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One Shot, Gunman Dead in School Shooting; Police Search School Shooter's Home; Huge Snowstorm Aims for Northeast; Tragedy of Mass Shootings; Republican Infighting Erupts in Public; Can Boehner Hold Control Of GOP?; Newtown Shootings Inspire Group To Build; Trying To Fix Malfunction On Space Station; One Shot, Gunman Dead In School Shooting; Family Of An Accident Victim In The "Affluenza" Case Struggles To Cope; Beyonce Drops Surprise Album

Aired December 14, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look now at the top stories this hour. A Colorado community in shock after a teenager known as a good student, an athlete, and a friend, opens fire at his school. Police hope to find out why he did that during key searches that are expected today.

As you saw, a brutal blast from Kansas to Maine, heavy snow and sleet that's hitting tens of millions of people today. We'll tell you how bad it is going to get and who is going to get hit the hardest.

And if you didn't know this already, there is now more mega in the mega millions jackpot. No winner last night, that means that the prize will now soar to new heights. Find out that mind-blowing number and your chances of being a big winner.

Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us, I'm Martin Savidge.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Ana Cabrera. We start today here in Centennial, Colorado. This town is trying to recover after a terrifying school shooting at Arapahoe High School, just behind me. You can see it is still a crime scene this morning -- a lot of the yellow tape still surrounding the school, cars still in the parking lot left here overnight as investigators search for clues.

Now this morning right now, a 15-year-old girl is still in critical condition, shot here at Arapahoe High School by a classmate. The 18- year-old gunman is dead after apparently shooting himself.

We've learned more about him. He's been identified as Karl Pierson. Police say he walked into the school with a shotgun yesterday afternoon.

Now, today, investigators are still searching this school. They're also expected to search his home, his car and another home he apparently had access to, to try to figure out what have motivated his attack. We have learned Pierson was on the debate team here at the school.

Now witnesses tell me he was looking for the debate coach yesterday afternoon. The sheriff says they believe there was a disagreement between Pierson and the debate coach, and that that might have been the motive for this shooting, that it was an act of revenge. But again, they're still working to confirm those details. The debate coach was notified, we're told, quickly rushed out of the school, hoping to draw the shooter out with him.

But instead, the gunman opened fire, hitting a 15-year-old girl. Witnesses tell our affiliates that she screamed for help. She said there was a shooter. We just checked in with the hospital this morning, they can only say she is still in critical condition. We do know she underwent surgery yesterday -- a lot of thoughts and prayers with her and her family.

Initially, officials thought there might have been another student shot, as well. Well, it turns out that second student just happened to be right next to the first victim. And that student was covered in blood from the 15-year-old girl but was not shot. So, just a glimpse of good news in all of this; obviously, though, a very terrifying situation for all of the students here.

Here's how one student described moments right after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SPIGEL, ARAPAHOE HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: We heard, you know, just a really big bang. Our class really thought nothing of it, you know? It was just one. And 10 seconds later, three more, just consecutively in a row. There was screaming. We heard someone yelling "Help me, help me, we need help." And after that, the entire building just went silent.

Our class ran into the corner, we hid in the corner of the room. It was all we could do. We're all scared now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: These scenes bringing back chilling memories of Columbine students walking out with their hands up. Arapahoe High School is less than 10 miles away from Columbine and when police rushed in to Arapahoe High School yesterday, they tell us they also saw smoke, which now we know came from a Molotov cocktail of sorts. It was one of two that was found inside the school. One of those detonated; the other one they were able to recover before it had been detonated. They tell us no damage from those.

Now, as investigators, again, continue to dig for clues here in Colorado, of course, hearts are also heavy, not just for the community here. This terrible shooting came just one day before the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which is today.

Poppy Harlow is following that story from New York this morning, or I guess afternoon there. Poppy, the President honoring those victims today, right?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Good morning to you, Ana. Just shocking that there was another school shooting where you are, a day before the community and Newtown and the entire world grieves for the people of Newtown on this very, very difficult day.

I want to show you some pictures of the President and the First Lady this morning lighting 26 candles for the 26 victims that were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary there in Newtown one year ago today. They did it just about the time that that shooting happened a year ago. They also took a moment of silence, as we did, to remember the victims. The community has asked for privacy from the media, not to be there today, so they can heal on their own in their own way, and that is exactly what we are doing.

Something stood out to me this week, Ana. A pastor from Newtown, Matt Krebin spoke and he said, "Of course, our community is broken", but he also said "There is light that is shining through the cracks of this broken community from the acts of kindness from friends, from neighbors and from families."

And that speaks to just how incredibly strong this community is. I was there after the tragic shooting and have been there throughout the year and this -- this community never ceases to amaze me.

The President also talked about Newtown in his weekly address this morning, calling the families of Newtown, quote, "impossibly brave". And I think that sums it up very well. They are impossibly brave people. He also took it as an opportunity, though, to speak towards what he has been fighting for, along with some of these families, which is tougher federal gun legislation.

I want you to take a listen to hear some of what the President said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We haven't yet done enough to make our communities and our country safer. We have to do more to keep dangerous people from getting their hands on a gun so easily. We have to do more to heal troubled minds. We have to do everything we can to protect our children from harm and make them feel loved and valued and cared for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And this morning, outside of Washington, it is not about the politics of all of this. It is about the people and the families of Newtown, and our hearts are with them today.

CABRERA: You mentioned their bravery, but I also think the word that comes to my mind is strength.

HARLOW: Yes.

CABRERA: Having to go forward and move on after losing loved ones. I know you've been in touch with victims' families from not only Newtown, Connecticut, but also from Aurora, Colorado and the movie theater shooting that we were reporting on just a little over a year ago. What memories, what feelings are they expressing today? HARLOW: Yes, that's exactly right, Ana. Sandy Phillips, she is the mother of Jessica Ghawi I think everyone remembers Jessica; she's the 24-year-old fiery red head who were shot and killed in that movie theater.

Well her mom, Sandy Phillips, called me yesterday and said you know this is a very, very difficult time for us, obviously. But I said to her and she called me right after the shooting where you are, and I said, are you surprised another school shooting? And she said, "I wish I could say yes, but, no, I am not surprised."

Her life changed so significantly after her daughter died, of course. She gave up her career. She joined the Brady campaign and has been -- been fighting for tougher federal gun laws. That has been how she is coping, and she just told me, she's actually going to a vigil where she lives in San Antonio today, that they're having down there for the Newtown victims and for all victims of gun violence. So this is resonating across the country today, certainly.

CABRERA: Some people don't know how to prevent necessarily something like this, or can't make sense of why these things happen.

HARLOW: Right.

CABRERA: But sometimes it does give comfort of course to try to turn it into a positive in some way if it means helping another family or preventing another attack like this. Poppy Harlow, thank you so much for that.

I do want to let you know, we have been in touch with Sheriff Grayson Robinson here in Colorado to get the latest information on this shooting this morning. And he tells us right now their investigation is focusing on where the student's gun came from, what hands it may have passed through, where specifically the student shot himself and, of course, the motive.

Again, as we try to make sense of this horrible tragedy and this is just undeniably awful situation -- why? And so, those are details we hope to be able to provide for you as we continue to move through the morning -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Thanks Ana very much, we'll continue to check back with you.

Let's talk about the weather, because a huge snowstorm is pushing its way from the Midwest to the east right now. It's bringing heavy snow and freezing rain, and that would also mean misery to millions of people across the region that's going to be affected. Folks in Chicago, well, they already know this all too well today. It is hovering around freezing there, and it's exactly the place where we sent out our Jennifer Gray to share the misery, and she's going to give us a better idea of just how bad the snowstorm is. Hello, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Martin, yes, the snow has been coming down since the wee hours of the morning. We got here about 5:00 this morning. And it was snowing then, and still snowing now. You can see we're in Grant Park, and about three inches have fallen so far, and another inch or two possible before the snow moves out of Chicago -- expected to move out about 3:00 this afternoon.

You know, for the month of December, Chicago is supposed to have about three inches and before the snowstorm, they've already seen four. So we're already ahead of schedule, and temperatures are expected to stay below freezing here in Chicago until at least Thursday.

Now, this storm system is pushing across the country. I do want to show you the radar here in Chicago. It is going to be pushing out in the next couple of hours, and then the wider view, we are seeing this stretching anywhere from Chicago all the way to the northeast. So this stretches about 1,000 miles east-west, and it's affecting tens of millions of people.

So as we go through the afternoon today into tonight, it will continue snowing in New York and Boston and then by tomorrow, around midday or so, it should be pushing out of Boston and then pushing up into New England.

So we're going to see anywhere from five to seven inches of snow around the New York City area, and then around the Boston area they could see at least eight inches. And so, it is going to continue to be a mess as we go through the next 24 to 38 hours.

Here in Chicago, though, the crews have been out, they have been plowing the streets, the sidewalks, they've been putting salt out so people are getting around pretty well, but I'm sure those overpasses and bridges can be quite dangerous at the moment with all of the snow we've gotten this morning -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes, but it still looks very, very pretty. Jennifer Gray thanks very much for standing out in the cold for us. We'll be back in touch.

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Also, yesterday's shooting in Colorado is giving a lot of people an awful sense of deja vu. If you saw the images, you felt it. Our next guest will weigh in on why these mass shootings keep happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CABRERA: Welcome back to Colorado where a student walked into Arapahoe High School and started shooting before killing himself. Now, this shooting just a day before the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook killings -- bringing back a lot of horrifying memories for so many people. And in the past few years, of course, there have been several such tragedies.

I hate to have to even think about this but we, of course, just mentioned Newtown, Connecticut. Then there's, of course, the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, not even that far from here and just over ago. Virginia Tech -- that was the worst school shooting in U.S. history. And then, of course, the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, just eight miles from Arapahoe High, so what initially sparked the focus on situations like this.

Of course, the question everybody wants to know the answer to is, why? The author of the book "Columbine", Dave Cullen is joining us right now. We really appreciate your time, Dave. I know you spent a lot of time researching this issue. Dave, tell me what was your reaction when you heard about yesterday's shooting.

DAVE CULLEN, AUTHOR, "COLUMBINE: Oh, it was rough. I had, oddly enough, because of the Newtown anniversary, I had just been watching a couple of segments with some of the victims that morning and breaking one of my little boundary rules that I set up with my shrink that I'm not really allowed to, and then it started getting to me, and I realized I need to mute.

And so, it was already sort of like an uneasy place. And then I got the news on Facebook, actually from some of the Columbine victims' families who I stayed in touch with, and they were having a really -- obviously, a really rough day. Yes, it was -- it's not pleasant.

CABRERA: have to tell you, Dave, I grew up here in Littleton, Colorado. I went to Heritage High School, which is one of the main competitors of Arapahoe High School. This hits close to home for so many people for their own reasons. But yet, Columbine, of course, well over a decade ago; a lot of the students who go to Arapahoe High School today were toddlers when Columbine happened. Do you think location of this shooting is just a coincidence? Could there be any combinations, similarity between the two incidents?

CULLEN: Yes, you know, you never know with any particular incident. But the -- I don't think it's coincidence. And, you know, Wolf Blitzer asked, I think it was the Mayor of Centennial last night, a similar question, if there's something going on here. And I think there's one obvious thing that's going on here is all of the previous shootings, particularly Columbine and just the incredible extent of the local coverage.

I don't know if you lived in Colorado at the time of Columbine, I did and it just was relentless, went on and on, and the two local papers at the time covered it every day all summer, because I researched this, and every single day, all summer, they had stories going on.

So the coverage was much stronger, more powerful there. But I think with around the country, too, the amount of coverage we've done, unfortunately, like this, after these things is continuing to propagate the problem. And originally, I didn't -- in the early days, I didn't think so. But now, 15 years after Columbine, nearly, into this, I think we are continuing to create the problem by making such sort of not always heroic figures, but giving such power and voice to the killers. I really think that's a big part of it.

CABRERA: It's of course Dave -- it's a tough balance, you know? Obviously, being members of the media, we want to make sure we cover situations like this. It's important. We want to make sense of it as a community, as a people. And most importantly, by making sense, the hope is that we can prevent something like this from happening.

So much attention do you give -- you know, or how little attention do you give that? That's hard to know what the right amount is. But we do know that a lot of these shootings sometimes point to mental illness. Yet the suspect in this case, which took his own life, Karl Pierson, we heard from other students who were good friends with him that he was a nice boy, that he was social, he was involved in clubs and sports -- that this seemed to just come out of nowhere. Is it possible that someone can just suddenly snap?

CULLEN: Almost impossible to suddenly snap. That's a word we should take out of our vocabulary, and I heard that again yesterday. The Secret Service did a really fantastic definitive report that is available online of all of the school shootings for, like, something a 28-year period, it was really quite extraordinary. And it found that nearly all of them plan in advance. It's rarely associated with mental illness if you exclude depression from that. In terms of mental illness, like a psychosis like schizophrenia -- that's relatively rare.

And there are some high profile cases, obviously, like some of the ones that were just mentioned. But usually it's not. In the vast majority of the cases though it's someone who's deeply depressed, typically suicidally depressed, for a long period of time, and so it's usually a gradual -- it's a gradual descent down, it's not just one event.

And if I can sort of put a little gloss on something I heard earlier during the report of -- talking about the police focusing on whether this was the motive, revenge was the motive. If I could sort of adjust that in the way we're talking and thinking about that, is it's really useful and good to talk about his motivations, in sort of plural, and in a broader sense, rather than trying to say, you know, the motive, as a single thing, or as a precipitating event, a single thing.

CABRERA: right.

CULLEN: It's usually not just one thing, and if he did, he probably -- it appears he probably did have a significant disagreement with the debate coach, and that may well have been the last straw, which sort of broke the camel's back. But it's unlikely that that single disagreement really drove this with the motive.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Well, we all want to know what led up to the shooting, so, Dave, clearly, I'm sorry we're out of time.

CULLEN: Sure.

CABRERA: But we do really appreciate the conversation. It's something we are going to continue to talk about throughout today, the next weeks and months, until we have the answers that everybody needs and again, focusing on how to stop it from happening again.

Dave Cullen, again, the author of "Columbine" -- we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today.

All right. Let's head back to Martin Savidge in Atlanta.

SAVIDGE: Thank you very much, Ana.

Talking about the budget deal -- could it spark an all-out civil war within the Republican Party? We'll talk to a couple of Republican strategists to find out if John Boehner has picked a fight he can't win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Tensions within the Republican Party now starting to spill out into the public, if you haven't noticed. House Speaker John Boehner publicly attacked Tea Party members and other conservative groups over their criticism of this week's budget deal. CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser breaks down the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: It's something you don't see that often.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, frankly, I think they're misleading their followers. I think they're pushing our members in places where they don't want to be.

STEINHAUSER: This week, what's usually behind closed doors went public as House Speaker John Boehner pushed back against a bunch of conservative groups over their opposition to the bipartisan budget deal.

BOEHNER: When you criticize something and you have no idea what you're criticizing, it undermines your credibility.

STEINHAUSER: and the groups which hold a lot of sway with tea party activists and other grassroots conservatives pushed right back.

MIKE NEEDHAM, HERITAGE ACTION FOR AMERICA: Certainly very frustrating that an honest disagreement about a bill that was -- or a deal that was struck has devolved into name-calling from the Speaker.

STEINHAUSER: The groups have been very influential the past couple of years in urging Congressional Republicans to hold firm and not negotiate with Democrats. And they fuelled the push by conservative lawmakers that led to October's government shutdown. That may have been the last straw for the Speaker.

The big question now, does Boehner continue to publicly push back against the conservative groups, or was this more of a one-shot deal? With more fiscal fights ahead, we should find out early next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And it should be very interesting. We're going to find out if this is going to turn into an all-out civil war with Speaker Boehner in the middle of it.

So let's talk to two people who should know. Kevin Madden -- he's a CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist; and then Rich Galen, he's also a Republican strategist. Thank you both for --

RICH GALEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: -- who works for free.

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be with you.

SAVIDGE: Let's begin with you, Kevin. I think that you said this week that Boehner's biggest fear is, of course, another government shutdown. Is he right that he fear that most?

MADDEN: Well, I think what we saw over the last few weeks was a lot of folks, particularly these outside conservative group, pushing us towards a strategy and some tactics that ultimately didn't work. During the shutdown, for example, we saw the generic ballot for Republicans in congressional midterm elections drop about nine points. And it also distracted us from probably the most important issue that's really going to define 2014 which is to the advantage of Republicans, is the issue of Obamacare.

So I think what Boehner is looking to do is he wants to fight smart fights and the shutdown and the defund effort were not smart fights. And with getting a budget agreement in place where we can focus on Obamacare, that's a fight that's going to help position the Republican majority to make greater gains in 2014 and beyond.

SAVIDGE: He struck me as the kind of guy who got up there and said, "I'm mad as hell. I'm not going to take it anymore." Rich, you know, the outside conservative groups that Boehner's criticizing, can really flex their muscle at times. Could this squabble potentially cost Boehner his job at some point?

GALEN: No. At the word, the actual word that's important there, Michael (SIC), is outside groups. I mean, that piece that you ran before with Paul showing, I think it was Dana interviewing the guy from the Heritage Foundation, I mean you can't -- you can't -- you cannot allow these outside groups to be the equivalent of an elected member of Congress. And if you looked at this vote last -- the other day, it was, what, 160-something to 67, I think, Kevin, right?

MADDEN: Yes. GALEN: The majority of the Republican conference voted for the deal, and that was the Hastert Rule, not that you had to be able to pass it with only Republican votes but that a majority of the majority was for something. And so Boehner's won this fight. There's no continuing fight. It's over. Boehner won.

SAVIDGE: Rich, let me stop you just real quick, because we're going to run out of time. Do you think that the Tea Party is going to fire back in some way? That they've got a way to respond here?

GALEN: I hope they do, because then the mainstream Republicans can take some of these people down who they put up -- they put up challengers that have no business being -- running for office against good members of Congress, and we can beat them back and just end this thing once and for all.

SAVIDGE: And Kevin, I have to ask you.

MADDEN: Right.

SAVIDGE: You used to work with John Boehner.

MADDEN: Yes.

SAVIDGE: So give me a little insight here. I'd love to know, why now all of a sudden did this seem to be the point where he just snapped?

MADDEN: Well, I think, first of all, it had to do with criticism for Paul Ryan. I mean, for a lot of these conservative groups who are conservative activists say Paul Ryan is a sellout or he is not conservative enough, everybody knows -- anybody who's worked with Paul Ryan knows that he's been a visionary for conservative principles and conservative causes.

So for people to criticize him as not being conservative enough that was sort of a last straw for John. Look, the one thing you have to remember about John Boehner is he prefers to keep all of these types of disagreements behind closed doors, within the family. But when people come out and criticize somebody like Paul Ryan like that, he felt the need to speak out.

SAVIDGE: Yes, he probably saw that that was an opening and now he is taking an advantage. Kevin Madden, Rich Galen, thank you both very much for the insights, interesting.

GALEN: Great to be with you, Martin.

SAVIDGE: On this, the one-year anniversary of the Newtown shootings, there is something special that's actually happening, a group of people using the tragedy to inspire and instil hope around the country. Tom Foreman found them and he shows us their story in the "American Journey."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the Atlantic coast, a labor of love. A playground rising in memory of the children and staff members killed at Sandy Hook school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is playground number 11.

FOREMAN: There will be 26, each to commemorate one life lost, and all with a purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We learned in Mississippi that a playground is more than just a structure. It's a symbol of hope and recovery.

FOREMAN: Indeed, this effort was born amid stormy days. When Katrina ravaged the south, the firefighters from New Jersey who had received letters from Gulf coast kids after 9/11, went down to build playgrounds to return the favor. Then, Superstorm Sandy and the Sandy Hook shootings battered the northeast, and they thought, "let's do it again, closer to home," so the "Sandy Ground Project" was born, shepherded by the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association.

JACKIE BARDEN, LOST SON IN NEWTOWN SHOOTING: His favorite color was blue-green, so that's why the T.L.

FOREMAN: The effort has brought together donors, volunteers, and victims' families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

FOREMAN: Like Mark and Jackie Barden who lost their son, Daniel.

JACKIE BARDEN, LOST SON IN NEWTOWN SHOOTING: I mean, all kids love playgrounds, but Daniel really did have a special thing for playgrounds. He would get into a playground somewhere, didn't know any of the kids and start playing with them and getting a game going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pink is for the flamingos that she loved.

FOREMAN: Carlos Soto lost his 27-year-old daughter, victoria, a teacher.

CARLOS SOTO, LOST DAUGHTER IN NEWTOWN SHOOTINGS: And any playground that we built, she's looking down with her students, saying this is a beautiful thing.

FOREMAN: In the end, that is what this is all about. Wrestling against events of unspeakable ugliness to find beauty, happiness and hope once again. Tom Foreman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: You know, I think I remember reading somewhere earlier this year. This would be a relatively mild winter. Well, forget that. Millions of people now from the Midwest to the northeast are bracing for another brutal snowstorm this weekend. This is the scene right now in Chicago, and the snow is coming down pretty heavy. Heavy snow and freezing rain, well, it's all going to push east and it is going to bring several inches of snow to people along the eastern sea board. This is the same storm system that hit Missouri on Friday and it caused dangerous driving conditions there.

A different kind of weather problem, actually cooling, NASA has a situation with the cold, but it has nothing to do with the weather in space or on earth. NASA is trying to figure out how to fix one of two cooling systems on the International Space Station that malfunctioned this week. The pump on the cooling loop automatically shut down. That system makes sure equipment on ISS stays cool and keep working.

NASA officials said yesterday they tried one fix that didn't work, and they may have to do a spacewalk to replace it. I am joined now by Michael Massimino. He is a NASA astronaut and a visiting professor at Columbia University Engineering School. Mike, it's a pleasure and honor to have you on the program. Tell me this.

MICHAEL MASSIMINO, NASA ASTRONAUT: Thanks for having me.

SAVIDGE: From the scale of things that can go wrong in a space station, where does this rank in severity and concern?

MASSIMINO: I would say probably somewhere in the middle. It's not a really bad thing. There are plenty of things that can happen to you that are a lot worse, but it's also not a very good thing. As you explained, we have two cooling loops, one is down. Luckily, we have the second one to keep everything working correctly, so no one is in any danger. Science can still continue, but it puts you one failure away from other problems. So it's kind of -- I would say it's around the middle. It's a big problem, but nothing that is -- that is really bad.

SAVIDGE: Now, if you did have that second failure, what do you do then? I mean, it's not like you can open the window to cool things down.

MASSIMINO: No, you have to shut things down. So it's kind of like, you know, turning off all the power in your house during a -- if a blackout happens and you go to some -- you know, what would you put on the emergency generator, that's the decision. You would keep life support going, you'd keep the station going, and you can do that, but you just would have to shut things down to keep the heat load down, since you can't cool, you don't want to generate that much heat. So some science would be sacrificed.

SAVIDGE: Science, but what about safety, of the astronauts? What would their predicament be?

MASSIMINO: They'd still be OK. It's an international program. You have the U.S. side, the Russian side. So they have places they can go to remain healthy and safe and comfortable. So it would be OK. It would mainly be a problem with the science on the station and the other systems on the U.S. side would be shut down. But, you know, there's ways to get around it. We don't want to get into that situation, so they're trying to bring up that first loop again so that you have that redundancy.

SAVIDGE: And I've read that in order to do this really, you're going to require a spacewalk. Do you agree?

MASSIMINO: Maybe. We don't know yet. It's not the whole pump that's failed. They had this problem three years ago where the whole pump was down and they had to replace the pump. In this case, it's a valve inside of the pump assembly. They're trying different things to see if they can command that valve correctly and get it working.

If they can't, the worst case scenario is that they have to go out and do a spacewalk and replace the whole unit. I don't think they're quite there yet. I know they're working hard and around the clock and working over the weekend to come up with a plan. That's kind of the last -- the last resort is to do the spacewalk in this case.

SAVIDGE: Sure. It would be, Mike Massimino, a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you very much.

MASSIMINO: Thanks for having me.

SAVIDGE: We're going to be headed back to Colorado and the site of yesterday's school shooting right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. I'm Ana Cabrera in a windy Colorado, as we continue to follow the top story today. A school shooting has sent waves of fear through this Colorado town. Police say an 18-year-old student brought a gun to school yesterday afternoon and shot a student before killing himself. Their investigation inside the school and several other locations continues this morning.

Here's what we know right now, the student has been identified as Karl Pierson. Witnesses tell me he was actually asking for the debate team coach when he walked into school with a shotgun, and the sheriff's officials believe that that is who he was targeting in this shooting, that there had been some sort of disagreement between the student and the debate coach, and that revenge, they tell us, could be the motive in all of this, but they're still gathering more evidence.

They hope to bring us more details later this afternoon. They are searching Pierson's home today. They've interviewed his parents and some other relatives. Investigators say Pierson opened fire shooting a 15-year-old girl before apparently shooting himself. Now, that girl is in critical condition this morning after undergo going surgery last night. Another student was in tears as she described hearing screams in the hallway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was terrifying because we heard gunshots, and Dana, she came running down the stairs and saying she saw -- someone's been shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Now, police initially thought that more students might be hurt. Now we have learned that only one student was shot. Another student had blood on her clothing from that initial student who had been shot. Other students had some panic attacks and also went to the hospital. But again, only one student who was shot, and then the shooter himself took his own life.

So that is the very latest information we have from Centennial, Colorado, Martin, as we continue to remember that student who needs a lot of thoughts and prayers today, as she continues to recover.

SAVIDGE: Absolutely. Ana, thank you very much.

Coming up, a teen struggles to cope after an accident left him in a helpless condition. Four other people were killed. Incredibly, the person who was driving drunk and caused that crash won't spend a day in jail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: You have heard this story likely before, it continues to spark outrage in Texas, not just Texas but across the country, after a teen gets probation for killing four people while driving drunk. The defense claimed "affluenza." They say the teen was blameless because of his wealthy parents that they never set limits for him. But the parents of one of his injured victims are understandably having a difficult time with that verdict. Here is CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the way Sergio Molina used to be a happy son and brother who loved playing soccer. This is the way he is today. The 16-year-old Sergio with his mother, he can't talk. He can't move. He is considered minimally responsive. It's what happened to him after he flew out of the back of Ethan Couch's pickup truck this past June, on the night that Couch ran into and killed four other people just outside Fort Worth, Texas. Alex Lemus is Sergio's older brother.

ALEX LEMUS, SERGIO MOLINA'S BROTHER: They told us that basically that's as much as he's going to rehabilitate, that that's -- that is all we can hope for is how he is right now for the rest of his life.

TUCHMAN: The family hopes and prays that is not true, but in the meantime, they deal with realities.

(on camera): In the six months since the accident, what have your medical bills totals so far?

LEMUS: Over a million dollars.

TUCHMAN: A million dollars.

LEMUS: Over a million dollars.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Sergio's family has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Ethan Couch, his family and his father's company because it was the company-owned truck Ethan was driving. An attorney for the driver's family has told CNN the judge made the appropriate disposition in this case. But Sergio Molina's family says testimony in the trial revealed the teens in Couch's truck pleaded with him to slow down and drive safer before the horrifying accident occurred.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: And how many people need EMS?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Ma'am, I'm telling you it is dark. There are four or five kids, kids laying in ditches and streets.

TUCHMAN: Sergio was one of those in the ditch. His brother was in court during the trial, and says when he heard the "affluenza" defense being used he thought it was nonsense and upsetting.

(on camera): When the verdict came and you found out he wouldn't spend time in jail, what went through your mind?

LEMUS: Just a regular anger, disappointed, so outrageously angered, I can't say anything.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The family is currently retro fitting their home with money they say they really don't have to accommodate Sergio. His mother, Maria, said it was emotionally hard for her to talk on camera, but she wanted to give it a try.

(on camera): Tell me about Sergio, what kind of boy he is.

MARIA LEMUS, SERGIO MOLINA'S MOTHER: He was the best. He was that kind of boy with a lot of dreams. He was -- well, his first dream was to be a soccer player. He was sweet. I mean, it was --

TUCHMAN: He's lucky he has you. You need to hear that from people like me outsiders. Do you realize that?

MARIA LEMUS: Yes.

TUCHMAN: He's lucky he has you and siblings to take care of him, right?

MARIA LEMUS: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The memories of Sergio before the accident sustain this family, the picture of him on the left with two of his other brothers, his soccer uniforms and relationship with his dog, Pinkie, which continues today. His brother says he has quit his job to stay with Sergio all the time.

ALEX LEMUS: That's my life. If I have to become a scientist to go and fix him, that's what I'm going to do. That's how much I love him.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Fort Worth, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SAVIDGE: Such a heart breaking story. In the next hour, Avery Friedman and Richard Herman will join us to talk about this case. Meantime, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Beyonce stunned the music world revealing a new album yesterday totally by surprise. She put all 14 songs on iTunes at once, complete with music videos. The album came out with zero promotion, but exploded online and already topping the iTunes charts. Here's the question. And for that, we put it to Bradley Jacobs, senior editor at "Us Weekly." He joins me now. Bradley, is this something that's a new trend or something that only a star like Beyonce could pull off?

BRADLEY JACOBS, SENIOR EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Well, first of all, only Beyonce could pull this off, of course. She said she was bored with the way she's been releasing music. She wanted to give it right to the fans. This is sort of the Twitter thing in a nutshell. Whether this is a game changer or not going to depend on how well the music is received. You know, usually a single comes out, then another single comes out, then the album drops, and you've got three or more singles like Katy Perry album a couple years ago, of course, it becomes a super smash.

SAVIDGE: Usually you're almost sick of it by the time it is available for you to purchase.

JACOBS: This is a new thing. We'll see. Now fans who Beyonce had in mind for this can make up their own minds and decide which of the 14 songs is the hit --

SAVIDGE: What are the reviews so far? What are you hearing?

JACOBS: Well, the reviews so far have been mostly from celebrities like Katy Perry, her friend, Demi Lovato, they were burning up the internet yesterday saying how great this is. They have been listening to it nonstop. We'll see some of the - "Us Weekly" will be reviewing it. "Rolling Stone," of course, will be reviewing it. You'll be hearing actual real critics' reviews in the next week or so. But right now, it's really about the fans. You go on to your own Twitter or Facebook, you'll see what people are thinking about it.

SAVIDGE: Real quick, you go to iTunes, you have to buy the whole album, two interesting marketing moves there.

JACOBS: Yes, I think that is a pretty interesting one. I personally get frustrated sometimes. I want to download a song, saw the movie "American Hustle," had a lot of great '70s music, wanted to download one or two songs, some were on the album only. You could only buy the album, that gets frustrating for me as a consumer and I think for others as well.

But true Beyonce fans, of course, will pay that to download the whole thing as they would. I think it is kind of fun to decide for yourself which of the songs is best without letting the critics, media, people like me tell you what the best song is.

SAVIDGE: I am absolutely in agreement with you. Bradley Jacobs, we were going to talk other things, time ran away. Thanks for joining us from "US Weekly."

JACOBS: Thank you, Martin.