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Obama En Route to Aurora; Paterno Statue Gone; Housing Numbers Expected This Week

Aired July 22, 2012 - 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: Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Right now President Obama is on his way to Colorado to provide comfort to the victims of that deadly theater shooting in Aurora. In just a few hours the people of Aurora come together to hold a prayer vigil for the victims.

And investigators in Quantico, Virginia will be examining some of the explosives removed from the suspected gunman's home. Tomorrow the suspect, James Holmes, is expected to make his first public appearance in court.

Meantime, new information now about the Colorado shooting suspect. The manager of a gun range is now coming forward saying his contact with James Holmes was weird, even bizarre. Let's get right to CNN's Drew Griffin who joins us now in Denver on the phone. Drew, what are you learning?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (ON THE PHONE): Fred, an interesting thing. James Holmes applied online on June 25th to join a private gun range called the Lead Valley Range out in (INAUDIBLE), Colorado. That would be about a half hour drive from where he was living. And the owner there, Glen Rockevich (ph) called back and got a message on James Holmes' message machine that he described as very weird almost as if the person leaving the message was drunk, he told us "guttural, freakish, maybe drunk, just weird and bizarre, a deep guttural forced voice" that was on reportedly on James Holmes' message machine.

It perked Rockevich (ph) so much that he said to his staff this guy doesn't get anywhere near our range until I meet him personally. He told one of our producers he didn't know if this guy was an idiot or what was happening. But it was only after the killing that his staff went back, remembered the name matched this guy who had applied online and they found out that yes, this is indeed the guy who applied online to join their gun range and had this very, very odd message machine at his home.

So it is just bits and pieces but we now know that James Holmes was at least trying or attempting to get to a gun range to practice perhaps with the guns that he was using allegedly to kill all these people.

WHITFIELD: And so Drew, has this gun range manager in any way talked to authorities to reveal any of these information or have they come to him hoping that this might fill in blanks in the investigation?

GRIFFIN: I'm sure that - you know what, I don't have that answer directly but the police have either been in front of or right behind us every step of the way. And once this person's name came forward I'm sure that he was contacted by the FBI which has been combing this town or police. Again, he had no direct contact. It was only an online application and out of due diligence this gun range owner calls back to kind of query people over the phone and he got this very "weird and bizarre" message. He had never met Holmes. Holmes never followed up on the online application. It was just this one online application on June 25th. That was the only contact with the gun range.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Very fascinating information. Drew Griffin, appreciate that, from Denver.

All right. Some in the theater that night in Aurora are revealing more, describing in vivid detail now how they narrowly escaped death. CNN's Kyung Lah joins us now, live from Aurora. So Kim, you know, you have been hearing incredible stories from survivors. What more are they telling you?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we're hearing from survivors are - it wasn't just the fact that they witnessed this terrible event and they were part of it but how they came together in order to survive. We are hearing some amazing stories of sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH NOWLAN, SHOOTING VICTIM: My mind was completely clear of what is going on. This guy is here with a gun. He is shooting at people. Stay down. That's the best chance we have.

LAH (voice-over): The second thought for Josh Nowlan, protect his friends. The 31-year-old Navy veteran deployed to Iraq twice threw himself on top of his friends. Newlyweds Brandon and Denise Axelrod. Dozens of bullets flew through the air. One rip through Nowlan's calf and then lodge in his arm, breaking the bone.

NOWLAN: There was a big hole in my leg and a big hole in my arm. That is when Brandon was like stay down.

LAH: Nowlan says he flattened himself on the theater floor with his friends beneath him, hearing the gunman walk and wait. He must survive for his two sons he says whose pictures he carries in his wallet, nine year old, Eric and seven year old, Ryan. And then the gun jammed.

(on camera): If that gun had not jammed would you be here?

NOWLAN: I know I would not be here. If that gun did not jam I am certain I probably would not be here.

LAH: How are you feeling today?

NOWLAN: Scared. You know. Of course I'm glad it's over with. Yes, I am glad I am alive and I get to see my kids but then I also think about the, you know, the other people that didn't, who was not as lucky as I was. I mean there were kids, mothers and fathers that were there and they are dead. I'm still alive.

Amid the horror of what happened inside theater number nine we are hearing an extraordinary story repeated among the survivors. The number of people who threw themselves on top of friends and family members to shield them from the flying bullets.

NOWLAN: Brad and Denise are two of the best people that you would ever get to meet.

LAH: Is that why you jumped on top of them when those bullets started flying?

NOWLAN: I did. I did not want to see those two go. Because they have every right to live and be happy. They just got married.

DENISE AXELROD: It's no longer a friendship. It's not even family. It is like something deeper.

BRANDON AXELROD: Because this is something that will never leave us.

DENISE AXELROD: No.

LAH (voice-over): His friends won't leave his side now helping Nowlan through a second surgery and physical therapy. As soon as he can, Nowlan has one thing he says he must do for his emotional recovery.

NOWLAN: I want to go back to that theater. I want to go back to that auditorium and look at that same street and I want to say I beat you. You did not take this life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Kyung Lah back with us now there in Aurora. And you are at the location where the prayer vigil will be taking place this evening. What kind of details are you receiving about what will unfold there?

LAH: Well, while the people in the hospital like the man you saw are working on their physical wounds this community is going to start to get together to work on the emotional healing. This is going to be a prayer vigil tonight, and we're going to see all levels of people, the governor of Colorado, the mayor of this city, the early responders, the very first responders, the witnesses, the family members all trying to get together to begin this community process of hearing. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kyung Lah, thanks so much for bringing that to us. Of course we're going to have live coverage of the events throughout the evening and at 8:00 p.m. prime time special as well.

All right. Meantime, the youngest person killed in this massacre was a six-year-old girl. And now more on her. She loved school and she loved playing dressup. Veronica Mozer-Sullivan was at the "Batman" movie with her mom. Her mother, Ashley Mozer was critically wounded in the shooting. Veronica's great aunt said the little girl had just learned how to swim and was "excited about life." Veronica was only a child, an only child rather. Her mother is still being hospitalized.

President Obama is expected to arrive in Colorado in the next hour. And CNN's Athena Jones is live from Washington with more on the president's scheduled trip and what he is planning to say. Because he won't be at the vigil, Athena. Instead he will be meeting privately, right, with some of the victims and some of the city and local officials?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He is going to be doing meetings behind closed doors, meeting with some of the families of the victims. The president is right now scheduled to be on the ground there in Aurora for just over two hours. He'll be landing right at the air force base at Buckley and then going on to have those meetings behind closed doors.

Now, it is not uncommon to see the president visit these cities effected by tragedy whether mass shootings like in Fort Hood, Texas in 2009 or in Tucson, Arizona early last year or of course, cities affected by natural disasters. He was just in Colorado Springs at the end of June to tour the area that had been affected by wildfires.

And it is not uncommon during trips like this to at some point see the president on camera. We expect to see him when he arrives touching down and then later on he takes off. But we might also see him at some point speaking on camera about this, delivering some sort of message of unity and comfort to the family members there. We will have to watch out for that and see if that happens. Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so Athena, has the White House revealed what kind of concerns they had about the president attending the prayer vigil and why both the White House and some of the officials in Aurora decided it wasn't the best thing for him to do?

JONES: Well, the White House isn't speaking about this explicitly. They are only really talking about what is on the schedule that they have released officially. But I know that Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper spoke with CNN's Candy Crowley this morning on "State of the Union" and said that the issue that had been raised was really a logistical one. This is not uncommon to see this from this White House. They don't want to disrupt anything in events like this, whether it's, you know, touring the wildfire zone or when he visited Joplin, Missouri, after those tornadoes. They don't want to do something that's going to take a lot of the city's resources out of commission or in instance like this require these people at this vigil, this memorial service to arrive hours early for screening. So that is in line with how they have acted in the past. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Athena Jones, thanks so much from the White House. Appreciate that. We will have more on the massacre in Colorado and how that city is trying to heal in a moment.

But right now, we are getting some information out of Afghanistan about three Americans killed after an Afghan policeman opened fire at a training center. It happened in western Afghanistan. Information is just beginning to filter in. A NATO spokesman says three civilian contractors were involved. An Afghan official says the gunman was also killed. No motive yet. And we'll of course, bring you information as we get it.

All right. While the people of Aurora work through the shock and the loss others are asking a very familiar question, can we talk about stricter gun control laws? Some want the presidential contenders to step up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: For a short time the candidates suspended their campaigning because of the Aurora, Colorado tragedy. As President Obama and Mitt Romney offered condolences, New York City Mayor Bloomberg demanded gun action from these candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: You know, soothing words are nice. But maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it. Because this is obviously a problem across the country and everybody always says isn't it tragic and you know, we look for the guys, as you said, maybe trying to re-create "Batman." So many murders with guns every day it just got to stop.

And instead of the two people, President Obama and Governor Romney talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place. OK. Tell us how and this is a real problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me from San Diego is CNN contributor Ruben Navarette. OK. Good to see you, Ruben. All right. So you have to wonder, does Michael Bloomberg have a point there or would it be too knee jerk for either the president or for the candidate to start talking about gun issues right now?

RUBEN NAVARETTE, JR. CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Fredricka, good to be back with you. I think too knee jerk, too quick, too soon. I think what Americans want is pretty much what President Bill Clinton accomplished after the Oklahoma City bombing, a sense of empathy, someone who helps the leader, to help with the healing but never get out in front of a story like this. Never be seen as trying to shove these tragic events into a pre-set agenda, to go where you want it to go. Clinton did not do that after Oklahoma City. It would be a mistake to do that here.

WHITFIELD: So if not now, does this tragedy set the stage though for either of these candidates both of these candidates to at some point address their platform as it pertains to guns very specifically as we are just about three months away from people going to the polls?

NAVARETTE: Right, I would agree that when the time comes that conversation needs to happen. And really what needs to happen is the discussion about how it is that one individual could accumulate an arsenal of weapons without drawing the attention of authorities. And I think whether you are concerned about domestic security or homeland security, if you're worried about terrorism threats or urban violence or whatever you're concern, you want to be assured that the authorities know who is collecting these weapons and these mass arsenals. That is not too much to ask of our law enforcement agencies. So I think that that is something that I think we can focus in, and we should be focusing a lot more attention on how is it that one individual can accumulate so much firepower and nobody noticed.

WHITFIELD: But it also seems like quite the tightrope doesn't for these candidates to talk about it because we are three to four months away from the November elections and it seems as though, you know, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party everyone has some sort of tie with the NRA or certainly wants to not alienate its supporters and those who are supporters, particularly of the second amendment. So, you know, how delicately will either of these candidates kind of tread when talking about this? Because likely even during the debates it is going to come up. They can bet that.

NAVARETTE: Sure. I think they have to be very careful about it and politicians really, they know they really have to be careful of the NRA. They are afraid of the NRA, people in both parties I think more afraid than they should be of this lobbying organization. But I think most of all, politicians are afraid of being craven and crass. And in a moment like this, you want to hear from law enforcement officials and you want to hear from your priests and not your favorite politician because politicians tend to approach these issues in very clumsy and crass ways. And I think if a politician can avoid that and someone running for office can say "Listen, I want to deal with this in a very sensitive way." Then more power to him. It's very tough to do.

WHITFIELD: All right. If not on the issue of gun issues perhaps there are other criticisms that both candidates are receiving from the electorate. People are saying I am not hearing specificity. I'm not hearing specifically what your platform is on a host of issues, you know, from education to jobs, et cetera. Even though both candidates are certainly acknowledging the economy as a number one. But is this a problem for both of the candidates? Is it a problem that they are just not being specific enough?

NAVARETTE: Yes and I think the reason they are not specific enough and they are really focusing on personal attacks with President Obama, you know, can't resist the cabinet going after Mitt Romney for his connections with Bain Capital and Mitt Romney can't resist the catnip in return of going after Barack Obama for his comments about "Well, you didn't build that business and you didn't get here on your own."

And I think the reason that the campaign is handled on that superficial level is because at the end of the day these two candidates are much more similar in their policy than you would imagine. If you just go issue by issue, you will see there has been a funneling process. This isn't Dennis Kucinich on the left versus Rick Santorum on the right. There is very little daylight between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama on some of these issues.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ruben Navarette, always good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us from San Diego on this Sunday. Appreciate it. NAVARETTE: Great to be with you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. We are going to return to our coverage on the massacre in Colorado. And you are being asked to really stop and think for a moment about the people who live near that shooting suspect, the fear, the shock, the questions that many have. We are going to be hearing from some of them and some of the answers in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first known victim of the Aurora, Colorado mass theater shooting Jessica Ghawi was an aspiring broadcaster who moved from Texas to Aurora within the last year to chase her dream.

Last month, she survived a mall shooting in Toronto while visiting her boyfriend. According to witnesses she died from a gunshot wound to the head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: After narrowly escaping injury in the Toronto shooting Jessica Ghawi reflected to her friends about how fragile life is. And she will be remembered in a memorial service in San Antonio Saturday.

So are you a friend or family member of one of the victims? We invite you to share your remembrances and tributes at cnn.com/ireport. Post your photos of your loved ones or tell us about a vigil that you attended.

The accused gunman, 24-year-old James Holmes will make his first court appearance tomorrow. This weekend bomb squads cleared his booby trapped apartment of all explosives.

Police say Holmes left a trail of evidence in his home that is being sent to an FBI lab now in Quantico, Virginia. They say the evidence suggests Holmes may have been planning the attack for months.

Before all of this Aurora was known as a safe place to live. But people who live near the suspect's apartment are feeling anything but safe right now. CNN's Poppy Harlow walked the neighborhood and found people shaken by their close brush with disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL MCQUEEN, EVACUEE: We're still frightened because we don't know when we can go home. They said it could be tonight. It could be another couple of days.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forced to evacuate following Friday's horrific mass movie theater shooting Paul Mcqueen is shaken, his children terrified. Their apartment building right next to the suspected shooter. For those who live here forced to leave their home it has been a day full of angst and questions

SGT. CASSIDEE CARLSON, AURORA, COLORADO POLICE: First and foremost is we need to render the area safe. The most immediate threat is the trip wire.

HARLOW: Two hours later progress.

CARLSON: We have been successful in defeating the first threat which includes the trip wire and the first incendiary device.

HARLOW: But also this.

CARLSON: This trip wire was set up to detonate when somebody entered that apartment and it was set up to kill that person.

HARLOW: Kaitlyn Fonzi says she lives in the apartment below the suspected shooter. She heard loud techno music coming from his apartment Friday and went upstairs to confront him, found the door unlock but decided not to enter.

KAITLYN FONZI, NEIGHBOR OF JAMES HOLMES: Just hearing the latest news that that device was designed to kill whoever entered the apartment that - that's a lot to swallow right now.

HARLOW: A little before noon Saturday fire men shout fire in the hole and then this.

CARLSON: We have been successful in detonating the second triggering device. We are confident that we have eliminated all major threats at this point however there are many hazards that remain inside this apartment.

HARLOW: And much unease for the evacuated families.

(on camera): What has this been like for you as a mother?

YESENIA LUJAN, EVACUEE: It has been really horrible like it is terrifying because I'm a mother of four children and just knowing what happened in the theater to the families, the loved ones. Come to find out he is right next to us. And you know, it's kind of hard because what if he would have came out and happened to just start shooting at the kids.

TANYA LUJAN, EVACUEE: I didn't know if they were going to be OK, if that place was going to blow up while I was at work. It was really scary.

HARLOW (voice-over): For now though that risk while not eliminated at least in the FBI's words significantly reduced.

Poppy Harlow, CNN, Aurora, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: On to Penn State now, making a decision concerning an iconic statue that has been on campus for more than 10 years. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An iconic statue honoring the late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is gone. It was taken down this morning in response to that scathing independent report on Penn State's handling of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Also the NCAA says it will hold a press conference tomorrow morning to announce sanctions against the university.

There seems to be some confusion about the whereabouts of Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine. A nephew reported Katherine Jackson missing late Saturday night after her grandchildren were unable to get in touch with her for a week. But then Jermaine Jackson tweeted "I want to reassure everyone that mother is fine but is resting up in Arizona on the orders of a doctor, not us." This drama is all unfolding as the family deals with a messy dispute over Michael Jackson's estate. We'll have a guest on that topic in the next hour.

All right. Now overseas to Syria. President Bashar al-Assad made his second appearance on state television since the bombing killed members of his inner circle. Opposition activists report fierce fighting between regime and rebel forces in (INAUDIBLE) and Damascus. Meanwhile in a video posted online today the head of a rebel group in (INAUDIBLE) announced an operation to liberate the city from Assad's rule.

President Barack Obama heading to Colorado to comfort the victims of the Aurora shooting rampage. The importance of his visit and his words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A.J. Boik was a student at Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado. He liked lacrosse and had a girlfriend. They went to the movies that night with a friend. A.J.'s girlfriend and the friend survived a barrage of bullets from suspect James Holmes. But A.J. did not. He died in that theater.

WHITFIELD: One of Boik's teammates said A.J. was inspirational and "You can't find someone with a brighter smile and more positive outlook on life." A memorial service for the 12 killed in the rampage will be held tonight in Aurora. President Barack Obama is heading to that city right now. He is expected to arrive in the next hour. The president will meet with the victims, their families and get updated on the investigation.

President Obama cut short his campaign swing through Florida on Friday in light of the shooting rampage and he spoke about the need for the country to rally behind the people of Aurora.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will take every step possible to ensure the safety of all of our people. We're going to stand by our neighbors in Colorado during this extraordinarily difficult time. I had a chance to speak with the mayor of Aurora as well as the governor of Colorado to express not just on behalf of Michelle and myself but the entire American family how heart broken we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining us now from Washington Don Baer a former speech writer for former President Bill Clinton. Good to see you Don.

DON BAER, FMR. CLINTON SPEECHWRITER: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So what sentiment do you suppose this president needs to convey when he speaks to these victims privately?

BAER: Well, when he talks to them privately it is very much at the human level and it is expressing sorrow and support in the same way that any human being would. Of course, the president is different than many human beings in that we expect a great deal more of him. But those one to ones with those families not getting those with President Clinton are really done at a very, very human level.

WHITFIELD: At least one of those occasions with President Clinton was after the Oklahoma City bombing. In fact, let's pull a short clip just kind of representative of his speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When there is talk of violence let us stand up and talk against it. In the face of death, let us honor life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What was the primary objective then? Clearly when you are hearing him say us an awful lot of times there bringing people together. This is not me or you but we are one big family. In fact, we heard President Obama use something very similar on Friday when he says you know the American family has been hurt here.

BAER: Yes. You know one of the points in the early stages of these kinds of national tragedies is to make sure people remember they are not alone, that the nation, the country, the people of this country are all with them. But probably the most famous line from that speech by President Clinton was that you here in Oklahoma City have lost life, you have lost much, but you have not lost America. America is with you. And I think to show that we are one America, that we are united by common purpose in the face of these kinds of situations is a critical thing that a president above all others can actually do.

WHITFIELD: So this is a defining moment for this president and no matter which way you look at it. But I wonder is that going to be measured by the word choice, what he says or also by his body language? No one can forget President George W. Bush 9/11when he was in front of the classroom and someone came in and whispered in his ear and you could see the demeanor of the president once we all learned that information that he received the demeanor of him. And that was as indelible as any word could have been. BAER: Well, there is no doubt the pictures here, the television matters. The sense of empathy that a president is able to convey not just by what he says and by how he acts these are important things. But I think going forward it actually becomes more important in terms of how he shows that he is a healer for the country. Of course this is especially difficult now that we are in the middle of a very contentious political season where the president and candidate Romney are actually not being very much healers. Right. They are going at it and fighting pretty hard. A moment like this tends to makes that kind of politicking that much more distorted.

WHITFIELD: Don Baer thanks so much for your inside appreciated. Good talking to you from Washington.

BAER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. A lot of us are counting down to the Olympic Games. The opening ceremony is Friday. Well this summer games are challenging some athletes none like ever before really. Why? Because it is also coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. That means no food, drink or water during day light hours for Muslim's who observe it and that includes an awful lot of Olympians.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This year's summer Olympics take place during the Muslim observance of Ramadan. Muslims are required to fast during Ramadan and that means no food or drink the day light hours. CNN's "Belief Blog" writer Richard Greene joining me now from London.

So Richard even these athletes are at the biggest sporting event of their lives, they have spent hours, days, months, years to get to this point. So how in the world are many of them going to balance their religious believes with their Olympic dreams?

RICHARD GREENE, CNN BELIEF BLOG WRITER: Well, Fredricka it is not going to be easy. We spoke to a young woman named Hajada Fied (ph). She is 17 years old she is a weight lifter and she is the first woman from her country ever to qualify for the Olympics. She is from the United Arab Emirates. She would like to fast during Ramadan. But here is the thing she is supposed to eat 5,000 calories a day as part of her training, that is more than twice as much as you would expect an active young woman to eat.

Now Muslims are allowed to eat during the hours of night but there is simply no way to get 5,000 calories into your body during that amount of time so she is really wrestling with what she is going to do.

WHITFIELD: But she hasn't decided yet.

GREENE: Last we talked to her she was hoping to fast. She was thinking that she wanted to fast but I think she is going to have to play it by ear a little bit. You know, as you say this is the world stage and she needs to eat a tremendous amount of food to be able to lift the weights that she lifts at Olympic levels. WHITFIELD: Wow. And then you talk to others who are also torn. But then it seems like some of the others like the rower is saying no, I have to ingest these calories. It is a 17-hour day of day light in London. That is a really long time to go without food. So he seems to have made a decision. Was he conflicted?

GREENE: Well there are, as you say, there are some alternatives. Now this is a British guy. His father was from Morocco, his name is Mohammed Spehe (ph) and he is one of the Great British Olympic hopes. He says he has spoken to his imam about it and he has given it a lot of thought and what he is going to do. He is going to fast after Ramadan and he is going to pay to have 1,800 hungry people in Morocco fed to make up for the fact that he himself didn't fast for Ramadan. So there are athletes who are finding ways around it or finding creative ways to deal with this dilemma.

WHITFIELD: And you also talked to the judo competitor who says, I have come this far I can't afford to lose a match. I have to take in the calories.

GREENE: That's right. This is a young man named Ameed Aldrea (ph). He said "God is merciful and compassionate. He is going to be with me where ever I go. And the thing is to just do what I do. God understands that people sin and do your best and thank god whether you win or lose."

WHITFIELD: OK. So 23 percent of the world population is Muslim. So explain to us the importance of fasting as an obligation and what many religious leaders are saying about the choice of sports since it is an elective.

GREENE: Well, that's right. As you say Fredricka this is not a problem that affects a small minority of people. Nearly one out of four people world wide is Muslim. There are a lot of people who are affected by this problem.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam that is to say the five most important tenants of the faith. So you are expected to pray five times a day and fasting during the month of Ramadan is as important as those things. So there are religious leaders who say look nobody is forcing you to be an athlete. This is not any kind of religious obligation; this is something you have chosen to do. And you know basically you made your choice and you have to live with it.

So you chose to be an athlete. You are good enough to go to the games. You have to fast while you are there. Particularly some of them are saying because you are a Muslim, because you are there representing Islam it is all the more important for you to fast.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GREENE: Now there are other Imams like the British roller ones who say "Look we are living in the real world. Islam is not supposed to make you suffer. It is supposed to be a religion of ease; it is not supposed to be a religion of pain." So if there is a good way around this if you can fast later or if you can do something to make up for the fact that you are not fasting that is OK. There are other alternatives.

WHITFIELD: It is a fascinating dream, it is a fascinating discussion. Thanks so much, Richard Greene for bringing it to us. Olympic Games starting or the opening ceremonies start on Friday.

All right. You can read Richard's story on our "Belief Blog" at CNN.com/belief. It is a fascinating read, it really is. You can of course add your own comments if you would like as well.

James Holmes, the accused gunman in the Colorado mass shooting is expected in court tomorrow. We'll take a look at the legal road ahead and the potential charges he faces.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: James Holmes the accused gunman in the Colorado mass shooting is expected to appear in court tomorrow. I spoke with our legal guys Avery Friedman and Richard Herman about the legal road ahead for Holmes and the potential charges.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Not just aggravated murder, murder, attempted murder, you actually have arson charges, aggravated arson, and you have domestic terrorism. If you multiply Fredericka, the number of potential charges just in the 71 alone you are over 500 charges that excludes the booby trap charges that will also be I think rendered by a grand jury here. So we are dealing with hundreds of potential charges against Holmes. I think in this case there is still much to be known and it could be even more than that.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Extraordinary. Up to 500 or maybe even more so. Richard, we are talking about James Holmes the suspect making his way into court for the first time on Monday. He will be looking at or facing local charges but there were federal authorities on the ground, as well. What do you see in terms of the potential of the legal avenue that he is going to be going down?

RICHARD HERMAN, LAW PRIFESSOR: Well first of all, what a somber day and a day for reflection Fred. CNN is just doing a wonderful job of coverage on this case. When this man walks into court on Monday I don't even know if he knows where he is going to be or his stages of life. This man is facing the end of his life.

Now whether or not they are going to be able to come up with any sort of mental defect or incapacity or mental illness I don't know. But as you just touched on with my buddy Mike Brooks earlier there was a lot of time and effort and planning that went into this. And that is really going to take him out of the realm of any sort of insanity deal. So this man looks like he is going to go to trial eventually on this case. He'll die in prison. That is what is going to happen here.

WHITFIELD: Apparently he has already obtained an attorney. We understand gentleman and so given what we have learned thus far just in less than 24 hours time of where the purchases of these firearms took place and to get a permit and the time that it may have taken to actually plan this might there be separate charges that would come even if he legally purchased these firearms. Avery, might there be separate charges that would involve the permitting or the licensing or obtaining of these firearms?

FRIEDMAN: I don't think so. In Colorado you spent $152.50 to get a permit per arm. He has at least as we know in this case four. One might argue that somehow the bass shop that sold the arms would be legally responsible. I can't come up with any potential legal theory because frankly when they do the background check and do the other obligations that gun sellers have to do they didn't do anything wrong as far as we know right now. In terms of liability of the gun sellers those people that supplied it Fredricka, I don't see anything, not a thing.

WHITFIELD: Given the precedence of Columbine and there were other things that followed after Columbine, the D.A. is known to be one that would advocate or pursue or explore the death penalty. Do you see Richard in this case it being inevitable?

HERMAN: Well, if you are going to have the death penalty, if you believe in it and it is legal, isn't this the case for it? I mean come on. What a tragedy, what an utter disgrace and horrific conduct here. But I think Avery is right Fred in the state of Colorado all there is is a requirement for the gun dealers to reflect the sale on the books, keep records of the sales of these types of guns. There is no registration requirement in the state of Colorado.

Therefore he legally obtained these rifles and these glocks that he had. All the equipment he had was legally obtained. So having that been the state of the law in Colorado we're looking at actually what happened. I think that is where all the liability is going to fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Great legal minds Richard Herman and Avery Friedman. Stay tuned to CNN. We of course will be monitoring James Holmes court appearance tomorrow morning and we will be bringing that to you live.

All right. There is major news about the housing market to tell you about. Keep it right here.

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WHITFIELD: All right. So how is the housing recovery coming along? We'll learn much more in a few days. It will be a pretty big week for Main Street and Wall Street. Reports on home values, sales of new homes and homes under contract are on the way this week. We will get major earnings news including numbers from Apple and the first earnings reports from facebook.

All right. Joining me right now is market analyst Todd Schoenberger. Good to see you Todd. All right. Give it up. We have a lot going on this week potentially. Let's begin with housing.

TODD SCHOENBERGER, MARKET ANALYST: That is right. A tremendous amount going on because Americans want to know are housing values going up or are they continuing to go lower. We will find out on Tuesday. Plus we have a very critical housing report on new home sales. So are people actually buying these homes? So we are looking for some type of an up tick. Hopefully that will continue throughout the summer. So this is a big report card coming up this week.

WHITFIELD: OK. And major news potentially on earnings reports, as well.

SCHOENBERGER: That's right because Apple releases their earnings report on Tuesday and everybody wants to know how many ipads they sold but also how many iphones they actually sold because the iphone 5 is rolling out this fall. So you have that and you had the facebook earnings release coming out on Thursday at 4:00. This is our first earnings report since the company went public and as you know Fredricka that wasn't a great IPO. So that remains to be seen how things turn out for them.

WHITFIELD: Oh that's right. There was a whole lot of drum beating and it was quite the occasion but then it sort of fell flat. But then I don't know it seems like they would have rebounded by now.

SCHOENBERGER: Well you would think so. But here is the thing. You have to suspect that a lot of retail investors, Main Street investors were also users of facebook and because of that disastrous IPO how many of them actually stayed away? If that is the case we are going to hear about that on Thursday as well as how many people actually clicked on those ads. Because that was a big hot button topic a few weeks ago.

WHITFIELD: All right. Todd thanks so much. Good to see you this Sunday appreciate it.

SCHOENBERGER: All right. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Have a good week.

SCHOENBERGER: You too.

WHITFIELD: A good busy week.

All right. More than a dozen people still recovering in the hospital from that Colorado mass shooting. We will be talking with an emergency room doctor to find out just how they are doing.

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