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State Trooper Killed in Standoff; Investigators Exploring Link Between Virginia Tech Killer and Victims; Rosie O'Donnell to Leave "The View"; John McCain Official Announces Candidacy for President

Aired April 25, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CO-HOST: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Kyra Phillips.

A town turned upside down, a family killed. We'll look at the aftermath of deadly storms in Texas and see where the weather is headed next.

LEMON: And behind closed doors in the showdown over Iraq war funding, America's top general is called to Capitol Hill. Will he make the president's case?

MALVEAUX: And calling it quits. Why is Rosie O'Donnell walking away from her successful daily "View" at ABC?

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And we start this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM with a developing story out of New York. Two state troopers shot. And CNN has just learned that one of those troopers is dead after a standoff with the suspect.

Let's get the very latest now from Capitol News 9 reporter Ken Jubie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN JUBIE, CAPITOL NEWS 9 REPORTER: We do know one state trooper was air lifted here. And we know one state trooper is dead at this point as a result of being shot in that manhunt.

Right now -- right now we are waiting to get as much information as we can possibly gather. Police and rescue crews have been shuffling through the -- the emergency room here at Albany Medical Center throughout the morning, trying to get a handle on what's happening and trying to get things under control.

Also the Schenectady police chief and Albany police chief are on here -- on hand here, offering their support and condolences and trying to support their brothers in the state police.

But right now, we don't know much more than two troopers have been shot. One is dead as a result of those injuries. And the people we've spoken to that are kind of here standing around, watching and waiting to see what's happened and also passers-by offering their support and condolences to this tragic situation.

And of course, Tammy, once we get information, as we tried to get that from the state police and also here from folks here at Albany Medical Center, we will pass that information along, but right now we're trying to gather what we can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And that was reporter Ken Jubie from one of our CNN affiliates.

And just to get all of this straight for you, two New York state troopers shot during a manhunt for a man suspected of shooting another officer. And CNN has confirmed that one of those troopers has died. You saw the reporter there at the hospital, saying that police officers were combing the emergency room and combing other areas, looking for this man.

So the wounded troopers were flown to a hospital in Albany. And the source tells us, again, according to CNN, one of those troopers has died.

We're going to have much more on this in the CNN NEWSROOM. This is all happening in Margaretville, New York. Details to come -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And dollars without deadlines, that is what the top U.S. commander in Iraq is fighting for on Capitol Hill. General David Petraeus is on a mission to persuade war-weary lawmakers to continue paying for the war without setting timetables for U.S. troops to pull out.

But the House may be just hours away from passing a funding bill that calls for troops to start leaving Iraq by October at the latest.

For now, more U.S. forces are heading in the other direction. Here's what the chief military spokesman in Baghdad told our Wolf Blitzer earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Once all the reinforcing elements are here, which will be in early June. Clearly, as General Petraeus has said, sometime in late August and early September, he plans to come back and talk to the political leadership in Washington and give them his honest assessment as to what's possible here in Iraq.

And for us in the military side of the house, if in fact we're able to bring the levels of violence down, if we're able to help better equip and train Iraqi security forces to take on more of the responsibilities, then we're going to, in fact, find that we're setting the conditions to allow that political process to take place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And we'll have much more on the war-funding fight this afternoon. We'll take you live to Capitol Hill and the Pentagon right here in the NEWSROOM and later in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

LEMON: Twisted metal, collapsed buildings, shattered dreams. A tornado ripped through the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas. It happened overnight.

It killed at least seven people. Five were from one family, whose mobile home was picked up and slammed right into a nearby school.

And across the Mexican border in Piedras Negras, more deaths, more destruction. Three people were killed by the same storm. Almost 90 others were hurt by that; 300 homes were damaged in all of this.

And more stormy times are in the forecast today. Folks from Houston all the way to St. Louis are bracing for everything from downpours to even possible tornadoes. And of course, that means this warrants checking in with CNN's Jacqui Jeras for the very latest on this very dangerous weather -- Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Jacqui. We'll be checking back with you throughout the afternoon here. Thanks so much.

MALVEAUX: And for nine days, police in Virginia have agonized over this question: did Seung-Hui Cho single out his victims at Virginia Tech, or did he aim and fire at random? Investigators will hold a news conference later this hour.

Our Jeanne Meserve is standing by in Blacksburg.

Jeanne, what do we expect from the news conference?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, it's hard to imagine that there would ever truly be an explanation of what happened here at Virginia Tech. But we have been told we can expect some new information, particularly about the movements of the gunman in the days and weeks prior to the shootings here that killed 32 people.

That said, however, even when this briefing is done, there are likely to be some outstanding questions. We talked to a state police official last night who told us that they still at that point had not determined if there was some sort of event which set Cho's plan into motion.

They also had not been able to establish a link between Cho and two earlier bomb threats here on campus. There had been speculation that those might have been linked, because those threats were made against buildings in the engineering school, very near to Norris Hall, and investigators thought that perhaps Cho was testing the emergency response system of the university. But as I say, according to the state police official, as of last night, no link established there.

Also, no link as yet established, this state police official said, between Cho and any of his victims, including the first victim, Emily Hilscher. Now of course, the investigation is still very much ongoing. They are still going through phone records, computer records, looking for those links or any other clues that might help with this investigation.

Also, they are still looking for evidence. Just yesterday, there was a search here in what's called the duck pond area of this campus. Though, of course, the police would not tell us exactly what they were looking for or whether they found it.

But this briefing scheduled to get under way in about a half an hour.

Suzanne, back to you.

MALVEAUX: Jeanne, thank you so much. Obviously, a lot of details, a lot of curiosity.

Coming up at the bottom of the hour, that live news conference from state and campus police at Virginia Tech. We will go live to Blacksburg when it begins, about 1:30 Eastern. A lot of unanswered questions.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely.

For the past couple of days now, Suzanne, there's been talk about the Dow hitting 13,000, hitting a new milestone. Well, guess what? It happened today, and Susan Lisovicz is live at the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, watching to see if the rally holds.

Hi -- I'm looking over here.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

LEMON: This camera -- this camera -- and it did. You're on the floor, obviously, a very momentous occasion.

(STOCK REPORT)

LEMON: All right. Thank you so much for that.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

MALVEAUX: And, of course, it is Ro's time to go. The ever controversial Rosie O'Donnell announced this morning that she will not be back for next season of ABC's "The View."

CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson joining us with more from New York.

Brooke, I haven't kept up with this, but I know the rumors have been flying for months now. Was this a surprise? BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To some, it was. But there have been rumblings that Rosie would be leaving at the end of her one- year contract, and the year has really flown by. She's packed enough controversy in there for five or six years. But I feel like she just joined the show.

But she did confirm today that she is leaving at the end of her contract when it expires in June. And she really downplayed the news, Suzanne. She just acted like, hey, it's not a big deal. She said that she and ABC just couldn't come to terms on a new contract. They wanted three years; she only wanted to commit for one year.

She said, "Hey, it's not sad. I'm going to be coming back to guest host the show and maybe work with some specials, including a special on autism."

And right now, I'm joined by three of the audience members who were in there for the show, Joanie, Dorothy, and Caitlin (ph).

Good to see all of you ladies. Thanks for sticking around. Were you shocked when you heard the news?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was a little surprised, although we did hear beforehand that there was a big announcement. I wasn't thinking it was that Rosie was leaving the show.

ANDERSON: What did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kind of had a feeling that she -- that something was up. Because you were able to go onto the web site and actually get tickets, which you hadn't been able to for the past year. So I thought possibly maybe she was leaving and now tickets are available.

ANDERSON: What was the atmosphere like in there, especially when she made her announcement and after that, during commercial breaks? What were people saying? And how was Rosie acting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The atmosphere was very calm. It wasn't as exciting as people would expect. It wasn't a shock to most people. We had definitely heard on the line earlier that she might have been leaving.

It was a little bit sad. She did come talk to the audience and, you know, and explain to us that she'd like to stay, and she will be back a lot as a guest host. Unfortunately, she can't be all the time, but she will be back. And she did, you know, try to comfort the audience that she's not gone forever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elisabeth mentioned that she was in denial. So...

ANDERSON: Yes, Elisabeth said, you know, she's in denial. She doesn't believe it quite yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Barbara made sure that she mentioned that she didn't have anything to do with the negotiations.

ANDERSON: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that she was going miss Rosie a lot.

ANDERSON: You know what? I'm just going to give the mic to you. You took the words right out of my mouth right there.

Joanie, Dorothy and Caitlin (ph), thank you all so much.

But yes, Barbara said she had nothing to do with the process. But, Suzanne, I do want to mention that, with Rosie's arrival, since her arrival, the ratings for "The View" have increased dramatically...

MALVEAUX: Sure.

ANDERSON: ... by about 500,000 viewers.

MALVEAUX: Wow.

ANDERSON: So, you know, I can't imagine that ABC wanted her to go.

MALVEAUX: And do we have any idea what she's doing next? Any hint at all? Speculation, even?

ANDERSON: Well, there's been a lot of speculation that maybe she'll have another solo syndication talk show. You know, she had the "Rosie O'Donnell" beginning in 1996 for six years. It did extremely well, won numerous Emmies. But no confirmation on that.

She has made it clear in the past that she wanted to be the new host of "The Price is Right". But an audience member told me that during a commercial break, Rosie said, unfortunately, that's not going to happen. She won't be able to be the new Bob Barker.

Rosie said that she had big plans for that, though. Instead of Barker's beauties, she wanted the hunks to walk around and help her out with the show. But that's -- that's not going to be in the works.

MALVEAUX: OK. Well, keep us -- keep us posted.

ANDERSON: I will.

LEMON: All right, Brooke Anderson. Thanks so much.

The Republican race for the White House. One of the top contenders, well, he makes it official right here today. You heard it on CNN. You'll hear him in the CNN NEWSROOM.

MALVEAUX: And coming up at the bottom of the hour, that live news conference from state and campus police at Virginia Tech. We'll go live to Blacksburg when it begins about 1:30 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: New video in from Los Angeles at the courtroom. And behind that man -- there you go -- is music producer Phil Spector, of course, on trial for murder.

Opening arguments -- opening statements, rather, supposed to get under way sometime today for this trial. There's Phil Spector going into court just a short while ago. He is on trial, again, for murder. A young woman in his home found dead at Hill Castle home near Los Angeles.

So that is him arriving in court.

The controversy here a little bit: all male jury. And so that's been a little bit of controversy in this case. But opening statements expected to happen today in the Spector trial. And that's him arriving at the court.

And this is live pictures inside the courtroom. And you can see it there, if you look at the right behind, in between these two gentlemen. That's his head back there usually. It's the truth -- we all know it here. We would have been able to pick him out of the crowd because of his, you know, wild hair cut. But now he is somewhat subdued. And that's live pictures inside the courtroom.

Anything happens in that trial makes news, we're going to bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Very interesting case.

It is 1:17, and here are three of the stories we are working on here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Devastation on the border. A tornado takes aim at Southwest Texas, killing seven people there and three others in Mexico. More storms are in the forecast today.

A new mission for the top U.S. commander in Iraq. He is on Capitol Hill fighting for a war funding bill without a troop withdrawal deadline. House Democrats plan to pass a bill today with a deadline.

And Russians pay final respects to their country's first democratically elected president. Boris Yeltsin received an elaborate funeral at a Moscow cathedral with former U.S. presidents Clinton and Bush in attendance.

LEMON: Well, he's been running for months, so it's not technically news that John McCain is a candidate in 2008. But it wasn't technically official until today. As you may have seen live here, right here on CNN, the Republican senator made his formal announcement last hour, stressing his experience honed in war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We all know that the war in Iraq is not going well. We've made mistakes, and we've paid grievously for them. We've changed the strategy that failed us, and we've begun to make a little progress.

But in the many mistakes we've made in this war, a few lessons have become clear: America should never undertake a war unless we're prepared to do everything to succeed, unless we have a realistic and comprehensive plan for success, and unless all relevant agencies of government are committed to that success.

We did not -- we did not meet this responsibility initially, and we must never repeat that mistake again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, McCain won the New Hampshire Republican primary seven years ago but lost the nomination to George W. Bush.

Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, joins me now from Washington.

And Bill, you -- I heard, I think it was the Doobie Brothers, "Taking It to the Street". Must be his theme song there.

Is this a different McCain from the one who ran in 2000? And by the way, I mean, so many people have announced and haven't. It's hard to keep up, isn't it?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is hard to keep up. I think we have ten Republicans, seven Democrats, and the field could grow even more.

LEMON: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, it is a different McCain. In 2000, he ran very much as a maverick, an independent-minded candidate who -- who crossed his party on a lot of issues, who did not follow the party line. Remember the Straight Talk Express. And voters admired that a great deal.

Now he's running more nearly as a straight conservative Republican. He's made peace with George Bush. He's getting a lot of support from Bush contributors in the past. And he really is becoming more the establishment candidate of the Republican Party.

But you know what? Establishment candidates usually win. He -- when he ran as a maverick, he lost to George Bush.

LEMON: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: The problem he's facing now is, as the Republican strategists put it on our air last week, Americans don't want a third term for George Bush. And if that's what they see John McCain is offering, they're not going to buy it.

LEMON: OK. OK, Bill. I think know at least the numbers part of this next question. But how's he doing in the polls? And just because he's behind someone else, does that necessarily mean he's doing poorly? SCHNEIDER: Not necessarily. In the national polls -- which what do they mean? There's no national primary -- he is running second, 19 percent. He's been slipping since January. You see Rudy Giuliani is the frontrunner at 32 percent.

But there is no national primary. The primaries, the early ones, take place in several small states: New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina. And in those states, the polling shows McCain and Giuliani very close, usually just about an even match between the two of them.

So he has a pretty strong case in those early primary states, particularly in New Hampshire, where he's -- our polls showed him tied with Giuliani. And it's a state he really has to win because he won it last time.

LEMON: Yes, and you said Americans don't want a third term of the Bush administration, for George W. Bush, at least. What's his biggest problem? And some might say maybe his mouth, but what do you think his biggest problem is?

SCHNEIDER: That would be rude. The biggest problem is his embrace of Bush's policy, the true buildup policy on the Iraq war. That's a huge issue. And he's become a big defender of that policy.

Even though, as we just heard, he was a fierce critic of the way the Bush administration handled the war in the first place. He said it was not done very well. They made a lot of mistakes.

But now he says the administration is following the strategy of a troop buildup that he recommended from the start. And he argues we have to give this policy a chance.

So he's really wrapped himself around President Bush's war policy, and that's creating a ferocious backlash against him, not just from Democrats and independents but also from some Republicans who say, "We don't want to run a candidate whose big issue is the war in Iraq."

LEMON: Yes. So he is -- he's been a strong candidate, Republican, prisoner of war. Then why is he having problems with conservatives?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, conservatives, a lot of them say they don't trust him. Now, do they trust Rudy Giuliani, who's more liberal than McCain on a lot of issues, or Mitt Romney, who's changed his position?

I went to the Conservative Political Action Conference and asked them, and the view that they gave to me was that McCain picks fights with them on a lot of issues. Whereas, even though they don't agree with Giuliani or Romney, they don't pick fights with conservatives.

And there's one other issue: the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill. A lot of conservatives oppose that. They believe it limits conservative groups from making issue ads close to an election date. And a lot of them, that sticks in their craw, and they still resent McCain for having sponsored that finance reform.

LEMON: Senior political analyst here at CNN, Bill Schneider. Thank you so much for that.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

MALVEAUX: And coming up at the bottom of the hour, that live news conference from state and campus police at Virginia Tech. We are going to go live to Blacksburg when it begins about 1:30 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's the most closely watched stock index in the world, and we are certainly watching today, of course. We are talking about the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us about Dow 13,000.

You teased us all day yesterday. It finally happened, Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Susan Lisovicz, with the very latest.

LEMON: And coming up at the bottom of the hour, that live news conference that we told you about from state and campus police at Virginia Tech. And we'll go live to Blacksburg when it begins at 1:30 Eastern.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: It's the bottom of the hour. We're following a developing story in the CNN NEWSROOM. This is from Margaretville, New York. One state trooper and CNN has confirmed this, has been killed in the hunt for a man suspected of shooting at least two other troopers. That's according to a spokesman for the governor of New York. Now here's what happened. The trooper was the second killed during a man hunt since September here. But state police say that they were searching for someone. It was during a traffic stop and the altercation then escalated and the guy shot at least two other troopers. They were then flown to a hospital in Albany and one of those troopers has died.

And just moments ago, this is also just coming in from the governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer. He says New York state police and the state of New York suffered a tremendous loss and he goes on to say while everything possible is being done to address the needs of families and to deal with the situation in the field in Delaware County, I ask all New Yorkers to keep the state police in their thoughts and prayers during the harrowing time. So, again, a New York state trooper has been killed. Several others shot. They're in the hospital at this hour and we'll continue to update you on this developing story right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Tough story. Nine-day- old wild fires have now blackened 67 square miles of southeast Georgia. Overnight, dozens more people were forced to leave their homes at least for a while and a 35-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 1 was off limits. Evacuation orders are still in effect for more than 1,000 people ordered to leave last week. Thick smoke hangs over the town of Waycross, population, 15,000. But officials see no immediate danger.

Severe weather in Texas causing damage and destruction across the region. Our Jacqui Jeras knows where all of the dangerous weather is now. Jacqui, what looks like it is the most risky area for folks at this hour?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pushing in towards the Beaumont- Port Arthur area right now, east of the Houston metro. No tornado warnings but some very heavy downpours. In fact Doppler radar estimating between one and 1.5 inches of rain per hour with these strong thunderstorms as they push on through. These isolated cells could possibly start rotating. If that happens, of course, we'll let you know. Of course, the big story in Texas yesterday was the Eagle Pass tornado that started in northern Mexico, moved over the Rio. And our I-reporters are now coming in with some incredible pictures. Ray Ruiz did send us this one I-report picture. We've got more to process and this is of the mobile home that was blown into the elementary school and it's just even difficult guys to pick anything out of this mess, so much devastation there. We'll have more coming up.

LEMON: We're going have to go to Virginia Tech, Blacksburg now, a live press conference happening on the campus. Take a listen.

COL. STEVEN FLAHERTY, SUPT, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: ...heard me say in these press conferences before that this has really in truly been a cooperative effort among law enforcement in our criminal justice partners here in Virginia. People that are with me here today -- really represent that partnership and I'd like to take an opportunity to introduce those that were here. Beginning over on my far left is Rob Waltney (ph). He's the assistant special agent in charge of the Richmond office of the FBI. Next to Rob is Kevin Fous (ph). He's the supervisory senior resident agent for the FBI in Roanoke. Immediately to my left is Phil Durham, assistant special agent in charge of the Washington office of ATF. Over to my far right is chief deputy Bill Tally (ph) from the Montgomery County sheriff's department. Next to Bill is chief Ken Cranis (ph) from the Blacksburg police department and next to him is the Honorable John Brownley, the U.S. attorney for the western district of Virginia and chief Wendell Flinchum from Virginia Tech police department.

These folks, for the most part, personally have been very intimately involved in this investigation. It's been an extremely long hours in assisting us, either here, in Blacksburg, or at their -- their offices handling the work that has been passed along since April 16. And -- and as sincerely as I can, I want to publicly thank these folks and their staffs because it's been a world of help and what a tremendous amount of work that's been done in just 10 days. I think what we all have to consider as a fact that we've only been working on this case for 10 days and the amount of work that's been done. I also want to take the time to say thank you to the community here, the Virginia Tech community, the Blacksburg community. We've gotten tremendous support from -- from the people here. Businesses have just been coming in in droves and supporting us in many, many different ways. And we can't thank you enough. The students bringing in baked goods for the troopers in the offices of the agencies and the investigators they're working. You'll never know just how much it means to all of us for the students walk up and say thank you for being here, thank you for what you've done. And it -- it certainly, certainly means a great deal to all of us. And we thank you. This is a very, very resilient community here in Virginia Tech and we thank you for that.

The purpose of our getting together today is really to give you an update on where we are with the investigation. We truly want to tell you everything that we can. But understand that we only are able to tell you things that we're certain of, or at least that we can draw some well-supported conclusion to -- based on what our best evidence was at the time. When you leave us, there will still be unanswered questions. Some will be unanswered because we don't have an answer. Some because we can't answer you or don't feel comfortable because of the effect that it may have on the investigation itself. The way that we will administer this conference is chief Flinchum will talk to you about the beginning stages of the event and walk you through the Norris Hall event and then I will talk a bit about the investigation itself and point out some things that we've learned since our last meeting and bring you up to speed on that. And then we'll have the opportunity for questions and answers. With that being said, I'll turn it over to chief Flinchum.

CHIEF WENDELL FLINCHUM, VIRGINIA TECH POLICE: Thank you, Steve. On behalf of the entire Virginia Tech police department, I extend my most sincere sympathies to the victims and their families. Words cannot express the sorrow and emotion that we feel as a result of the tragedy that enveloped our campus last week. The perseverance and strength of the families, victims, and community throughout this difficult time have been an inspiration to everyone. And this includes those men and women at my department and those other law enforcement personnel working on this investigation. I want to publicly recognize and commend the men and women of my department and the officers from other agencies who responded to this tragedy and for their valiant efforts that day. Virginia Tech police and the university are committed to seeing our university community recover and thrive as we move forward. We will all keep the students, staff, and faculty that were injured and killed in this tragedy in our thoughts and prayers forever.

Now I'd like to get into some of the details of the investigation. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. on April 16, 2007, residents from West Ambler Johnston hall heard noise coming from the room of Kimberly Hilscher (ph). A resident in the dormitory goes to find the resident advisor about the commotion within Ms. Hilscher's room. By 7:20 a.m., a rescue calls come into the university police administrative phone line reporting someone falling out of a loft or a bed. Within two minutes, an officer at the dormitory and making his way up to the fourth floor. Upon arrival, the officer discovered Ms. Hilscher and Mr. Ron Clark (ph) in the dorm room. Both had been shot. Virginia Tech police immediately began investigating.

To assist with the crime scene, interviewing potential witnesses and security of the residence hall, we immediately notified Blacksburg police and requested their assistance. The fourth floor was secured and officers were canvassing the building for clues and potential witnesses. Shortly into the investigation, a potential suspect is developed. It is believed that this individual is no longer on campus and we begin the process of locating this person. We put out a BOL or a be on the lookout to area law enforcement for this person's vehicle.

This vehicle is spotted off campus and stopped. Officers begin questioning this individual to see if he can provide any insight to what had just taken place at the residence hall involving Ms. Hilscher and Mr. Clark. Meanwhile, more law enforcement resources from local and state agencies are arriving on scene to assist with the residence hall investigation. During the process of interviewing the young man, a 911 call reporting gunshots being heard in Norris Hall is received by police at 9:42 a.m. Officers respond immediately to Norris Hall and attempt to enter the building. However, the doors have been chained from within. Virginia Tech and Blacksburg officers breached the doors and move inside by shooting the lock. As they move through the building, they can hear shots being fired from the floor above them. They hear the last gunshot as they are going up the stairwell to the second floor.

Cho's shooting rampage inside Norris Hall lasted approximately nine minutes. It took the officers about three minutes to arrive in the area of Norris Hall from the first 911 call. Five minutes later, the other team officers had reached the doors, breached the chains, and made it to the second floor. As the teams are making entry, Chief Cranis (ph) and I were at another entrance with bolt cutters that were brought to Norris Hall to break the chains holding the doors closed. Our concern at this point is stopping the gunman and saving lives. By this time, we had local and state law enforcement responding from all over the area as they heard the dispatch calls over the radios.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the incredible acts of heroism by these first few officers on scene and the students, faculty, and staff inside Norris Hall. You've already heard Colonel Flaherty and I describe this as the most horrific scene we've ever encountered in our collective years of public safety. You can only imagine what this officers came up on when they got to the second floor. There were more than 50 students, staff and faculty injured or killed. The two tactical team medics on the entry team immediately staged and began triaging the injured. There's no telling how many lives these two men from Virginia Tech and Blacksburg police department saved that morning.

As the victims were being recovered and rescued, these two medics were searching for victims, treating wounds, extracting victims, rendering first aid, and guiding the officers on the scene. In addition, the initial officers responded to those slipping into shock and were able to keep them focused and calm through conversation and first aid. Officers were able to determine that faculty, staff, and students had blocked classroom doors using furniture and in some instances, their own bodies to prevent Cho from entering the classrooms. These individuals and their courageous actions make them true heroes. The officers' rapid coordinated efforts were remarkable and again, saved the lives of the students and faculty traumatized by these horrors they have just endured. The gunman was found by officers in a classroom among his victims. A nine millimeter handgun and a .22 caliber handgun were found near his body. At this stage of the investigation, officers have determined that Cho fired more than 170 rounds within Norris Hall. At this time, there's also no evidence to link Cho to the bomb threats made on the campus in the weeks prior to the April 16 shootings. As the state police and the lead agency in the Norris Hall shootings, I would like to now turn it over to Colonel Flaherty.

FLAHERTY: Thank you, Wendell. Based on an incredible amount of evidence that we collected from both scenes, the first crime scene as well as the second and from witnesses that have been interviewed and search warrants -- search warrants that have been executed by local, state, and Federal officers have been involved in this particular case, we feel like we're able to share with you what we've learned about some of the steps that Cho took in preparation for this tragic event on April 16.

We have determined that Cho purchased the.22 caliber handgun through a Blacksburg gun dealer from a supplier in Wisconsin in early February. He then purchased a nine millimeter handgun from a Roanoke gun dealer in mid March. All indications are, from the evidence we've collected to this point, that he practiced at a couple of different local firing ranges since he purchased the firearm. We're not going to specifically identify those particular ranges because we're still investigating leads at this particular point in time. We know that Cho was familiar with Norris Hall because he had had classes there. He took steps at Norris Hall, as you heard described a little bit, to prevent anyone from escaping and also to make it more difficult for police to enter the building and stop it.

From inside, he chained shut each of the building's public entrances -- three public entrances. There's been much speculation about where he purchased the chain, where he purchased the locks and where he purchased his ammunition. The investigators have determined where -- what businesses he purchased each of these items from, but in fairness to those businesses, we're not going to share with you specifically where these purchases were made. At this point in time in the investigation, there is no link in our evidence to this particular point in time that links Cho to his first victims, either of his first victims. We're still continuing to pursue leads, look at evidence, and pursue this particular issue.

Witnesses do place Cho outside of West Ambler Johnston hall just prior to 7:00 on Monday morning near one of the entrances. Evidence also indicates that he returned to his residence hall sometime after the first shooting. The videos mailed to NBC later that same morning, we know now were made prior to April 16 and not during the period of time between the first shooting incident and the second shooting incident. Ballistics tests that were conducted by the ATF lab in Maryland confirm for us that the 9 millimeter handgun that was used in Norris Hall was also used in the first shooting event. Before we get started with questions and answers, there are just a few things I want to say if I may. First of all, this is an investigative press briefing. It's just that -- it's our report of the progress on the investigation itself that we've made to this particular point. It's covering those two fatal events in -- in the work that's been done in the last 10 days on -- here on the campus. Neither the chief nor I are in a position to, nor will we discuss the mental health issues that have been raised. We're not going to discuss state or Federal laws relating the fire arms transaction, because, quite frankly, I think those issues are -- are beyond the scope of law enforcement's involvement in this particular case.

I also want to stress to you, as you report these events and you think about these events, that you please recognize them for what they are. It's a progression in the series of tragic events. We can't start at the end and look back. I think to really get a feel for the challenges that law enforcement had on April 16, you need to begin at the beginning with the first crime and follow it forward just as law enforcement did, just as those dreadful events unfolded. I think we provided you a fairly comprehensive review of what took place and we tried to present it to you in the order in which it took place so that you would get a little bit of a better understanding of how that progression moved along and understand how the events affect the decisions that law enforcement and the investigators had to make at that particular point in time. These are the very decisions that, as Chief Flinchum and the university, state police and the commission that Governor Kaine has appointed as we do all of our after-action reviews, these are the types of things that we'll all be looking at. So, I certainly appreciate your consideration as we go through the question and answer period. And I open the floor for questions. Yes, sir.

QUESTIONS: Thank. Are either you or chief Flinchum (INAUDIBLE) when you say no links to the first -- it's a two-part question. When you say no links to either of the victims, do you literally have no idea why he chose either West A.J. or Norris Hall? That's question one. Question two is --

FLAHERTY: Let me answer question one, first, if I may. At this particular point in time -- now keep in mind, we've collected just in the Norris Hall investigation, we have collected over 500 evidence samples -- now, those evidence samples include multiple items. It's not just 500 little pieces. There's been, I think a fair guess, hundreds of interviews that have taken place. So we're following those trails. We continually review and re-review and follow pieces of evidence. So we're only 10 days into this. So the answer -- the short answer is, yes, we don't have any information to connect the two. But we're following a number of leads. We're talking to people. And we very well may be able to make that link if there is one.

QUESTION: .. question is -- what can you tell us if anything more about the behavior of a residential advisor (INAUDIBLE) try to save Ms. Hilscher? That's what I'm asking.

FLAHERTY: I don't know if you want to answer that?

FLINCHUM: We believe that he probably heard the same commotion that the residents reported and went to assist as he could.

QUESTION: Why did you search the duck pond and what did you find?

FLAHERTY: Why did we search --

QUESTION: ... the duck pond? Yesterday? And did you find anything there?

FLAHERTY: I don't think we searched the duck pond yesterday. There was an area search that was going on and you're going to see these types of things. They're rather routine. I would suggest maybe not reading too much into it. I -- I don't have anything to report about what may have been found.

QUESTION: Colonel or chief -- could you tell us please when Cho was observed outside of WAJ shortly before 7:00 a.m., what was he doing? Did he say, did he ask anything? Did he do anything in WAJ that you know of prior to going to Miss Hilscher's room?

FLINCHUM: He was observed outside of West Ambler Johnston. It just appeared that he was waiting.

QUESTION: Just standing there?

FLINCHUM: Yes.

QUESTION: Doing anything?

FLINCHUM: Standing there is an accurate way to describe it.

QUESTION: Did he say anything or do anything?

FLINCHUM: I was going get to that part of your question. Outside of the room -- outside of the building, again, the information is he was just waiting or just standing there. As far as his actions inside the building, that part is still -- we're still trying to figure out what he did or did not do inside the building. That's part of the investigation.

QUESTION: Have any witnesses who have him doing anything inside WAJ before the shooting in Ms. Hilscher's room?

FLINCHUM: At this particular time, we do not.

QUESTION: Chief Flinchum, Colonel Flaherty, you both reviewed the massive packets that were sent to NBC. Were you able to divine any kind of motive in all of the rambling and the tirade?

FLAHERTY: No, at this particular point in time, we don't have a motive. You know, as part and parcel of the investigative process and the investigative team for Norris Hall sits down in the morning before they start and again in the afternoon and kind of reviews what's taken place, because as you can imagine, you have investigators that are going off different ways following different leads. And they sat down and they talk about what they've -- what they've learned. But at this point in time, we really -- QUESTION: Do you understand why he chose April 16?

FLAHERTY: Do not, do not. We've -- we talk about possible motives and theories and whatnot, but we don't have any evidence to support anything at this particular point in time.

QUESTION: Possible motives?

FLAHERTY: I'd rather not. It's really just a brainstorming session and I imagine many of you have sat down over the last few days and done just the same thing.

QUESTION: How much if any of those e-mails and photographs have you been able to go over at this point?

FLAHERTY: I don't think I can even estimate how many may have been gone over. Quite a bit of material has been gone over. Quite a bit of it will be gone over again. I really don't have a feel for precisely how much.

LEMON: Virginia Tech campus police and also the state police updating the situation as far as how their investigation is going there, saying Norris Hall it took nine minutes for Seung-Hui Cho to do all the damage that he did, take all the lives that he did. And very interesting -- they said they've also figured out that the videos that were mailed to NBC news were made before the shootings. It happened previous -- prior to that and then he mailed them the day of the shooting. Any details to come out of that press conference will bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: And also Don, of course another story that we're following. A New York State trooper was killed in a man hunt looking for a gunman suspected of shooting two other state troopers. This in Margaretville, New York. That suspect is still on the loose, identified as 22-year-old Travis Trim. We'll have a live update after the break.

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