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Breaking News

Four Killed in University of Arizona Shooting

Aired October 09, 2002 - 14:08   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.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ACHOR: We're going to go now to the University of Arizona. More on the shooting there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would be pleased to respond.

QUESTION: ...with victims at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not prepared to discuss the victims and, therefore, will prefer not to answer that question.

QUESTION: With that said, what can you say to the parents of the students who are here from other parts of the country? What can you tell them about the current situation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can offer some reassurance that this is an isolated event. It's a tragedy for those immediately involved, but once in a very great while in university life, we have this kind of experience.

Painful as it is, it is part of life, whether that life is described on a university campus or elsewhere in society. There is no reason to assume from this tragic experience that there is any generalized risk to other students, faculty or staff to the university -- Lupita.

QUESTION: Describe the tragic, tragic incident that happened this morning here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just terribly, terribly painful. There are no words to describe the pain, because it's personal. This is not an abstraction for us. These are our colleagues who have lost their lives. And there just is no way to explain the feelings that the students in that classroom are struggling with right now.

We're going to do our very best as a responsible university, to provide, in a continuing way, the students who have been so traumatized -- and faculty and staff who have been so traumatized by this experience to have a chance to receive the counseling they need. We're trying to make sure that students understand how important it is that they talk to one another, that they not allow themselves to get isolated and deal with the internal fears that are always stimulated by a tragedy of this kind.

We have a social responsibility to make sure that members of the campus community come together in this moment of crisis. We have had a great support from the Tucson Police Department and the campus police department, both -- both groups were on the scene instantly. We are very gratified with the response of the authorities. But the authorities are going to take some time now sorting things out and making sure that everybody is cared for in a way that preserves safety first and then preserves feelings.

QUESTION: Doctor, we know the medical school is locked down right now and this whole complex. The rest of the school, is -- are they going to be having classes? Is there any extra security on campus? What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, classes continue on the south side of Speedway and elsewhere outside of that Arizona Health Sciences Center. It's a quite localized risk, actually. It's been very, very quickly contained.

QUESTION: Sir, the police chief mentioned that...

QUESTION: Do you have any idea about how many people were actually inside the building at the time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me? I didn't hear the question.

QUESTION: Will you tell me the general number of people that were inside that building at the time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't make an estimate, no.

QUESTION: How many students are there in the college of nursing, roughly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know the answer to that question either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll have that for you.

QUESTION: The police chief mentioned there may have been some previous explosive or bomb threats made by this suspect. The university may have been aware of that. Do you know anything about that and is this information the university perhaps had?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no knowledge of any prior threats. I do understand from the chief of police that they had some evidence that the individual who has perceived as the perpetrator here had some evidence of bomb materials in the car. .

SAVIDGE: That is a spokesman for the University of Arizona commenting on the shooting incident that took place on campus at the college of nursing a number of hours ago. Four people have died. Reportedly one of them is the shooter.

We understand, as you heard, the situation has been contained, but it is certainly tragic enough.

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






Aired October 9, 2002 - 14:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ACHOR: We're going to go now to the University of Arizona. More on the shooting there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would be pleased to respond.

QUESTION: ...with victims at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not prepared to discuss the victims and, therefore, will prefer not to answer that question.

QUESTION: With that said, what can you say to the parents of the students who are here from other parts of the country? What can you tell them about the current situation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can offer some reassurance that this is an isolated event. It's a tragedy for those immediately involved, but once in a very great while in university life, we have this kind of experience.

Painful as it is, it is part of life, whether that life is described on a university campus or elsewhere in society. There is no reason to assume from this tragic experience that there is any generalized risk to other students, faculty or staff to the university -- Lupita.

QUESTION: Describe the tragic, tragic incident that happened this morning here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just terribly, terribly painful. There are no words to describe the pain, because it's personal. This is not an abstraction for us. These are our colleagues who have lost their lives. And there just is no way to explain the feelings that the students in that classroom are struggling with right now.

We're going to do our very best as a responsible university, to provide, in a continuing way, the students who have been so traumatized -- and faculty and staff who have been so traumatized by this experience to have a chance to receive the counseling they need. We're trying to make sure that students understand how important it is that they talk to one another, that they not allow themselves to get isolated and deal with the internal fears that are always stimulated by a tragedy of this kind.

We have a social responsibility to make sure that members of the campus community come together in this moment of crisis. We have had a great support from the Tucson Police Department and the campus police department, both -- both groups were on the scene instantly. We are very gratified with the response of the authorities. But the authorities are going to take some time now sorting things out and making sure that everybody is cared for in a way that preserves safety first and then preserves feelings.

QUESTION: Doctor, we know the medical school is locked down right now and this whole complex. The rest of the school, is -- are they going to be having classes? Is there any extra security on campus? What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, classes continue on the south side of Speedway and elsewhere outside of that Arizona Health Sciences Center. It's a quite localized risk, actually. It's been very, very quickly contained.

QUESTION: Sir, the police chief mentioned that...

QUESTION: Do you have any idea about how many people were actually inside the building at the time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me? I didn't hear the question.

QUESTION: Will you tell me the general number of people that were inside that building at the time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't make an estimate, no.

QUESTION: How many students are there in the college of nursing, roughly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know the answer to that question either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll have that for you.

QUESTION: The police chief mentioned there may have been some previous explosive or bomb threats made by this suspect. The university may have been aware of that. Do you know anything about that and is this information the university perhaps had?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no knowledge of any prior threats. I do understand from the chief of police that they had some evidence that the individual who has perceived as the perpetrator here had some evidence of bomb materials in the car. .

SAVIDGE: That is a spokesman for the University of Arizona commenting on the shooting incident that took place on campus at the college of nursing a number of hours ago. Four people have died. Reportedly one of them is the shooter.

We understand, as you heard, the situation has been contained, but it is certainly tragic enough.

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