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Obama Calls for Moment of Silence; Mass Killing in Tucson; Fallout from Arizona Shooting

Aired January 09, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's bring you up to date now on the shooting investigation. The victims and the suspect. Five criminal counts have just been filed against Jared Loughner. The 22-year-old is expected to make his first court appearance tomorrow. He was arrested moments after the shooting which left six people dead and another 14 wounded. The most critically wounded is Congresswoman Giffords. She was holding a meeting with constituents when the gunfire broke out. Doctors say a bullet passed through the left side of her brain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL LEMOLE, CHIEF OF NEUROSURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: Congresswoman Giffords is able to communicate with us this morning through following of simple commands, and we're very encouraged by that. We're still, still in critical condition. Brain swelling at any time can take a turn for the worse, but I am cautiously optimistic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: President Barack Obama is calling for a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow. Flags are flying at half-staff in Washington and across Arizona. CNN has crews covering this Tucson shooting and of course, we're covering it state to state from Arizona and of course to the District of Columbia and beyond from the investigation to the victims, the witnesses, security issues, and the politics of all of it and such ramifications.

Our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is back with us now out of Washington with more on the five charges, for now five charges that are being filed against Jared Loughner.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's r right. Five counts in this criminal complaint, two for murder, two for attempted murder. We've been going through the statement that was filed along with this, the statement of probable cause. Another interesting thing we found here, in addition to that - what I told you earlier about a safe, there's a real effort here to place Judge Roll at the scene in an official capacity, because the count involving him says specifically that he was there on official business.

They say that within the last several months Judge Roll had worked with Congresswoman Giffords to resolve issues related to the volume of cases filed in the District of Arizona. He attended this event, attempted to speak with the congresswoman, and did speak with one of her aides, a Mr. Barber, about issues related to the volume of federal cases in the District of Arizona.

As I say, an effort here in this complaint to make it clear that the judge was there not just to say hello, but in the course of conducting official business. The other interesting item, which I mentioned to you earlier, is this safe, which according to this complaint, was found when a search warrant was executed on Loughner's home. In it, a letter from the congresswoman on congressional stationery dated August 30th, 2007, thanking for him to attend a "Congress on the Corner" event at the Foothills Mall in Tucson.

Of course, yesterday's event was a "Congress on a Corner" as well. Also recovered in the safe according to this complaint, an envelope with handwriting on the envelope stating I plan to head and my assassination and the name Giffords along with what appears to be Loughner's signature.

So, once again, five counts facing this individual. According to the U.S. attorney's office out in the District of Arizona, he is scheduled to make his initial appearance tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in front of magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson in the Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse out there in Arizona. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: And so Jeanne, earlier they were talking to - investigators were talking to a person, and then they apparently released that person. Is there any more discussion about other persons of interest, whether they are intent on believing that Loughner acted alone or in concert with someone else?

MESERVE: This is still very much an on-going investigation. We're still really in the very early stages of this. A law enforcement source does tell me that not only did they take a look at that individual whose picture we've been seeing on the air all day, but in addition they've brought in several other people for questioning. But as yet, I'm told they haven't found anybody that has any connection with this shooting.

But there's a lot of investigative work still to go on. I don't imagine they've been able to talk to all of the witnesses because some of them still may be in the hospital perhaps unable to speak. They're looking at the computers. They're looking at the cell phones. They're trying to locate other people who may have been in the area. They're trying to reconstruct a time line of what he was doing yesterday in addition to his contacts over the internet.

So this will be a long and complicated process. I don't think they're ruling anything in or out at this point in time, but right now we're not hearing talk about there is anyone else involved except him. They haven't closed off the possibility that there is someone else, but they haven't found them yet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeanne Meserve in Washington, appreciate that.

All right. Let's go to Tucson now, outside the trauma center there. A number of people have gathered. They're leaving flowers there because many of them are very encouraged by what doctors said earlier today, that they're cautiously optimistic specifically about one of the patients there, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Well, her status has been improved.

Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti is there. This vigil is under way, but at the same time while doctors are cautiously optimistic about Congresswoman Giffords, they are saying still she is in intensive care.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no doubt about it. This was a devastating wound and blow that she took, a bullet passing through part of her brain. Very serious indeed. Doctors remain very concerned, but as you indicated also cautiously optimistic about her chances of recovery, her prognosis they said they're very guarded about it. They hope for the best.

Earlier this afternoon I had an opportunity to speak with the trauma director here at University Medical Center. And he spoke a little bit more about Congresswoman Giffords' ability to communicate with them, even though she's unable to speak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. PETER RHEE, MEDICAL DIR., UMC TRAUMA CENTER: I think there's a lot of components as to why she's alive and doing well this morning, and it has to do with the fact that that's how we got her, as well. She was responsive to a degree when we got her. She was able to follow simple commands such as squeezing a hand, and that was a condition before we rushed her to surgery and operated on her as quickly as we can to make sure there wasn't any ongoing bleeding and to make that we could relieve the pressure off of her brain.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): And after surgery was she still able to respond or was the situation different?

RHEE: Well, we watched. Because sometimes it takes a long time for a patient to recover and sometimes come out of a coma. But this morning she was able to respond in almost to the level that she was before the surgery, so we're very happy about that. Of course, any time you deal with neurosurgery and brain surgery, things can change at the moment, minute to minute. And so we're going to be careful that she doesn't get into trouble the next several weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And of the 10 people who have been treated at this hospital, Congresswoman Giffords is the only one who remains in critical condition. The others have been downgraded to only three now are in serious condition and a few others fair and, in fact, one person has even been released.

So in the meantime as far as she is concerned, they are saying there are good signs but her situation remains very precarious. She's in a medically induced coma.

In the meantime finally, Fred, as you indicated people continue to come and go here at the site here, at the front lawn of hospital where they are leaving bouquets of flowers, candles, mementos and photographs of some of those who have fallen including the chief federal Judge John Roll as well as the little girl only nine years old cut down by bullets. So it's a very sad day indeed here. Parents bringing their children to come and pay tribute to all of those that have fallen. Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Susan Candiotti in Tucson, thanks so much.

In the meantime investigators have not given a motive for that shooting rampage, but we're learning more about the 22-year-old suspect. He is described as a college dropout who often posted rants on social media sites.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX VILLEC, REP. GIFFORDS FORMER INTERN: Kind of shady-looking gentleman came up and asked me if he could talk to the congresswoman. So just like everybody else I redirected him to the back of the line. Came back about 30 seconds later, and before I knew it he was barging through the tables towards the congresswoman.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Alex Villec didn't know that man's name at the time, but he knows it now. He was front and center with Jared Lee Loughner seconds before shots rang out in Tucson.

VILLEC: I was about three feet from him. I was lucky enough not to be in the line of fire.

WHITFIELD: Almost all of what we know so far about Jared Lee Loughner is provided by Loughner himself. Like many people of his generation, he maintained an active online presence. On the social media sites MySpace and YouTube and even after several readings of his writings, its difficult to pin down his attitude toward the government or his conclusions.

He writes "the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." And "the majority of citizens in the United States of America have never read the United States of America's Constitution. You don't have to accept the federalist laws." Those were posted weeks ago, but just hours before he allegedly barged through the crowd towards Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords, Loughner published this on his MySpace page.

"Good-bye friends. Dear friends, please don't be mad at me. The literacy rate is below five percent. I haven't talked to one person who was literate." Shortly after the shooting a frustrated Pima County sheriff told reporters he has long sensed an extremist current running in his state.

SHERIFF CLARENCE W. DUPNIK, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry in this country is outrageous.

And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now a moment to remember the six people killed.

Dorwin Stoddard was a retired construction worker. Witnesses say he was shot trying to shield his wife from the gunman. Also killed a federal judge, John Roll was chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Also killed, Dorothy Morris, Phyllis Scheck. Nine-year- old Christina Green was the youngest victim, and Gabe Zimmerman, 30, was an aide to the congresswoman.

And we'll bring you much more on the investigation and the victims throughout the next hour.

In the meantime, something else that is of great concern to a lot of people, particularly in the south, southern portions of the country, big weather, big snow, ice, all of it on the way. Jacqui Jeras in the weather center. This is going to be big, isn't it?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's becoming very big as we speak. In fact, conditions going downhill very rapidly, and we're getting reports now of accumulating freezing rain and ice as well as numerous accidents across parts of the south.

Here you can see in our radar picture as a whole, and some of the worst weather kind of focus right in here right now. Even though it looks like some of this pink is starting to into Georgia, we're not getting a whole heck of a lot in that area. We just heard a report earlier in the hour if you saw in Dallas, Fort Worth, we got three- plus inches on the northeast side of town with very slick streets there.

And I want to go into Arkansas now, particularly along the i-30 where we got reports of numerous accidents. About halfway between Little Rock and Texarkana is a town called Friendship. There's a 15-car accident there with multiple injuries. The interstate is blocked. There's also a semi-trailer that has been jackknifed on i-30 near Malvern which is just north of that area. So very icy conditions, very dangerous conditions.

Most of this has changed to snow now, but we did have some sleet and freezing rain mixed in as well. Of course, we got snow coming down in Little Rock. We've also got reports of a lot of accidents and some freezing rain along the i-20 corridor. I want to go ahead and show you a map of some of the accumulations that we're starting to see here.

So to put this in perspective, this is Texas for you. Here at the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Sulfur Springs reporting six inches of snow on the ground right now. Texarkana right here, a quarter of an inch of ice, so that's freezing ice. It comes down as liquid then it collects on things like your car, on power lines, on trees.

So do expect with that much ice accumulating and now snow coming down on top it, you're going to start to see power outages if you haven't already seen this. Sleet in El Dorado. That's half of an inch for you. And just outside Shreveport we've got about a quarter of an inch of ice. And we want to talk a little bit about some of those ice accumulations and where it's going. Notice the purple areas where we expect to see the worst of it. When you start to see a quarter of an inch to a half of an inch of ice, travel is just absolutely impossible and it's very dangerous. So more power outages and more accidents can be expected here, Fredricka. People should not be traveling in those areas that are getting freezing rain at this hour.

WHITFIELD: Try to stay inside if you can. All right. Heed the warning. Thanks so much, Jacqui. Appreciate that.

JERAS: All right. Straight ahead, more on the coverage of the shooting rampage in Arizona. Next we hear from an intern of Congresswoman Giffords. He is credited with helping to save her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: During that horrible shooting rampage yesterday, there were acts of bravery in the crowd. One such act was performed by Representative Giffords' intern, Daniel Hernandez. Hernandez used his medical training to attend to Giffords' wounds until the ambulance arrived. He is credited with helping to stop her blooding.

CNN's Ted Rowlands talked to Hernandez about the shooting. And Ted now joining us live from Tucson with more on this. Pretty heroic efforts.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty amazing young man, Fredricka. A 20-year-old college student who just started interning for the congresswoman. He was at the event. And as you are about to hear him describe what happened in his own words, it's pretty apparent that this young man saved the congresswoman's life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HERNANDEZ, REP. GIFFORDS' INTERN: I was about 40 feet away from the congresswoman, and the place where she was meeting with constituents. I was kind of behind a corner, so I couldn't see directly where the congresswoman was from my position. I heard the gunshots, and I knew that people had been injured most likely. So I ran towards where the congresswoman was.

When I got there, I saw there were people injured. I then tried to see who had a pulse still and see if people were still breathing. I was only able to check two or three people before I noticed that Congresswoman Giffords had been injured, severely. So then she became my first priority. Not just because of her position but also because of the severity of her wounds. She had a shot to the head.

So I tried to make sure - that I picked her up so that she wasn't in a position where she could asphyxiate on her own blood because of the position that she was originally in. I then started applying pressure to her wound to try and kind of stem some of the blood loss.

I couldn't see an exit wound. I didn't know if there was one. All I saw was the entry wound, and that's where I was applying the pressure. One of my concerns immediately is I'm touching her wound with my bare hands, and even if we do end up getting her to the emergency services pretty quickly, there was the fear of infection.

People from Safeway came outside with smocks from the meat department, which were clean, that we were able to then use to cover her wound. She was alert and conscious but she wasn't able to speak. The way she was communicating was by grabbing my hand and just squeezing.

My main thing was trying to keep her as alert as possible and just keep trying to interact with her so that she was still acting with some response.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): And she was?

HERNANDEZ: She was. The entire time that I was with the congresswoman, she was still responding. She was obviously in a lot of pain, so I just let her to know to squeeze my hand as hard as she needed to. Once the emergency services came and I no longer was providing the care, my main concern was making sure she knew someone was there with her. No matter what happened that she knew someone was there holding her hand.

ROWLANDS: Did you save her life?

HERNANDEZ: I don't think I did. I think it was emergency services. People refer to me as a hero. I don't think that's something I am. I think the people that are heroes are people like Gabby who are public servants and who have dedicated their lives to public service. It just makes me happy that I was able to help her in any way that I could.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: This young man obviously, Fredricka, just did an unbelievable job staying focused and what he did enabled the congresswoman to get to the hospital without losing as much blood as she obviously would have and likely this young man saved her life. He has talked to her family. They have called him to thank him for his heroics, and his medical training is only a few classes he said he took while he was in high school. And he said it just clicked back to him instantly. He just got into that mode, into that first aid delivery mode and it came back to him and he was focused throughout this entire process and likely saved her life.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And that he remained so calm just as he did during that interview is remarkable to say the very least.

Ted Rowlands, thanks so much.

And when we come back we're going to talk to a lawmaker who just 24 hours after that tragedy in Tucson is now ready to propose legislation that would better protect elected officials.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: House Speaker John Boehner made a statement about the Arizona shooting this morning from his home state of Ohio.

He vowed the attack will not intimidate members of Congress from doing their jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serves. Such acts of violence have no place in our society. This inhuman act should not and will not deter us from our calling to represent our constituents and to fulfill our oaths of office. No act, no matter how heinous, must be allowed to stop us from our duty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Much of the discussion on the Sunday talk shows this morning focused on the chilling effect the Tucson killings could have on public servants.

Here's Representative Steny Hoyer on CBS' "Face the Nation."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MINORITY WHIP: I don't think there's any doubt that my colleagues are very concerned about the environment in which they're now operating. It's been a much angrier, confrontational environment over the last two or three years than we have experienced in the past. I think there is worry about that. I will tell you also that the staffers, we should not forget that a staff member was lost here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The attack in Tucson raises questions about the safety of our elected officials. Let's go straight to congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill, where already the discussions are being had about how to ensure that these elected officials are, indeed, safe, whether they're out in public or whether they're just going about their jobs right there on Capitol Hill.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. And just not too long ago a conference call wrapped up. This is very unusual. Bipartisan conference call involving leadership in the House. We're talking 800 people on this conference call. Members of Congress, their spouses, top aides, and they were receiving briefings not only from the U.S. Capitol Police but also from the sergeant at arms in the House, the FBI was on this conference call as well as the chief of staff to Congresswoman Giffords to give an update on her.

One of the members of Congress that was on this conference call, Adam Smith of Washington state, told our own Dana Bash about what he heard. Also he describes Giffords as his closest friend in the House of Representatives. So this is really that's really hitting him particularly hard. He said that really this call was to let people know how Giffords is doing, and then secondarily it was to deal with security concerns. But he said they're going to be looking really at everything. That's the sense you got from security officials there on Capitol Hill. Though he said there really weren't any specific, I guess, recommendations you could say about what they were going to do. This is one of the things that members of Congress have to deal with.

He said "We are public officials. We can't be going out to public events with six or seven armed guards." Now, that said, Fred, congressional aides who were on this call said there were some recommendations, some pretty simple things talking about members of Congress needing to be vigilant.

Authorities telling members and their aides that they need to designate someone in the district because what you have with members of Congress, of course, they have their staff here in Washington and they also have their staff back in their home district. So they're saying there needs to be someone in the home district who is designated as the point of contact to deal to be dealing and thinking about security issues, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Actually, before I let you go, let's talk about this week. There was going to be a scheduled vote taking place in the House as it pertains to health care reform. That is no longer happening, correct, this week?

KEILAR: That's right. This has been postponed. For how long we don't know. But it's been postponed by Republican leaders. Instead, what we're going to see is the House coming into session on Tuesday. You might be expecting a lot of people on the House floor paying tribute to Congresswoman Giffords.

Then on Wednesday we learned from this conference call or from aides who are on this conference call that Democratic and Republican leaders are working on a resolution to honor Congresswoman Giffords as well as the other survivors and those who did not survive the shooting.

And then also, on the issue of security, Fred, on Wednesday there's going to be a security briefing for members of Congress. This will be the United States Capitol Police as well as the FBI and the House sergeant of arms. They will be talking to members of Congress, and they're also going to be talking to those district staff aides who need to be thinking about security as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much for that.

In the meantime, Congressman Robert Brady out of Pennsylvania is on the phone with us right now.

So Congressman, were you part of that conference call today that involved the discussion about security and where to go from here?

REP. ROBERT BRADY (D), PENNSYLVANIA (via telephone): Yes, I was. Yes, I was on the conference call.

WHITFIELD: What was encouraging about that call to you and how there may be potentially changes to ensure that all elected officials feel safer?

BRADY: The best thing that was encouraging was the bipartisanship we had in the conversation. That we need to be working together, we need to be closing down the rhetoric, we need to show the American people that we're not going to be as argumentative as we have been and close down this rhetoric instead of, you know, not business as usual.

WHITFIELD: In the meantime, you were also introducing some legislation that you were hoping now 24 hours after that attack in Tucson, hoping to make it a federal crime for a person use language and symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against any member of Congress. More specifically, how do you suppose this is going to address any other concerns that people have stemming from what happened yesterday?

BRADY: We're going to expand title 18 United States section code 871 that deals with threats against the president and we'll expand it to members of Congress in performance of their duties. That's what we're going to do. I mean, you know, we are as out there as much as anybody else, and we intend to criminalize behavior that engage in putting cross hairs or bull's eyes on members of Congress in their district.

WHITFIELD: And you're speaking specifically to a web site on a political action committee, that of the former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, when once upon a time there was that target or a bull's eye and there were pictures of members of Congress. In fact, Congresswoman Giffords' image was actually on that. It has since been taken down. But you are specifically pointing to that as an example of something you believe should be a federal crime?

BRADY: Yes. We're going to make that a federal crime. Exactly.

WHITFIELD: And what is your view as to how successful this piece of legislation or this proposal just might be?

BRADY: It's going to be successful. It's going to be as successful as it will be. All we're doing is trying to protect ourselves and trying to protect our staff members.

Remember, when we go somewhere, we have staff with us also. We're putting them in harm's way. You can't protect us in the district, it's just too hard to expect all of us in the district, and I'm not going to hide or not go to my events or go to public events just because of this incident.

WHITFIELD: And just as a clarification on that Political Action Committee web site, it was Giffords' name apparently, not necessarily her image. But do you believe there should be a difference whether it's her name or image or perhaps even a district that is pinpointed in such graphic detail?

BRADY: Everyone knows who represents that district. We all know in that particular instance that it was about Gabby Giffords.

WHITFIELD: And the timeline for this legislation or this proposal that you're pushing?

BRADY: The first day that we're in session. The first day we go back in session.

WHITFIELD: Representative Robert Brady. Thanks so much. And your response to the White House is having a moment of silence tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Eastern nationwide as a result of what took place yesterday. What are your hopes that this moment of silence as well as what took place yesterday.

What are your hopes that this moment of silence as well as what took place yesterday might give Americans pause on what?

BRADY: I hope it -- my thoughts and prayers are out to the families of those that are deceased and those that were injured and my prayers are with Gabby to hope she makes a full recovery.

WHITFIELD: Rep. Robert Brady thanks so much of Pennsylvania. Appreciate your time.

BRADY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New details now about that shooting in Tuscan, Arizona that killed six people and wounded 14, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Here's what we know right now. Doctors say they're cautiously optimistic about Giffords' recover. They say she suffered a devastating bullet wound to the brain. She is in a medically induced coma following surgery but doctors say when eased off the anesthesia she responds to commands which they call very encouraging. The suspect meantime, 22 year old Jared Lee Loughner will make his first court appearance tomorrow in Phoenix. He's accused of first-degree murder, attempted murder and attempting to kill a member of Congress. Police say they don't know the motive for the shooting.

Investigators have identified and ruled out a person of interest who was being sought in connection with the shooting. No other details are being released thus far. So the local sheriff faced numerous questions from reporters at a news conference earlier today, and they asked him about comments that he made last night condemning the tone of political discourse in his state and his emotional reaction to this very case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell us a little bit about your personal feelings at this time?

SHERIFF CLARENCE DUPNIK, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: It's very hard. I vacillate between extreme sadness and sorrow and shock and extreme anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night you made a general comment. Can you clarify that or elaborate on it?

DUPNIK: Could you ask the question again please?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night you made a pretty general statement that freedom of speech does not come without consequences. Do you care to elaborate on that?

DUPNIK: Well I think that when the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates, and to try to inflame the public on a daily basis 24 hours a day, seven days a week has impact on people, especially who are unbalanced personalities to begin with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he have an attorney? Do you know?

DUPNIK: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Loughner and his criminal past, is it something that came up in background checks that he applied to get a pistol?

DUPNIK: I do not know the answer to that question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your observations about the state of Arizona gun laws in light of what happened?

DUPNIK: I think we're the tombstone of the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you explain? Is that a reference to the town sheriff?

DUPNIK: I have never been a proponent of letting everybody in this state carry weapons under any circumstance that they want. That's almost where we are. The legislature at this time is proposing that students and teachers be allowed to have weapons in the schools and in college. You know, colleges ought to be run by the college presidents, not the Arizona legislature. But that's the ridiculous state to where we have become. We have one more question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, the woman that was injured yesterday who grabbed the magazine, was she injured prior to grabbing it?

DUPNIK: Yes, she was shot before grabbing the weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff talk about the gun laws. Any change in mental health law or treatment of mental health for some of these people as well? Any issues involved there?

DUPNIK: That's an everyday issue for the entire United States, for the entire world. We have very, very serious problems in this community. Back in 1960 when I was a young cop on the beat, we put mentally ill people who were threats into a system that incarcerated them. Today they're out on the street, and we're paying a price for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The Arizona shooting rampage dominated the Sunday talk shows. CNN's Kate Bolduan joins us now from Washington on those discussions and how especially elected leaders want to move forward from this.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Fredricka. And as you really mentioned and as you can imagine, this shooting, this attack was the absolute focus of the morning talk shows today, and it appears there is both some political soul-searching, if you will, going on, and also recognition that words have real consequences. Something that is very rare in politics today seems to be happening, unity. A unified message coming from both Democrats and Republicans all saying it's time to tone the rhetoric down. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER, (R) TENNESSEE: We ought to cool it, tone it down, treat each other with great respect, respect each other's ideas and even on difficult issues like immigration or taxes or health care law, do our best not to inflame passions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't we have an obligation, those of us in public life and those who cover us, to say this is beyond the bounds? It may be constitutionally permissible, but it shouldn't be acceptable rhetoric? We shouldn't invite it on the radio talk shows or the TV at least without comment. We ought it to say that goes too far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: We heard similar words from all the lawmakers on all the shows. It is important to note, of course, Fredricka, that law enforcement at this point have not made any connection between anyone's politics and the violent attack in Tucson, but it has started a conversation. Congresswoman Giffords just finished a very heated reelection campaign and the state of Arizona has been at the center of many of the most hostile debates over the past year, immigration for one.

So as the investigation and a search for the shooters real motive continues, one big question that has to be asked here in Washington is, can members of Congress keep with their new message, their call for more civil discourse, less inflammatory language? Because as you know they will eventually have to get back to the business of the day, which is a business that includes very contentious debates over things like health care legislation and deficit reduction.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kate Bolduan. Thanks so much for that from Washington. Appreciate that.

Meantime, the other big story we're continuing to follow, snow and ice and freezing rain all on the way to the south. They're getting ready for what usually is a rare dose of nasty winter weather, but lately this is like a one-two punch this winter. Our Jacqui Jeras will be along. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: More nasty weather on the way threatening the south, and this is a dozy, isn't it? Two weeks after the big old white Christmas in many parts of the south. Jacqui and now, maybe this one is not one people are going to celebrate.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No. And you know what makes this storm worse, last storm was snow. We can deal with snow. You can drive in snow over the weekend. But the problem this time around is that we're getting a lot of sleet mixing in and we are getting freezing rain. You cannot drive on freezing rain. The good news for you in Little Rock right now is that it is mostly just snow. Take a look at our live picture here from KARK, our affiliate there. Looks like you have a good dusting on the ground. Winter storm warning is in place for you in Little Rock. We could talk about a good three to seven inches of snow before all is said and done and we will likely see the winding down for you by tomorrow morning. So dangerous conditions in Little Rock.

That's where some of the worst conditions are right now, is in Arkansas in the razorback state there along I-30 and we are getting reports of multiple accidents here, over a dozen states under winter storm warnings because of this storm, and there you can see ice warnings in effect in southern parts of Alabama. It's really along that corridor in south-central parts of the state we're expecting most of that ice accumulation. So there you can see the radar picture. Things are already starting to wind down a little bit for you in Dallas, but they're really picking up with that heavy bright banding of snow here in the Friendship area. We have a 15-car pileup here, and the interstate is closed. So keep in mind you just shouldn't be traveling here.

Lots of reports in northern parts of Louisiana as well as Mississippi of freezing rain starting to accumulate. Bridges and overpasses will start to get slick first, so keep that in mind. You might still have a couple of another hours say in Atlanta in terms of starting to get this stuff falling to the ground. Our dew point is so low it's only 4 with our temperatures in the 20's. So it will take a while to saturate some of this air. The cold air already in place. Take a look at this, 12 in Little Rock, feels like 27 in Atlanta, 35 down in Mobile, and here you can see that moisture interacting with that. We get the heavy swaths of snow in northern parts of these states, and then the ice just to the south. Many of you are going to get snow and then ice on top of it.

So a good weekend, Fredricka, for people to stay inside. We want them to send us their I reports though by the way. Take a look at this one; we just got this in by the way from GG Matter from Texas, just outside of Dallas/Ft. Worth. She said she was on the roads and very treacherous. She recommends not driving because she said she had to drive in the tracks of the cars that were ahead of her. She did get home safely, so we're glad you're OK. We're glad you sent your I- report, but safety first always people.

WHITFIELD: Sounds like she was being a smart thinker about her driving though. That is good.

JERAS: Ireport.com.

WHITFIELD: Those are our eyes out there, but make sure you're safe along the way. All right. Jacqui appreciate that.

So this southern storm could mean lots of delays for air travelers as well as. CNN's Catherine Callaway is live now from Atlanta Airport where the expectation is pretty big there will be many cancellations starting this evening, right?

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Fredricka. Snow is not even here yet as Jacqui said and already there a couple thousand flights that have already been canceled from two of the airlines here. As Jacqui said that snow in Texas and it's heading this way. It's not even expected here until sometime after 9:30 Eastern Time, but Delta, which is based here in Atlanta, has proactively canceled 330 flights for tonight and some 1400 flights for tomorrow. These are Delta and Delta connection flights. That is approximately 25 percent of all Delta flights, a fourth of their flights.

Also AirTran Airline which is based here in Atlanta canceled about 14 flights tonight. They canceled 270 flights for tomorrow. Those are just two airlines.

Also affected, though, by this weather, not just people traveling home or to vacation but our U.S. troops. Many U.S. troops here at the Atlanta Airport arriving in Atlanta to head off to their r and r destinations, trying to get out ahead of this storm. We talked with many of the troops today. These guys that is we met were supposed to head back to Afghanistan tonight for active duty. They're not sure whether or not they're going to be able to get out tonight. They are hoping they will, or they could be stuck here for a couple of days at the airport. Their best hope would be if they get stuck here they can stay in one of the area hotels until the flights are able to leave.

Fredricka, this storm is not affecting just flights in Atlanta, but a lot of the connecting flights here, flights across the country. We're advising everyone to call ahead before they go to the airport, and we do know that Delta at least is offering a weather waiver where you can reschedule any flight that you have in the next few days. If you schedule it -- reschedule it before Tuesday night, there will be no penalty and no fee. But, again, already almost 2,000 flights canceled, and the snow is not even here yet.

WHITFIELD: Oh, but Jacqui says it's on the way, right around the corner. Catherine Callaway thanks so much. Appreciate that.

We'll have much more on the big storm expected for the south, and we're also going to talk more about the investigation of that Tucson shooting and we're also going to hear more about the brain injury of Congresswoman Giffords and what she's experiencing. Conversation with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta and one of the Arizona neurosurgeons next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: The bullet that hit Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords there, we heard from doctors earlier today out of Arizona who said that it stayed within one hemisphere of her brain. They were optimistic about that. At the same time, they continue to have her in a medically induced coma, and the doctors say they're very encouraged by the fact she's responsive when they are able to do some exercises with her. So lots of encouraging news coming out of Arizona on this.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has also been keeping close tabs about what has been experienced by the congresswoman. We know, because we heard it from the doctor earlier, he talked about a best case scenario. That this bullet didn't go from one hemisphere into the other, but instead it stayed on the left-hand side. So give us an idea the extent of the injury if we are able to glean anymore from what he was able to share earlier.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The reason he shared that is it's because that is one of the critical things that you look for in a cat scan. If a bullet has actually crossed from right to left or left to right, that's a very poor sign that someone is actually going to do well after surgery, and then many trauma centers, those patients won't even get an operation because it's really of not much use at that point.

Given the fact, I have a brain model to show you what we're talking about here. The left side of the brain, bullet entering from the left side and exiting in front here but not crossing over the mid line here, that's the really important part. He gave a lot of indication of how much damage there was back here. I can show you on a skull model when this happens, you have the bullet coming in and all the bone as well, which essentially act like missiles as well into the brain. Then the bullet sort of exiting the front of the head over here.

What they did was they first removed a lot of those bone fragments that came in with the bullet, stopped the bleeding around the brain here and then basically in addition to removing that portion of the bone; they took off some other bone because they were concerned that there might be some brain swelling in the days to come.

WHITFIELD: And that was something that the doctor actually said they're still concerned about, that if there is some swelling, what would that indicate? Why is that alarming?

GUPTA: When you think about your whole body, you have lots of organs. If you had swelling for example in an organ in your abdomen, you have room for it to swell. Against the hard casing of the skull, the brain starts to swell. There's nowhere for the brain to go, and that's really the problem. The doctors that took care of her commented specifically about this just a little bit ago. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL LEMOLE, CHIEF OF NEUROSURGEON, UNIV. OF ARIZONA: Once in the OR. we went through our routine procedure for this kind of injury and that consisted of controlling the bleeding which thank goodness was not severe or excessive. Our next objective was to take the pressure off the brain, and that was by removing the bone fragments that were caused by the bullet fracture as well as some additional bone to allow the brain to relax. Lastly, we removed any small parts of devitalized brain, and I'm happy to say we didn't have to do a whole lot of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: He really talked about the sequence of the operation there, talked about removing again a large amount of bone again to allow the brain to swell. That bone is going to stay out for a period of time, they said, and subsequently will be placed back in when brain swelling has diminished. That could be a few weeks or even a couple of months. Then they also talked about the fact that this -- what they call devitalized tissue, Fred. Think about the brain, the bullet goes through and sort of heats up some of that tissue and cause some of that tissue to sort of die away. They want to remove that and give the brain the best chance to recover. That's what he was describing. They got her to the operating room very quickly, I should point out as well, 38 minutes they indicated. That's fast, and that's important.

WHITFIELD: I'm wondering if the bullet was through and through, we heard that from Dr. Reed, then what is the surgical procedure that would take place with the brain so that you don't have the swelling, so you don't exacerbate. If there is that burning that took place, that's not irritated?

GUPTA: Yes, it's a good point. When they talk about through and through, the reason that is so important is because if you think about a bullet entering and transmitting a certain amount of force, momentum, velocity and energy and just transmitting all of that energy to the brain, that obviously is worse than if the bullet passes through and a lot of the velocity is sort of coming out the front. It's not all the velocity and the energy is remaining within the skull cavity. That is why he talked about that.

But still just because of the injury to the brain, it's kind of like a bad bruise to the brain. Anywhere that you bruise you get some swelling; you turn black and blue for a while, takes several days and starts to go away. You can think about that same process happening within the brain as well. Remove the bone; allow the brain to swell for a period of time not being impeded by the skull. When the brain starts to calm down and come back to normal sort of size, put the bone back.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Randall Friese is on the line with us as well. Dr. Gupta, if you could be with us as we have this conversation Dr. Freeze. There he is right there. Dr. Friese, if I have this right, you didn't actually conduct any of the surgical procedures on the congresswoman, but you have evaluated her. If I have that right, proceed from there.

DR. RANDALL FRIESE, TRAUMA SURGEON: Well, I was one of the first physicians to evaluate Congresswoman Giffords when she arrived. I had finished operating on the small child, and then I moved to her bedside. One of the first things I wanted to do is assess her ability to understand what was going on, and I also wanted to reassure her. So one of the first things I did was I held her hand and I leaned in close to her and told her that she was at the hospital, that we were going to care for her, and I wanted to see if she understood what was happening. I asked her to please squeeze my hand. She gave me a great, big squeeze. At that point I was very encouraged that was a good finding that she understood what I was asking.

WHITFIELD: What did they tell you that she was able to squeeze and respond to you? What did that tell you about the level of her trauma or this injury?

FRIESE: Well, I was holding her hand for a good 30 seconds or so before I asked her to squeeze, and when I asked her to squeeze, she gave me a great, big squeeze. So I felt very confident that she was able to process my request and then carry it out. That means that some higher level of brain functioning was occurring.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Gupta, you may have a question for him?

GUPTA: Yes. Doctor can you give us some idea of the time line. We know it was 38 minutes before she was actually in the hospital or got there pretty quickly I understand. What happened after that? You examined her and you saw that she was able to follow commands as you just said, and then what? How quickly after that did she get to the operating room and how long did that take?

FRIESE: Well, as you know, Sanjay, when someone is injured, you need to assess them rapidly, assess where these injuries are. I certainly got a report from the field that she had suffered an injury to her head, and we had to assess and to be sure there wasn't any other injury. So we rapidly made that assessment and gave -- I also told the patient once I understood she was understanding me, I told her that we were going to give her an anesthetic and we incubated her and put her on the breathing machine, got her to the cat scanner where she needed to go quickly. Once she was in the CAT scanner we expedited her immediately from the CAT scanner to the operating room. The nurse surgeon then met us in the operating room and we carried out the procedure.

GUPTA: Are there any other injuries including to her face or to her eye? I'm just wondering because of the trajectory of this bullet, what's been described.

FRIESE: Well, I can tell you that when I saw her, she did have a swollen and blackened right eye.

GUPTA: Her right eye. This was on the left side, is that right? The left -- it came from the left posterior?

FRIESE: That's correct.

GUPTA: No other injuries that you know of?

FRIESE: That's correct.

WHITFIELD: I wonder if that could be from the fall that -- the injury would be on the right eye. FRIESE: I really can't speculate.

GUPTA: Or maybe from just the swelling, you have a significant amount of blood that can track down and cause a black eye.

WHITFIELD: And then Dr. Freeze, you did treat the 9-year-old, little Christina, if I have that information correct as well. She's the youngest to have died from these injuries.

FRIESE: Yes, that's correct.

WHITFIELD: Give me idea the extent of her injuries, what took place during the treatment of this little girl.

FRIESE: Well, when someone comes in in a traumatic arrest, cardiac arrest after a penetrating injury, one must make very quick decisions. She was undergoing CPR in the field. When she came into the emergency room CPR was continued and we made a rapid decision that we would perform surgery at the bedside in the emergency room.

GUPTA: What was that operation that you performed there?

FRIESE: We performed a thoracotomy. A thoracotomy is to assess for potential chest bleeding as well as to evacuate any blood around the heart and possibly repair any cardiac injury.

GUPTA: Doctor, when you are in this sort of situation many patients coming in at once, obviously people talk about triage, trying to figure out who to take care of first and how to carry out things. What was going through your mind? How did you sort of decide how to proceed at that time?

FRIESE: Well, I have to tell you that we had well in advance notice of the patients that were coming in. We had plenty of time to get together a large number of people in the emergency room. In fact, at the time of day this occurred, it was very fortunate we had two trauma teams available. I was on the trauma team on call the night before. We had just had our turnover to the trauma team that was going to be on call on Saturday. Both teams were in the hospital at the time this notification went out.

All the surgeons came down to the emergency room with the help of the emergency room physicians, and they were able to evaluate and assess these patients rapidly. The young girl was the first patient to arrive. We had time to perform her surgery before Miss Giffords was placed on the gurney in another room.

GUPTA: Fredricka and I were talking about all the potential things that people are concerned about with regard to Congresswoman Giffords at this point, brain swelling was one of the things that was mentioned. Can you -- can you comment on anything else? Did she have any problems with blood pressure, heart rate, her heart overall, lungs, anything else?

FRIESE: Well, as you know, Sanjay, these next few days are the most very important in her recovery. Certainly, complications can ensue. We are certainly watching very closely and we're being preventative in everything we can to prevent these complications. But certainly, hemodynamic changes with brain injury are very important to monitor for and treat. Hypertension is certainly one of those. Low blood pressure is another one. So again, a myriad of complications can ensue over the next several days. We are going to be very carefully watching for them and treating them, and in fact, preventing them if we can.

GUPTA: Dr. Rhee said he was as optimistic as he could be just a few hours after she was out of surgery yesterday. Is that still sort of the feeling at the hospital?

FRIESE: Absolutely. When someone can follow commands after being shot in the head with a brain injury, that is the most -- best result you could ask for. Certainly, all of us cautiously optimistic. And these next few days and weeks are going to be very important as she improves, and we are monitoring for complications.

GUPTA: And just finally, just once more, regarding -- because I was just thinking about this, the type of injury she had. Her left eye, which sounds like where it was closer to where the bullet exited -- while it may have been hard to assess her vision, but the eye and sort of below that area, in her face, that area was not injured, did not have any obvious injuries?

FRIESE: We do have a CT scan of her head and her face. I'm very aware of the results of the CT scan of the head. I am not aware of the results of the CT scan of her face. When I examined her, she did not speak. She did not open her eyes. She did squeeze my hand very aggressively.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Dr. Randall Friese, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate that.

GUPTA: Thanks, Dr. Friese.

WHITFIELD: Clearly, so much happened in an instant as it pertains--

FRIESE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: -- to first response and everything else that followed.

When we come back, we're actually going to have a copy of the 911 call, the first calls that went out just as soon as those first shots were fired.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)