husband, the radiance of a loving wife.

Somehow they told us that he was a special soul, even if we were not always sure why.

(on camera): Do you think of your son as a hero?

JUDEA PEARL, DANIEL PEARL'S FATHER: Not in the conventional sense. Not the kind of hero that I was educated with when I was a boy. He didn't choose death. He wanted life. His strength was facing his captors or executioners and telling them, come to your senses, stop this silly game.

BROWN (voice-over): In the quiet of a backyard in Los Angeles, the Pearl family remembers Danny. There is Danny the son.

J. PEARL: He loved people. Naturally.

BROWN: The brother.

MICHELLE PEARL, DANIEL'S SISTER: He took me to my first concerts. I even started playing the violin when I was 3. I gave it up for the piano eventually because I saw him practicing.

BROWN: It seems always to come back to the music.

And so today on what would have been his 39th birthday, Danny Pearl's life is being remembered and celebrated in concerts around the world, dozens of them.

They are as near as this one in Chicago and as far away as Shanghai. There are events in the places that he lived: London and Israel.

(on camera): Is there a message in it, do you think, in the fact that in so many places around the world so many people who did not know him will celebrate him?

J. PEARL: Even though many -- those people did not know him, those people were hurt, were personally injured and betrayed when they heard about his death.

And the message would be finding healing and empowerment to those people. Empowerment comes from the realization that they are not alone; that they are together; and humanity, when standing together will prevail.

BROWN: When people watch all of these musical events in all of these places by all of these different people, what would you like them to think about?

J. PEARL: Borderless brotherhood. You form brotherhood among the people that listen to the concert even when they are miles away. So that is what I hope to achieve.

BROWN (voice-over): It has been nine months since his murder. Arrests made, trials held, sentences handed down. The Pearls have buried the son they lost, and now just recently held the child that he fathered.

RUTH PEARL, DANIEL'S MOTHER: He would have been a terrific father. He was so excited. Two days before the kidnapping he called all of us, each of us separately to tell us that it's a boy. He was so happy.

He wanted to be a father. He was looking forward to that.

BROWN (on camera): At some point that boy is going to say, tell me about my father. Do you know what you'll say?

J. PEARL: I oscillate from day to day at what -- at how I'm going to present it. Some day I feel like telling him that his father was a hero, and some day I want to make it a low profile -- your father was like every other father.

BROWN (voice-over): And some day that child will want to know the important and unknowable answer to that most difficult of all questions.

(on camera): Do you ever ask yourself why it was Danny who was taken? Why it was Danny who was murdered?

J. PEARL: I think he was chosen for abduction because he was an American journalist, and the captors sought a victim, saw a way of scoring against America. Later on I think he was killed because he's Jewish.

BROWN (voice-over): In life, Daniel Pearl was a reporter and a musician, a husband, son, a brother, a friend.

In death he is a symbol. There is the Daniel Pearl Foundation now, a fledgling effort to keep the man and the ideal alive.

R. PEARL: He connected with people and made connections among people through his stories and his music. And we're trying to do, with the foundation, to keep his legacy alive and keep him alive to a certain extent.

BROWN: Today it is a series of concerts. Tomorrow and in the tomorrows to come, there will be conferences for adults and programs for kids, events around the world because he was, in many ways, a citizen of the world. A reporter in a faraway place who could and, even in death, still does, draw people a little bit closer together.

J. PEARL: The person sitting in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Los Angeles will understand that he or she is part of a huge global thing that takes place at the same time in Hong Kong, in Shanghai, in Goa, in Bombay and the unification, the unifying force behind that scheme is tolerance and brotherhood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: On the day Danny Pearl would have been 39.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight there's a quote we ran across that goes like this: What is the definition of a good wine? It should start and end with a smile. Sounds like the definition of a good news program, too, but as is usually the case, in the news there's not much to smile about at the beginning.

So we'll try and end with a smile tonight, not to mention good wine. Harvest time at the Tara Bella winery in Sonoma Valley. A consuming passion and a successful second life -- second career for Tara and Rich Minnick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh it looks like a great harvest this year. Beautiful fruit. Great summer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good crop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's going to be good wine.

RICH MINNICK, TARA BELLA WINERY & VINEYARDS: My main occupation most of my life has been in the auto body trade. So this is kind of a second career. When I moved here to California I had a winery right across the street from me so I was able to help them. Learned about it. And it just kind of draws you in. Did you try one in the shade over here? The seeds are dark, too. They look good. Look like they're mature. I think we're ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

R. MINNICK: Close the slot. Let's see (UNINTELLIGIBLE) what we have here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 24.6.

R. MINNICK: That's what I come up with, too. That's great. That means we can pick tomorrow.

OK, if you guys want to come over. We'll take a look and show you what we want to do. What we want you to pick and what we don't want you to pick. This is what we're after. What is down here on the lower part.

And the way I pick them -- and you can figure out for yourself how you want to do it. I usually grab the bunch -- the lower part of the bunch and I'll pull it towards me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't lose any of them in there. Because each one of these is like a glass of wine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My favorite part -- how you doing, girls?

R. MINNICK: All right. I want to go up and see if this bin's full and then I'll get my tractor going here if it is. And we'll come down. We'll get serious with it.

Our production will be around 500 cases per year. We like keeping it small because we can control.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the employees. That's it.

R. MINNICK: Yes, we are the employees.

2:00 in the morning when you're out here, if the moon's out kind of fun.

Getting better?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's getting better and better.

He's making the wine the way it should be made. You know he's kind of -- it's an old fashion method. It's hands on. He makes great wine. It proves in the amount of metals that he's shown, how people have appreciated.

TARA MINNICK, TARA BELLA WINERY & VINEYARD: We released the '99 Napa in February, I believe, of this year. And we want won a double gold at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

R. MINNICK: So this has helped us market our wine, by winning these medals. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) He's been working a lot of years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right off the press. That is good.

R. MINNICK: Fruity and woody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is good.

R. MINNICK: I'm living my passion. This has to be your passion or you wouldn't want to do it. So this is it. This is the whole process. It's the circle. It's planting the grape, growing the vineyard, crushing the fruit, making the wine, aging the wine. Putting it down on a table someplace with your label on it -- Tara Bella. Yes, this is the passion. It grabs you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well it's dinner time in L.A. Good to have you with us tonight. We're back here -- literally here -- in L.A. tomorrow night one more time. We'll hope you join us 10:00 Eastern time, 7 Pacific. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

Night's Shooting to Sniper; House Votes in Favor of Resolution>

Aired October 10, 2002 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again. I'm Aaron Brown.
We're in Los Angeles tonight. And to say the program is jam- packed would be an understatement. We came here yesterday to talk with the parents of reporter Danny Pearl for a piece tonight on the day he would have turned 39. There is a wonderful worldwide music event in his honor tonight. And we'll have both the interview and a bit of the music a little bit later in the hour.

And we confess that no trip to L.A. would be complete without lunch of Pinks (ph) chili dogs. If we look a little bit green tonight, it isn't the lighting.

Out here we've heard less talk about the East Coast sniper, another sniping confirmed today, and more talk about Iraq. The ratings on Monday night's speech by the president proved how engaged the country has become, finally, on the subject. Though the major broadcast networks didn't carry the speech. They weren't asked to by the White House and perhaps even discouraged by the administration from doing so.

Seventeen million people watched on cable. As we say in our business, that's a huge number. There was plenty of talk about Iraq this summer around the country. I'm not sure many people were listening.

They seem to be listening very clearly these days. And whether you support the president's position or oppose it, that is not just good news. That is important news to report. And we have news to report on Iraq as we go tonight. But we begin "The Whip" with the latest on the sniper attacks again this evening.

Ed Lavandera starts us off from the scene of the latest murder. Ed, the headline please.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, just a few hours ago authorities here in Northern Virginia were able to officially connect last night's shooting to this sniper. And that has prompted school officials here in northern Virginia to cancel after school activities and sporting events through Sunday.

BROWN: Ed, thank you. Back to you at the top tonight.

Where the broad investigation stands in this case tonight, Kathleen Koch is in Rockville, Maryland, for that. Kathleen, once again a headline from you please.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, police are saying less and less about this investigation. That, while the killer apparently said more than we thought in a message to police.

BROWN: Kathleen, thank you.

Congress, Iraq, the resolution, Kate Snow on Capitol Hill. Kate, a headline from you tonight?

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the House with a ringing endorsement for the president, voting very much in favor of this resolution. Authorizing the president to use force, but with quite a number of Democrats voting against.

BROWN: Kate, thank you. Back to you in a minute. Back with all of you.

Also, coming up in the hour ahead, an interesting mix of stories from out West. Not all in California. Another dropout from a Senate race, this time in Montana. And the circumstances are extraordinary and very different from what went on in New Jersey. Candy Crowley sorts it out for us this evening.

And after all that, something we could use: the sunny skies of Sonoma, a fine glass of Cabernet, and the good company of two intrepid winemakers. That's segment seven tonight. We look forward to the wine, but unfortunately we begin with the hard stuff.

Evidence that a man killed last night at a gas station in Northern Virginia was yet another victim of the sniper who has turned the Washington, D.C. area into his personal shooting gallery. The victim's name is Dean Meyers.

When he was shot he was doing nothing more exotic than going about his life. He shared that with the other victims. It's hard to say whether his killing makes going out and about life any tougher tonight. It is tough enough already.

Tough enough for the police as well. All we can say tonight is there is one more victim, one more crime scene, and we can only hope more evidence for police to go on. We have a number of reports tonight. We start with CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Like the others, there was no warning, no sign of what was coming, just the sudden blast of a single gunshot that killed 53-year-old Dean Harold Meyers. He had just stepped out of his car at this Manassas, Virginia gas station. New evidence confirmed to police the sniper had murdered again.

CHIEF CHARLIE DEANE, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA: As a result of the autopsy, ballistic evidence has linked these cases.

LAVANDERA: A large crime scene was roped off around the gas station. Authorities say that was done because the sniper appears to be shooting his targets from a significant distance, which means clues and evidence could be far from the victim.

Authorities say they're talking with several witnesses and reviewing surveillance video from the gas station and other locations. The evidence they're gathering is now feeding into the larger investigative picture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our part of the investigation is going to be very much linked with the Montgomery County and the other jurisdictions. This is a regional investigation and we will be coordinating moment to moment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Now this is the third murder that has occurred at a gas station since the shootings started eight days ago. And, Aaron, when asked, authorities here, what kind of precautions people can take as they go about their daily business, as you mentioned off the top of the show, all they could say is to urge people to be more vigilant and more precautious, look out for anything that might stand out of the ordinary as you go about your daily business -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well that's tricky to do if a guy's shooting from 100 to 200 yards away. Are there any theories that you've heard about why gas stations?

LAVANDERA: They are urging -- when asked about that, they won't say that there's any kind of connection at this point. And it's also important to note at this point that as authorities talk about these investigations and the evidence that they do have, outside of the basic information that they've released to this point, they aren't releasing much more than that.

So at this point, saying that three of these shootings have happened at gas stations, authorities aren't saying that there is any kind of connection that they've been able to point out at this point that leads them to believe that that is some sort of pattern.

BROWN: OK. I guess we'll figure that out for ourselves if there is a pattern to the fact that three people have been shot at gas stations. Ed, thank you. Ed Lavandera in Manassas, Virginia tonight.

So investigators now have an additional crime scene they must deal with. Hopefully they are finding some evidence there. As you heard, not much being said about what they're finding or the significance of anything they have found. The most intriguing clue so far remains the Tarot card, in what experts believe it might mean.

Here again CNN's Kathleen Koch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): The Tarot calling card that may or may not have been left by the killer has more than a grim statement to police. Besides the words, "Dear policeman, I am god," a highly placed source close to the investigation says there was writing warning police not to make the message or the existence of the card public.

Police believe the sniper may have been trying to make contact and had hoped to establish a rapport with the killer. Experts say the instructions are revealing.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: He doesn't want (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He wants to think he's above them and controlling them. But he wants to start some kind of communication so he can have fun with this.

KOCH: Meanwhile, as police struggle with an investigation that now spans four counties and the District of Columbia, they've set up a new centralized tip line run by the FBI for all of the shootings. Montgomery County's police chief was asked if the federal government should take over the case.

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: It really doesn't matter to myself or Mr. Duncan who runs the investigation. We would like to find the person or people responsible for this, arrest them, indict them and get a conviction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: And that is one of the few things that Chief Moose would comment on today since the Tarot card revelation. He has chosen his words even more carefully than usual. And, Aaron, we believe that's because there is a growing acceptance of the fact here that this killer or killers, that they are likely watching everything police do and say. And so police want to be very careful and not to either tip their hand or provoke him.

Back to you.

BROWN: Last night from out here, it was a little unclear why the chief was so upset about the revelation of the Tarot card. It does make a little more sense today. But I guess that information was leaked as well.

KOCH: It was indeed, Aaron. It's a very difficult tight rope that everyone here is walking. Members of the media getting these tidbits. Obviously Channel 9, a local station, going forward with the release of that Tarot card before they knew everything that was written on it. And police -- again, our sources today were very firm that in trying to explain, these words were on there.

We were told not to reveal this. By this now getting out to the media it looks like we have broken any sort of potential bond or potential rapport we might have been able to establish with this killer. And this could really set the case back.

So it does explain it. But it doesn't make anything any easier here in this game of trying to get information and communicate it but not jeopardize the case.

BROWN: Right. And I know that people sometimes have different views about this. The fact is, no reporter working this sort of story is trying to jeopardize anything. Clearly, the guy that left the card knew he left the card, or the person who left the card knew he left the card.

Has it changed the dynamic between the investigators and what now I assume are dozens, if not more, reporters who are working the story?

KOCH: Well, I believe it has. We have noticed a clear change. Again, Chief Moose's briefings are getting fewer and fewer. We started out the initial days of this investigation we had a briefing every two hours. Now we have three a day.

And tomorrow we've only been told there will be one first thing in the morning. At each briefing the chief is saying less and less. So it's clearly changed, what they're saying, how often they're offering themselves up and what they're willing to share with us.

BROWN: Kathleen, thanks. I think in the broader sense we all look forward to the day when there are no more briefings, because who's ever done this is in jail. Thank you. Kathleen Koch, who has been on this since it started.

On to Iraq. More on the snipers, by the way, a little bit later in the program. Want to deal with Iraq first.

It looks tonight like the president will get almost exactly what he wants from Congress. A little tweaking here and there on the resolution, but he wanted a tough resolution supporting the use of force against Iraq that doesn't limit the United States to any decision the United Nations eventually makes. And it appears he's going to get it.

Here's CNN's Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): It wasn't even close, but no one thought it would be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ayes are 296, the nays are 133. The joint resolution is passed.

SNOW: President Bush indicating the strong vote would help him make his case globally.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The House of Representatives have spoken clearly to the world and to the United Nations Security Council. The gathering threat of Iraq must be confronted fully and finally.

SNOW: The resolution encourages the president to try diplomacy first, but gives him the authority to use force against Iraq if he sees no other way. House Republicans and Democrats spoke of war as a last resort, but an option the president must have.

REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY WHIP: In the wicked litany of crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein has composed a scarlet chapter of terror. Our only responsible option is to confront this threat before Americans die. REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: September 11 was the ultimate wakeup call. We must now do everything in our power to prevent further terrorist attacks.

SNOW: But while their leader backed the White House, a majority of House Democrats voted against the resolution, 126 in all.

REP. BARBARA LEE (D), CALIFORNIA: I plead with you to oppose this rush to war. It is morally wrong. It's financially irresponsible. And it's not in our national security interest.

SNOW: Opponents said their numbers would have been even larger if lawmakers weren't so worried about losing votes in November.

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: Yes. There were a number of my colleagues that would have joined me in opposing this resolution had we had not this imminent election. We don't have an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein. We do have an imminent election.

SNOW: In the Senate, an angry Bob Byrd accused his democratic colleagues of having no backbone.

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Let us stop, look and listen. Let us not give this president or any president unchecked power. Remember the Constitution.

SNOW: But on the other side, a solid wall of support for the president. Even the Senate's democratic leader, who last week refused to sign on to the White House resolution, came on board.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD) MAJORITY LEADER: For me, the deciding factor is my belief that a united Congress will help the president unite the world. And by uniting the world, we can increase the world's chances of succeeding in this effort and reduce both the risks and the costs that America may have to bear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Senators have talked about this decision as being agonizing. Senator Hillary Clinton called it the hardest decision she is ever going to have to make. Aaron, at this hour the Senate still in session, still debating. They may go all night with this one.

But it is a foregone conclusion. We expect a majority of the Senate, like the House, to vote to support the president -- Aaron.

BROWN: And then -- I mean we are a month out from the election now. Is Congress close to recessing? Are these senators and representatives close to going back to talk about the issues I think they want to talk about? And that may depend on which party.

SNOW: They are close. You know they had hoped to be out by the end of this week. It looks like that's probably not what's going to happen. In fact, tonight the House took up a debate -- I want to make this as simple as I can. They took up a resolution to extend the time to next week that they can keep operating under last year's budget. Because you know they have all these spending bills that they haven't resolved yet.

So they've continued their time until at least the end of next week. So there's some talk they may all be back here next week and then maybe leaving by the end of next week. But that even could float into a little bit later.

They're hoping to take a break so they can go campaign. And then maybe have to come back after the elections -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kate, thank you. Kate Snow on Capitol Hill tonight watching the Iraq resolution.

U.S. officials, by the way, are once again warning of the possibility of a new terrorist attack or attacks. Last night the FBI sent a threat advisory to local law enforcement around the country. The State Department today issued a warning to Americans overseas. A number of reasons for this concern.

For one, suspected al Qaeda members seem to be talking among themselves a lot again. That's the communications chatter we hear about every now and then. The recent tape warnings from top al Qaeda lieutenants also seen as significant. And so, too, is the attack on the U.S. Marines the other day in Kuwait.

Also figuring into the mix, the massive explosion aboard a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. U.S. and French officials now are calling it an act of terrorism. Investigators found TNT residue in the wreckage, as well as pieces of a small boat that could have been used to deliver the bomb.

The explosion gutted the ship, killed one sailor. Yemen newspapers reporting an Islamic group is claiming responsibility for the attack, which happened not far from where the USS Cole was bombed two years ago in much the same manner.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, stories from out West. A new Senate drama, this time in the state of Montana.

And we'll head up to Sonoma a little later in the program, visit a beautiful and quite successful winery.

But up next, we'll continue our look at the shootings outside Washington and the challenges facing police. This is NEWSNIGHT tonight from Los Angeles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: I want to talk more about the shootings around Washington and the enormous difficulty in catching the killer. Sniping is an especially solitary crime, of course. Most snipers are loners. Loners don't leave much of a trail. This one certainly hasn't, as far as we know.

Add to that a terrible irony expressed by a New York City cop hunting another serial sniper some years ago. "If this guy stops killing," he said, "we'll never catch him." They never did. So how do you catch this one?

We're joined tonight by former Los Angeles Police Department detective Tom Lange. It's nice to see you again. It's been a while.

There is -- it's not a perfect truth, but there is some truth to the idea that if all of a sudden this guy picks up -- or this person picks up and stops doing this, police have a problem if they don't have much to go on now, right?

TOM LANGE, FMR. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE, L.A. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Possibly, but possibly not. Actually, it cuts both ways. I have been involved in serial killing investigations where there has been a lull in the killings. And it's actually helped us to identify the killer.

BROWN: Because you have some time where you're not running from one scene to another? You get more time to analyze?

LANGE: Partially. But what one tries to do in a serial killing investigation, among 100 other things, is develop some kind of a timeline as to victimology and potential suspects. And when you do this, if there are any gaps, such as here we have a so-called spree killer, there's very few gaps.

Many times with a classic killer you have gaps. But you look for these gaps. In the instance that I referred you to, a number of years ago there was a gap between number 10 and 11, a very significant gap where there was no activity.

So number one, the killer is dead. Number two, he's moved on. Number three, he may be in jail.

So we went the jail route and eventually found him and identified him and solved all of these murders. So sometimes a gap in these killings can help. In this case, though, this is a different situation in that most serial killers target a specific group. Prostitutes...

BROWN: Young women.

LANGE: ... gay men, transients. Here this is very random and it is going to make it very difficult.

BROWN: Let me ask you a couple quick things. I assume, though I don't know this for a fact, I assume that when the chief got quite angry at the reporting on the Tarot card yesterday, you were with him. Why -- since the killer obviously knows he left that card there, in terms of the investigation itself, what difference does it make if I know that or my viewers know that?

LANGE: Because it's what we term a key, an investigative key. Many times in high profile cases you're going to have copy cats. This is one way by having specific keys only known to yourself and the killer that you can eliminate potential individuals who may portend to be the killer and who really aren't.

BROWN: These are false confession people. LANGE: False confession people, that's one thing. The other thing is, in any investigation you're going to want to keep a lid on all evidence that you have because if you're interrogating someone, or if there's an interview situation, you want to make sure that there's something that you can inculpate them with. Something that's not common knowledge known to the world.

So it's very important. That's why the caliber of this weapon, I was a little surprised to see it released.

BROWN: Really?

LANGE: If I am a killer and I know there's a .223 out there, I'm not going to have that .223 very long.

BROWN: Do you make certain assumptions about someone who -- I'm sure you make some assumptions. Someone who's doing something like this? For example, does he believe he'll get caught?

LANGE: You don't make those assumptions as a homicide detective. Many times this will be where you'll employ your psychological profilers, which is a tool. They do fine work, but there's never been a profiler that's solved a murder.

You don't look at those types of things. You look at the evidence and you go where the evidence takes you. Those types of things are probably best left to a profiler of some type who may or may not help you down the line.

BROWN: Twenty seconds. Many people I'm sure watching this recognize you and they know you and they now know you're retired. When a case like this comes down, do you at any level miss the business of solving crimes?

LANGE: Miss it tremendously when it comes down to something like this. This is truly a mystery. And you just love to go back out and get involved. Yes, I definitely miss it in that regard.

BROWN: Nice to see you. I trust you're well. It's good to have you with us tonight.

LANGE: Thanks.

BROWN: We noticed in this a difference, by the way, in the people that we've interviewed over the last several days in the Washington area. More and more we find that people aren't just shaking their heads or furrowing their brows. We see more tears, more breathlessness. We certainly see the anxiety in parents.

Terror almost like a vice grip on entire community, and a community that is getting more broad by the day, it seems. Here's CNN's Jason Bellini.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pumping gas from inside the car. Most people who come to this Kensington, Maryland gas station know what happened here last Thursday. They see the memorial for the 25-year-old woman who was shot dead while vacuuming her van.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are not standing still. They are moving. And also they are making the -- their car as kind of a cover shield.

BELLINI: People in the sniper zone are aware, anxious, watching their backs, but going about their business. Blanca Cruz (ph), out in front of the same gas station waits for her bus to work.

(on camera): It looks like you're kind of hiding here behind this bus stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm waiting for the bus. My nervousness is terrible right now.

BELLINI (voice-over): At the Michael's craft store, where police believe the sniper fired a bullet through the front glass, John Walsh from "America's Most Wanted" brings drama to the parking lot.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": I'm here in Montgomery County, where a terrifying shooting spree that started right here has people frightened and searching for answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's "America's Most Wanted." So it has to be big.

BELLINI: Parents, the worrying kind, now have a good reason to tell their kids no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Normally I'd like ask my mom a million times if I can go outside and play with my friends. But I just haven't.

BELLINI (on camera): And you say no?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Today they got to watch cartoons and do homework and play computer games and practice the piano.

BELLINI (voice-over): People aren't afraid to admit they're scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're scared.

BELLINI (on camera): You're scared?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I am from Africa. I am running away from guns. And I came here to protect myself. And here again I am really scared.

BELLINI (voice-over): Jason Bellini, CNN, Kensington, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, a global remembrance of the slain journalist Danny Pearl. We'll talk with his family tonight.

Up next, yet another Senate candidate dropping out amid controversy. This is NEWSNIGHT from L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And we thought that the state of New Jersey had a monopoly on the sordid Senate soap opera of the year. Now comes quite a saga from the state of Montana, where the Republican Senate candidate, Mike Taylor, today dropped out of the race. There are a few general theories for what happened.

Mr. Taylor ended his campaign because the Democrats destroyed his chances and perhaps his reputation with one lowdown dirty ad. Or was Mr. Taylor so far behind anyway the Republicans weren't willing to throw anymore of their precious dollars into a lost cause?

The answer, of course, depends on who you ask and who you believe. The story tonight from CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Republican running against Montana Senator Max Baucus has had it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And never in my wildest dream did I...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we lost video. We'll try and figure it out and get it on before we leave you tonight.

A few other stories we want to get to in the meantime, beginning with a terrible bus accident in Eerie Township, Michigan. A truck crashed into the side of a school bus that was on a field trip. Three dozen children and adults were hurt; eight kids were hurt critically. The bus was carrying kindergarten, first and second graders. My goodness.

A bridge collapsed today in Upstate New York. One worker was killed, 10 others hurt. The pedestrian bridge was under construction at the time. It crashed onto an unfinished highway 20 feet below. The investigation there goes on.

A better story to end the roundup. A good day's work for more than -- rather more than 200 miles above the earth. Two astronauts floated outside, wired up a new girder to the international space station. They brought the girder with them aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis when it took off the other day.

Now, as we were saying, we thought New Jersey had the monopoly on the sordid Senate soap opera of the year campaign.

Let's check out Montana. Here again -- cross your fingers -- CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: The Republican running against Montana Senator Max Baucus has had it.

MIKE TAYLOR, FORMER SENATE CANDIDATE: And never in my wildest dream did I ever imagine that a sitting U.S. senator of 28 years would sanction the use of a 22-year-old picture about my character.

CROWLEY: Things can get rough out west, but Mike Taylor thinks this was downright brutal.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: State Senator Mike Taylor once ran a beauty salon and a hair care school until the Department of Education uncovered Taylor's hair care scam for abusing the student loan program and diverting money to himself.

CROWLEY: Taylor, who is married, says Democrats are trying to suggest that he's a homosexual and a crook, neither of which, he says, is true.

Taylor is pondering a lawsuit, but for now he's quitting and wants some other Republican to step forward and run.

TAYLOR: Someone who is yet unpoisoned by my opponent's venom. Someone with stature to enter this race as a write-in candidate who could win and put an end to my opponent's vicious self-serving ways once and for all.

CROWLEY: Taylor's problems went beyond the nasty ad. At midyear, his campaign had $124,000. His opponent, Democratic Senator Max Baucus, had $2 million.

Polls follow the money. Baucus is up by 19 points. So how come a Democrat is doing so well in a state that went 58 percent Bush, 33 percent Gore?

Well, there is this other ad from Baucus who, we remind you, is a Democrat.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A year ago tax relief was said to be a political impossibility. Today it becomes reality because of the bipartisan leadership of members like Max Baucus of Montana.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Max Baucus: reaching across party lines to do what's right for Montana.

CROWLEY: On top of that, as Taylor's poll numbers sank, his campaign became low on the totem pole of national Republican priorities.

Republican hopes to retake the Senate hinge on pouring resources and attention into cliffhanger races in Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota. There is money, too, for Georgia and Louisiana, seen by the GOP as doable wins. What now for Montana? Well, not former governor Mark Racicot, one of the most popular figures in the state. He, according to his office, is going stay put as chairman of the Republican party.

Besides, it's too late to take Taylor's name off the ballot and any substitute would have to be a write-in. So, it's possible no Republican will step in where Taylor has stepped out. Montana, said one Republican, is not a part of our strategy to retake the Senate.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Later on NEWSNIGHT, a talk with the family of murdered journalist Danny Pearl on what would have been his 39th birthday.

Up next: terror and bravery on the streets of Tel Aviv.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Another suicide bombing to report. It happened at a bus stop outside of Tel Aviv, Hamas claiming responsibility.

The facts differ little from many we've seen before, but the outcome did and the bus driver you're about to meet is one of the reasons why. You'll hear him call himself a coward.

But to our ears, it sounds exactly the opposite.

Here's CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The man who helped divert a major calamity when he tackled a Palestinian suicide bomber who tried to board his bus in Tel Aviv. Baruch Neuman: hero or just plain lucky?

In his view, the latter, Neuman told CNN's Mike Schwartz, who put it to him, there are not a lot of people who have come face to face with a suicide bomber and survived.

MIKE SCHWARTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You had a minute with the bomber.

BARUCH NEUMAN, BUS DRIVER (through translator): Yes, that's true. I looked at him during those moments and I thought to myself, Why is he doing this? First of all, we had captured him and everybody had run away. He could have said that he would surrender. He did not have to blow himself up. But it seems that he was programmed; that he would explode in any case.

If it was alone, if it was with two people or if it was with half the world, he was going to explode. And that is what they've brain washed him to do. He was programmed. You could see it in his eyes. Whatever happens, he would explode. It didn't matter when.

KESSEL: It could have been a lot worse, a whole lot worse. Bus 87 packed with morning rush hour passengers in the Tel Aviv suburb. A man tries to board through the back door but the door shut on him. He's knocked to the ground. The driver and passengers, including this young soldier, rush out to treat him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We thought he was badly hurt. But when we lifted his shirt to try to revive him, we saw wires. Suddenly someone put two and two together. It's a belt bomb, the driver yelled, telling people to clear the area.

We were running in every direction.

KESSEL: The driver and a paramedic keep the man pinned down but then as he comes to, they also decide it's time to rush away. The bomber scrambles to his feet, moves toward standing people at the bus stop a little way away, and blows himself up.

NEUMAN (through translator): The explosion -- we saw this kind of red flame, red and orange that burst into the sky. And all of his body exploded. It was an open place so it spread over hundreds of meters. That's why people at a distance were injured, because objects were sprayed over a distance.

Were you afraid? When? Today? I'm a coward. You know what a coward I am? You have no idea what a coward. But during this whole thing, I didn't even sweat. I don't know why. I didn't sweat. I was programmed to catch his hands and not to leave them. I wasn't even scared and I'm a coward.

KESSEL: A 71-year-old woman was killed when the bomber set off his explosives. A dozen other people were wounded and many more treated for shock.

SCHWARTZ: Are you afraid now that you think about it?

NEUMAN (through translator): I don't think about it. Maybe tomorrow when I go back to work I'll think about it. I'm glad we got over the attack, but I'm sorry about the people who were wounded and the woman who died. We couldn't prevent it.

KESSEL: Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we go up to Sonoma, California to take a look at a winery and the couple who found a new career there.

Up next, though: remembering journalist Danny Pearl on what would have been his 39th birthday.

This is NEWSNIGHT from L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: A few things we've brought you over the past year or so stand out in our minds as generating an enormous response from viewers.

And one was a song: "For a Son" it was called. It was written by a friend of the murdered journalist Danny Pearl for the newborn son that Danny would never meet.

Tonight is for a son as well: the son that Danny Pearl was to his parents on a day that is surely a difficult one for them, the day he would have turned 39.

Difficult, yes, but a celebration also; one that, tonight, stretches literally around the globe. A celebration of the life that Danny lived, the words he wrote, the music he made, the people he knew and, perhaps most importantly, all the people -- and there are millions -- who never met him in life, but have come to know him and care for him in death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): In a series of still photos, the world came to know Danny Pearl. Not the one with the gun to his head, it was all the others: the joy of a fiddler, the pride of a new husband, the radiance of a loving wife.

Somehow they told us that he was a special soul, even if we were not always sure why.

(on camera): Do you think of your son as a hero?

JUDEA PEARL, DANIEL PEARL'S FATHER: Not in the conventional sense. Not the kind of hero that I was educated with when I was a boy. He didn't choose death. He wanted life. His strength was facing his captors or executioners and telling them, come to your senses, stop this silly game.

BROWN (voice-over): In the quiet of a backyard in Los Angeles, the Pearl family remembers Danny. There is Danny the son.

J. PEARL: He loved people. Naturally.

BROWN: The brother.

MICHELLE PEARL, DANIEL'S SISTER: He took me to my first concerts. I even started playing the violin when I was 3. I gave it up for the piano eventually because I saw him practicing.

BROWN: It seems always to come back to the music.

And so today on what would have been his 39th birthday, Danny Pearl's life is being remembered and celebrated in concerts around the world, dozens of them.

They are as near as this one in Chicago and as far away as Shanghai. There are events in the places that he lived: London and Israel.

(on camera): Is there a message in it, do you think, in the fact that in so many places around the world so many people who did not know him will celebrate him?

J. PEARL: Even though many -- those people did not know him, those people were hurt, were personally injured and betrayed when they heard about his death.

And the message would be finding healing and empowerment to those people. Empowerment comes from the realization that they are not alone; that they are together; and humanity, when standing together will prevail.

BROWN: When people watch all of these musical events in all of these places by all of these different people, what would you like them to think about?

J. PEARL: Borderless brotherhood. You form brotherhood among the people that listen to the concert even when they are miles away. So that is what I hope to achieve.

BROWN (voice-over): It has been nine months since his murder. Arrests made, trials held, sentences handed down. The Pearls have buried the son they lost, and now just recently held the child that he fathered.

RUTH PEARL, DANIEL'S MOTHER: He would have been a terrific father. He was so excited. Two days before the kidnapping he called all of us, each of us separately to tell us that it's a boy. He was so happy.

He wanted to be a father. He was looking forward to that.

BROWN (on camera): At some point that boy is going to say, tell me about my father. Do you know what you'll say?

J. PEARL: I oscillate from day to day at what -- at how I'm going to present it. Some day I feel like telling him that his father was a hero, and some day I want to make it a low profile -- your father was like every other father.

BROWN (voice-over): And some day that child will want to know the important and unknowable answer to that most difficult of all questions.

(on camera): Do you ever ask yourself why it was Danny who was taken? Why it was Danny who was murdered?

J. PEARL: I think he was chosen for abduction because he was an American journalist, and the captors sought a victim, saw a way of scoring against America. Later on I think he was killed because he's Jewish.

BROWN (voice-over): In life, Daniel Pearl was a reporter and a musician, a husband, son, a brother, a friend.

In death he is a symbol. There is the Daniel Pearl Foundation now, a fledgling effort to keep the man and the ideal alive.

R. PEARL: He connected with people and made connections among people through his stories and his music. And we're trying to do, with the foundation, to keep his legacy alive and keep him alive to a certain extent.

BROWN: Today it is a series of concerts. Tomorrow and in the tomorrows to come, there will be conferences for adults and programs for kids, events around the world because he was, in many ways, a citizen of the world. A reporter in a faraway place who could and, even in death, still does, draw people a little bit closer together.

J. PEARL: The person sitting in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Los Angeles will understand that he or she is part of a huge global thing that takes place at the same time in Hong Kong, in Shanghai, in Goa, in Bombay and the unification, the unifying force behind that scheme is tolerance and brotherhood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: On the day Danny Pearl would have been 39.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight there's a quote we ran across that goes like this: What is the definition of a good wine? It should start and end with a smile. Sounds like the definition of a good news program, too, but as is usually the case, in the news there's not much to smile about at the beginning.

So we'll try and end with a smile tonight, not to mention good wine. Harvest time at the Tara Bella winery in Sonoma Valley. A consuming passion and a successful second life -- second career for Tara and Rich Minnick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh it looks like a great harvest this year. Beautiful fruit. Great summer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good crop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's going to be good wine.

RICH MINNICK, TARA BELLA WINERY & VINEYARDS: My main occupation most of my life has been in the auto body trade. So this is kind of a second career. When I moved here to California I had a winery right across the street from me so I was able to help them. Learned about it. And it just kind of draws you in. Did you try one in the shade over here? The seeds are dark, too. They look good. Look like they're mature. I think we're ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

R. MINNICK: Close the slot. Let's see (UNINTELLIGIBLE) what we have here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 24.6.

R. MINNICK: That's what I come up with, too. That's great. That means we can pick tomorrow.

OK, if you guys want to come over. We'll take a look and show you what we want to do. What we want you to pick and what we don't want you to pick. This is what we're after. What is down here on the lower part.

And the way I pick them -- and you can figure out for yourself how you want to do it. I usually grab the bunch -- the lower part of the bunch and I'll pull it towards me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't lose any of them in there. Because each one of these is like a glass of wine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My favorite part -- how you doing, girls?

R. MINNICK: All right. I want to go up and see if this bin's full and then I'll get my tractor going here if it is. And we'll come down. We'll get serious with it.

Our production will be around 500 cases per year. We like keeping it small because we can control.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the employees. That's it.

R. MINNICK: Yes, we are the employees.

2:00 in the morning when you're out here, if the moon's out kind of fun.

Getting better?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's getting better and better.

He's making the wine the way it should be made. You know he's kind of -- it's an old fashion method. It's hands on. He makes great wine. It proves in the amount of metals that he's shown, how people have appreciated.

TARA MINNICK, TARA BELLA WINERY & VINEYARD: We released the '99 Napa in February, I believe, of this year. And we want won a double gold at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

R. MINNICK: So this has helped us market our wine, by winning these medals. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) He's been working a lot of years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right off the press. That is good.

R. MINNICK: Fruity and woody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is good.

R. MINNICK: I'm living my passion. This has to be your passion or you wouldn't want to do it. So this is it. This is the whole process. It's the circle. It's planting the grape, growing the vineyard, crushing the fruit, making the wine, aging the wine. Putting it down on a table someplace with your label on it -- Tara Bella. Yes, this is the passion. It grabs you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well it's dinner time in L.A. Good to have you with us tonight. We're back here -- literally here -- in L.A. tomorrow night one more time. We'll hope you join us 10:00 Eastern time, 7 Pacific. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

Night's Shooting to Sniper; House Votes in Favor of Resolution>