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Pan Am Bomber Freed; Senator Kennedy Pushes for Legislative Provisions in Wake of Illness; The Effect of Homicide Rate on Chicago Residents; Recovery and Giving Back

Aired August 20, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Mrs. Cohen, will you stick around with us for just a little bit? We want to update our viewers on the story and we want you to stick around.

You're listening to Susan Cohen, whose daughter, 20 years old then, died aboard Pan Am flight 103 when it was blown up at Lockerbie, Scotland back in 1988. It is the top of the hour, everyone.

I'm Don Lemon, in today in for Heidi Collins. We're following breaking news, one of the men believed to be responsible for that bombing, Pan Am flight bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, Pan Am flight 103, was released just moments ago. As a matter of fact, he is pretty close to the airport and the plane on which he is going to go home to Tripoli. The announcement came early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNY MACASKILL, SCOTTISH JUSTICE MINISTER: I, too, understand the grief that has been felt. That has been running with us since 21st of September 1988. I have though to make a decision on the basis of how we would normally deal with matters and indeed on the beliefs that I believed we have as a people. I know that some will disagree and others will accept it. We have followed due process and that is my decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Again, that was the announcement this morning by the Scottish government, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill making that announcement saying that they not only have to take the law and justice into account when they are ruling on someone's guilt or innocence or what is going to happen to them, but they also have to take in compassion, as well. Simply the way that their system has been set up.

Again, we are talking to Susan Cohen here whose daughter was killed aboard that plane and also on the ground is CNN's Diana Magnay. She has been following this developing story for us. She joins us from (INAUDIBLE) Scotland and as we watch this, Diana, we just want to tell you, he just arrived at the airport. So be prepared, I may have to cut you off to explain the pictures of what's going on.

Again, you're looking at the airport there in Glasgow and he's going to get aboard that flight and be on his way to Tripoli and you said to see his children and his family. Go ahead, Diana. DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. It really was an incredible sight to realize that the man who was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, the only man has left here arrived at Glasgow Airport, as you say, a free man to spend the last few weeks, months of his life in the arms of his family as a free man.

Kenny MacAskill was very clear that this was a judicial decision because he was very ill and met the criteria, full compassionate release, i.e., would die within the next three months. Now, of course, we have been hearing from Susan Cohen, on the other hand, I have spoken to many families of those who were killed in Lockerbie here in the U.K. who said that they never believed that Al Megrahi was actually the right man and the fact that he dropped his appeal only this week possibly to allow him this compassionate release makes it difficult. As you can hear -

LEMON: I've been there before. You have a lot going on. You've got a lot going on around you and someone is probably giving you some instructions. Are they trying to move you back? Are they giving reporters instructions right now?

MAGNAY: Don, as I was saying, the fact that this appeal was dropped means that the families who don't believe in Al Megrahi's guilt feel that they will never know really what happened at Lockerbie. Even if he was involved, could he possibly have acted alone, who else was behind it? How big was this conspiracy, which political groups were behind it. They feel that now the appeal has been dropped. Now that Al Megrahi will go back a free man, they will never have those questions answered, Don.

LEMON: Talk to us as we're watching live pictures from the airport, Diana, talk to us about that flight. Again, and the airline -- I'm not sure if you know which airline. I believe it's Afriqiyah. I may have it wrong, Afriqiyah Airways -- Afriqiyah Airways and the flight, how long from Glasgow to Tripoli and who is expected to meet him on the other side?

MAGNAY: His family will be there to meet him on the other side. His five children, wife and elderly parents. His wife actually came to live near here at (INAUDIBLE) prison to be closer to her husband when he was here interred here in 2001 here in Scotland. The flight is a matter of around five hours. Authorities in Libya have been alerted of his possible transfer.

A while ago, they have been making those preparations so that he could leave from Glasgow Airport to Tripoli without any sort of problems. The transfer from Greenwich (ph) prison, where we are, to Glasgow, as you know, is very short. It has really gone extremely smoothly since Kenny MacAskill made that decision for al-Megrahi to be freed. Now a free man, on his way back to Tripoli, Don.

LEMON: So we're watching this live pictures from the airport. Stand by, Diana. We're going to get to you in just a minute. Diana is following this from Greenwich (ph) prison and we're watching the pictures from the airport in Glasgow. He's going to get on the Afriqiyah Airways and then fly, as Diana said, to meet his wife and his five children. And, so, it's very interesting. I want to go back quickly. Do we go to Susan or Josh?

OK. We're going to go now to CNN's Josh Levs. Because Josh is following what's happening on line. Josh, I hear there is a huge, huge response happening on line especially on the social networking sites? What are they saying about this? Are people outraged or is it mixed reaction?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing a lot of outrage, Don. I'm taking a look at it right here. You know, obviously, a lot of people are going to have a lot of passion about a story like this. I'm going to show you a couple of things now. First of all, how you can weigh in and also how you can get some information, some background and some facts on this.

There is something that a lot of people don't know about called remember.gov that talks about a history of terrorism affecting the United States. This is one place you can see it and I'll post a link to it. But it talks about the chronology of terrorist attacks that have affected people in the United States and one of the things they do talk about if you go down is Lockerbie and they talk about what happened there.

Also, let me just show you what we have going on cnn.com while we follow this breaking news. It's our main story right here and along with this, we give you a lot of background, as well. You can also see some of the photos throughout the years. There's one right here that shows the crash wreckage of the plane. 270 people killed there.

You can see that image all up at cnn.com. Also some more reporting from our folks who have been following this for years. I encourage you to check this out. Now, let's go to where some of you are already weighing in. We have that going right here on twitter. It's the top top topic. It was at a couple of minutes ago. It was at number one. It was one of the top stories all day long and let me just show you what's...

LEMON: Josh, real quickly, I hate to cut you off. I will get back to you. I think that's very important. We need to show people what is happening here at the airport because this man's release and you're going to see him get on that airplane there. There's that van and there are officials going on to the airplane and al-Megrahi going on to the airplane, as well.

You can't tell if they have released him or if that last man is, in fact, him. We're just sort of watching the pictures and again we're not in control of these pictures. Our folks on the ground, we're getting this from one of our partners in Scotland.

But, again, you're watching the release of al-Megrahi. Listen, let me tell you. I want to give you guys some context about exactly how this happened. OK. Just so you remember it. For those of us who are old enough to remember 1998 and this bombing and Pan Am Airways. He was convicted in 2001 after the prosecution argued that he had placed a bomb hidden in a suitcase on a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany. And prosecutors said the bomb was transferred on to Pan Am Flight 103. Here we go. There he is. In the white suit. The first person going up the steps of the airplane. It looks like he's covering his face there on the side, wearing a white jacket and white hat and just getting on the airplane. And that is probably the best picture we're going to get of the day of him until we see what happens on the other side here. But, again, being released here.

I'm getting some instructions. So I'm talking slowly and pausing for you just so I can get those instructions in. But, again, I want to tell you that Mr. al-Megrahi is believed to be one person responsible for that. So, Pan Am flight 103. They believed that he placed that bomb on that plane and then first went to London's Heathrow Airport and then took off to New York. En route to New York with a whole lot of students, about 35 students from Syracuse University.

We spoke to the mom of one of those students and of course, other people as well. That flight blew up a mile into the air. That debris from that plane rained down on Lockerbie, Scotland and that is, really, probably unfortunately for Lockerbie, Scotland what they will be remembered for. What they will be remembered for.

So, Abdelbaset Ali Muhamad al-Megrahi being released today, getting aboard that plane at Glasgow Airport. Tripoli, five children on the other side, his wife and his parents.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joining us now with reaction from the administration, Suzanne, and hearing from one of the family members this morning, they are saying they don't have the privilege of meeting, sadly, as very harshly put, their dead loved ones on the other side. Their family is gone forever.

VOICE OF SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, you're right, Don. And I actually had an opportunity on "THE SITUATION ROOM" to interview one of the family members of the victims who expressed a great deal of anger and frustration with this decision. But we just got out of Robert Gibbs' office, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs who emphasized the White House and the administration's position on this, as well.

He reiterated that they express deep sympathies to the families of the victims of PanAm flight 103 that they have expressed to the United Kingdom and Scottish authorities their dismay with this decision. The official statement coming from the White House this morning and I'll just read it to you very briefly.

It says "The United States deeply regrets the decision by the Scottish executive to release Abdelbaset Ali Muhamad al-Megrahi. Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the bombing of PanAm flight 103. which blew up over Scotland on December 21st, 1988. As we have expressed repeatedly to officials of the government, the United Kingdom and to Scottish authorities, we continue to believe that Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland. On this day we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live everyday with the lost of their loved ones. We recognize the effects of such a loss weigh upon a family forever." Senior administration officials also telling us this morning -- told us that it was Secretary of State Clinton, you had Attorney General Holder and the White House and other government officials that they have had extensive contacts with all of their colleagues, their counterparts in Scotland and the United Kingdom to emphasize this very message. That they don't support the release of Megrahi.

And Don, one last thing is in this gaggle, in this meeting with Robert Gibbs this morning, we asked him, essentially, what is the United States going to do? Is there going to be any kind of follow-up here, file some sort of formal complaint? And he said at this time they are simply expressing their deep sympathies and their regret at this decision. So, we don't know if there will be further action, but at this time, that's how the administration is responding to this news today.

LEMON: Secretary of State, speaking out earlier about that, as well. And she said that it was horrific that he was being let out and said that she represented some of the victims' families and she just thinks it's appalling that he has been released.

Suzanne Malveaux, stand by. We're going to have continuing coverage of this story. Our Suzanne Malveaux reporting with the administration as saying their response to this specifically, the White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs.

I want to get now to our security analyst, Mr. Mike Brooks. Mike, no doubt you're in law enforcement and following this very closely when this all went down in 1988 and the subsequent trials and everything that's happened since. Explain to us the wrangling here and explain to us what happened aboard that plane and what security people are saying about what happened.

VOICE OF MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Don, as a matter of fact, I was actually involved in this case. It was the last case that I investigated when I was with the FBI joint terrorism task force and actually was in Malta working on this case, preparing for trial with the Scottish authorities, during 1999 and, in fact, I came back, as soon as I got home from Malta is when Gadhafi turned the two Libyans, Megrahi and his co-defendant over to the Scottish authorities.

And yes, I'm going to remind everyone, Don, that this was the deadliest terrorist attack against America, against Americans before 9/11. There were 180 people killed in this flight. You know, during this flight and 47 British nationals and then, you know, talking this morning with some of my law enforcement cohorts and other people who have been calling me, knowing I worked on it, everyone is very extremely upset that they let this guy go.

You know, and even more so now, Don, when you see him walk up the steps of that airplane, you know, if he was so sick everyone expected him to be carried up the plane, up the steps, but you see him walk up the steps and going back to Tripoli, Libya to be with his family is extremely upsetting to a lot of people that I know. LEMON: Yes and I believe that Britain said that this was the deadliest, one of the deadliest events for them, as well. You were speaking about Americans, but it was one of the deadliest attacks against Brits, as well. Hey Mike, I've got a short time here. If you can talk to us about the circumstances surrounding this. Real quickly, here's what, here's what prosecutors are saying.

Al-Megrahi who was convicted in 2001 after the prosecution argued that he had placed that bomb - placed a bomb hid in a suitcase on a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany, and then prosecutors said the bomb was transferred on to Pan Am -- the Pan Am plane that went first to London's Heathrow Airport and then it took off to New York City but never got that far.

BROOKS: Exactly. What is believed that Megrahi actually - he was believed to be a Libyan intelligence agent working in the security for Air Malta and actually put the tags and walked it around security and put it on that Air Malta jet himself, transferred to a 727, a connector flight in London to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to London where it took off and then exploded 31,000 feet over Scotland.

LEMON: He wasn't alone in all of this, Mike Brooks. Who was he connected to? Who else?

BROOKS: Well, it's believed, you know, his co-defendant, the guy who was acquitted was a guy by the name of Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah and he was the one who was acquitted. This system in Scotland. The Scottish Crown authorities, there it was judges, it's a panel of judges. It was not like here in the United States where you have, you know, a jury of your peers. This were a panel of judges. And we've been hearing this morning about conspiracy theories and all this.

LEMON: Mike, one second -- Mike, hold that thought. I just want to say we can see the plane. There are some movement in the airplane. That plane getting ready to taxi and then take off from Glasgow Airport and then head to Tripoli. Mike, we'll continue to follow this. Mike Brooks, continue your thoughts. Sorry about that.

BROOKS: No, no. That's all right, Don. You know, it's believed that he did not, that Megrahi did not carry this out by himself. That he in fact did have assistance of the man who was acquitted. You know, as I was saying, it's not a jury system there with a panel of judges and it was actually held at a court in the Hague and we heard one of the families - you know, the mother of one of those 35 students from Syracuse and they were very, very involved in this, Don.

There was a large contingent of Americans who was there at the trial following everything that went on in the Hague and you could hear her outrage and her frustration this morning and she was reliving some of her experiences during the trial and afterwards when her daughter was killed.

LEMON: You're extremely right about that, Mike. Because I remember this, there were people who went all the way over there for the trial right? And I mean, they followed the trial every single moment of it. It was big news here. Big news reported. Much as we had been seeing a lot of the terrorist attacks in recent years reported. This was one of the biggest scenes, as you said, one of the biggest terrorist attacks on Americans and also on Britain, as well.

And so, this was hugely followed and this story playing out now. The mother says she's not sure. The mother you spoke about, Susan Cohen, said she's not sure exactly what she can do right now, but she's thinking about it and also said she made her appeal, not only to the U.S. government, not only to the Scottish government but to the president of the United States, as well. And very upset when she saw recently the president shaking hands with Moammar Gadhafi.

Hey, we want to stand by. Mike Brooks is standing by, our Diana Magnay is standing by. Also, our Suzanne Malveaux standing by with the administration's response. We're going to continue to follow this developing story. Right now, the plane is just taxiing and it's going to take a quite a bit of time, a little bit of time, I should say, before it is ready to take off. And we will bring that to you live right here on CNN.

In the meantime, we want to talk about an icon, really. We're talking about Senator Ted Kennedy. We know he has said, his doctors have said that he is very ill and he is not sure how long he's going to be around. He's trying to make provisions, but what happens once he is gone? Let's hope it's not soon, but he is at least thinking about it. We're going to bring you that story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking news here on CNN. You're looking at live pictures from the airport in Tripoli, just outside of Scotland, the area in Scotland where this man was held. You see him to the right there of your screen, that is Abdelbaset Ali Muhamad al-Megrahi. He is believed to be one of the men responsible for the bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland back in 1988. It was more than two decades after that bombing.

There is new outrage now. There is new anguish because just moments ago, the only person convicted in that bombing of PanAm flight 103, he walked free. We saw him getting on this airplane that you're looking at to the right of your screen there. We saw him walk on to the airplane, up the stairs wearing a white jacket and a white hat. Looks at moments as he was covering his face. He moved very slowly.

As he was walking up this airplane, the mother of one of the victims whose daughter, 20-year-old daughter died back in 1988. She was a student, her name is Theadora Cohen. She was a student at Syracuse University and they were taking a trip to Scotland, she and 34 other of her classmates. There are also other Americans onboard. There were other people, people from Britain onboard and really people just from any country, most countries in the European Union and also the United States.

That picture to the left of your screen there, that's actually him just moments ago walking up the steps of that airplane and getting on to the plane. On the other side, we are told he's going to be met by his four children. Five children, I should say, his wife and his parents.

Susan Cohen, who lost her daughter, said she wishes she had that pleasure to meet with her daughter. She said her daughter's birthday is coming up soon and she's going to have to relive it all over again. Of course, this all happened back in December of 1988. Just a couple days before Christmas. So the Christmas season for all the families of people who are onboard this plane probably not a good one because they have to relive all this all over again.

One of the men who was involved in this trial, in this case, is our very own Mike Brooks. He's our security analyst here at CNN. And Mike, I just want to forewarn you, if the plane starts to take off, we will have to talk about those images. So, I may have to cut you off.

BROOKS: Sure, Don. I understand.

LEMON: The plane is taxiing, heading now to Tripoli. What do you make of all this since you had so many years to sort of sit back and see what happens and then all of a sudden this day comes and, really, Mike, just within hours, maybe an hour and a half or maybe two hours after the announcement from the Scottish official, he's free.

BROOKS: You know, Don, I find it hard to believe. You know, I cannot even understand why Mrs. Cohen is going through right now with her having her daughter having been on this flight. You know, but think about the numbers, Don. 189 Americans, 47 British nationals. People from 21 other countries onboard this plane. Al-Megrahi was convicted of placing a bomb. A bomb that was believed to be syntax explosive in a cassette player inside a suitcase, put onboard an Air Malta jet, transferred, then landed in Frankfurt, transferred to another plane in Frankfurt that went to London's Heathrow...

LEMON: Mike, stand by, just one second.

Hey, Josh Levs is standing by over here. Josh, as Mike talks about this, I know you got some pictures and names of the victims. Can you let Mike talk over us? Josh Levs is standing by, he's checking in on what's going on on-line and also on the social networking sites and if you can tell us about some of the pictures and he's got the names of the victims as well or just show them.

Mike, continue with your thoughts and we'll get our Josh Levs in here and we'll try to get some of the pictures of the victims. Go ahead as this plane is taxiing.

BROOKS: No but Josh gets the pictures of the 189 Americans and, again, we remind our viewers, Don, this was the deadliest terrorist attack against Americans up until 9/11. You know, if we did finally get somebody and convict them of the 9/11 bombing and one of them develop cancer, and someone decided to let them out of prison after serving only eight years, how do you think Americans, the uproar here in the United States would be?

LEMON: Yes.

BROOKS: It's just, you know, to me, it's just having been a law enforcer for 26 years and you actually worked on this case because when we were preparing for trial back in March of 1999, myself and one of the other special agents Chris Murray from the Washington field office of the FBI, we were there with the Scottish authorities...

LEMON: OK. Mike, here we go.

BROOKS: Here we go.

LEMON: The plane is accelerating now and is preparing to take off. This Afriqiyah flight that is taking off from Glasgow Airport. And this is the last, now, that Scotland will see of al-Megrahi. The only man convicted in this. He is leaving. So for him and his family, for the Scottish government, at least as it appears for now, this is over and a done deal.

But not over and a done deal for many of the victims' families. And by the way, I want to point out all of these - we said that there was outrage and anguish. There are a few families, British families who don't believe that al-Megrahi is guilty and they are actually happy at his release.

The camera there having a bit of a tough time keeping up with an airplane. Jets move very fast, as we know. And white plane against a white sky, clouds, tough to figure out. But again, that was the plane that left just moments ago, as you see, seconds ago, really, from the airport in Glasgow, Scotland.

Josh Levs. Standing by right now is Mike Brooks, but I want to go to Josh Levs. Josh, you're giving us a sampling of what's happening online and you also went to me and say I want to talk to you about some of those victims and I would like to hear those stories, as well, Josh.

LEVS: Yes, I tell you everyone really quickly. I'm just popping in here for a minute. There's a web site devoted to them. It's called victimsofpanamflight103.org. We go through it right now. Obviously, you can't read every name but take a look, just a reminder of how incredibly many people it was.

I'm scrolling through every line and what you're seeing is a different person and tells their name, it tells their age and also it has images from some of the memorials over the years, reminding you of some of the pain that people have been going through over these losses, including friends of theirs at Syracuse University and others who knew various victims here.

All of this up here. VictimsofPanAmflight103.org. It's packed with information about them. Don, we're hearing from a lot of viewers right now, as you know, people obviously are very worked up, very concerned and very upset. It's one of our top stories here at CNN.

You can get a lot of information at our site here. And what we are hearing along with all this, is that we're getting - basically everything we got. We're getting a lot of i-reports, we're getting tweets, we're getting Facebook messages and if we have this, I'll show you first for a second, just a few of the ones that we're getting.

Here's coming to us in the CNN NEWSROOM blog. "I think that he's been sentenced to death by God and know is walking the green mile. He's being shown more compassion than he showed his victims." You can see what Joann wrote over here. "They should drop the bomber off somewhere over Libya." We got another one over here. Talking about Susan Cohen who is completely wrong to let him out. Susan Cohen, the mother of the victim who we've been hearing in our air is very well spoken. Maybe she should run for office. Many of us agree with her views.

And Don, I posted this at Facebook as well. Richard is calling this the outrage of the day. It's all over Twitter, too. It's the number one topic on Twitter. This person is saying I went to Syracuse and knew two victims. The release of the bomber is deeply wrong and insults the memories of the victims.

Now here and there, we are seeing some people saying, look, he doesn't seem to be a threat and maybe this decision makes sense. But by and large, very heavily, we're hearing people very upset about this decision, very distraught in some cases and some people saying I can't remember the last time I was this angry.

We encourage you to join the conversation. It's really easy: cnn.com/josh. You can't forget it, Twitter and Facebook. Easy to find, joshlevscnn. And I'm camped out here. So, I'll be sharing some more of these views along with, Don, links and web pages to help everyone remember who these victims were, the lives that were cut short and the effect it had on this country at the time.

LEMON: All right. Josh Levs, thank you very much. Mike Brooks, I'm going to give you the last word on this because you were involved in this case. Really, just a few seconds here. We are really up against the clock.

BROOKS: Well, I did, Don, you know, I know I'm upset and I can't express for the families of the victims and we hear from Mrs. Cohen and I think she has said it all with the outrage a lot of Americans are feeling right now.

LEMON: Mike Brooks, our security analyst. Josh Levs, our Diana Magnay, Suzanne Malveaux and, of course, of course, Susan Cohen, who lost her daughter on that flight when it blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Continuing coverage of this developing story throughout the day and also in primetime tonight here on CNN.

Giving back in a big way. A student with a severe spinal injury walks again. Then he bikes to help others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A cancer-stricken Ted Kennedy issues a poignant plea in failing health from a malignant brain tumor. The legendary senator is asking that state law be changed so that he can be replaced quickly in Congress. His letter to Massachusetts leaders is raising new questions today about Ted Kennedy's health.

Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash joins us live from Washington with the latest. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you know, Massachusetts law allows a five-month vacancy before a special election if a senator should die or resign. Senator Kennedy clearly wants that changed so there is an interim replacement.

Why is he doing this now? One answer: health care reform, which has really been the legislative fight of his life. He has been in the Senate now 47 years, if you can believe that. Now, sources tell us the ailing Kennedy is in tough shape, and he is well aware that Democrats will be struggling for every vote on health care this fall and he wants to make sure that if he can't be there that someone else will.

Let me read you a quote from this letter that he sent, and it was actually delivered yesterday to Massachusetts leaders. He said, "Serving the people of Massachusetts in the United States Senate has been and still is the greatest honor of my public life. As I look ahead, I am convinced that enabling the governor to fill a Senate vacancy through an interim appointment followed by a special election would best serve the people of our commonwealth and country should a vacancy occur."

Now, a Kennedy source tells me that the senator has been having quiet conversations about this for quite some time and knowing that would get out, he decided to make his efforts public by sending this letter. It's not really clear, I should tell you, whether or not the governor and the state legislature are going to go along with this.

LEMON: Well, that's what I was going to ask you. What about governor Deval Patrick or state lawmakers? Any indication?

BASH: They released statements, Don, just a short while ago basically talking about how much they respect Senator Kennedy and they worry about his health, but not showing their hand on whether they would do something like this.

At least give you a little bit of history here. A lot of political irony because this law was changed in 2004, and why? because it is back then there was another Democratic senator, John Kerry from the state of Massachusetts running for president. You remember that. Well, the state legislators, they changed the law to put this in place, a special election and not allowing a vacancy to be filled.

Why did they do that? Because at the time, there was a Republican governor in the state of Massachusetts. That governor was Mitt Romney, and they were worried if John Kerry were to win the presidency in 2004 when he ran against George Bush, they didn't want Mitt Romney to replace the senator with a Republican, maybe even himself. That's why this is in place. It's a little bit of a political, ironic twist here.

LEMON: All right. Dana Bash, thank you very much for that. Now, we take you to Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: You come up through killer town here and people don't know who you are. We could get shot right now for filming in this car, riding down the street. We can get shot. Chances are, I know most of the people in the area, and if I got out of the truck and say I am doing something with CNN, they'll give us a pass.

LEMON: But just by riding here, we're taking our lives in our hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're taking a chance right now, Don. I have to be honest with you because people shoot and ask questions later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Nearly 300 people have died by the gun in Chicago just this year. Many of them are teenagers; some of them were innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. They are someone's sons and daughters. They had names, they had dreams that they will never realize now. I sat down with their parents whose pain never seems to ease.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNETTE NANCE-HOLT, BLAIR HOLT'S MOTHER: Every time we talk about what happened that day, it breaks me down all the time.

RONALD HOLT, BLAIR HOLT'S FATHER: I'm just as numb as that night -- that afternoon that Annette called me and told me that Blair had been shot. You talk about the worst moment -- feeling in the world, instant trauma to the emotions.

NANCE-HOLT: When I think back to what kind of child I had, it hurts me so bad.

LEMON (on camera): You brought something of your...

MICHELE LINTON-DELASHMENT, KERMIT DELASHMENT JR.'S MOTHER: I brought the program, obituary and also the newspaper article because he told me he would be in the paper.

LEMON: This is how he's in the paper?

LINTON-DELASHMENT: Yep.

LEMON: "College student is city's 500th homicide of the year." This isn't how you expected your son to be remembered.

LINTON-DELASHMENT: No. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Terrell was a bass player, a gospel bass player. He was at a church, coming out to help his friend get drums out of the car, and someone came shooting and shot Terrell.

TOMMIE BOSLEY, TERRELL BOSLEY'S FATHER: I drove him to high school for four years. I drove him every day so that he wouldn't have to take public transportation, and the one place I never worried about that was church. I never worried about him being at church, and to get a phone call that your son got shot coming out of church, it was just unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I could say anything to that parent whose child caused my child to lose his life. I hope you never feel like I feel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Boy, oh, boy. What are Chicago authorities doing about all these youth shootings? What should they do? Here to talk about that is Reverend Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church on Chicago's South Side. He's an activist in the area of youth protection and antiviolence efforts.

Father, thank you very much. That interview, matter of fact, was held in your church, and we're going to talk about those families. But, Father, while I was there interviewing those families and then the mayor's handpicked guy to deal with this issue, tell us what you came in to tell us while we were shooting this story.

FATHER MICHAEL PHLEGER, SOCIAL ACTIVIST: Well, the story was being filmed and we heard helicopters flying over our roof of the church, which we hear frequently now, and a young girl was being shot at 110th and Normal. In fact, I just saw that girl the other day, and she's fighting for her life right now. She was shot in the head while out in front of her own house, and she leaned over to guard a young child when she heard the gunshots and she received a gunshot wound to the head.

LEMON: Father Pfleger said, hey -- we were going to interview Father, and he said, don't interview me, go out there. We went out there and talked to the people on the street and they said they are just frightened about what's happening. Three doors down, as a matter of fact, Father, from the alderman in that ward right down from her house.

So, what should be done here? You know, we've reached out to city leaders, city officials, the mayor. The mayor has not accepted our invitation. Says he can't fit us in his schedule. Jody Weis, superintendent can't talk to us. Arne Duncan did sit down with us the day before yesterday in Washington, D.C., and had very interesting things to say.

What do you feel should be done? Is the effort there coordinated enough? Are you getting enough resources from the city, the mayor, the police department? PFLEGER: No, I don't think we're getting enough resources. I think part of that is the fact that they say they have no resources, that resources have been cut for any kind of prevention or any kind of interaction and intervention for young people from the federal government on down. Everything has been cut in human services.

The only thing where money keeps coming out is for more police. More police is not the answer. We need to get curriculum in schools, we need to do intervention on the streets and prevention with our young people. We need a positive alternatives for them. We need community resources, and all that has been cut. And until we get a federal response that trickles down to the cities and to the states to help with these young people.

We had 42 people killed in Chicago in July. 183 shot and wounded in July. Those are bigger numbers than Baghdad.

LEMON: It's unbelievable. And the fact that the mayor -- yes, I don't know what his schedule is like, but five or ten minutes doesn't take that long to answer a couple questions. Same thing for the police superintendent because people nationwide, just not in Chicago, are concerned about this. The head of schools, of the Education Department now, Arne Duncan, did see fit because he believes it starts in schools.

So, real quickly, I'm going to ask you, if your prayers were answered. Obviously, it would be for these kids to stop doing it. What would you like to see done right now to stop the violence in Chicago?

PFLEGER: I would like to see a federal response just like we did with swine flu, Don. Call together a national summit to look at this violent situation. How do we provide the resources to stop it? How do we get the data to see this kind of shooting and killing going on around the country to force Congress to react? And let us as a country realize there is a genocide going on of our children. We have got to respond. And if we don't, shame on us. Our children are dying, and we're turning our backs on them.

LEMON: Father Michael Pfleger, St. Sabinas Church in Chicago. Also a community activist. Thank you very much. We really appreciate it.

We're going to be talking about this much, much more CNN, 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. What is going on in Chicago? The solutions. What makes Chicago different than any other city? Why so much youth violence there, especially with guns? Make sure you tune in then.

In the meantime, giving back in a big way. A student with a severe spinal injury walks again and then he bikes to help others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, some may have with wondered whether a teen would walk again after a serious football injury. He has done more than that, even biking across country. But that feat wasn't accomplished for fame but to give back. Here's our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When he was only 15, a Friday high school football game forever changed the life of Matthew Sanchez.

(on camera): Can you just paint a picture for me what happened this particular evening?

MATTHEW SANCHEZ, BIKED ACROSS COUNTRY TO RAISE FUNDS: The running back was coming around on a sweep, and right before I hit the running back, the fullback knocked the lights out from under men and I actually just kind of went horizontal and hit him with my head down. Felt the really sharp pain went through my body after I hit him and I hit the ground. I felt like an explosion went off in my body.

GUPTA: Matthew was unable to move. You can take a look at his x-ray over here. Doctors here at Shepherd determined he had a fracture of a C-5 bone.

(voice-over): Over the next few weeks, Sanchez managed to regain feeling in his legs and struggled to learn how to walk again. After months of rehab, he was driven to get back to competition, completing seven triathlons in the past couple of years and now a cross-country bike trip to raise funds for the Shepard Center's Share Initiative. That initiative enables veterans and active duty military to travel here for treatment.

(on camera): As Matthew Sanchez pedaled across America, he just wasn't thinking about the road in front of him. He was thinking about people he might help by raising money from his cross-country odyssey. People like Dylan Cannon.

(voice-over): Cannon had been in Iraq when he was shot by a sniper in 2006. The bullet fractured the vertebrae in his neck, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Two years later, he ended up here at the Shepherd Center, looking for more independence.

DYLAN CANNON, INJURED IN IRAQ: I knew I would be fine if I could do stuff on my own. Once I'm a little bit older and, you know, parents aren't there to help, you have to know how to take care of yourself.

GUPTA: Cannon says without the Share Initiative and people like Matthew Sanchez, his outcome could have been very different.

CANNON: Some people would just get better and carry on with their daily lives and not even look back at what got them here and why (INAUDIBLE) I mean, out of the kindness of his heart. It shows that people go above and beyond what they have to do. He could be working and making money for himself right now, and he's trying to help out people like me.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, guess what? Very special treat. In a moment, just a moment, Matthew Sanchez joins me here lies -- live, and we're going to talk to him about going through that 4,000-mile ride. Can we see a picture of him before we go to break? See that? We can't. OK. He's right over there. We'll see you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. We told you about a remarkable young man before the break. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta brought you his story. He was injured while a sophomore playing football in high school. They thought he would never walk again. But it turns out, he did, and he's also biking and helping others.

Matthew Sanchez joins us right now in the CNN NEWSROOM. It's good to see you.

SANCHEZ: Oh, you too. Thanks for having me on.

LEMON: Where's the bike? I thought you were going to bring the bike.

SANCHEZ: Oh, it's back at home. I had to make a couple trips to get myself back to school, so...

LEMON: Yes. So, right after they thought you were never going to walk, you had this football injury and how many surgeries did you have?

SANCHEZ: One surgery. Was about eight hours long, though.

LEMON: Can you come in here -- you said you have a scar here because they went in through the front and turn around...

SANCHEZ: I have a scar here in the back, as well.

LEMON: Wow. And long. Does that just go from there to...

SANCHEZ: You can kind of see the end right there.

LEMON: Yes. OK. Wow. And then through the front. So, obviously, serious business they thought you weren't going to walk, and then you get to the Shepherd Center and you're recovering and you say, what? I'm going to...

SANCHEZ: Well, you know, initially, I just volunteered, and I thought I'd try to help out as much as possible. But kind of realizing how well I had it after my accident, I wanted to give back a little bit more, and I wanted to talk to them and pitch the idea of the ride and I said, "I figured this is a great way to kind of show that I recovered and also a great way to kind of honor the troops there."

LEMON: But you pitched this, after you had recovered, but I'm sure there was a recovery process for you where all of a sudden you realize, hey, I can walk again. And what was that moment like?

SANCHEZ: It was pretty happy moment, honestly. Actually, it was almost right after surgery. I was fortunate enough to get some motion back at that point and, you know, realizing that at least the nerves were there for me to walk again was really a...

LEMON: To get from this point to that point, how long was that?

SANCHEZ: It was five years, probably. A year after my accident I was back running track and competing in high school events like that. Wasn't very fast, but I was out there trying to do it. And then I graduated from high school and started triathlons at UGA, and since then I haven't tried to look back too much.

LEMON: You wanted to give back and raise some money, if not money, just awareness of it. As you were going through this bike ride -- I think this is -- 4,350 miles. What were you thinking? Each mile -- one mile, two mile.

SANCHEZ: Oh, definitely. There were times when it was unpleasant part, rainy, hail at one point. But for the most part, I enjoyed every mile of it.

LEMON: Did you think about stopping? "I can't do this anymore"?

SANCHEZ: It crossed my mind. But at the same time, I tried to think about the soldiers that go overseas and serve every day, and that kind of inspired me to keep going.

LEMON: Seven triathalons.

SANCHEZ: Yes, sir.

LEMON: I guess I could probably get to the gym in the evenings after work if you can do seven triathlons. Hey, listen, you're a remarkable young man. I could sit down and talk to you -- whatever. Let's have coffee, because I'd love to talk to you about that. Me, you and Sanjay. And we'll talk about this.

SANCHEZ: All right.

LEMON: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure meeting you. Good luck.

SANCHEZ: Thank you again for having me on.

LEMON: Great cause. Great cause. Matthew Sanchez.

And make sure you catch more of Matthew's journey and meet some of the troops this program is helping. Tune in to "House Call" this weekend, 7:30 a.m. Eastern only on CNN with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. It was a very busy news morning here. I want to tell you what is happening right now. There are other stories that we have been covering. The man who brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland 20 years ago is now free.

Earlier this morning live here on CNN, you saw the British court official there talking about his release and then he was released. The court cited compassionate grounds. The Libyan native is dying from prostate cancer. 270 people were killed in the bombing. Many victims' families are furious about the release. You saw him being freed live, right here on CNN.

Is the champion a man or a woman? Gender test results are pending on the South African winner of the women's 800-meter race at the World's Athletic Championship in Berlin. The question of the winner's gender was first raised last month.

Just minutes ago in New York, former NFL star Plaxico Burress entered a guilty plea on weapons charges. He has agreed to a two-year prison term. You may remember Burress accidentally shot himself in a NewYork nightclub. We'll be following that one.

I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for watching. I'm done here. CNN's Drew Griffin will continue with the CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.