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Colorado Theater Shootings; Drought in Midwest

Aired July 21, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, coming to you live from Aurora, Colorado. You're in THE CNN NEWSROOM tonight.

Lots to get to tonight. We're about to walk you through the horrific movie theater shooting, minute by minute, as a gunman opened fire. You'll see what he did before hand and how police found him immediately afterward.

Also right now, police here in Aurora are still not talking about possible motives. What would make a young man suddenly commit so much violence against so many people?

Colorado police and the FBI have been all over James Holmes' apartment today, slowly and carefully since the front door was rigged to trigger a bomb.

We're going to live to CNN's Ed Lavandera at the apartment building in just a couple of moments.

Let's go to CNN's Brianna Keilar and she's going to get us up to speed on some of the other stories making headlines -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, the worst drought in more than 50 years is crippling farmers in the Midwest. Half of the states in the region are reported to be in severe to exceptional drought. That's the region that produces about 75 percent of the nation's corn and soybean crop. The drought is especially hard on livestock, many ranchers having to sell off their herds early.

And with the focus on the Colorado movie massacre, the relentless gun violence in Chicago is going almost unnoticed. But in the past 24 hours, 21 people have been shot across the city. Three died. Police are blaming a gang fight for the latest killing.

And in Syria, rebels are making slow but steady progress against government forces. That's noticeable especially along the border with Turkey. Government troops appear to have abandoned some crossings.

CNN's Ivan Watson describes the chaos there along the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And one man saying there's no more Syrian border there anymore, no officials to stamp his passport when he went through. That rebel hold of this entry point could be shaky, though, because we're hearing from all of those travelers that there's a Syrian government army location only a mile or two away from there. So there could be more fighting around this key entry point into Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: At the same time, Syrian refugees are streaming across the border, fleeing the escalating violence. More than 120,000 have fled to neighboring countries, and among them, two defecting generals from the Syrian military who arrived in Turkey overnight. Officials say about two dozen Syrian generals have now fled to Turkey.

In Bulgaria, officials say a bus bomber who killed five Israeli tourists may have had an accomplice. The suicide bomber, the man highlighted here, blew up the tour bus Wednesday at the Burgas international airport. The driver also died and more than 30 people were injured.

Officials tell CNN that a second suspect is a possibility, but it hasn't been confirmed.

To Japan now, where the government is investigating reports that workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant tried to deceive the public. Allegedly, they were told to use lead covers over their radiation detectors to hide unsafe radiation levels at the plant. This reportedly occurred December 1st, nine months after the plant was damaged by a major earthquake and tsunami.

Let's go back now to Colorado and Don.

LEMON: All right. Brianna, thank you. We'll get back to you.

Now, we go over to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He is near the suspect's apartment building, a safe distance I should say since there are explosives inside and police are still working to clear.

Ed, so tell us about that explosion that set off at James' home, the apartment building, I should say, just a little while ago, it was a controlled explosion, correct?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was just a few hours ago. And the bomb technicians and the teams that have been here for more than 24 hours since they took James Holmes into custody. It's that red brick building just over my shoulder. And the streets have been cordoned off. As we have been reporting, many of the buildings around it have been evacuated. We know that here in the next couple of hours, they will allow people in the surrounding apartments to start come back.

But what they did earlier when we heard that explosion, it was this technique to try to dismantle some of the trip wires that were connected to the devices they were finding inside of the apartment. Apparently, that worked to the extent it allowed them to dismantle some of the major pieces that they were the most concerned about. It was in the words of the police chief, a very sophisticated setup inside that apartment and one that was designed to conflict more damage and pain and the police chief said if anyone walked into that apartment building or that apartment, opened up that door, they could have been seriously injured, if not killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAN OATES, AURORA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Make no mistake, OK, this apartment was designed, I say, based on everything I've seen, to kill whoever entered it, OK?

And who was most likely to enter that location after he planned and executed this horrific crime? It was going to be a police officer. OK?

So make no mistake about it, what was going on there, and if you think we're angry, we sure as hell are angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Don, over the last few hours since they did that explosion, they've been able to begin taking out a lot of that explosive material and the weapons that were inside that apartment. It was interesting a little while ago, there was eight police officers essentially in a motorcade, escorting a dump truck down the street away from here, presumably that for a lot -- that material was put in there. It will be taken elsewhere and analyzed.

And now the work of being able to get into that apartment and looking for other evidence that might provide more clues into how exactly all of this was pulled off, this massacre, and more clues into the mind of James Holmes, as they try to figure out and nail down a motive as to why this massacre occurred -- Don.

LEMON: So they removed large volumes of material. I'm wondering if this is why the police chief said it has anything to do with the reason that he said that Holmes received large volumes -- large volumes of deliveries in the past few months. Why is that interesting? Do they think it was bomb making material that he was having delivered?

LAVANDERA: When you look at the wide arsenal, things that James Holmes had obtained over the last few months, you talk about the weapons that were bought in various gun stores in the area in the last two or three months as well as the gear that he wore. They also include a lot of the material, the explosive material that was found inside the apartment. They say a lot of that was ordered. He ordered some 6,000 rounds of ammunition through online ways and had it delivered to him.

So they're starting to piece together the timeline of how all of these different materials were gathered, where it came from and how it ended up in this apartment.

LEMON: Ed Lavandera, thank you very much, Ed. And make sure you join us at the top of the hour for a special report on the Colorado theater shooting. You know, that too often when stories like this happen, much of the attention is focused on the bad guy. We're going to try and focus our attention on the victims of this tragedy. Make sure you join us tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN, of course.

And up next, a timeline of how the shooting massacre unfolded.

Plus, he was a doctoral student in the neuroscience program, top honors in college. What would allegedly make someone snap? We'll talk to a former FBI special agent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Two minutes after shots rang out at that movie theater, police were on the scene here, just two minutes. But by then, the gunman had put his deadly plan into action.

CNN's Tom Foreman breaks down the shooting, minute by minute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what law enforcement sources now suggest happened during this midnight movie. They believe that this suspect actually came into the theater with a ticket, as Ed found out, went through an exit door to the right of the screen, and then outside he geared up for the attack and then came back inside to theater number 9.

Approximately 12:37, 12:38, that's when they say a canister was tossed in through this door. Look at this my animation will show it like this -- it may have been right before this guy. Nonetheless, it began hissing and spraying something that seemed to be something like tear gas or pepper spray into the room. A man in black comes in behind it. We believe he came through the theater with a ticket, went out, according to law enforcement, put all this gear on and then came back in.

He was wearing a bullet proof vest and a gas mask these people say and he said he shot into the ceiling first and then began firing into the crowd. Police will later say what he had at the time he was doing all this was an AR-15 assault rifle over here, a Remington shotgun and a Glock .40 caliber handgun. And the police say he was firing a lot of rounds very, very fast.

Now, 12:39, the first call starts showing and police officers start racing to the scene. What they found is victims staggering out through the lobby. They surround the place, calling for more officers and ambulances. They know it's a huge event.

At 12:42, some of the witnesses say the gunman is still shooting inside. Officers urgently call for gas masks so that they can theater number 9, because they can smell all those gas coming out.

At 12:46, at some point here, some of the witnesses say that the shooter simply stops shooting up here and walks out the way that he came out -- the way that he came in and apparently he went directly toward his car, which was parked outside, and that's where the police grabbed him.

Police say he offered no resistance, and still had two guns on him, having left one back in the theater, and they say they found another one of the guns inside of his car, another hand gun. In addition to the vest, they also say, he was wearing a ballistic throat protector and groin protector and black tactical gloves.

Simultaneously, officers flood into theater 9, finding several people there who were so injured that they simply could not run away in any fashion. They found other people who were hurt so much they did not dare to move them. And they described tremendous injuries. You listen to the police and the witnesses -- people shot in the arms and head, the legs, the bodies, some bullets appear to have penetrated the walls of the theater and hit people in the next cinemas.

Twelve-fifty-five, ambulances are so overwhelmed with the number of people here that police officers are loading up critically ill people and taking them to hospitals and, of course, they're closing in on the apartment of that suspect, where Kyung Lah reporting earlier, they're still trying to deal with all that might be left inside -- an extraordinary number of events all happening in the space of less than 20 minutes in the middle of the night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Tom, thank you very much for that. Next, a former FBI special agent gives us a profile of the suspect and his behavior.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL ALBINO, GEORGIA RESIDENT: Hi, Dr. Perry. My son is two and a half years old and my wife and I are just starting to look into kindergarten programs. What sort of criteria should we consider besides cost, hours, when we're looking at these schools?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: The most important thing I can say to you, Michael, you as a shopper, you as someone who is looking for a school, must understand first what you want before you go looking at schools. Meaning that if you want a school that teaches very traditional setting, if you want a Montessori, or if you want some sort of hybrid of that, then you have to decide what works best for you.

One of the biggest mistakes that parents make is you decide on a school for reason other than they fit your family's academic needs. If you're looking for a criteria other than cost and hours, I think you want to look at the quality of the academic experience. I think you should want, especially for a kindergarten program, for your child to know how to read. They should be able to read simple words and have some understanding of meaning of those words. They should be able to do simple math, they should be able to know their colors and begin to write to some degree.

If you understand that, then you'll have a really good understanding of the type of school you want for your child.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's get some expert insight now into the Colorado theater shootings and the investigation now under way.

Tom Fuentes is a CNN contributor and a former assistant director at the FBI.

Tom, thanks for joining us.

You know, the FBI special agent here in Aurora said just a little while ago that the device inside this suspect's apartment was sophisticated. We know he was a good student, but how does a person learn to make bombs like that? Is it as simple as going on the Internet?

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, normally it's not that simple. It may be simple enough to acquire weapons, ammunition, tactical equipment, things like that, but to acquire the expertise and successfully assemble sophisticated detonators, pressure switches, or trip wires and other methods of setting off an explosive -- that takes a lot of training. People study that and it's difficult to do that. So just to read that of the Internet and do it sounds pretty difficult.

And I think that's why that's the question of the hour for many investigators, how did he get that expertise, who taught him how to do that? Because they're going to know who else was taught how to do that besides him.

LEMON: Yes. You know, when this first happened, when I heard about the booby trap, I said this is like, you know, something a crime drama, a CSI or something like that that you see on television, or even in the movies, for someone to booby trap an apartment. In all of your years in law enforcement, have you ever seen anything like that, especially to this magnitude?

FUENTES: Well, there was some case where someone has tried to set up a secondary device so that when the first responders came, a second device detonated. But this is a little bit different. I think, you know, if he's watching these television shows or actually watching live real events, that's the first place the police and the authorities go is to the person's residence --

LEMON: Yes.

FUENTES: -- to try to obtain computer records and other material to determine who they were in contact with, whether they acted alone, whether they're part of a terrorist organization.

So I think just watching other events would have taught him that once he's arrested, the police are going to go immediately to his apartment and start searching it. And it's a logical step for him to assume if he wants to attack them to set up trip wires and booby traps.

LEMON: I want to ask you, what attracts someone to something like this? And especially to the guns and the explosives. Obviously some people like to ride motorcycles or what-have-you/ Some people are attracted to guns, they like to shoot off guns.

But then, you know, what attracts someone to -- and what makes someone, and I'm talking as your experience of working with the FBI with profilers, to want to blow up things like that?

FUENTES: Well, I think many of the behavioral scientist also say that often the person is looking for their 15 minutes of fame or that something has happened to them where maybe in his case when he dropped out of school, he finally has become a failure for the first time in his life. He's been an honor student and successful in everything he's done, suddenly now he's dropping out of that PhD program.

We don't know if maybe he was rejected in love. Maybe he was trying to establish a relationship and was turned down by someone.

And a combination of events may have played on his mind that he felt his life was over and he's going to go out in a blaze of glory and make himself famous.

LEMON: Yes. That was -- you bring up an interesting point. I thought about that. Maybe he was spurned by a girl or something and it drives people to want to get revenge.

What we haven't been hearing that much about, in this particular case, Tom, those missed signs, quote-unquote, "missed signs" of the suspect's behavior, like you heard after the Gabby Gifford's shooting, the Columbine shooting, and then other massacres. Why aren't we hearing so much about that now? Is it too early into this investigation?

FUENTES: I think yes, it is too early on and they haven't had the ability to get to his computers and e-mail accounts and telephone records to determine who he's been in contact with, who he may have approached and have relationships or attempted relationships with.

So that's one factor. But in some cases, the scientists will tell you that there are cases where there are no indications, that you have a person that, yes, maybe not quite as average, especially someone as bright as him, an honor student with terrific grades and a PhD program that most people wouldn't dream of being able to get into. And, you know -- so somebody with that kind of background, his only encounter with law enforcement was to get a traffic ticket. So we don't have somebody out killing animals in his backyard or mistreating neighbors or exhibiting the bizarre behavior that we've seen in so many cases, but there are cases where a person seems normal and then suddenly goes off the track like he did.

LEMON: But, Tom, I have to say, hearing about what a terrific student he was and how smart he was, and I've been getting comments from people that it bothers them to hear that. It kind of bothers me, as well, because I have known some really smart people who are crazy. And as they always say, there's a thin line between genius and crazy.

So what is the distinction here? Why is that such a factor that he was a smart student, so therefore this is out of character? Smart people can do odd things, as well.

FUENTES: You're absolutely right. You can't question Hitler as not being smart and look what he did. So that's not necessarily a mutually exclusive factor to be smart and be a psychopath.

LEMON: Right.

FUENTES: So, we know that. That's true.

But I'm talking about the other kind of bizarre behavior that we saw in so many other cases of individuals, the Charles Mansons and the Jeffrey Dahmers and Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. We don't have that, at least that we know of, in his case. That may be determined in the future investigation.

His computer records, hopefully, and I know the law enforcement investigators are going to put a lot of stock in getting that computer, being able to crack whatever encryption or pass codes he has on there and try to see, hopefully the information will be there, who has he been in contact with, what Web sites has he gone to, not just to learn the bomb-making equipment --

LEMON: Right.

FUENTES: -- but also socially. We know h hasn't been on Facebook or Twitter. But this other Web site that's been brought. He may be the person that was on there. They may be able to determine from his computer record.

And that will be an important thing, because it might lead to other people that he was meeting with or exchanging messages with, that we just don't know about, that his parents wouldn't have known about or other friends. So, there's going to be --

LEMON: So, we can learn more about --

FUENTES: Yes, exactly.

LEMON: We can learn more about his mindset and character, as well.

FUENTES: Right.

LEMON: Right. Tom Fuentes, we appreciate it. Thank you very much, sir.

FUENTES: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: You know, this story out of Aurora is a tragedy on every level. Again, thanks to Tom Fuentes.

It is a black mark on our history, but there were brave people who stepped up, making their mark on history. And one of those people is Matt McQuinn. When the gunman's bullet rained down, Matt McQuinn shielded his girlfriend with his body. He gave his life protecting her and she's alive today, recovering in a local hospital because of his amazing courage. Straight ahead here on CNN, firsthand accounts of how the mass shooting unfolded from eyewitnesses in the movie theater. And my interview with the victim of the shooting who is recovering in her hospital bed right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Half past the hour now. Let's go back to Brianna Keilar to get us up to speed on some of the other day's news.

What do you have, Brianna?

KEILAR: Well, Don, in Syria, the rebels are making slow but steady progress that's most noticeable along the board with Turkey. Government forces appear to have abandoned some border posts.

CNN's Ivan Watson reports from Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: And one man saying there's no more Syrian border there anymore. No Syrian officials to stamp his passport when he went through. That rebel-hold of the strategic entry point could be shaky, though, because we're hearing from all of those travelers that there's a Syrian government army location only a mile or two away from there. So there could be more fighting around this key entry point into Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: At the same time, Syrian refugees are streaming across the border, fleeing the escalating violence. More than 120,000 have fled to neighboring countries. Their numbers include defecting generals from the Syrian military who arrived in Turkey overnight. Officials say about two dozen Syrian generals have now fled to Turkey.

To Japan now, where the government is investigating reports that workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant tried to deceive the public. Allegedly, they were told to use lead covers over the radiation detectors to hide unsafe radiation levels at the plant. This reportedly occurred nine months after the plant was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami.

And the worst drought in more than 50 years is crippling farmers in the midwest. Half of the states in the region are reported to be in severe to exceptional drought. And that's the region that produces about 75 percent of the nation's corn and soybean crop. The drought is especially hard on livestock. Many ranchers have had to sell off their herds early. Back to you in Aurora, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Brianna, I want to show you something here. There is a makeshift memorial that was - they sort of came yesterday and they started bringing candles and balloons and teddy bears, as you and I see on these stories, and sadly on these horrific stories that we have to cover like this, Virginia Tech, Columbine and on and on and on. But there you go. We have seen people going over there. They have been crying and hugging each other. But Brianna, you know, sadly, that happens when we cover these stories. I remember it happened at Virginia Tech. I'm sure you have similar stories, as well.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. You know, I think that - and I was at Virginia Tech. I think that when you're watching these folks there, there's something about having a physical spot to go to, and that was as well the case at Columbine. There were a series of crosses that were set up there to honor each of the individuals. A lot of times you see something that's makeshift and then it becomes something a little more permanent, Don.

LEMON: Yes, and maybe that's across the street. Brianna, thank you. We're going to get back to you a little bit later on with the news of the day. Thanks again, Brianna.

That crowded movie theater behind me here early Friday morning was one of shock that quickly turned to horror. CNN's Kyra Phillips has the account from the witnesses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a midnight movie massacre. This is the cell phone video taken by someone at the theater, showing frantic people fleeing the building. Some with blood on their clothes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody kicked in the emergency exit and started throwing gas grenades and started shooting people at random. At first it took me a second to realize what was actually going on. As people were running away, I hit the ground so I wouldn't be hit.

PHILLIPS: At first, some of the moviegoers thought the smoke and gunfire was just a stunt, all a part of the premiere.

JENNIFER SEEGER, WITNESS: He came in and he started lighting a gas can and he threw it into the crowd. At that point he shot his first fire into the ceiling to scare everybody and they started scattering and mass chaos just happened. At that point, he went from here to here and he just pointed the gun at me. I was terrified so I just dove into the aisle. And at that point, he started shooting people behind me. And I had bullets that were, you know, on my forehead, burning my forehead and I just told myself I need to get out of here. I need to get out of here.

PHILLIPS: Another witness in the theater next to the one where the shooting took place saw bullets actually coming through the walls. A friend described the gunman to him.

ALEX MILANO, WITNESS: A man about six feet tall, taller than her, kicked through the door and he was in. She said a riot helmet. She said he had a bullet proof vest on. She said that he was completely covered in all black with goggles and she said that after that point, when she saw that he was holding a shotgun, her and her boyfriend dropped to the floor and just kind of started to crawl to see if they could get away. They got up and they started to run through the emergency exit. She said that when she turned around, all she saw was the guy slowly making his way up the stairs and just firing at people, just picking random people.

PHILLIPS: Random people. Shaken. Shocked. And right in the middle of the gunfire, many of them teenagers like 15-year-old William.

"WILLIAM', 15-YEAR-OLD WITNESS: All I saw was him bust open the entrance at the right corner and he throws a tear grenade and, you know, we're thinking at that point it's part of the show. But then we realized he started shooting off rounds and we realized it was serious. There was a lot of screaming and it was shocking.

PHILLIPS: Outside the movie theater, those who managed to get out safely described the horrifying scene.

DONOVAN TATE, WITNESS: When we got out of the building, it was just chaos. You saw injured people. There was this one guy who was on all fours crawling. There was this girl spitting up blood. There were bullet holes in some people's backs, some people's arms. There was this one guy who was stripped down to just like his boxers. It looked like he had been shot in the back or something. It was crazy.

PHILLIPS: Kyra Phillips, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Kyra. Stephen Baldwin is a popular movie actor who is familiar with playing bad guys on the big screen. We're going to talk with him about violence in movies and whether it's a factor in this tragic incident and ones like this. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Since the shootings here in Aurora, the sheer magnitude of the violence, some are once again raising questions about violence on TV and in the movies. Earlier, actor Stephen Baldwin joined me and he was coming on to talk about his latest movie but after the shootings he wanted to get his unique perspective, give his unique perspective. He's been in some very violent movies like "The Usual Suspect" and I asked him how he felt about what's happening here and whether or not the media and Hollywood caused some of this violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHEN BALDWIN, ACTOR/FILMMAKER: There is a desensitizing that happens I think with a lot of people. I don't think that's the case here. This guy obviously is nuts. It's a bad situation. I would like just to say for myself, I would like to ask the entire country to be praying for Aurora right now. I think that's going to be something that's going to bring back a lot of hope and make a lot of healing happen around here. This is beyond everyone's comprehension.

LEMON (on camera): And to be clear, as we reel from what happened here in Aurora, we're not pointing the finger at the moviemakers. In fact - BALDWIN: Not at all.

LEMON: I want to read a statement - it's a statement from the director of "Dark Knight Rises," Christopher Nolan. Here's what he says "I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important enjoyable pastime. The movie theater is my home and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me."

So still, there's a responsibility, even though it may not be directly, maybe it's a chance for us to all step back and even in the media, even what we do.

BALDWIN: Sure.

LEMON: All of us to step back and take a look.

BALDWIN: And even in regard to second amendment people and guns and all that, you know, this guy purchased 6,000 rounds in six to eight weeks prior.

LEMON: I was going to ask you that.

BALDWIN: I mean, perhaps - I don't know, I'm a gun advocate, I am. And obviously this is tragic. I don't want to go there with the whole guns aren't the problem thing. I believe in personal protection myself. But maybe in the future as part of the Patriot Act-

LEMON: Should you be able to buy 6,000 rounds in a short amount of time?

BALDWIN: With these things continuing to happen, now even as a gun enthusiasts, it's making me say maybe there needs to be a change.

LEMON: All right. So as a gun enthusiasts, you know, NRA, gun rights advocates whatever they're going to be listening in - "Oh, my gosh, Stephen Baldwin." What do you say to them?

BALDWIN: Listen, it's like I said, you know, guns and weapons are part of our police force military. They protect us. In the right hands they do good. In the wrong hands, we stand here today. But I definitely think that maybe there should be some new thinking with the technology we have to monitor people when these types of situations occur.

LEMON: People say the people, you know, the people who designed our constitution they didn't think about, they didn't know about these automatic weapons and semi-automatic weapons that can get off hundreds of rounds very quickly. That was (INAUDIBLE). Do you think - do you believe, the second part of my question, do you think the gun lobby is too strong maybe in Washington?

BALDWIN: Listen, I think as, you know, our nation advances and things change and things like this - listen, I'm not going to deny that when things like this happen, it needs to be re-evaluated, there's no question. I don't think it's right for people who are common sense logical, law abiding citizens to not have the right to bear arms and defend themselves. I agree with that. And I'm one of them.

LEMON: I don't think anyone says that shouldn't happen.

BALDWIN: Right. Exactly.

LEMON: But just the amount of it, and the ease, how easy it is to get it.

BALDWIN: I think as we progress, we always have to step back and evaluate in the future what that means.

LEMON: Yes. Very good. You're very careful. But you're very honest. You said it made you rethink yourself.

BALDWIN: Yes, you know, and again, with the Patriot Act, there's monitoring and surveillance that's allowed to happen. I think that a red flag should have gone up when this guy bought 6,000 rounds or something in such a short period of time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Stephen Baldwin, thank you. Next, my interview with a victim of the shootings who is recovering in a hospital bed now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Earlier today, I spoke with a victim of the shooting, still recovering in a hospital bed. Her name is Christina Blache and she served in Iraq. I asked her if the theater shooting is anything like, anything she had seen in a war zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA BLACHE, WOUNDED IN THEATER SHOOTING: This was worse because I had to sit there and watch like my friends and people that we were just laughing and joking with five minutes prior, never saw it coming. They didn't sign up for that. They didn't sign up to be shot that night. You know what I mean? If you're in the military, you signed up for it. You're signing up possibly risking your life. Whereas these people were going to a movie to enjoy themselves, to spend time with whether it was their family, their friends. They didn't sign up to be shot.

LEMON: Your friend, Alex.

BLACHE: Alex Sullivan, yes.

LEMON: What did you learn this morning?

BLACHE: I learned that he died.

LEMON: Hard to fathom?

BLACHE: He's the reason we all went, so. It just sucks, you know? I don't want to say nobody deserves something like this.

LEMON: Can you forgive him, the gunman?

BLACHE: Can I forgive him? Probably not today, not tomorrow. Eventually. I'm a pretty, I guess, laid back and outgoing person. I like to move on. I don't like to keep dwelling on the past. So eventually, yes. I'll be able to forgive him. Just not right now. He killed somebody I cared about, he injured a heck of a lot of my friends. So for right now, no. Down the road, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Next, survivors of this mass shooting share stories of horror in their own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Colorado in a state of shock, anger and disbelief as people here try to come to grips with this mass shooting tragedy. It is a moment or in this country that we'll never forget. The survivors share their stories now in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is shooting in the auditorium. 315 and 314, that's at least one person that's been shot. There's hundreds of people just running around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as we heard the first shots, my sister immediately grabbed my arm and wanted to leave as quick as possible. It was terrifying.

PATRICIA LEGARRETA, SHOOTING VICTIM: I just remember thinking I'm not going to die in here. Me and my kids - we are not going to die in here. I need to get them out.

QUENTIN CALDWELL, WITNESS: Everybody has kind of an ethereal state, just puzzled, wondering what's going on. It wasn't until the alarm went off that everything sinked in that there is something going wrong and that's when everybody tried to start forcing their way towards the exit.

DONOVAN TATE, WITNESS: There was this one guy who was on all fours crawling. There was this girl spitting up blood. There were bullet holes in some people's backs, some people's arms.

CHIEF DAN OATES, AURORA POLICE: The suspect was dressed all in black. He was wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, a throat protector, and a groin protector and a gas mask and black tactical gloves.

Our cops went through a lot. They rushed people out of that theater into police cars. I've heard some compelling stories.

GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER, COLORADO: I mean, the whole country recognizes that this is something that we don't accept. We can't explain at this point. But we're not going to just let it happen to us. We're going to push back.

SANDY PHILLIPS, JESSICA GHAWI'S MOTHER: The last thing she texted to me was I'm so excited about your trip here next week. And I need my momma. I was blessed. Only for 25 years, but I was blessed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want the victims to be remembered. Rather than this coward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Brianna Keilar is in Washington. She has the other day's news.

Brianna, let's talk about what's happening here in the scene. We want to show you over - this side there. Investigators have been back on the scene. You can see some flashing lights over there at the cinema. We saw them bringing things out a little bit earlier and also going into the back of the theater. There are still police officers there.

But they have been on the scene here. And then, also, I want to show you this, Brianna. Look, this makeshift memorial again that you and I talked about. As the evening and the day progresses, more and more people come out to this memorial. As you said, people need to feel some sort of togetherness. A place where they can meet and congregate and get support.

KEILAR: Yes, I think there's this need. You feel like you want to do something. And I saw that at Virginia Tech. People feeling like they want to show solidarity with the members of the community. And sometimes, really, certainly the first thing you can do is go and pay your respects and just show that you're part of the community and that you're paying your respects.

LEMON: Yes, so Brianna, there are other headlines, you want to get us up to speed on that?

KEILAR: Yes, that's right, Don. The worst drought in more than 50 years is crippling farmers in the mid west. Many states are reported to be in severe to exceptional drought. That region produces about 75 percent of the nation's corn and soybean crop. The drought is especially hard on livestocks. So many ranchers have had to sell off their herds early because they can't afford the corn to feed them.

And with the focus on the Colorado movie massacre, the relentless violence in Chicago is going almost unnoticed but in the past 24 hours, 21 people have been shot, three have died. Police are blaming a gang fight for the latest killing.

U.N. general secretary Ban Ki-Moon says the fighting in Syria is destroying the country. And I'm sure many Syrians would agree with him. The opposition says that at least 96 people were killed today as battles raged in Damascus and other hot spots. Dutch journalist Sander Van Hoorn is in the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDER VAN HOORN, JOURNALIST (ON THE PHONE): In the wider area of central Damascus, it looked like life almost as usual. Now, the last three hours, new development - there has been fierce fighting in the southern suburbs of Damascus. I can hear heavy shelling. I can hear gunfire. And it's been going on with an intensity that I didn't see before in the nine days that I'm in Damascus right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The rebels are making gains in other parts of Syria. They have seized key towns along the Turkish border and in another sign that the regime may be crumbling, two more effective generals arrived in Turkey overnight. Officials say about two dozen Syrian generals have now fled to Turkey. And in Bulgaria, officials say a bus bomber who killed five Israeli tourists this week may have had an accomplice. The suicide bomber, the man highlighted right there blew up the tour bus Wednesday at the in International Airport. The driver also died and more than 30 people were injured. Officials tell CNN that a second suspect is a possibility, but it hasn't been confirmed.

And to Japan now where the government is investigating reports that the workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant tried to deceive the public. Allegedly they were told to use lead covers over their radiation detectors to hide unsafe radiation levels at the plant. This reportedly occurred December 1st, nine months after the plant was damaged by that major earthquake and tsunami.

Now we go to Don Lemon in Aurora, Colorado for a CNN special report on the Colorado theater shooting. It begins right now.