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New Details Emerge of Mall Shooting; Oprah to Campaign for Obama
Aired December 07, 2007 - 22:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Randi Kaye with a CNN NEWSROOM update.
Tonight, chilling new images of the teenage shooter in Nebraska, taken moments before his deadly rampage at a shopping mall. First, a quick look at the day's headlines.
Angry Democrats are accusing the CIA of a cover-up and calling for an investigation into the destruction of at least two videotaped interrogations of al Qaeda suspects.
"The New York Times" was first to report yesterday that the recordings were made in 2002 and destroyed in 2005. Today, White House officials said that President Bush and Vice President Cheney first learned about the tapes during a meeting Thursday by CIA director Michael Hayden.
Two senior administration officials tell CNN that former White House lawyer Harriet Miers was aware of the tapes before 2005 and told the CIA not to destroy them.
Baseball's home-run king pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance since being charged with lying under oath about using steroids.
Forty-three-year-old Barry Bonds said little during the 30-minute hearing, leaving most of the talking to one of his six lawyers. If convicted, he could spend up to 2 1/2 years in prison.
And wait another day for a Space Shuttle Atlantis launch. Problem fuel sensors scrubbed Thursday's scheduled launch. Now NASA says it will be Sunday at the earliest before they try again.
Now to Omaha, Nebraska, and the latest in the mall shooting story. As we said, police have released surveillance photos showing 19-year-old Robert Hawkins just moments before he began his deadly shooting spree.
There are also new details about his suicide notes.
CNN's Dan Simon joins me now. And those photos, I have to say, are pretty tough to look at.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very tough to look at, Randi. The images that we're going to be taking a look at here, these are frozen stills from the store's surveillance video. And obviously, looking at that image with that suspect, the shooter, looking down the barrel of that AK-47. So tough to look at.
But these images also shed some light in terms of the chronology of what happened. Because the first image you see, which was taken just after 1:30 p.m. local time. You see the shooter coming into that store, and he does not have his gun with him. Obviously, he leaves the mall, then comes back and then you see him holding that AK-47 assault rifle.
He just got off the elevator, in terms of that image that you're looking at there. Got off the elevator. Then he started shooting, obviously, people at random.
And Randi, there were also some other things released today. The suicide notes and, yes, we're talking about notes plural. The shooter actually wrote a note to -- one to his friends and one to his family. We're going to take a look here at some of the excerpts.
In the note to his friends, one of the things he writes, quote, "I know everyone will remember me as some sort of monster, but please understand that I just don't want to be a burden on the ones I care for. I just want to take a few pieces of expletive with me.
And also a note to his family. It says, quote, "I just snapped. I can't take this meaningless existence anymore. I've been a constant disappointment, and that trend would have only continued."
Randi, obviously we're talking about someone here who was very depressed, someone who lacks self-esteem. That's what these notes show.
But one of the things they don't illustrate, we really have no idea in terms of why he went into that mall and decided to shoot others and kill others, Randi.
KAYE: And Dan, Hawkins also mentioned his friends in these notes, and you actually had a chance to speak with them today?
SIMON: I talked to three young women who attended the same group home as the shooter. This is a group home for troubled teenagers. And they actually paint a picture of somebody you don't expect to go into a mall and start shooting people.
They said this is someone who actually had a very good sense of humor, somebody who made friends easily, someone who definitely was not a loner, the type of personality trait you would expect for someone to carry out this rampage.
And I asked them specifically why they feel he targeted this shopping mall, specifically this Von Maur department store. Take a look at what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think, in Robby's eyes, it was because the people at Von Maur, he probably thought they were better off than him, because it's kind of, you know, a lot of stuff there is expensive. And, you know, people who make more money than him would be shopping there. And I think that he, you know, just thought they were better off than he was and didn't want it to be that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Randi, oftentimes when you talk to the friends of these shooters, they'll tell you about warning signs, but you know what? When you talk to these three young women, they say they absolutely saw no warning signs.
And Randi, in terms of how this community is grappling, we should tell you that they are starting to bounce back. The Westroads Shopping Mall, where it all took place, it's going to open up tomorrow, Randi.
KAYE: Certainly going to take some time. Dan Simon reporting for us tonight. Thanks, Dan.
Turning to politics, this is a big weekend for Senator Barack Obama. At least that's what he's banking on. Oprah Winfrey will hit the campaign trail with the Democratic presidential contender this weekend. There is a lot of buzz, but will it translate into votes?
Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are calling it the Opra- bama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oprah's a girl. She's the woman. And Obama's the man.
CROWLEY: From Iowa to South Carolina to New Hampshire, presidential candidate Barack Obama will campaign this weekend with the woman of daytime TV. It's a programming trifecta that's selling out tickets in South Carolina and lighting up the gray winter of New Hampshire and Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the secretaries was just so excited about the fact that Oprah was coming and she said, "Who would have thought? Oprah coming to little old Iowa."
CROWLEY: Oprah speaks daily to almost nine million viewers, turns books into best-sellers, makes experts into household names. Can she boost Barack? Oh, how this campaign hopes so.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that having Oprah here on Saturday will definitely pull women out, and I think it will just show that women in Iowa are Barack Obama supporters.
CROWLEY: Operative word: women, the crux of the '08 election. Did we mention that Oprah's audience is 75 percent female? Forty-four percent make less than $40,000. A quarter have no more than a high school education. More than half are women over 50.
It is a profile of the female Clinton voter, and this is a direct pitch for that demographic.
Linda Peterson from North Liberty, Iowa, is leaning Obama.
LINDA PETERSON, VOTER: I think it's going to help him with the women my age because she's very popular, very respected among my age group.
CROWLEY: While Oprah's support is unlikely to translate directly into a significant number of Obama votes, we are talking loads of free media. And if they come to see her, they'll hear him.
OBAMA: And if you stand up in this caucus for me, then I promise you that I will stand up for you.
CROWLEY: Like all Obama precinct captains in Iowa, Monique Washington got as many tickets as she wanted. She's dispensing them to supporters and waverers.
MONIQUE WASHINGTON, OBAMA PRECINCT CAPTAIN: When I may phone calls, a lot of people say they're undecided, and I say, "Would you like to come see Oprah and Obama and Michelle?"
And they go, "Yes, I want to come out."
CROWLEY: Obama workers also handed out tickets to anyone who volunteered four hours to the campaign or signed up for a caucus seminar.
(on camera) The tickets that were left went to the public, but to pick one up, you had to go to an Obama campaign headquarters and give them your name and address. This is not just a happening; it's a campaign organizing tool.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Des Moines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Senator Obama's rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, is also calling on some star power this weekend. Her husband, former President Clinton, is campaigning in South Carolina tomorrow.
Just ahead, Iran is back on the foreign policy front burner, but with so much confusing information out there, how can we really know how big a threat Iran actually is?
Our special report, "Iran: Fact and Fiction," will help you make up your own mind. It's just ahead at 11:00 Eastern.
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