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NFL Player Sean Taylor Shot at Home; News Conference on 'Baby Grace'

Aired November 26, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You're with CNN.
I'm Heidi Collins.

Welcome to the NEWSROOM, everybody. Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on Monday, the 26th of November.

Breaking news on the rundown.

An NFL player shot at his home this morning. Reports say Redskins safety Sean Taylor is fighting for his life.

Galveston police set to update us on the "Baby Grace" investigation. We'll have live coverage in just a few minutes. Is Grace really Riley Ann Sawyers?

A dead child, a mom in prison. Now she's getting out and holding her hand out. Where's the alimony?

In the NEWSROOM.

We are following breaking news this morning out of Miami. An NFL player, a Washington Redskin, has been shot at his home.

T.J. Holmes is in the newsroom now and has the very latest -- T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the reports are that, in fact, Sean Taylor, the safety for the Washington Redskins, is in critical condition this morning. There he is. He is from the Miami area, played at the University of Miami where he was a standout. But according to affiliates and the reports from police, is that in fact there was a burglary attempt at his home where he was shot in the Miami area.

Yes, he lives in Miami, from Miami, went to school in Miami, but he does play for the Redskins now. We don't know much about the circumstances surrounding the situation at the home, but, in fact, he was shot around 2:00 a.m. He is at the hospital.

Not real clear about the condition he's in now. Some reports out there is that, in fact, he is in critical condition, also that he is fighting for his life. He lost a lot of blood after being shot in the leg.

However, the family has requested that no information be released by the hospital. So we're not really getting official word from the hospital right now about his condition. But Sean Taylor, there he is, pro bowl player in his fourth year, 24 years old. First round pick for the Washington Redskins back in 2004, now reportedly fighting for his life, in critical condition at the hospital there after being shot.

We are keeping an eye on this situation, trying to get as much official word as we can, Heidi. As we get it, we'll keep bringing it to you.

COLLINS: Wow. All right. T.J., thanks so much. We'll check back a little later on.

Meanwhile, continuing our coverage of this story, we have on the phone now with us Scott Linn. He is with SportsTalk 980 at WTEM. He hosts a Redskins tailgate show. Obviously follows them very closely, and knows quite a bit about Sean Taylor.

Scott, can you hear me?

SCOTTY LINN, SPORTSTALK 980 WTEM: Yes, of course, Heidi. How are you?

COLLINS: I'm all right.

Do you know any more about what possibly may have happened here?

LINN: You know what? Honestly, no.

We've been following it since about half past 9:00, maybe 10:00 Eastern this morning. The team was kind enough to release a statement saying that they're investigating, the police are investigating, and they're well aware. But other than that, information has been really, really hard to come by.

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, this is a guy who doesn't really talk to the media very much.

LINN: No, not at all. As a matter of fact, you know, he'll smile, he'll crack jokes. His teammates are and always have been quite supportive of him.

He's a guy who is an intimidating force on the field, Heidi. So he knows what he's doing out there. He's been in the league -- I think '04 was the rookie season. A very high draft pick, and he's a guy who, again, makes tons and tons of plays. A very hard-hitting individual.

COLLINS: Yes. That being said, I know he's been out. He didn't play yesterday against Tampa Bay, had an injury -- has an injury, correct?

LINN: Correct, yes. He got hurt in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles back on November 11th, has had a knee injury, and when we went down, as was evident on the football field, the Eagles took a little bit of advantage. And then subsequently the following week the Redskins played at the Dallas Cowboys and Terrell Owens had one of his biggest days as a Cowboy, going into the end zone on more than a couple occasions, as Redskin fans will love to soon forget.

COLLINS: Yes.

Scott, what more do you know about Sean Taylor? Anything about his background?

LINN: Background, his dad is a sheriff/police chief in -- I believe it was Florida City, Florida. I wanted to say Plant City, but I believe it's Florida City. He is a guy who has had a couple run-ins with -- you know, with the legal aspect, and, you know, has always felt he was unfortunately -- or unfairly portrayed this the media, and that probably has more to do with anything that his -- I don't want to call it a media boycott, but he's a guy who just doesn't really like to talk to the press.

COLLINS: What are the run-ins that he's had?

LINN: There was a DUI. That one went away. You k now, it sort of got YouTubed all around the beltway and people made a lot of it, but it went away.

There was also a run-in where Sean and some friends, I believe, went looking for some allegedly stolen ATVs that may have belonged to Mr. Taylor at the time, and that turned into an utter circus from Taylor's representation and how long the thing was dragged on and dragged out, and then that went away. I guess it was maybe last summer sometime.

COLLINS: OK.

Well, we certainly appreciate all of your help in this.

Trying to find out more about what may have happened at the home of Sean Taylor. Lives in Miami, but, of course, plays for the Washington Redskins.

So we appreciate that.

Scott Linn with SportsTalk 980 WTEM.

Appreciate it, Scott.

Meanwhile, a mystery apparently solved, but, of course, a tragedy no less painful. Police believe they have identified a dead toddler known as "Baby Grace."

CNN's Sean Callebs is in Spring, Texas, for us now this morning.

Hi there, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.

Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. We are standing in front of house 6811 here on Ann (ph) Street, and this apparently the last known address of the young girl that the country knows as "Baby Grace."

Galveston, Texas, authorities tell us her real name is 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers. You'll remember the child known as "Baby Grace" was found in a plastic container on a sandbar off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the end of October.

Now, a number of families had come forward wondering if indeed that child could have been a loved one missing from their family. But authorities have arrested a young couple that lived at this house, the biological mother of the child, Kimberly Trenor, as well as a man she met online earlier this year, then moved down from Ohio to be here with Royce Zeigler.

Both have been arrested. They are charged with injury to a child, as well as tampering with evidence.

We expect a news conference from Galveston Sheriff's Department coming up shortly. They are the investigating authority, as well as the FBI.

We know the FBI raided this house behind me last Friday. What they took, we simply don't know.

But it has been an agonizing time for the biological father of this young child who lives in Ohio. We know that that individual has given a DNA test, but it's still going to be some time before the DNA evidence has a chance to thoroughly be -- come through. It could take as long as two to three weeks.

We did have a chance to talk with some of the neighbors. If you look at these homes, you can see that they're basically all walled, and there's a gate that leads to every house.

Now, the neighbors tell us that this couple moved in about five months ago. And they said they were very quiet. They rarely ever saw them, almost never together, and they only saw the young girl for a very short period, the day that they moved in.

One neighbor said he went up and said, oh, what a pretty girl, and she was very cute hiding behind her mother in a very playful way. But after that they just simply didn't see the girl.

Well, the information we have, Kimberly Trenor allegedly says -- and this is the biological mother -- that Ohio child welfare authorities came here, Heidi, back in August and took the child. So that is what investigators are trying to determine, but the family up in Ohio says absolutely not. They haven't seen the child in months.

But the news out of here, "Baby Grace" apparently Riley Ann Sawyers. And we're waiting for that news conference coming up in Galveston -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And it looks like it's just about under way. We are looking at Ray Tuttoilmondo, who we have spoken with several times here on our air about this story. He is with the Galveston County Sheriff's Department.

In fact, let's go ahead and take a moment just to listen in.

MAJOR RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: I'd like to turn it over to Special Agent Bland for just a couple minutes. He wants to talk a little bit about the FBI's involvement in this case, and we'll talk a little more about what's led us to this point and where we're going from here.

ANDREW BLAND, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

BLAND: In order to keep things in perspective, I'd like to initially state that the FBI joins with our local law enforcement agency counterparts, as well as with the members of our communities, to lament and, quite frankly, grieve the passing of this beautiful young girl, particularly under such heinous and tragic circumstances. It is precisely this type of crime, it is this type of transgression that the FBI will continue to address in conjunction with our talented state, local and international partners to ensure that at the end of the day, all law enforcement capabilities at the federal, state and local level can be brought to bear to ensure that our families and our communities and our nation remains secure.

This is an opportunity to advise each and every one of you that, yes, the FBI will continue to address potential acts of terrorism. We'll continue to address foreign counterintelligence, and, yes, we will continue to address cyber crime. But know that we will also be committed and resolute in ensuring that we work together with talented agencies such as the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, again, to ensure that all of our capabilities are brought to bear in the most holistic and impactful way possible.

Any type of crime, whether it be this event involving a child of tender years, or that we're talking about white collar crime, gangs, drugs, mortgage fraud, human trafficking, the FBI will continue to be engaged with resources, with capabilities, to assist and work together with our state, local and international partners.

I'd like to take this opportunity sheriff -- the sheriff of the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, and as well as his staff, for the professional and effective way that they have conducted this investigation. I'd also like to thank members of the public who provided tips which had, bearing directly on this case, but also are germane to many other missing children cases that are in this area, as well as other parts of Texas.

We will continue to provide assistance as the sheriff and his staff requests, and we'll make sure that at the end of the day we can all cross the finish line together.

Thank you.

TUTTOILMONDO: Thank you.

It was a few weeks ago that I held up this little shoe and asked, who is "Baby Grace"? Who does this belong to? We're now fairly confident we know the answer to that.

Riley Ann Sawyers, hailed from Mentor, Ohio -- it's a small suburb or a small town in the Cleveland area -- and she and her mother came down to Texas earlier this year. Some tragic events led to our October 29th discovery of Riley's body in a box in -- on a small island in west Galveston Bay.

We have worked tirelessly since then, and it is very important to realize that we are going to continue to work tirelessly as we continue the investigation into what happened with Riley, as well as a number of other cases that have come up as a result of this investigation, as a result of the news media's help, as a result of the public.

COLLINS: Well, unfortunately, as you can see, we lost the signal there. But to reiterate what Major Tuttoilmondo was saying from the Galveston County Sheriff's Department, they are fairly confident that the identity of the little 2-year-old girl that was found on October 29th in Galveston Bay is that of Riley Ann Sawyers. "Fairly confident" was the wording that he used there.

Sean Callebs is on the scene for us now. Actually, that's not true. He's in the Houston area.

Sean, if you can hear me, not sure if you were able to hear that press conference, but when you hear them say "fairly confident," obviously a lot more questions to be asked in this case.

CALLEBS: Without question. I think that is the big question everybody wants to know right now, what evidence, what is it that led the Galveston Sheriff's Office and the FBI to say, yes, we know or we believe that "Baby Grace" is indeed 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers?

We know that authorities did take DNA samples from the biological father, and they were trying to -- we don't know if they were able to gain any samples from the biological mother, who is now under arrest. But it's going to take days, if not weeks, for the results from that DNA test to come through. But also, we know that apparently, according to relatives, the clothing that was found on the small child in the plastic container on August 29th, we know that that clothing also matched the little child.

Let's go back to the news conference though.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

QUESTION: I mean, people weren't a little more specific about the nature of those events and what led up to this?

TUTTOILMONDO: There are a number of those details that we are still working on as part of the investigation. A very good and very valid question. There are some of those things though that we have not yet completed as part of this investigation, so I really can't get into tremendous detail with that.

QUESTION: Do you have a motive?

TUTTOILMONDO: We don't know yet. We do not know yet. I can't discuss the content of any statements or anything of that nature.

QUESTION: Ray, how is it you are confident enough without the DNA to make the statement today?

TUTTOILMONDO: Based on the facts and information that are available to us at this point, and in discussing what we have to this point with the Galveston County district attorney, working in concert with the Harris County district attorney, we have -- that has brought us to this point in the investigation. Again, there is a whole lot more work to do.

QUESTION: And the specific DNA from this mother and from the biological father?

TUTTOILMONDO: Again, we're still looking at about a two to three week time frame in finalizing that particular aspect.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TUTTOILMONDO: I'm sorry. You'll have to ask that again, please?

QUESTION: Have you searched their house? Can you talk about...

TUTTOILMONDO: There were a number of items collected that we are continuing to process and analyze, do some laboratory analysis on. As to how that relates into the case or how those are going to play a part in the case, that has yet to be determined.

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little more about the grandparents in Ohio and the role they played in this investigation?

TUTTOILMONDO: They were certainly very helpful to us in providing us information as best they could. Again, given the distance, we have had the opportunity to visit with them personally yesterday, and talked to them a little bit more about what information they have that might help us determine what did happen.

QUESTION: Who in the sheriff's department...

QUESTION: When was the last time anyone saw Riley Ann? When was the last time anyone saw Riley Ann?

TUTTOILMONDO: To the best of my knowledge, we're looking at about three to four months ago.

QUESTION: Who in the sheriff's office went to Ohio?

TUTTOILMONDO: Sergeant Barry (ph), who is the case agent from -- on the case, along with a couple of FBI agents, went up there to Ohio to talk to the family.

QUESTION: Which one of the -- the mother -- are you alleging actually inflicted injury to the baby?

TUTTOILMONDO: They are both charged with the same offense.

QUESTION: On November 7th, I believe it was, the tip that led to you guys going to the house in Spring, did that tip come from the biological father or the paternal grandmother in Ohio, saying please go check it out?

TUTTOILMONDO: Yes, that was related to the family.

QUESTION: And you say she was last seen three or four months ago. Who saw her or where did that report come from?

TUTTOILMONDO: That specific -- that part I do not know specifically who saw her, who was the last person that saw her.

QUESTION: Texas or Ohio?

TUTTOILMONDO: In Texas.

QUESTION: So she had been seen in Texas three or four months ago?

TUTTOILMONDO: Yes, that's correct.

QUESTION: Can you explain a little how you narrowed down 350 tips to this one?

TUTTOILMONDO: I think two things probably drive that more than anything. One, the sheer amount of media coverage that we've had with this case has helped bring about the second aspect of information from the public.

As we continued to work those leads, again, letting those leads draw us to where the investigation will go rather than the other way around, we let those leads run the investigation rather than trying to draw a conclusion and push those leads toward it. So it's been a lot of good, hard police work from our investigators, from the FBI, the Texas Rangers, a whole host of agencies who have helped us with this and will continue to do so as we continue to work on this investigation.

QUESTION: Ray, your department said three weeks ago that it was working leads germane to this case right here and brought this case back to Texas instead of nationally. Were there more than one tip -- was there more than one tip? Was there a tip outside -- outside of up north? Were there tips that came in from here in Texas that kind of helped you narrow this?

TUTTOILMONDO: It's kind of a difficult question to answer. But the tips we received were, again, literally from all over the country, all over the world, that had relationships to all the different leads that we were working.

In terms of tips relating to each other, yes, there were some of those that may or may not have related directly to this. Again, that's kind of one of those parts of the investigative process that we're letting the investigation run its course rather than trying to drive it somewhere.

QUESTION: So there were tips outside of the family?

TUTTOILMONDO: Specifically, that I don't know.

QUESTION: Was anyone first in line for the $20,000 reward?

TUTTOILMONDO: That is being discussed and being considered by the FBI as to how that may work out. Again, that's a little bit early to tell on that.

QUESTION: Any criminal history on the two suspects?

TUTTOILMONDO: I cannot get into that right now.

QUESTION: The paternal family says Kimberly told them in Ohio a CPS worker came and took the child. Did you investigate that?

TUTTOILMONDO: That was part of the investigation, yes.

QUESTION: Can you tell us where that led?

TUTTOILMONDO: What we believe is that is not what happened.

QUESTION: Was there -- there was a custody battle under way for this child?

TUTTOILMONDO: To the best of my knowledge there was some issue with that. How far it had gone, I'm not sure.

QUESTION: And you don't know -- or do you know if it was the father or the grandparents who were trying to gain custody of her?

TUTTOILMONDO: That part I'm not very clear on.

QUESTION: This was always emotional for you and the detectives from the very start, the detectives who got her off that island. You have been carrying that shoe the entire time.

TUTTOILMONDO: Yes.

QUESTION: And you started today by calling her "Our girl, our little girl, Baby Grace." Your thoughts now that you have got a name that you can put on that cross now?

TUTTOILMONDO: Any way you look at it, we carry a piece of her with us, and we'll always carry a little piece of her with us. And any time we deal with cases like this -- and we're very fortunate that cases like this don't happen very much, at least in our part of the world -- but she's -- anyway you look at it, she's still our little girl.

She now has a family. She has people that will care for her and make sure that a box in west Galveston Bay is not where she ended her life.

QUESTION: Ray, with (INAUDIBLE), could you talk a little bit about how they may have met, their occupations, what their life was like?

TUTTOILMONDO: I don't have a tremendous amount of detail on that. We do believe that they met somehow via the Internet. How that exactly transpired, that's still part of our ongoing investigation.

QUESTION: What were they doing for a living?

TUTTOILMONDO: That I don't know.

QUESTION: Can you share anything about what Riley's life in general was like?

TUTTOILMONDO: Again, that's part of what we are continuing to work on, to develop what her life was like, what happened from the day she was born. How did she live? What was her family like? Did she have friends? Did she have neighbors? Did she play with kids down the street?

That's still part of what we have got to look at in determining what happened to Riley.

QUESTION: Do you suspect the injury could have been an accident?

TUTTOILMONDO: Again, still part of the ongoing investigation to determine what happened and how it happened.

QUESTION: How long do you think it will take before you get those answers?

TUTTOILMONDO: We don't know. That's not something that we're going to put a timetable on. We don't have any true deadlines in that particular aspect. We're going to let the investigation develop and -- because it may end up taking us down other avenues that we don't know yet.

QUESTION: Is there a history of abuse of this child?

TUTTOILMONDO: That I can't get into.

QUESTION: Who will get custody of her remains now that she's identified?

TUTTOILMONDO: That's something that is going to have to be up to the district attorney's office, as well as the medical examiner.

QUESTION: Are there any receipts, or is there any evidence like fingerprints on the inside of the box that was found that could link them to the defendants?

TUTTOILMONDO: Again, those are some evidentiary items that I cannot get into at this point. QUESTION: Ray, trying to word this right, but they came from Ohio. Is it safe to assume -- is it safe to assume that the man that she met may have had more of an impact on...

COLLINS: All right. So we have been watching this news conference With Major Tuttoilmondo there, who we have had on the program several times throughout the course of trying to identify this child that was found October 29th.

As you heard him say earlier, they are now fairly confident that the identity is Riley Ann Sawyers from Spring, and that's where our -- Spring, Texas, I should say. That's where our correspondent Sean Callebs is standing by to continue to follow this story.

But just to let you know, they are awaiting those DNA results before making that positive identification that will be once and for all. The child's 19-year-old mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, who is 24, have now been charged with injuring a child and tampering with physical evidence. Their bond has been set at $350,000 each.

So we will continue to follow that story for you. If you would like to watch more of the news conference, you can certainly do that from Houston on CNN.com.

Also want to show you something else happening in the Houston area. Some breaking news here about an office complex fire.

You see the flames up several stories there. Apparently, this is in the southwest Houston area.

We don't really know much about it at this point, but, yes, five- or-six-story tall building. You can see those flames coming out of there. At least a two-alarm blaze that we know of at this time.

Again, don't know too much about it, but we will continue to watch that for you and make sure that hopefully they can get that under control just as quickly as possible, and certainly before anyone is injured.

So we'll follow that for you, again, out of Houston, Texas.

A tour bus crosses the line and plows into oncoming traffic. Three people are dead and dozens injured this morning.

It happened last night in northeast Arkansas. Police say the bus was on I-40 making its way to Dallas. They say the driver crossed the median and veered into eastbound traffic.

The bus slammed into a pickup truck, killing the truck driver. Then the bus was broadsided by a semi. A police dispatcher says about a dozen passengers had to be pulled out of the bus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's scary. I mean, it was bad. People caught in between the seats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Dozens of passengers were rushed to nearby hospitals.

Putting out a furious firestorm. We're live on the front lines from Malibu in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get you back to some of the breaking news we've been following here today.

First, to southwest Houston, where we are aware of a high-rise that's on fire. It looks about five or six stories tall. Coming into us from our affiliate there, KTRK.

Obviously, some very active flames at this point. If you happen to know the area, it is (INAUDIBLE). Firefighters have been evacuating people, apparently, from that building. So unclear what type of facility this is, but apparently it belongs to the Houston Housing Authority.

So obviously well into the work day there. You would imagine people inside that building.

So we will continue to follow that story. We are also hearing possibly that there has been a Mayday call from a firefighter on the fifth floor. Do not have confirmation of that yet, but according to our affiliates in the area, that is the situation.

Once again, live pictures coming in from this high-rise fire, KTRK, Houston, Texas. We will continue to follow that for you from there.

Also, want to get to this. We have some sound coming into us from President Bush and a meeting that he has had earlier this morning with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It took place at the White House, as you know, gearing up for tomorrow's Mideast summit.

Let's listen in for just a moment.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, welcome.

It's an honor to have you back in the Oval Office. Thanks for coming to the Annapolis conference.

I'm looking forward to continuing our serious dialogue with you and the president of the Palestinian Authority to see whether or not peace is possible. I'm optimistic. I know you're optimistic. And I want to thank you for your courage and your friendship.

I'm proud of you. EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I'm delighted to come with my colleagues to another time to the Oval Office. This time is different because we're going to have lots of participants in what I hope will launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians.

This will be a bilateral process, but the international support is very important to us. And I thank you for the efforts that you made in order to make it possible, and the secretary of state. Together (INAUDIBLE) in order to come to this point where from we and the Palestinians will sit together in Jerusalem and work out something that will be very good for our people.

BUSH: Thank you, sir.

Thank you, all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So there you have it. President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meeting a little bit earlier this morning right before this Mideast peace summit is going to take place tomorrow.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House now.

And Kathleen, you heard it from the prime minister himself, saying this time it's different.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, and the White House believes that it's different, too, and that's one of the main reasons that they decided to push ahead with this.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had a conference call with reporters yesterday. Some of the things they say are different.

They say these two leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, that these men are now ready at this point in their people's history to make the tough compromises to be able to craft not only a lasting peace but form a Palestinian state. Another thing that's different, the participation of so many countries in this conference, the main conference, which starts tomorrow, more than 40 countries. Many Arab countries who have never attended an event with Israel like this before. Saudi Arabia, Syria, very reluctant to come, but they are here. So there is a hope that some peace can be achieved.

Now, the president will be in just under two hours be meeting with President Abbas. They will be a meeting at the State Department tonight, and then the full conference begins tomorrow morning, but the White House is indicating that it is the two parties, Israelis and the Palestinians, who will really have to do the tough work here in these talks -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, certainly. All right, we'll be following that alongside you. Thanks so much. CNN's Kathleen Koch for us outside the White House this morning.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris has the day off. Breaking news to tell you about out of Miami. An NFL player shot and wounded in his home. The Washington Redskins confirm safety Sean Taylor is in the hospital. Police say he is in critical condition.

CNN affiliate WFBN says the bullet struck the femoral artery in his leg, and he's lost a great deal of blood. Let's go ahead listen in to some of the police statements just a few moments ago.

Unfortunately, a little bit of difficulty with those tapes, but unfortunately, we will continue to follow that story for you. As we said, unfortunately Sean Taylor in critical condition at this moment. We do know that he was shot in the leg, but when the femoral artery is hit, obviously that is an awful lot of blood and a critical injury. So we will continue to follow that for you.

Meanwhile, back to this story out of Houston, Texas. We are watching firefighters now try to get inside this building. Again, don't have a whole lot of information for you here, but we do know of the high rise building in Renz is on fire. Apparently about a four or five-story building tall, as far as we can tell from these pictures anyway. We had heard some reports that people are being evacuated, and that there was possibly a mayday call coming in from the fifth floor. Hopefully, of course, they will be trying to get all of those people out and get them out safely. More video coming into us from a little earlier when those flames were still active.

It looks possible anyway from the live video that we just saw moments ago that those flames have been put out. But again we will continue to follow this for you and make sure we have the most up-to- date information just as soon as we get it.

Meanwhile, her body was found floating in a plastic storage container. Now police say they may know Baby Grace's real name.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly want to get you back to this fire that we have been following coming in from our affiliate there, KTRK, Houston, Texas. This is a high-rise building in southwest Houston. Apparently we are just now learning that the building does house elderly people inside. We are also learning, thankfully at least anyway, that the majority of those occupants have now been evacuated.

But it is now a three-alarm fire. When we first showed you these pictures, it was only two-alarm. A great deal of concern in trying to get this under control. They are still conducting searches, of course, to be safe as they continue to work the fire. But the call came in apparently about 11:00 Eastern Time, so just about 40 minutes or so ago. And you see obviously firefighters still very actively working those flames and the smoke coming out. So we'll keep our eye on that one for you.

Meanwhile, another story that we are following this morning, and that is that Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor has been shot at his home. He was shot in the leg, and there is word that that injury is much more critical now because of possibly hitting the femoral artery. Want to go ahead and get you the sound that we tried to get a moment ago from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

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LT. NANCY PEREZ, MIAMI-DADE POLICE SPOKESPERSON: We received a phone call through our dispatch system, a female wanting the police to respond to her residence in reference to a male shot. Once we arrived, we discovered that it was Sean Taylor, and he was shot in the lower extremities. He was airlifted to Ryder Trauma in critical condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So once again, Sean Taylor, the Washington Redskins safety, now in critical condition. We'll continue to follow that story and bring you any new information as soon as it becomes available to us.

A mystery apparently solved, a tragedy no less painful, of course. Police in Texas tentatively identify the toddler known as Baby Grace. This is a police sketch of her. It was made after a fisherman found her body washed up in Galveston Bay. Police believe she is 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers of Spring, Texas. They are awaiting DNA tests to confirm that. But minutes ago we heard from an investigator in the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON CO. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Anyway you look at it, we carry a piece of her with us, and we'll always carry a little piece of her with us. Any time we deal with cases like this -- and we're very fortunate that cases like this don't happen very much, at least in our part of the world -- but she's -- any way you look at it, she's still our little girl. She now has a family. She has people that will care for her and make sure that a box in West Galveston Bay is not where she ended her life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And now under arrest, her mother and her mother's boyfriend. They had never reported her missing and told family members that Riley had been taken by social workers.

Cleaning up in Malibu this morning. Those fast-moving weekend wildfires burned seven square miles and destroyed 53 homes, many of them worth millions of dollars.

Dan Simon is in Malibu now this morning. And, boy, when you look behind you, Dan, it looks like it's all gone.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just total devastation here on this street. A lot of people lost their homes. It's actually shaping up to be a beautiful day here in Malibu. The winds have totally died down. This fire is now 90 percent contained, but obviously traumatic for many people as they come back and find their home in ruins. This is just one of 53 homes that has been totally destroyed as a result of this wildfire. Clark Gable, we are told at one time, actually lived in this particular house. Behind this home, you can see also another house totally leveled. But just the sheer randomness of this event. Diagonal to us, you have a house completely intact.

We have with us Joel and Kian Schulman. They did not lose their home, but obviously quite dramatic for you when you got that knock at, what, 3:00 in the morning on Saturday.

JOEL SCHULMAN, FIRE VICTIM: It was about 4:00, yes. Actually neighbors called us first, and then we looked out the door and immediately saw what was happening.

SIMON: The two of you have been married for about 25 years. You've never really seen anything like this in Malibu. Joel, you said it looked like another planet up here.

SCHULMAN: That's exactly right. Even now it's a completely different place. It's funny, inside our house it's the same as always. You look outside and it's the moon.

SIMON: You lost some -- I think some buildings in your backyard like a cottage. You had some Christmas presents in there. What's going on through your mind today?

KIAN SCHULMAN, FIRE VICTIM: Everything. I feel very, very sad more than anything not just for my loss of life, but more for the loss of life -- all of the hillsides here that are filled with animals and creatures, and the great loss of life that we have, our national treasure has been destroyed -- that wasn't protected sufficiently by our state parks because they don't have enough support, financial support.

I would love to see a little state cottage up there, a state ranger cottage, where they could live and protect our wonderful national treasure for all of us. Our state parks and national parks are for everyone.

SIMON: But you did make it out obviously in good health. You two survived. Your home survived. So you guys are lucky --

KIAN SCHULMAN: With great thanks to our great fire department and our great police department that were here right away. They are the best. They saved my home. They ripped up my black deck, which was full of wood and ripped out my wood doors. I was within a half an inch of my house burning down because they saved it. Thank you. A wall of fire a half a mile long was coming at me, and they were here. Thank you, our fire department.

SIMON: The Schulman's, thank you very much. Indeed, hats off to all the firefighters here who assisted in bringing this fire under control. Again, 90 percent containment. The cause of the fire is still undetermined, but at this point, Heidi, it looks like crews think that some teenagers up in a very remote area may have been partying and set a camp fire, but still under investigation at this point. Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Oh, boy. All right, CNN's Dan Simon for us. Thanks so much, Dan. Live from Malibu this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: The Santa Ana winds are not what people want to happen. Obviously that would be the same situation. No wind, thank you very much, in southwest host because of this fire we have been following. Always makes it much more difficult to fight flames. We are looking at live pictures from KTRK in Houston, Texas.

There's a high rise fire there that unfortunately, we don't know that much about it, so we've been able to contact Captain Beda Kent she is with the Houston Fire Department. Captain, if you can hear me, we're concerned because I have a note here that talks about that this building actually houses elderly people inside. What can you tell us about that?

VOICE OF CAPT. BEDA KENT, HOUSTON FIRE DEPT.: Yes, it is an occupant of elderly residents, and it is in the southwest area of town where we have firefighters on the ground as well as EMS on stand-by. We have just recently got reports of 12 occupants being rescued. No injuries at this time. No one has been transported to the hospital.

Firefighters are -- do have the fire contained and are continuing to do the extinguishment of the fire, as well as doing any rescues and evacuations as well. It looks to be that all occupants have been evacuated at this time.

COLLINS: Well, that's some excellent news. I did not catch what you said about how many people are normally there though.

KENT: The actual occupants are anywhere from 150 to 200 people at any given point.

COLLINS: Okay. All right. So, again, obviously I would imagine that searches are still going on, but as far as you know at this point everyone is safe.

KENT: Correct.

COLLINS: It turned into a three-alarm fire. Any idea -- I realize it's early, but any idea how this may have started to begin with?

KENT: No, we do not have a report on how it was started at this time.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we certainly appreciate your time. I know you guys are busy there, so we'll get you back. It looks like we're actually seeing some people coming out right now into that basket atop that ladder. I'm not quite sure how high up they are, but as we have been telling you all along, this is about a five or a six story building. Captain, are you still with me? If you are, we'd love to know a little more about how rescues like this take place. We're watching people being put into these baskets and then will she -- I believe that's a female there. Will she need to climb down that ladder? It's about the only way to get down, is it not?

KENT: No, that ladder there you're looking at is one of our towers?

COLLINS: Yes, I believe so.

KENT: Yes, it can go all the way to the ground.

COLLINS: Great. I'm sorry. I see it moving now. They will sort of electronically get her down there, and she won't have to be climbing around.

KENT: Absolutely.

COLLINS: It looks like quite a bit of work still to be done here as we continue to look at these live pictures. These coming into us now from KHOU in Houston, Texas. Once again, Captain, we appreciate your time and learning more, that no injuries have been reported in this three-alarm fire. It's in the southwest part of Houston, Texas.

And now an NFL player who has been gunned down at his home is said to be fighting for his life. An update shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: YOUR WORLD TODAY comes up next. CNN Anchor, Jim Clancy has a sneak peek for us. Hi there, Jim.

JIM CLANCY: Well, join Hala Gorani and me coming up in about ten, 15 minutes here for YOUR WORLD TODAY as we survey international news. We're going to look at this upcoming Middle East summit as the White House brings together Israelis and Palestinians.

There's a lot of skepticism the Annapolis meeting is going to amount to more than a photo opportunity. Now, there's a chance that real progress, but it's pretty scant. Still, the risk posed by failure, very reel indeed.

Also, we'll tell you about the KGB candidate accused of involvement in the murder of another KGB agent in Britain. Alexander Lugavoy's (ph) notoriety may actually help his bid to get elected to Russia's Parliament..

And if you believe in advertising, well, some say white is right. We're going to take you on a drug bust in Britain than targets skin whitening creams, and show you the dangers as police pull illegal products from store shelves. All that and more coming up at the top of the hour.

COLLINS: Okay, very good. Jim, we'll be watching. Thank you. Breaking news out of Miami this morning. An NFL player shot and wounded in his home. The Washington Redskins confirm safety Sean Taylor is now in the hospital. Police say he is in critical condition. CNN affiliate WSDN says the bullet hit the femoral artery in his leg. He has lost a great deal of blood. Want to get to some of the comments from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. NANCY PEREZ, MIAMI-DADE POLICE SPOKESPERSON: We received a phone call through our dispatch system, a female wanting the police to respond to her residence in reference to a male shot. Once we arrived, we discovered that it was Sean Taylor, and he was shot in the lower extremities. He was air lifted to Ryder Trauma in critical condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And you can follow this story as we do throughout the rest of the afternoon. To try to get any developments here on Sean Taylor's condition. The CNN NEWSROOM coming up at 1:00 eastern will have much more.

Senate Republicans losing a big hitter. Sources tell CNN Senator Trent Lott intends to resign by the end of the year. Lott is the Republican whip, the number two leadership post in the Senate. Sources are not saying what the senator from Mississippi will do, only that he will enter the private sector. Lott, who was just elected to a fourth term last year, is the first person to serve as whip in both the house and Senate. A news conference from Senator Lott is expected to begin around noon eastern. You can watch it live on CNN.com.

Your questions, their answers. GOP presidential candidates face- off in a CNN/YouTube debate. It will happen Wednesday night. Our Bill Schneider has a preview from St. Petersburg, Florida.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The polls show the Republican race is wide open with two front-runners, Rudy Giuliani the national front-runner, and Mitt Romney, the front runner the earliest contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. It's getting really rough out there in this race. Romney and Giuliani have been going after each other.

Giuliani has attacked Mitt Romney's record, his economic policies in Massachusetts, and his Massachusetts health care plan, which Giuliani called Hillary's plan in Massachusetts. Those are fighting words for a Republican. Meanwhile, Romney has attacked Giuliani's favoring and welcoming illegal immigrants to come to New York, and his association with an indicted colleague, Bernard Kerik.

Giuliani has also attacked Fred Thompson's record on taxes. He's even called him, you should excuse the express, a centrist. Another filthy name in the Republican primaries. Meanwhile, the latest candidate to emerge from the pack, Mike Huckabee will also be here in this debate, and he better be wearing a suit of armor, because any candidate who emerges becomes instantly a target. People come to Florida this time of year to get warm. There's going to be plenty of heat in this Republican debate Wednesday night here in St. Petersburg, Florida. I'm Bill Schneider for CNN.

COLLINS: And be sure to stay tuned this Wednesday, November 28th, when your voice will be heard. The Republican/YouTube debate, only on CNN. Your home for politics.

Hey, what's that on your computer? hitting the online sales at work.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Back to the grind after the holiday weekend, but are you really getting the job done today? It's Cyber Monday, after all the first big online shopping day of the year. Internet deals are out there and a lot of people are expected to check them out at work. Experts are looking for $700 million in online sales today, and almost $500 million in lost productivity.

Well consumers seems to be in the holiday spirit, but are they really spending? ShopperTrak reports more than $10 billion in Black Friday sales for retailers. That's better than eight percent increase from last year. Santa's top gift, electronics.

Shoppers pack there carts with televisions, lap tops, MP3 players and GPS units. But, there's also this from the National Retail Foundation it says consumers spent on average about $347 over the four-day weekend. That is about three and a half percent less than last year. So, who knows?

CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now with the latest on Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, he was shot in his home in Miami. Also, that high-rise fire in Houston, housing the elderly. We have been showing you pictures all morning long. Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY is next with news happening across the globe and right here at home. I'm Heidi Collins, we'll see you tomorrow.

Meantime, your world today is next, with news happening all around the globe. I'm Heidi Collins. See you tomorrow.

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