Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Gunman Shoots Doctor at Johns Hopkins; School Evacuated for Gas Smell; Record Number of U.S. Poor; Pope Benedict in Britain; Molestation Victim Speaks Out About Abuse by Priest; Baltimore Gunman Shot and Killed by Police
Aired September 16, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It's top of the hour here now in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Ali Velshi. We're going to continue the coverage we've been seeing from our Tony Harris the last hour.
As we keep an eye on what's happening in Baltimore right now, and what is happening, a gunman right now, even though he is cornered, according to police, is still not in custody as well according to police, you are looking at a picture in Baltimore of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
This is a huge, huge complex there. It is one of the largest employers in the state. The largest in the city of Baltimore, but a huge complex there. It is one of the largest employers in the state, the largest in the city of Baltimore, but a huge complex where a short time ago, a man, for unknown reasons right now, shot a doctor. A man was in the hospital, and he shot a doctor.
That doctor's condition now has been upgraded. He appears to be in stable condition. Non-life threatening injuries now. Police officer came out a short time ago, even said, in fact, the doctor, if you're going to be shot, you're in the right place because you're at Johns Hopkins University, where you can get -- the hospital rather, where you can get some treatment.
But the gunman right now, still on the loose. The reasons for the shooting right now, still not known. We're seeing pictures here. This is on Wolfe in particular. The street there in Baltimore where this took place.
Again, this is a huge, huge complex. Now, we've been going back and forth for the past hour or so. There were reports that, in fact, this incident was actually wrapped up, that the suspect was in custody. Police came out a short time later and said, in fact, that is not the case.
The key here is that they do believe they have this suspect isolated at this complex. If there was a suspect on the loose at Johns Hopkins Hospital, that would be a huge, huge problem with such a massive complex. So the good news, in fact, or at least is that this suspect is contained. They believe they have a suspect contained to a particular floor and a particular building at the complex. An officer came out a short time ago, to give you any indication how they feel about it now. He even encouraged people, if you have to come down here to the hospital, traffic is still flowing. You can still get into certain places. They are so confident they have this suspect confined to a particular area, that he is not a threat to other parts of the particular hospital.
Again, a huge complex as you look at this here. This looks like just really city blocks, but in fact, you're looking at the hospital itself. You know the name, Johns Hopkins Hospital. It is just a world-renowned hospital. Year after year after year it is voted one of the top hospitals if not the top hospital in the country every single year. This is a complex that has about 1,000 beds, 982 to be precise, 1,000 beds to treat people.
But right now, we don't know why this suspect did what he did at this hospital, what he is alleged to have done, which is shoot a doctor. There have been back and forth, all kinds of different reports about what possibly this suspect was up to, why this suspect was upset. We're going to stay away from any of those reports for the time being until we get more concrete information.
The police are telling us right now, in fact, that they do believe they have this man contained, this shooter contained at this point and that would be the good news.
Helping me out here on our coverage is going to be Pat Brown, a criminal profiler joining me now on the phone.
Pat, we appreciate you hopping on here with us. And the police came out a short time ago, and they even said, "We don't know what this suspect wants. We don't know what this suspect was after. We don't know the motive for this." Is that, first and foremost, in the minds of police officers right now, trying to figure out who they're dealing with and what this person wants?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER (via telephone): Exactly, because I think what they're mostly at looking is what kind of ammunition he has. Because if he just had a personal grudge, he was angry at the doctor, had some issue in his life he wanted to get back at this doctor because he'd kind of ticked him off for whatever reason, he might have been coming in with a personal weapon.
Now, we certainly have enough of those floating around the streets of Baltimore. So it may have been his personal weapon, and he may only have one clip in it, which is a good -- which is a good thing, when you compare it to a mass murderer, who comes in with an entire bag full of six or seven weapons and lots of clips, and he's going to take out everybody he can.
This doesn't sound like that kind of situation. He's obviously not gone after anybody else. He's in a specific location. So he's not trying to take hostages or anything. It seems more like to me he cornered himself, shot this doctor he had something against, or at least in his own mind. And now, he's cornered in there with his weapon, and they just want to make sure he doesn't hurt anybody else. HOLMES: What does this suspect possibly feel now if this suspect feels cornered at the hospital? We don't know if the person tried to escape. There are reports that the suspect actually barricaded himself in, but if he now feels cornered, what kind of a person are we dealing with?
BROWN: Well, he sure does feel cornered. I mean, he knows he can't get past, probably, the police line, so he knows he's in trouble there. Hopefully, somebody is able to talk him down, simply by saying the doctor -- you know, his condition has improved. You're not going to get -- at least not going to get nailed with murder. Put your weapon down and come on out before you make your situation much worse. And I think he -- at some point, I think he still has to either do that or they'll have to fire off what's left.
That's what they want to make sure. They don't want one of their police officers injured or anybody else injured in the hospital because he wants to come out firing the last of whatever he's got. So they do want to be cautious about that. But they've got him contained. At least they feel that they can probably keep him contained and sit there and wait until he decides to give up, essentially.
HOLMES: What does this tell you about the person's intentions or premeditation? I guess it's possible that this person happened to be just walking around with a gun on them. Something upset them at the hospital, and they pulled it out and started shooting. But is there a pretty good chance that this individual went to that hospital with intentions?
BROWN: It may well be that he was angry and he just -- he had a personal weapon on him. People don't realize how many people do come into the hospital with weapons, especially, like, in the emergency room. We find quite a lot of people, even if going in with a person who's been shot in some kind of incident, and people coming in to visit him, his friends actually are packing heat with them. So it's kind of -- people don't realize they're sitting around the emergency room sometimes with other people with guns on them because they're not coming through a metal detector necessarily.
I don't know what Johns Hopkins' situation is and how careful they are about that, but most hospitals I've been in do not have metal detectors for every person coming through. So there are people there actually armed. Luckily, there are also usually guards who are armed, as well.
But I think this is probably more of a personal issue. Maybe he was, indeed, angry at a doctor, feeling helpless, feeling like he wasn't being listened to, and he charges this particular one doctor. Or he wanted to visit somebody, and somebody made him mad, and he had his personal weapon.
But I do think we're looking at a situation like that, which is, as bad as it is for the doctor who got shot, and they want to keep this obviously under control. It's a whole lot better than having somebody coming in, who wants to take everybody out in a midlife crisis kind of situation.
HOLMES: Pat, how do these things often end? I'm sure police are trying to talk to this person and end this without any more gunfire and any more bloodshed, but how -- how do these things often end with the scenario that you just laid out and the scenario we know about so far?
BROWN: Right. Well, most of the time, we don't have a shooter who's just got a personal grudge or a personal issue with perhaps, as I say, one weapon. That's not the usual scenario. So they're in very good shape.
Usually, if you talk about a mass murderer type, he'll take everybody out he can and he intends to die at the end of the day, so he's extraordinarily dangerous. In this situation, I don't necessarily think we have that. We might have a guy who's scared, because he's made this stupid mistake, he's done this horrible thing. He's scared. He knows he's trapped.
So I think they're -- I think they're -- this is going to end up probably better than most situations, because they're only dealing, I think, with a very, you know, localized incident, and probably they can control that. It's just going to be a matter of time.
HOLMES: All right. Pat Brown again, criminal profiler on the line with us. Pat, don't go too far away from that phone. We're going to stay in close contact.
BROWN: All right.
HOLMES: Thank you so much for your perspective and your expertise here.
But to our viewers, we're going to get in a quick break here and continue to collect information. But again, if you are just joining us here, I want to let you know what has happened at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where a person less than two hours ago, for some unknown reason at this point, went in and has shot a doctor. That doctor is a faculty physician, according to the hospital statement, saying the victim is a faculty physician who is currently being treated at the hospital right now.
The condition was upgraded. Initially, we had been told it was critical condition. But told now it's non-life threatening. The person is stable. Right now, no motive for why the shooter is in the hospital, why that shooter fired a shot, why that shooter fired a shot in the direction of this doctor. Right now, police are telling us, in fact, that they believe the person is contained into one particular floor of the hospital.
I want to listen now to a live interview happening with our affiliate and someone who works in the hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't know what he's going to do, but we just need to stay put.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How frightening was that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very scary. Very frightening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, did you start calling loved ones at that point to let them know what was going on? What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, my mom works here, and I don't even exactly know where she's at right now. I didn't even get a chance to talk to her yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got to be a little disconcerting for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At what point did you exit the building?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 15 minutes ago. And I still can't get anywhere. I'll just slack off (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You started work about 8 this morning, so your shift is far from over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is. I don't get off until 4:30 this evening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you were not told to go home? Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they didn't tell me to go home. They just want me to stay put. And when I came outside, basically, that's what we have to do. Stay put. We can't really do anything. We have to wait until they find out exactly what's going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we've seen a lot of dazed people coming out of the hospital, sort of in disbelief. Is that really how you feel at this point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. I really -- I really am scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And as you look around and you see the police tape and you see the ambulance and the police cars, I mean, this has to be sort of surreal, maybe something like you'd see in a movie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not something you expected to happen today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Not Johns Hopkins.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks for talking with us. Very much so.
Very disconcerting, as you just heard from an employee of the hospital. The hospital is some place that, when people come here, they already feel vulnerable. A lot of people are sick, or they need a procedure done. And maybe they're already feeling a little nervous about being in a hospital.
This of course, does not strengthen their belief that everything is going to be OK. So not only are some patients frightened, but I'm sure loved ones are frightened, as well, and anyone who works here.
We have been told that most of the hospital is open and open for business and receiving patients, but I can tell you that some employees are still being evacuated. So we're going to have to get some more confirmation as to what's actually operating. And as you can see behind me, it is a little bit difficult to get around.
HOLMES: One of our local affiliate reporters there we were just listening to, talking to someone who was in the hospital, working in the hospital, who has left for the time being, said she can't get too far.
But again, employees were told -- this is telling it all -- that in fact, not to evacuate. The entire complex was not evacuated. That would be a Herculean task to try to do that, because this is a huge, huge complex.
Police believe they have this shooter, this suspect, isolated to the eighth floor of the main hospital to one floor. So they tell us that operations and things are going on around the hospital complex, and work is still going on. It wasn't a massive evacuation of this entire complex. That's why there's still so much activity. Work is still going on.
And again, one person shot. That was a physician that worked there. We were told already that doctor had gone into surgery, and his condition was now upgraded to non-life threatening. Don't know why that hospital -- that particular physician might have been targeted.
Again, we continue to collect information here. We are going to take a quick break and continue to collect information on this story. We'll bring you the very latest when we come back. Stay here with us. Breaking news coverage of what's happening at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And again, we are following that breaking story in Baltimore. But I need to pause here for a moment to bring you another breaking story we are keeping an eye on out in California right now.
The same area, same neighborhood where we saw that natural gas explosion that killed four people and leveled a neighborhood essentially, well now, a natural gas odor, according to our affiliate, KTVU, a natural gas odor has been detected in that same area, and it's caused such alarm that an elementary school has now been evacuated.
Again, this is out in San Bruno, California, just outside of San Francisco, where last Thursday, there was -- some people complained. And for weeks, they had smelled some odor of gas. Well, this now resulted on Thursday in the huge explosion we saw. Three dozen homes, at least, were destroyed. Just a complete U.S. block. A neighborhood essentially, was destroyed, leveled, was on fire. Four people were killed.
Well, in that same area now, it's being reported by our affiliate, KTVU, a natural gas odor has been detected, and it is so serious, in fact, they are taking it so seriously -- why wouldn't they after what we just saw a few days ago? -- that an elementary school is having to be evacuated.
Just getting that in. We are following that. We are on the phones right now, getting more information about that story, but certainly something to cause alarm right now when it happened in the exact same area where we saw a neighborhood essentially leveled. Three dozen homes, four killed. You remember those pictures of all those flames and an entire neighborhood after that explosion.
But something else is going on right now to the point they had to evacuate an elementary school. We are on top of that.
We are also on top of the breaking news story out of Baltimore, where we are seeing at Johns Hopkins Hospital, one person has been shot, that being a physician who we're now told is in stable condition, non-life-threatening issue. But was shot by someone at the hospital the police still do not have in custody. However, they believe that they have this person isolated.
There was some confusion earlier about whether or not this person had been taken into custody by police. Again, a breaking news story here that's been happening over the last two hours. But differing information sometimes coming out from the hospital releasing statements and the police releasing statements. So that's where some of the confusion comes from.
But right now, the word from police is that this person is isolated on the eighth floor of the main hospital building. Operations and functions around the entire complex are still continuing right now.
This is a hospital that has about 1,000 beds. This is a huge, huge complex. You hear Johns Hopkins Hospital all the time because year after year, it is at the very forefront, at the top of the list when it comes to the best hospitals in this country. Usually at the top of that list. But today in the news for a much different reason.
You are seeing video here of some of these tactical teams which are on site, certainly trying to formulate, if not already implementing a plan right now on how they're going to resolve this.
This man, we believe it to be a man right now, but no identity released on him, no motive as well, but varying reports out there about what this man possibly was upset about. But right now, we don't know. And police came out a short time ago and said they don't know either, but they're trying to figure out why this man was possibly upset.
I want to bring in Josh Levs, as well, to our coverage here, who is -- and Josh, about the actual complex itself. I see you starting there with some of the Twitter stuff, the information we're getting out.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HOLMES: It's amazing here that the information, how it gets out so quickly because Johns Hopkins and as well as the Baltimore police, they tweet.
LEVS: They're tweeting. And in fact, police said to us earlier, "Follow our Twitter page," and we already were. And let me tell you some of the ways that have just popped up. You'll see here, less than five seconds ago, this is just come -- this is from the hospital, their Twitter page. "Baltimore PD and Johns Hopkins security ask employees, visitors, patients and caregivers to stay in rooms, offices until further notice."
And it's in small letters, but underneath it, you see a few minutes ago they said the shooter had been isolated. And finally, can you see way down here? This is now about an hour ago. They said that as a precaution, the Johns Hopkins Hospital had temporarily restricted access to the main hospital building following the report of a shooting.
Now, I will remind everyone that what we're hearing is that the situation is contained. We do know that the shooting, according to the officials there, took place on the eighth floor of the main building, but we don't know exactly where the current incident is contained to. We do know what they're saying right here. Those officials say that they restricting access, and they're asking people to stay put.
Now, let's jump over to the Twitter site for the police themselves. And we can take a look at what they've just put a few minutes ago. Wolfe incident, that's what they're calling on the street where the hospital is. Motive unclear at present.
And we've got a couple here. Physician's wound considered non- life-threatening and recovery expected. And we'll do one more here, where they say incident is isolated to one relatively small part of the hospital. People who have business are encouraged to come.
So look, give me -- two things at once. You're encouraged to come, but we're also telling people inside the hospital to stay put. Clearly, there are people who are going to stay away. And one thing we need to get clear on right now is exactly who is coming in and who is coming out of that giant complex -- T.J.
HOLMES: It's a huge, huge complex.
Josh, we appreciate you and the information coming out. And now, I was asking here -- I was trying to see whether or not this is another briefing possibly taking place. If so, we'd like to bring that to you, if it's live. But if not, we get information, we'll pass that along to you as we get it. But again, in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, where still, a suspect is holed up, not in police custody yet. We'll continue to keep an eye.
Again, one person, a physician, shot at this point, but his injuries considered non-life-threatening now.
Quick break. We're right back with all the breaking news of the day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM here at 21 minutes past the hour.
We have some disturbing new numbers that might not come as a surprise to a lot of people about the number of people in poverty in this country. We have seen a spike in the number of people living at or below the line. The rate has jumped to 14.3 percent.
To put that in perspective, that is the highest rate we have seen since 1994 in this country. Put that into terms for you, as well. It's also the largest number of people, actual numbers of people we have seen living at or below the poverty line in some 51 years in this country.
Let me give you -- what does that mean necessarily? People might not even know, quite frankly, that they're at that poverty line. So this is how it's defined by the government. A family of four, if you make less than $21,954, that's defined as poverty by the government. If it's a couple, two people, if you're making less than $13,991, that is considered, as well, poverty, or a single person with a household income of less than $10,956.
The poverty rate increased in most regions; however, the northeast stayed about the same. Rate up for all racial and ethnic groups except for Asians, that was stable. Was does this all mean?
Some perspective now from Doctor -- or Professor Tim Smeeding. He's director of the Institute of Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He joins us now.
Sir, thank you for being with us. A little perspective here. If we have to hear about one more person being in poverty, that's bad news, but to put it in perspective for us, is this a significant spike we have seen?
TIM SMEEDING, PROFESSOR: It -- thank you, T.J. It sure is. It's a big hit. Many thought it would be worse. And it will be even worse next year, I believe, because we're still stuck in the recession.
As you mentioned, it hit virtually everybody, but particularly, younger people in kids. There's big increase in poverty in kids. That went from 20, from 19 to 20.7, almost 21 percent. And the big increase among younger adults 18-24, single parents, and an even bigger increase among children under the age of 6 where the poverty rate went up 2.6 percent to 23.9.
HOLMES: Now, how do we explain those numbers with the young people? Yes, how do we explain those numbers, necessarily. Understand the adults losing jobs, but how does that work?
SMEEDING: Well, they've lost jobs, and they can't find work. Younger people who have less education are less able to get into the labor market. Older, experienced workers are coming back if anybody is coming back.
They're less likely to get unemployment compensation because they haven't had a permanent job for a long time. And this big increase in poverty was despite the fact that many of them avoided poverty by moving back in with their parents or with their sister or brother.
So it's essentially what we're seeing is a lot of young people starting out their lives in their 20s, having children and not being able to support those children or to support themselves because of the lack of jobs.
HOLMES: And sir, you talked about the number was actually expected to be worse. I mean, the experts and the analysts who make these predictions aren't always right, but still, if they expected it to be worse, what kept it from being worse?
SMEEDING: Well, what kept it from being worse this year in part was because the poverty rate from the elderly actually fell by almost a percentage point, from 9.7 to 8.9. So the elderly fall restrained the increase in the rest of the poverty population. In other words, when you add it up, it only went from 13.2 to 14.3, and that was a big increase among younger people, obviously, and a decrease among the elderly.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing here. The numbers next year, the unemployment rate isn't as high this year as it was last year. Hopefully, it will stay that way throughout the rest of the year, but your prediction for next year, are we going to continue to see these bumps or could we possibly stabilize?
SMEEDING: I think we're going to continue to see a rise. All of our extended unemployment insurance, which has been effective in reducing poverty, will be expired. Jobless rates are still high and haven't come down at all for younger, undereducated workers, these young people we're talking about. Most of them who needed to move back in with their parents have.
So I think it's going to be worse next year for them, and I can see next year going up closer to 15 percent.
HOLMES: Goodness.
SMEEDING: It's bad enough this year, just as you pointed out. HOLMES: Yes. All right. Professor Tim Smeeding, again, with you know, another reality check for us as we get more -- more signs of just how troubling the economic situation really is. Professor, we appreciate you being here. Thank you so much.
SMEEDING: Thank you, T.J. Have a good day.
HOLMES: All right. Well, 500 years now after Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and took all of Britain with him, the pope gets a royal welcome from the queen. Some other Brits not so hospitable, however. We've got the spectacle, the scandals and everything else. That's when we come back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Holmes: Queen Elizabeth today welcomed Pope Benedict for a visit as controversial as it is historic. Benedict is only the second pope ever to visit the U.K. and the first to make an official state visit. Pope John Paul II made an historical visit back in 1982, but that was when the world was a much different place. Take a listen to the queen now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN ELIZABETH II, UNITED KINGDOM: Much has changed in the world during the nearly 30 years since Pope John Paul's visit. In this country, we deeply appreciate the involvement of the Holy See in the dramatic improvement in the situation in Northern Ireland.
Elsewhere, the fall of totalitarian regimes across central and eastern Europe has allowed greater freedom for hundreds of millions of people. The Holy Seat (ph) continues to have an important role in international issues in support of peace and development and in addressing common problems like poverty and climate change.
Your Holiness, your presence here today reminds us of our common Christian heritage and of the Christian contribution to the encouragement of world peace and to the --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Remember now, the queen is the official head of the Church of England and the pope is also the head of state, so they have a lot more in common there than you might think.
Now here's what's happening right now, it's a huge, open-air mass. This is happening in Glasgow, a big stadium there, a big park really. The pope, oftentimes when he travels, he will have one of these huge open-air masses. This one taking place right now.
They're expecting a crowd of some 65,000 worships, which would be about 1.5 percent of the Catholic population over Britain. Catholics make up roughly 9 percent of the British population overall.
The pontiff touched down on a Wednesday (ph) morning in Edinburgh, but the news was made even before that. Speaking to reporters in the air, he reflected bluntly on the clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church worldwide.
The pope said, let me quote for you here, "These revelations were for me a shock and a great sadness. It is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible. It is also a great sadness that the authorities of the Church...were insufficiently quick and decisive in taking the necessary measures," end quote.
So far, these words have done really nothing to lessen a pretty strong backlash to the papal's visit.
Let's talk about this and the other controversies along with these ceremonies with our CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen. John, always good to see you. Watching things for us in our London bureau.
President -- or excuse me, the pope always makes a visit and the controversies come up. There's a controversy over how much Great Britain has to pay for his trip, controversy over the sex scandals, controversy people saying not as many people are going to show up to see him.
So what is the good news in this trip? What are people there excited about in the pope's visit?
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J.
Well, it really depends on who you ask. I mean, there is a pretty broad cross-section of the English public that's not excited at all. This is a thoroughly secular country. I would say if you walk out in the street and just stop people at random, what most of them probably would tell you is they're not paying much attention and frankly, don't care much one way or the other.
Now, for that inner core of committed Catholics in Scotland and England, of course, the presence of the pope, the man they regard as the Holy Father, is an extraordinary shot in the arm. They see themselves as an embattled subculture and the pope is coming to sort of give them a boost.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, of course, there are the kind of activist wing of the secular world that see the pope as the architect of a criminal cover-up of a child abuse scandal and as a figure who holds positions on issues like abortion and gay marriage and so forth that they find repugnant. And on Saturday, T.J., they're planning to take to the streets to protest.
So they say England swings like a pendulum due, I think that's true of reaction to the pope's trip, too.
HOLMES: Were they already, a lot of people, like you say, upset about the visit and about how the pope and Vatican has been handling the sex scandals? But did it make a difference, did it fire people up even more, these comments that came out from a chief adviser to the pope calling or likening London in particular and Great Britain to a third world country? ALLEN: Well, you know, T.J., you and I have talked before. The Vatican seems to have a special genius for saying the exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time, and this would be another case in point.
The official, it's a retired official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, a German who for more than a decade was the Vatican's top official for relations with other Christian Churches and with Judaism, said that in an interview with a German newspaper, and it has been a fairly big deal I would say in the British press today and on the street. A lot of people are taking it as a poke in the eye.
Now, what Kasper and the Vatican have said is that all he meant is that the U.K. is an increasingly multicultural society. Anybody who knows him knows he's a very cosmopolitan, sophisticated guy. I'm sure he didn't mean to give offense. But, you know, as you say, this is -- in the court of public opinion, this is yet another PR gaffe for a pope who really doesn't need one more.
ALLEN: All right, John, forgive me. If you can, stand by. I need to jump to breaking news we were having out of Baltimore. And there is a press conference going on right now about the shooting at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ANTHONY GUGLIELMI, CHIEF OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are confirming that the situation is contained. We are still trying to get control of the suspect. It's in the Nelson building, which I believe everybody already knows. It's on a floor in the Nelson building, which we're not going to give out yet.
The hospital is operating to as close to normal as possible. The emergency room is open. Things are operating here. As you can see, traffic is right behind me. And we're just doing what we do.
The doctor is going to be OK. I think that was already reported. He has non-life threatening injuries. Frankly, he's in the best place he could ever be. He's going to be OK.
And we have no information on anyone in danger, any hostages. It appears to be a barricade situation.
But every 30 minutes, we want to make sure that we get you guys information that we have. So 30 minutes from now, we'll update you with more.
QUESTION: What can you tell us about the individual whose barricaded himself?
GUGLIELMI: I don't have a background on him. I know he's African-American male in his 30s. I don't have an identity, I don't have a background. I don't know his relationship to the doctor.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) His mother, we're hearing (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: We have those anecdotally, that's there's a family member, we're not sure whether it's a mother or a father. But anecdotally, we do have a report that he's in the room with a family member.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: Floors that are affected are sealed off. Police personnel --
QUESTION: More than one floor?
GUGLIELMI: Correct. We're not going to get into specifics on where, obviously for tactical reasons.
QUESTION: How many floors are (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: We're not going to get into that. There's TVs all over the building. All we want to say is that the situation is contained.
QUESTION: Can you confirm that he was (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: That is true. All the floors, all the floors have been -- the situation's been contained.
QUESTION: What's the family member (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: Don't know.
QUESTION: Can you confirm the doctor was shot in the stomach?
GUGLIELMI: Abdominal injuries. The doctor had abdominal injuries.
QUESTION: One gunshot? More than one?
GUGLIELMI: I don't know how many gunshots.
QUESTION: Require -- did he require surgery?
GUGLIELMI: He did require surgery. He's in surgery as we speak, but he is going to be OK.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: Don't know.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) one weapon? Do you have any ideas?
GUGLIELMI: Don't know anything about the weapon yet.
QUESTION: What kind of doctor is he, Anthony?
GUGLIELMI: Don't know. QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: Maybe, Joy (ph). You know, we have those very same questions for him. So --
QUESTION: Have you heard that though?
GUGLIELMI: I haven't heard that. I have not heard that.
QUESTION: Talk about your police activity as you can. What's going on?
GUGLIELMI: We don't want to say too much.
One thing I so want to say is that the Baltimore Police Department and Johns Hopkins are professional agencies. We train for this all the time. As you can see, traffic is flowing behind me, there's no risk to the general public, to patients. The situation is contained.
Baltimore City Fire Department is here. The FBI is here on standby. I mean, you're dealing with the eighth largest police department in the country, we're good at these kinds of things and we're confident that we're going to get this resolved soon.
QUESTION: Are you in contact with the shooter at all?
GUGLIELMI: Don't want to talk about that.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) police are telling us they can't get in. What should we be telling people?
GUGLIELMI: Alerts have been sent to employees. There are certain floors that are affected that are closed that they cannot have access to, but the majority of the hospital and the emergency room they do have access to. People are coming in and they're being treated.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) information in the lockdown situation at this point (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: The floors that the situation is taking place are contained. There is no one in danger or locked in any rooms or anything like that.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: Yes, there are a number of floors that we're locking down.
QUESTION: Are you confirming the identity of the doctor who was shot?
GUGLIELMI: Nope.
All right, guys, it sounds like we're saying the same thing over and over. So in half an hour, we'll update you on what we have.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
QUESTION: If it resolves faster than in half an hour, will you (OFF-MIKE)
GUGLIELMI: Of course. Of course. G-U-G-L-I-E-L-M-I.
HOLMES: All right, with some new information in this update. Baltimore Police saying they will update us every half hour, so we could possibly get something else here in the next 30 minutes.
But some important information we had not gotten before and that is a little something about the suspect. Said it's an African- American male in his 30s. right now, don't know the relation to the doctor who was shot.
That doctor, we're told, has abdominal injuries and according to that police officer, is in surgery as we speak.
Also, the police officer telling us, conforming that they do believe the person, the suspect is in a room holed up with a family member.
The doctor is going to be OK.
Also, the hospital is operating as normally as possible. This is a huge complex. If you're not particular with Johns Hopkins Hospital there, it is one of the largest employers of the state of Maryland right now. The largest in Baltimore. So it's a huge complex there. So they have this contained to one building and one floor.
The hospital actually put out a statement that I have in my hand here saying that patients who are in that particular building, Nelson, is what the doctor, the police officer said, it's called the Nelson building, the patients are being evacuated to other areas, but employees with ID may remain in that building, but should not attempt to access the eighth floor of Nelson.
So, they have the suspect contained to a particular floor of a particular building. And if this gives you an indication how confident they are that they have it contained, they are still allowing people on other floors, at least employees, to operate in that building, just not go to the eighth floor. So police certainly believe they have this suspect contained.
Again, only one person shot. I say only, but that's more than enough. But one person shot. They do not believe anyone else is in danger at this point. The police officer also would not say whether or not the police are in contact with this particular suspect.
So, yes, some new information we are getting out from police, at least in this latest update. But again, the suspect not in custody, but still contained and they don't believe a danger to anyone else after about a couple of hours ago, this suspect, for unknown reasons right now, shot a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. That doctor is in surgery right now and is believed to be having non-life threatening injuries at this point.
We continue to follow this breaking story. We're collecting more information. Quick break, be right back with you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
We have been covering an historic if not controversial visit to the U.K. by Pope Benedict. We'll bring back in our senior Vatican analyst, John Allen, that we were talking to just a short time ago.
We've talked about so many controversies and other points that other people want to make about his visit, but what was the pope himself, what would he like to accomplish on this trip?
ALLEN: Well, I think Benedict the XVI is in touch with reality enough to know that four days in the U.K. is not going to magically turn the corner on the sex abuse crisis or in centuries of secularization.
I think really what he wants to do is simply reintroduce Christianity and reintroduce the Catholic Church in a positive key to the public that is sort of defined by secular indifference to religion and historical hostility to the Catholic Church.
I think if he can simply convince people to take a new look, that alone, I think he would be willing to take that and run back to Rome.
HOLMES: You know what? Kind of a big mission there, but it sounds like almost a baby step as well. Just another -- a reintroduction, as you put it, as you always put it so eloquently for us.
John Allen, good to see, as always, buddy. Talk to you again soon.
We, of course, have been reporting on Pope Benedict's historic visit to Britain including his blunt admission that the church was slow, late and insufficient in responding to the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.
But before he was Pope Benedict, he was Cardinal Ratzinger, one of the most powerful men in the Vatican. Recently, it's come to light that as head for of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger had direct responsibility for decisions in some notorious sex abuse cases.
CNN's Gary Tuchman examines his handling of one case from the heartland of the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At a lakeside retreat in northern Wisconsin, Terry Kohut tries to escape his past. It isn't easy. Fifty years ago, when he was just 10 years old, Terry, who is deaf, was sent to the St. John's School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What happened there to Terry and up to 200 other deaf boys is now central to the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and to the question of what Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, knew about it all.
Terry Kohut has never spoken publicly about the horrors he endured at St. John's until now.
(on camera): What did he do to you?
TERRY KOHUT, ABUSE VICTIM (through translator): And then it was that afternoon I went into his office. The door was closed and Father Murphy says take your pants down.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Father Lawrence Murphy was the headmaster and priest at St. John's for more than two decades. He was a charismatic fundraiser and respected church leader, but Father Murphy has also been identified by dozens of deaf men who say he raped and sexually abused them for years.
Father Murphy's abuse would come to the direct attention of Cardinal Ratzinger, but his handling of the case would stun Murphy's victims.
DAVID GIBSON, POLITICSDAILY.COM: I think what the Murphy case shows is the deference that Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope Benedict would always give to the priest.
TUCHMAN: Today, Terry Kohut is suing the Vatican for what Father Murphy did to him at St. John's. His lawsuit is the first to name Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.
Until now, Terry Kohut has been anonymous, names only as John Doe 16.
KOHUT: Yes, I was confused as to why it was happening. I mean, he was a priest. You know, I was trying to figure out, I can't believe a priest would do that.
TUCHMAN: The priest is believed to have picked out victims who were especially vulnerable or had been through tragedy already in their young lives. Terry Kohut fit that pattern.
KOHUT: My brother was electrocuted, died when I was 10. And when I was 11, my father hung himself. At 12, my favorite dog died and it tore me up. And I saw Father Murphy and I thought that he could be a second father.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Tell me why, Terry, you've decided to file suit? What do you want to see happen?
KOHUT: I want to see the Vatican because I've been waiting for all these years for them to excommunicate, defrock Father Murphy, but they haven't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Joining me on the phone now is our Gary Tuchman reporting for us by phone from Wilmington, Delaware.
Gary, fascinating story here. I know we're going to be able see much more about it. And the last question there in the piece was what was he hoping to accomplish from this suit. I mean, does he have a chance with this lawsuit actually producing what he hopes it will?
TUCHMAN (via telephone): Not clear, T.J., what will happen with this lawsuit. It's certainly historic, and it's also so sad.
This has been such a sad assignment for me to do. Sad for these victims and sad that we know now unequivocally that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, knew very well about these molestation cases three decades ago. We have the documents. They have been kept secret for years. They have his signature on them.
And these documents are from desperate bishops in the United States, bishops in Milwaukee, bishops from Oakland, bishops from Springfield asking Cardinal Ratzinger, please get this molesting priest off our hands.
In some cases, these priests were already in jail, already convicted, yet they were still officially Roman Catholic priests. And they were asking Ratzinger, please, defrock him. And Ratzinger would write back, his Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith, which he headed, would write back, give us more information and they would delay and delay.
What the church is telling us now, we have an exclusive interview with one of the pope's top aides in Vatican City, is that the church could have made, the local decisions could have been made by the bishops to get rid of these priests.
However, if that was the case, why didn't the bishops know that? Why were they desperately writing back and forth, and we have those letters.
One more important point, T.J. If the church is now saying local decisions could have been made back then, why was Cardinal Ratzinger silencing and censoring and firing priests who differed with the Vatican about religious doctrine. He got very involved in getting rid of priests and encouraging priests to quit who were differing him over this doctrine, but he would not do anything about priests he knew were molesters.
So it's a very sad story all the way around.
HOLMES: Amazing information you have been able, Gary, to uncover here. I know we're going to hear a lot more about it, but Gary, we appreciate you hopping on the phone here again sharing this story. Like you say, sad for you to even cover.
But you can find out exactly what Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, knew and did about Father Murphy. You can tune into a special CNN documentary, "WHAT THE POPE KNEW." That airs September 25th and 26th, and you can see that only right here on CNN.
We want to give you an update now on Baltimore. We've been following this story, this shooter who has shot a physician. Now we've been told by police that that suspect is dead. Again, let me tell you again, that this suspect is now dead. The gunman was shot by police is the information we're now getting.
Let me take you back just a bit here if you haven't been following us all afternoon here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Someone, a couple hours ago, about two and a half hours ago now, shot a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, at a huge complex there. No idea about the motive. We haven't gotten that yet. But shot a doctor, a doctor believed to be in surgery right now and is going survive.
But police kept telling us that they had the suspect contained to a particular floor in a particular building. They said he was hold up and was not a threat to anyone else. Police, we saw the tactical units arrive. You know they had to be formulating a plan. They wouldn't tell us whether or not they were in contact with the subject and talking to this suspect. But now we are getting word, in fact, that the suspect, the gunman, is dead in this incident, and, in fact, the police were the ones who shot him. He did not take his own life. We will work to get more details.
We're going to take a quick break here, have more for you, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As we get close to the top of the hour, time now for our "CNN Equals Politics" update. CNN's senior political editor Mark Preston and CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser are at the CNNPolitics.com desk in Washington.
Two things here. I don't see Paul, and I don't see a desk.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, T.J., how are you doing? It's Mark Preston here.
HOLMES: I'm doing all right.
PRESTON: I tell you what, I'm sitting here in the newsroom with the producers for "JOHN KING USA." T.J., they are mapping out tonight's show as you can see. A couple things on the tablet. Look, we talk a lot about technology in the 21st century, but good old pad and paper, that's how we put things together here at CNN when we have to do it.
HOLMES: That's a pad? That's not a normal pad. What is that?
PRESTON: That is what you call the iPad of CNN. You can't get smaller than that can you, T.J.?
HOLMES: Oh, goodness gracious. PRESTON: So of course they'll be talking a lot of politics tonight. Surely the Delaware Senate race, we're still talking about that. Huge upset. But let me tell you what you need to know now. Talking about this a little bit today, broke the story last night.
The Family Research Council is upset at Senator John Cornyn. He oversees the National Republican Senatorial committee. What he does, he helps raise money and he tries to get Republicans elected. Well, Cornyn is going to attend a fund raiser for the Log Cabin Republicans. That's a gay and lesbian advocacy organization. They're all Republicans. Tony Perkins, from the Family Research Council is very upset about that, sent a note to Cornyn asking him not to go to it.
Well, Cornyn last night responded and said, look, I am going to go with them. I don't agree with them, I'm not with them on the social issues, but do agree with them on fiscal issues. I will tell you this right now, T.J., the Family Research Council is about to issue another statement. They are still upset. In fact they are not satisfied with that response. We'll get it to you a little bit later in the day. We know that they're working on if right now.
And joining me, as you said is Paul Steinhauser, who have the rest of the headlines.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, T.J., you know, Mark, you were just talking about it that race in Delaware. That is the hot race right now, and I just confirmed with the Vice President's office with an aide there just a couple minutes ago that the vice president is going back to his home state sometime next week to try and keep that seat in party hands.
(INAUDIBLE), check this out, we put it right up on the ticker, "Biden to Campaign with Chris Coons," the Democratic nominee in that state. Remember, that was Biden's old seat for almost 40 years. Steve Gruss (ph), right behind that computer, he's our coverage manager. He's going to make sure once we know the date of that event, we'll get coverage of it.
Also today, the President Barack Obama, going up to Connecticut later today, T.J. That's another democratic Senate seat that they're trying to hold on who Republicans think they can win it back. The president is going to help raise big bucks - he hopes - and the party hopes for the nominee up there Richard Blumenthal. Trying to keep that seat in party hands.
All this stuff on CNN.com on the Political Ticker -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, that was a great update date, guys and I think you all introduced us to just about everybody who works in that room. So we do appreciate it, fellas.
Stop with the pose there, Mark Preston.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: T.J. Holmes, this is how I work. HOLMES: Fellas, I appreciate you. You know I love you.
Quick break, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A quick update to let you know that the situation is this Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital has now been resolved. Police have shot and killed the gunman who shot a physician a couple hours ago. No motive for the shooting. The doctor is expected to be OK. But we're waiting to get more details. But this fact the situation has been wrapped up and the hospital not completely reopened yet, but, again, has been resolved. The shooter has been shot and killed by police.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
