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Deadly Path of Fort Hood Shooter; Australian P.M.: "Most Difficult" Search in History

Aired April 03, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHO: Much to get to in the news today. So let's turn to Carol Costello for "NEWSROOM."

Good morning, darling.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Michaela. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, deadly rampage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take shelter immediately.

COSTELLO: Fort Hood, Texas, home to thousands of American troops front and center again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have an active shooter currently on Fort Hood.

COSTELLO: Three are dead. At least 16 injured. And this morning, we're learning more about the gunman.

LT. GEN. MARK MILLEY, COMMANDER, FORT HOOD: He was undergoing behavior health and psychiatric treatment for depression.

COSTELLO: And the nation comes together.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're heartbroken that something like this might have happened again.

COSTELLO: We ask, what made Specialist Ivan Lopez snap?

Also, black box deadline.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Those pingers that are out there could be already dead.

COSTELLO: A key ship in the search for Flight 370 now delayed.

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It is a very difficult search. The most difficult in human history.

COSTELLO: A special edition of NEWSROOM starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

For the second time in almost five years, the community at Fort Hood in Texas must come to grips with why a soldier opened fire inside the army's largest base. Three army personnel were shot and killed, 16 other army personnel were injured when Army Specialist Ivan Lopez armed with a handgun entered two buildings on the base and just started shooting. The 15-minute shooting spree only ended when the shooter committed suicide.

Wednesday's shooting took place not far from the spot where -- where an army major gunned down 13 people back in 2009. And this morning, three victims remain in critical condition.

We don't know yet if the shooter knew his victims but he did open fire in battalion's command buildings. We do know Ivan Lopez was new to Fort Hood, moving there several weeks ago with his wife and daughter. In fact a neighbor tried to console the shooter's wife before anyone knew who was responsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANDERIA MORRIS, NEIGHBOR OF FORT HOOD SHOOTING SUSPECT: And we were outside, you know, me and a few of my neighbors, we were all outside talking about it. And I saw her come out of her apartment, and she seemed to be -- she was -- you know, she was worried and she was crying, and she had a little girl with her. So you know, I walked over to her, and you know, I tried to console her and comfort her and let her know everything was OK.

But it didn't seem to, you know, pretty much, you know, sink in. And so we sat outside with her, you know, tried to keep her calm until her other family came. And that was pretty much it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And did you know at this time that it was her husband?

MORRIS: No, we had no clue. No one had a clue. She didn't even have a clue until a few hours had passed and we all heard it over the news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Brooke Baldwin is outside of Fort Hood in Texas now.

Brooke, good morning. Tell us more.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. I mean, I think the sentiment really here standing outside the main gate here in Fort Hood is it has happened again. Talking to a few people and really I've only been on the ground for a couple of hours. The sense is that this incident is much different than the one of course we covered five years ago here at Fort Hood. The big question, obviously, this morning here, who was the shooter and why? We don't know the answer to why but let me tell you a little bit more about this 34-year-old army specialist, Ivan Lopez. We know that he served four months deploying in Iraq back in 2011. And you mentioned recently coming here to Fort Hood. In fact he just transferred here in February.

A lot of questions as far as his mindset, emotional evaluations under way. So we know he's been in the process of being evaluated for possible PTSD. I want to be clear he's not been diagnosed with PTSD. Just under evaluation. But we do know from sources here at the post that he was under treatment for both depression and anxiety.

And we're learning a little bit more, Carol, this morning, about his background here. As I mentioned, he came to Fort Hood in February. We know that he had initially enlisted in a Puerto Rico National Guard. This is according to the National Guard before then transferring to the U.S. Army. And he was assigned here to the 13th Sustainment Command which, you know, translation, that basically means he was dealing with logistical responsibilities here at Fort Hood.

And I want to bring in my colleague George Howell who's been working this story with me here this morning. And, you know, people around here shaking their heads. You can't quite, you know, wrap your head around why this would happen here, let alone twice. And there were initial reports that there might have been some sort of argument that he was involved in, correct?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And those were the initial reports. And just set the scene here. When you think about it. This is a community that dealt with this before. They had to go through it again. The sirens went off. People were told to shelter in place. This entire base, the size of a small city, was put on lockdown. And people just had to wait for this to happen.

What we understand at this point, Brooke, is that this shooting, the shooting happened in multiple locations. Between two different buildings. So it's between the medical building and the transportation building. We understand that Lopez allegedly went into one building. Fired several shots. Then got into his own vehicle, fired shots from the car. Then went into the second building, fired shots.

Again after all is said and done, 16 people injured. Three people were killed in this. That does not include Lopez. Lopez, we understand, used his own weapon to take his own life after he was confronted by that military officer.

BALDWIN: Let's take a look at your report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have an active shooter currently on Fort Hood. Multiple gunshot victims. Also people that are escaping through windows. HOWELL (voice-over): Tragedy strikes again. The Army's largest U.S. base put on lockdown for hours as shots rang out Wednesday. The second deadliest shooting on the Fort Hood military base in Texas in nearly five years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really unreal, really unreal because in 2009 I was here and this thing happen again.

HOWELL: Authorities scramble to the scene shutting the front gates, backing up traffic, urging everyone to stay put.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seek shelter immediately.

HOWELL: The lone shooter identified as Specialist Ivan Lopez, an American soldier toting a .45 caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun purchased recently.

MILLEY: He was undergoing behavior health and psychiatric treatment for depression and anxiety, and a variety of other psychological and psychiatric issues.

HOWELL: Dressed in combat fatigues, Lopez allegedly opened fire, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen before taking his own life after being confronted by a military police officer.

MILLEY: It was clearly heroic what she did at that moment in time. And she did her job. And she did exactly what we would expect of a United States Army military police.

HOWELL: Victims were airlifted to nearby hospitals.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Any shooting is troubling. Obviously this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago.

HOWELL: Fort Hood, the site of so much pain in 2009 when Major Nidal Hasan opened fire on base killing 13 people and injuring 32. President Obama's touching words on the events of that tragic day almost five years ago sadly relevant again.

OBAMA: So we say goodbye to those who now belong to eternity. May God bless the memory of those that we have lost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: So just a few minutes ago, you know, we were talking about his medical and his background.

BALDWIN: Right.

HOWELL: His combat background. So he was in Iraq back in 2011. Was there for four months. And, you know, we understand that he self- reported that he suffered from traumatic brain injury. Now we know that he was on medication. He was getting treatment here. But as you mentioned, you know, he was still in that evaluation process for PTSD.

BALDWIN: Right. Right. George, thank you.

And, Carol, it was -- it was interesting. Actually ended up having part of my breakfast this morning here with an Army major, just sort of asking him a little about what he thought about the story. And he said really just two points I took away. One, you know, no one can jump to conclusions as to whether or not this 34-year-old Army specialist had PTSD, period. So we just need to be really careful as we're reporting that and looking into his mental evaluation, his mental state, you know.

And, two, and we're going to get into this later on in your show. But just the notion of how he clearly broke protocol, broke the rules by having this gun on base. You cannot bring your own personal firearm on base unless it's actually registered, which he had not done. And interestingly, just talking again to this Army major. He said listen, I can't speak for the entire Army but he was saying to me, you know, we don't really want to have firearms on base.

He's like, if I just want to go hunting, I can keep my gun at home. But this is not some big push. At least according to this Army major I spoke with over breakfast, that people really want as far as any kind of change here on post around the country.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that some more. Because the reason that soldiers aren't allowed to carry weapons on base is because there's a big suicide problem at Fort Hood. And they don't want these soldiers who may have depression problems, who may have suicidal thoughts to carry around guns.

That's the biggest reason why guns are not allowed to be carried in most parts of the base, right?

BALDWIN: Right. And it's not just Fort Hood. Sadly, you know, suicides are an issue within members of the military nationwide. So that is one issue of course.

COSTELLO: A big problem.

BALDWIN: Then at the same -- yes, it's a huge problem. And then you had, I think we both were covering the Navy Yard shooting in Washington, D.C. And as a result of that, congressmen here from Texas, Republican Steve Stockman, you know, he had proposed this legislation because he was saying basically a lot of these bases of vulnerable to terrorism as was the -- you know, issue here at Fort Hood five years ago with Major Nidal Hasan wanting to wage jihad in the processing center, right, because all those people were leaving for Afghanistan.

But this, I just want to underscore, feels different and so I do not know if some major change, you know, will really happen. But again, according to this Army major I talked to this morning, he said, I'm fine with having to carry my firearm on base. Law enforcement have them. You know, security have them. That's it. And that was fine by him.

COSTELLO: OK. We're going to talk a lot more about this a little later.

Brooke Baldwin, thanks so much.

Now to some new developments in another big story. The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. We've learned the Australian ship the Ocean Shield is due to reach the search area tomorrow. A full day later than expected. Of course, this ship is equipped with that pinger locator that listens for the beacon transmitted by the plane's black boxes. The beacon's battery life runs out in just a few days.

In the meantime, investigators now say a review of the captain's in- home flight simulator was inconclusive.

CNN's Paula Newton joins us from Perth, Australia with more.

Hi, Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Yes, the Ocean Shield won't be in the search zone for another few hours yet. But I can tell you that the British Royal Navy ship HMS Echo was in the northern search zone today and it was so interesting, Carol, that they actually were looking for what they call sonic transmissions. They heard something. It was a false alarm, but good news at least.

And let tell you, the relatives of the missing could use any measure of good news. The Malaysian prime minister, the Australian prime minister were here on this base touring the operations today and both of them couldn't have been more blunt about what they are up against.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON (voice-over): Calling this the biggest mystery in aviation history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, guys. The prime minister of Malaysia and the prime minister of Australia.

NEWTON: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak toured search operations at Australia's Pearce Air Force Base Thursday. This as the search zone moved again, this time slightly north.

NAJIB RAZAK, MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER: The new refined area of search has given us new hope. And I believe the courage of the crews is more than equal to the task.

NEWTON: Today, both leaders blunt about the difficulty of the investigation, saying they have no guarantees they'll ever find the missing plane.

ABBOTT: It is a very difficult search, the most difficult in human history.

NEWTON: In the search zone Thursday, at least 10 aircraft and nine ships scouring for wreckage in an area about the size of Minnesota. Officials coordinating the search here tell CNN some search areas have been abandoned with the lack of new sightings. Despite the continued sense of urgency, Malaysia's prime minister announced no news or credible leads on where Flight 370 might be.

NAJIB: We want to provide comfort to the families and we will not rest until answers are indeed found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: As comforting as those words might be, Carol, some people are starting to question whether or not this search is even in the right place right now. And it seems almost a month after this plane went missing, extraordinary that right now all we're getting, all we're dealing with is still an educated guesses as to where it may have come down -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Newton reporting live from Perth, Australia this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a deadly shooting at Fort Hood. A soldier suffering from some sort of mental illness. Are we doing enough to prevent such tragedies?

I'll ask Congressman Peter King where we're falling short, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Good morning. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin, working with Carol Costello this morning, live here outside the main gate here at Fort Hood.

And officials here on base say they are scouring the background of this 34-year-old Army Specialist Ivan Lopez after the second soldier on soldier shooting spree here at the base in nearly five years. Lopez killed three Army personnel yesterday afternoon before taking his own life. As far as numbers go this morning and injuries, 16 others are hurt. We heard from a trauma surgeon this morning saying the first 24 hours really are critical, multiple surgeries to go here.

As we watch their conditions, it's really not clear if Lopez actually knew these victims or what his motive was. But we want to just back up and really look at the sequence of events. How they played out here on base at Fort Hood not even 24 hours ago.

So, let me bring in CNN's Tom Foreman joining me with a virtual view, Tom. I know this involved multiple buildings before he was ultimately engaging in gunfire. Female police officer engaged him in a parking lot and he ultimately took his life.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, we're still trying to sort out all the details of the map. This gives you an idea, north of Austin, south of Dallas. Fort Hood is out there in a wide open space because that's where it was put back in World War II as they were starting to use it for tank warfare methods there.

This is a sense of where the main part of the base is. Sort of fits within this little area here. Basically is a sideways rectangle. This is the main gate right here down. The one you are at right now, Brooke. We thought yesterday based on what the commander said that the medical area right over here was really the beginning area and over into the motor pool area. It looks like now, it may be a bit more off to some other areas up in here.

So let's go take a look at some of the closer in pictures of this. Going to fly into that gate where you are stopped right now, Brooke and we'll go beyond it, in a virtual sense here. You see there are other gates up here.

This is where the command headquarters are located in sort of the middle of the whole base there, and then a short distance off you get to the medical center. This is the main medical center and the outbuildings. And this is called tank destroyer road running right down the middle.

Now, we're not entirely sure right now. We're trying to build the map as to what happened here. But what we believe may have happened is that the shootings took place -- I'm going to draw a very big picture, basically in this general area.

That's far too big for where they actually happened because we know they started at one building. Apparently he shot inside the building, got into his car. Moved some distance. Not a huge distance. Than into another building, shot some more and then the parking lot was shot afterward.

We don't know the entire distance, but we're going to build this map throughout the day and try to get a much sharper on when and where and how this happened, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Great. Tom, we'll be checking back in with you as we start to narrow in what happened.

And, again, Carol, as we're learning more about this 34-year-old specialist how he'd been part of the Puerto Rican national guard, joined the U.S. Army, came here to Fort Hood just a couple of months ago back in February. Has a small daughter, approximately three years of age and a wife just absolutely shocked, according to neighbors when she learned of the shooting and learned it was her husband who was the shooter, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, we're going to talk much more about possible motives a little later in the NEWSROOM.

Also, still ahead, less than three days until the batteries on the black box starts to fade from Flight 370, the Ocean Shield still making its way to the search zone. But it's getting to that search zone a day late.

What if we can never find those black boxes? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Day 27 in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Officials have again narrowed down where they think that plane likely went down. Some 1,100 miles off the coast of Western Australia in that remote part of the Indian Ocean.

On a less positive note, the Australian ship the Ocean Shield will not reach that area today. It's not expected to arrive in the search zone until some time on Friday. That means the ship with the pinger on board -- the pinger detector on board -- will have one day to search for those black boxes. And after that, the batteries start to die.

Australia's prime minister says the search is not only difficult, but the most difficult search in human history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: This is probably the most difficult search ever undertaken -- the most difficult search ever undertaken. But I can assure people that the best brains in the world are working on this. And every day, working on the basis of just small pieces of information, we are putting the jigsaw together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Rob McCallum is an ocean search expert and he actually helped lead the search for Air France 447.

Good morning.

ROB MCCALLUM, OCEAN SEARCH EXPERT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK. So they shifted the search zone a little north, but not much. At this point, does it matter?

MCCALLUM: Oh, yes, I think it does matter. It shows that there's a willingness to take into account the latest information that they'll be getting from reinterpretation, or reanalysis of the handshake data. But also they are building on from the search efforts that have been undertaken to date. So it shows responsiveness. And it shows a willingness to try something new.

COSTELLO: You heard what the prime minister said. He says we're slowly getting pieces of this jigsaw puzzle to put together. Then he said on the other hand, this is the most difficult search in human history. What are we to take from that?

MCCALLUM: That it just that. That it's a vast body of water that we're dealing with. And there wasn't a lot of information to go on right from the beginning.

In the case of Air France, we had the information from the aircraft right up to the moment that it impacted the water which gave us a very good head start. But in the case of 370, there's very little to go on. So it's been a very difficult start indeed, and as the prime minister said, it's the largest since perhaps the 1930s when they were out looking for Amelia Earhart. COSTELLO: Yes, and we know how that turned out so we won't talk about that for just a second.

The Ocean Shield, the Australian ship, is now delayed a day. Won't get to that search area until Friday. On Saturday, the batteries start to fade in those black boxes. So what will be the ship's first order of business?

MCCALLUM: You know, it's a real gamble. The pingers were only ever designed to help searchers locate the black boxes from within a wreckage field. They were never designed to have the range or the endurance to help actually locate the wreckage field itself.

So in all honesty, I don't think there's a great deal of hope of being able to find the pingers. I don't think really that it matters in the long run. In though case of Air France, the wreck was located a couple of years after the pingers would have died out.

COSTELLO: So in other words, even if they don't find the black boxes for years, that doesn't mean they won't be able to figure out what happened to that plane?

MCCALLUM: That's correct. I mean, the finding the wreck is going to be an exercise in itself. The pingers were only ever designed to help searchers locate the black box within a wreckage field. You know if a wreckage field was spread over some distance, the pingers help guide the ROV, the remote operated vehicle, into towards black box.

In the case of Air France 447 it wasn't required at all. The pingers probably never actually worked.

COSTELLO: Rob McCallum, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

MCCALLUM: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, tough gun rules were put into place but security checks seem to have failed a second time at Fort Hood. So how do we keep our soldiers and their families safe?

We'll ask Congressman Peter King, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)