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School Shooting Updates From Centennial, Colorado; Winter Storms Hits Parts of U.S.; House Speaker Speaks Out Against Conservative Groups

Aired December 14, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Martin Savidge in for Frederica Whitfield.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ana Cabrera live from Centennial, Colorado, where the community here trying to cope with another school shooting. Police here trying to figure out what motivated an 18-year- old student to take a gun into Arapahoe High School behind me and open fire in the hallway. A 15-year-old girl is in critical condition right now after she was shot. Students still trying to wrap their heads around what happened. We've seen some students come be the school today. They're picking up their cars. They're also carrying signs in support of that girl who was shot.

I want to bring you up to speed on what we know right now, where this investigation stands. Investigators are searching the home of a shooter now identified as 18-year-old Karl Pierson. They're also finishing interviews with relatives and friends of that boy. The sheriff told me they're especially focused on where the gun came from. He had a shotgun when he walked into the school.

Also, today here at the school, students are picking up their cars. They, of course, had to leave those behind yesterday along with stuff inside the classrooms. It was almost exactly 24 hours ago that Arapahoe high school was put into lockdown after the shots rang out. Students tell us they had to hide in closets and classrooms until police gave them the all-clear, and then even then they had to rush out of the school hands over their heads. Witnesses say Pierson didn't even try to hide the shotgun when he walked in yesterday afternoon.

They say he was looking for a specific faculty member who we've learned was apparently the head of the debate team which this shooter was a part of. The sheriff says they believe there was a disagreement and that the shooting might have been an act of revenge. We, too, continue to try to learn more about the shooter and what may have transpired before yesterday. Listen to what one student told us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS DAVIS, STUDENT: I just know Karl was an aggravated kid and that he didn't like to lose. He always liked to be right. And being kicked off this speech and debate team, I think he just thought that wasn't right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: We did speak with the sheriff again this morning who says they're trying to gather more information so we do get new details when they have a 3:15 press conference, 3:15 local time, that is, of course, 5:15 eastern. One of the big questions, again, is that motivation. They do believe that he was targeting that specific faculty member. But instead the gunman still opened fire, hitting a 15-year-old girl instead. And we continue to make calls to the hospital to check on her condition, the only thing they will tell us right now is that she remains in critical condition.

Of course the community here a very heavy heart, but not just for Arapahoe High School, but really a country in mourning today. This terrible shooting came just one day before the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. Today is that anniversary. The president and the first lady lit candles for each of the victims today, this morning at the White House, as 20 children and six adults were killed in that shooting last year. Martin, certainly too many tragedies that we have to continue to talk about in the conversations about how to prevent these types of tragedies will go on.

SAVIDGE: They will, indeed. Ana, thank you very much for the update.

Moving to the weather, millions of people from the Midwest to the northeast are bracing for this snowstorm that is nearly 1,000 miles wide, huge. Our Jennifer Gray is on the ground in Chicago, and Alexandra Field is en route to Boston. First, let's go to Jennifer in Chicago, and, Jennifer, let's talk about how are the conditions from where you are right now?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, Martin, the snow has let up just a little bit. It's been coming down for six or seven straight hours. You know, in Chicago for the month of December they normally get about three inches of snow. Before this winter storm, they've already gotten about four, and then on top of that we've probably gotten about four more inches. So that's more than double what they're expected to see in the month of December, already way ahead of schedule. Also, temperatures have been below freezing since December 7. But conditions are expected to improve here in Chicago throughout the afternoon.

My colleague, though, Alexandra Field, is in the thick of it. She is somewhere between New York City and Boston. Alexandra, how are conditions for you?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Jennifer, it may be letting up where you are, but it is picking up where we are. We're taking a trip right now from New York City to Boston, and we're just approaching the Connecticut border at 84, and this is where we're seeing the snow really start to pick up. If you take a look out of our rear window, you are looking southeast there. New York City is behind us. We left Manhattan at about 1:30 this afternoon. The snow was coming down all morning, and definitely starting to stick. They're expecting three to five inches there. But we know we're headed -- we're heading for a lot more snow now.

We'll give you another look at our wind chill. You'll take a look in the northeast direction here. We're headed for Boston. They're expecting eight to 10 inches between providence and Boston, and then west of Boston they're expecting about 10 to 15 inches of snow. So Massachusetts emergency management agency is preparing for a big storm, the first big storm of the season. We're told that they have alerted utilities and airports of the storm and the department of transportation is also preparing for a big cleanup after this storm moves through.

The road conditions are getting worse the farther north that we head. More and more snow sticking to the roads. We've had to drop our speeds. We are seeing some plows out already, and we are seeing the salt trucks. We know that this storm also is not just about snow. The Massachusetts emergency management agency is telling people that they need to prepare for the possibility of coastal flooding and strong winds. This is usually about a four-hour trip, the one from New York City to Boston. We're going to see how long it takes today. Obviously we're expecting this should be slower going. It certainly has been to this point. We know the snow is expected to pick up in Boston between 6:00 and 8:00 tonight, so we're hoping we'll get in just before that. Martin?

SAVIDGE: Alexandra, be careful out there. Jennifer, same goes for you. Thank you both very much.

If you hadn't bought a mega millions lottery ticket you are probably going to do that now, because nobody had the winning numbers in last night's drawing, so the jackpot is up to $550 million and probably going to go well north of that. The next drawing is Tuesday, but you have a better chance of being crushed by a vending machine. How about that? Isn't that refreshing? Or having identical quadruplets or being killed by an asteroid than winning the mega millions. Incidentally the winning numbers, in case you missed it, 19, 24, 26, 27, 70, with a mega ball of 12.

The Colorado school shooting has shocked everyone. We'll talk to a student at that school to find out how everyone is now coping in its wake. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Hello again. Welcome back.

I am live in Colorado where a community is yet again trying to search for answers to a school shooting. Yesterday an 18-year-old student walked into this high school behind me, Arapahoe High School in Centennial, shooting a 15-year-old girl before killing himself. Today students are still trying to figure out why this happened. Daylon Stutz, a junior here at the high school, is joining me now. I know one of the questions on so many minds is, who is the shooter? And I know you did have a class with 18-year-old Karl Pierson, didn't know him well. What did you know of him, and what was he like?

DAYLON STUTZ, JUNIOR, ARAPAHOE HIGH SCHOOL: Well, I knew he was a cross-country runner. He was on the debate team. I just knew that he was really an intelligent person and he knew how to speak very well in class.

CABRERA: We've heard that from a lot of his friends, that he wasn't the type of person who you would expect. Obviously, nobody expected this shooting yesterday.

STUTZ: Yes.

CABRERA: Walk me through what you experienced.

STUTZ: Well, I was in the restroom at the time. I heard the first shot, and then I didn't know what to think. I heard the following shots, and I knew that it was real. Me and the other person in the restroom, we exited, and we went into the cafeteria. We saw people running. We heard screaming, and we knew that it was not a drill. We heard people yelling to get into the main office. We all went in there. They sat us down, called us down, and that was about it.

CABRERA: You are so articulate. I can just see you reliving that experience. You mentioned the drill. You knew this wasn't a drill, but you have done drills before?

STUTZ: Yes, ma'am.

CABRERA: For situations like this. Did things go as expected when you had to respond to the situation that you prepared for like this?

STUTZ: Absolutely. All the teachers handled it very well. My coach, Russ, is a security guard, and he handled it, I think, like a superhero. I saw him in a dead sprint. Had he no fear. Same with the police officer at our school, they took it very well, and they knew what to do in our situation.

CABRERA: Did you see the shooter or any of the victims?

STUTZ: No, ma'am. I was currently -- I was running through the cafeteria to get to a safe place. I didn't know where to go. I knew where it was relatively, and I didn't want to look.

CABRERA: You mentioned the security officer. The school did have a school resource officer on hand. Describe for me -- I know obviously since Columbine high school and that shooting back in 1999, that was not far from here. There has been a lot of the training with law enforcement that's happened inside the school. In terms of school security at school, what is that like? How safe do you feel?

STUTZ: Honestly, I talked to multiple people about it. I have never really felt safe at school. The doors are unlocked 24-7. We have two security guards on campus and one officer, and I don't feel that that's enough to cover the whole school.

CABRERA: So perhaps this will be another opportunity for us to revisit, you know, what needs to happen again to keep students safe to prevent shootings like this. Daylon, what are your friends saying? What are you doing in terms of trying to heal now? STUTZ: Well, last night me and about eight of my friends, we got together, and we really just talked. We kind of got our feelings out. None of us really cried, but we did have times where we just needed talk about it and be with our friends. And, of course, friends and family really help to get through the situation.

CABRERA: Will you be scared to go back to school on Monday or on Tuesday, I guess? School is closed Monday.

STUTZ: No, I won't. I've always known that this is a possibility, and I know that it's a possibility again. But I know that our security will be stepped up, they will be on high alert, and I have confidence that they will get business done.

CABRERA: We really appreciate your time.

STUTZ: Yes, thank you.

CABRERA: Thank you for braving the cold. It's deceptively chilly out here in Colorado today. We know you have a lot to try to refocus as you move through the weekend. Thank you for joining us.

STUTZ: Thank you.

CABRERA: Martin, let's head back to you.

SAVIDGE: Our hearts go out to the whole school system there. Thank you very much.

House Speaker John Boehner goes on the offensive, and he blasts conservative groups who opposed the bipartisan budget deal. So is this a sign of a serious rift within the GOP, or is it a political strategy by a Republican leadership? Let's go to Capitol Hill next and find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: If you didn't see it here on CNN, you probably saw it somewhere. House Speaker John Boehner lashing out against conservative groups that push the GOP to vote against the new budget deal. He took them to task this week, and it has many wondering is there a rift in the Republican Party? Dana Bash has more from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Boehner turned a spat with powerful outside groups in his own party into an all-out war.

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

BASH: Boehner first took his private ire public at conservative groups for pressuring rank-and-file Republicans to oppose a budget deal he supports, many before they saw it. Now it's clear the speaker is using this moment to take a broader stand against outside forces that have so often made it impossible for him to convince conservative members to compromise on fiscal issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've had a lot of sway in a lot of the decision your members have made over the past couple of years. Does this budget mark a turning point, and are your members at your behest going to be more focused on maybe compromise and less on what the outside groups are pressuring them to do?

BOEHNER: When groups come out criticize an agreement that they've never seen, you begin to wonder just how credible those actions are. I thought it was my job and my obligation to stand up for conservatives here in the Congress who want more deficit reduction, stand up for the work that Chairman Ryan did.

BASH: Mike Needham runs Heritage Action, one of the groups Boehner is lashing out at.

John Boehner said groups like yours have completely lost credibility.

MIKE NEEDHAM, HERITAGE ACTION FOR AMERICA: I don't think it's for anybody in Washington to decide who has credibility. It's certainly very frustrating that an honest disagreement about a deal that was struck has devolved into name calling from the speaker.

BASH: But Boehner made clear this is about more than the budget. It's been brewing for a while.

BOEHNER: They pushed us into the fight to defund Obamacare and to shut down the government. If you'll recall, the day before the government reopened, one of the people -- one of these groups stood up and said, well, we never really thought it would work. Are you kidding me?

BASH: Some activists in those conservative groups think that the speaker's strategy is to clear the decks in advance of other divisive issues coming next year, like immigration reform. But senior house Republican sources insist that's not the case. This is just a situation where the speaker was genuinely upset and it boiled over in front of the cameras.

Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: It was worth it for the "Are you kidding me?" line along.

I am joined now by CNN commentator L.Z. Granderson and former Republicans Congressman Vito Fossella. Welcome to both of you. L.Z., let me start with you, first. Do you think this is an indication of a big rift within the Republican Party, or is it just Boehner upset with outside groups?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's a little bit of both. I don't see anything wrong with having vigorous debates within a party. In fact, it's refreshing, and it may actually help us find solutions going down the road.

But with that being said, this rift, as you described it, really kind of started with John McCain when he secured the GOP nomination for presidency back in 2008. He really wasn't a favorite of really staunch Republicans, conservative Republicans, and they had to kind of buy into him. That's sort of been brewing over the past couple of years where people have not -- some within the GOP have not been satisfied with the policies and politics of people they consider to be RINOs or more moderate. They want someone to represent a much more conservative viewpoint.

And what are you seeing out of John Boehner this week is just the frustration of trying to deal with forces within his party that really don't want to play along with the party.

SAVIDGE: L.Z., stand by. Let me bring you in the congressman. Congressman Fossella, do you think there is a rift, and if so, what can be done to fix it?

VITO FOSSELLA, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I think this is a balloon that's been growing for a while, and then the speaker just popped the balloon. With that said, I think it's important that the Republican Party deal with the various groups who are committed to, say, limited government or free enterprise and less government spending and less government in people's lives.

So although I think it's been brewing, as has been mentioned, I think it was perhaps essential in order to give cover to many members who were concerned about these outside forces. The reality is that these outside groups hold very significant sway because they represent the views of a good chunk of the American people, particularly a good chunk of people in the Republican Party.

So I think going forward it would be much better from the party's perspective to listen, agree respectfully when they -- disagree respectfully when they disagree, but at the same time hold true to some core, if you will, Republican principles and values.

SAVIDGE: I think one of the things that makes this moment so interesting is that we believe a lot of things we see in politics these days are planned or scripted. This did not seem to be that. It seemed to be a candid moment, and I'm wondering, congressman, what do you take on this bashing that was done by Boehner against these conservative groups? Is he fed up with the Tea Party? And is that going to come back to haunt him?

FOSSELLA: Well, I've known John Boehner for many, many years, and he is a very patient, deliberate, easy-going, and at the same time listens to a lot of different people. So I think while it was unscripted, I think that was his sort of everyday way of saying, you know, enough is enough, guys. If we're going to do this, let's do it right. Don't start bashing something you have never seen. Don't start destroying something just for the sake of destroying.

And I would hope the other groups that perhaps he bashed, for lack of a better word, would come to the table and work with the Republican Party and with other members in Congress to really do the work of the American people. I think that's part of the problem with the American people. They look at Congress as so dysfunctional now. No budget deal for several years. They go about their lives. They go about their business. They go about their jobs. They have responsibilities. And they look at the government and they are saying, why is nobody doing their work down there?

And I think the speaker by making this statement while he is probably raising a lot of flames in certain quarters, hopefully others will come with him and say, you know, Speaker Boehner, we hear you. These are our values. These are what we want to see out of government. This is what we want to see out of a Republican-led Congress. Let's work together, and, by the way, we should work together with the administration when and where possible as well.

SAVIDGE: L.Z., let me ask you this. There was compromise. It is bipartisan. Was this a flash in the pan, or do you believe that this could be a promising sign of life to come?

GRANDERSON: You know, it's very, very difficult to say. You know, the one thing I will say is that this essentially is the Congress that the people wanted. In 2008 the people elected a Congress that by all accounts was the most productive Congress in recent American history. The American people, many within the GOP, weren't satisfied with the policies and laws being created by the Congress, and so they elected in the Tea Party. This back and forth installing, if you will of Congress doing its work, is what the people wanted. If they don't like it, they need to vote another way again come 2014.

Now, is this the way things are going to be going forward for the long haul? You know, I doubt it. You know, nothing in Washington lasts forever. Certainly not, you know, warm feelings about parties. Everything is dependent on polls and what happens with the economy and what numbers are saying, and then obviously as we are heading towards 2014, you know, who is thinking about running for president?

So, you know, there are a lot of other factors that are involved in terms of whether or not this is going to be sustained sort of bipartisanship, but it is encouraging to see that they've at least gotten this far.

And if I could add one more thing, and that would be, I really -- I really would hope that, you know, at some point the Tea Party members get encouraged and just form their own party. You know, if you don't agree with what Republicans want to do, that is perfectly fine. I am sick of a two-party system, and would love to see a third or even fourth party. If you feel as if you're that powerful and that strong and that you represent that many Americans, then be your own party so you don't have to deal with trying to compromise with Boehner or whatever it is that's upsetting you. Have enough guts and stand on your own two feet.

SAVIDGE: L.Z., you have opened up a whole new can of worms for which, unfortunately, I don't have time to discuss. I thank you both. Congressman Vito Fossella, as well, we enjoyed the conversation. Thank you. FOSSELLA: Thank you very much.

GRANDERSON: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: The family of a little girl with a brain tumor calls it the best medicine ever. The missing dog she loved so much has returned. Who found the dog and where? Still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: So much unfortunate news, so let's have some nice stuff. A royal thank you part of the good stuff today -- 83-year-old Mary Anderson lives in Tennessee, but she got a royal thank you card all the way from Buckingham Palace, that after knitting Prince George a pair of booties and a hat. Watch as she reads part of that card.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The duke and the duchess of Cambridge were most touched by the thoughtful gift and send you their warmest thanks and best wishes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Anderson says that she now feels like a princess, aptly so.

A family member that's already had one prayer answered now hoping for another. Listen to this story. Year and a half ago the little girl's dog vanished during a family vacation, and she was devastated. Since then she has developed brain cancer and is one very sick little girl. Last month her family got a call that their dog was in a shelter in Arizona, and thanks to a microchip, the dog was returned to her in California. The family calls the dog the best medicine for beating cancer. Please let there be one more miracle in this story.