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Emotional Admission From Fort Hood Soldier; Time Is Running Out On Pinger Batteries; Fort Hood Gunman Kills Three, Himself, 16 Injured

Aired April 03, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: -- they are showing signs and nobody is just making the effort to do something about it and sometimes you have to figure out that's just life. You can't change it no matter what you want to do. I mean, if you want to try to get out, they are going to give you hell it's not going to be easy and you are going to end up screwing yourself because you are left with nothing. You are not going to have, you know, the benefits to take care of you.

So who is to say you are going to make on the outside world either. So it's the harsh reality knowing that either way, you are going to be stressed out. You are going to be unhappy. It sucks that you have to live every day regretting joining something that you thought would have been good. It's not like this at every post. I'm a military brat and I loved the places I have gone to. It doesn't make any sense how Fort Hood and its soldier and families are treated.

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just one soldier's perspective. I can't stress that enough. One young woman's perspective being on post for a number of months. A perspective we wanted to share and she had mentioned the specialist, the shooter here from yesterday's tragedy rushing for treatment. We don't finish he rushed to receive treatment or not. We know he was receiving treatment for depression and anxiety and had been on prescription meds including Ambien, Don, but you know, it's difficult.

When the soldiers are not supposed to talk to members of the media and trying to share that perspective, but at the same time, talking to folks with the U.S. Army, folks here at Hood, you know, they would also say the Army has come a long, long way and really providing that incredibly necessary treatment for these men and women who are coming back from one, two, three deployments.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Brooke, that was a very powerful interview and I kept thinking the whole time with the viewers at home must be thinking. Why does she do it? She doesn't have to. She can flip burgers. I understand the pressures. I empathize with them. She doesn't have to do it. She signed up for that. Why did she do it anyway if she is not interested?

BALDWIN: I asked her so why did you enlist? And she told she actually was in college. She had a college scholarship, but she said her mother needed the money and she said that she would be receiving, you know, whatever every bit of money she would be receiving by being at Hood each and every month. She is giving to her mother. That is money she couldn't give when she was in college. She took the sacrifice upon herself and again, she is from a military family. She believes in the United States military. She believes in serving, but coming here in her words to Hood has totally changed her perspective.

LEMON: It's an amazing insight, a very powerful interview, Brooke and I look forward to more on that. We will get back to Brooke in just a moment, but up next, Australia, promising a big announcement about its operations. This as a British ship reveals it is zeroing in on a specific search area. Stay right here. This is CNN's special coverage. We'll be right back.

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LEMON: Welcome back to the search for Flight 370. Described today as the most difficult in human history. CNN has learned that the man leading the search will have a big operations conference in the coming hours. We are waiting to hear what time Australia's Angus Houston is going to speak. Plus we've learned a British Navy ship will conduct a specific search for Flight 370 in the Indian Ocean. Meantime Australia's ambassador to the U.S. says will keep going until hell freezes over.

CNN aviation correspondent, Richard Quest, and he joins me now. Richard, you and I have been covering this and logged so many hours here. What is this new operational? What do you think they could be announcing?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: If the Australians are calling it a big operational announcement, I would assume it is nuts and bolts. I have been in the sense of who is looking where and what they are going to do and shift at the zone. We found nothing in the zone as was determined. It's going to be something if you look at the way, they only shifted the zone to the east and back to the west again.

LEMON: The north earlier. They shifted it.

QUEST: Within the zone at the moment, they shifted slightly one way or the other. It's only because they have searched the other area and found nothing. I am going to guess they are refining it. Recognizing the pingers are going to stop working in the next day to a week.

LEMON: You have been watching the news conferences and I think you noticed something that I did too. There is a marked difference in the news conference from the beginning until now. They are changing. The tone is changing. Don't you think?

QUEST: In the news conferences -- because they got to your handle in that first week or days or so. It was almost -- always chaotic. The plane was not where it was supposed to be.

LEMON: Right. QUEST: You look where you think it's going to be, which is up in the South China Sea and then you get the report, but it's turned in the opposite direction. You have the world clamoring for information and you are literally making it up as you go along. You get the only bits of the evidence or proof down at the bottom here.

LEMON: But are you sure that we are searching in the right area?

QUEST: No. Not at all.

LEMON: Why?

QUEST: Because -- OK. Let me get the pen out. The science upon which this is based comes from the Inmarsat hand shake pings.

LEMON: You have no confidence in Inmarsat?

QUEST: I have every confidence in their ability to do the best job they can within the confines of science and what they can do. What if they are inaccurate by a bit? They were inaccurate here. What if they proved to be inaccurate again? Now look the difference between me and others, I want to jump up and down and criticize them because I am recognizing the enormous nature of the task that they are involved in.

LEMON: Stick around. Hold that thought. We'll be right back. Richard Quest, thank you very much. Coming up, the search of Flight 370 being called the most difficult search ever. We will show you what crews are up against and where as they try to find the plane. Stay with us. Our coverage continues.

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LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Don Lemon in New York. The search for Flight 370 is a race against time. The batteries powering the plane's black box pingers are about to run out if they haven't run out already. Yesterday, the ship "Ocean Shield" and British submarine, the HMS Tireless have advanced technology to track it, but only to a point. Retired British Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kay showed "NEW DAY's" Chris Cuomo some of those challenges.

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MICHAEL KAY, LT. COLONEL, BRITISH ARMY (RETIRED): They are 5 miles an hour and that search area of 130,000 square miles. Chad Myers did some brilliant research that will take you about 3,000 years from top to tail to square away. Good, but not great. The positives are the search area shifted to 900 miles off the coast which means it is closer. So what we really need to be doing is getting the aircraft out there, the P8s, the P3s, getting them out there and there transit times and more time. The "Ocean Shield" is wonderful. The odds are stacked against us.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Not only does it move slowly, but it needs proximity, right, to the pinger location. It doesn't hear it no matter where it is. It has to be within a few nautical miles within it.

KAY: Right, 1 nautical mile. The "Ocean Shield" has wonderful radar, which is automatic. It basically tracks objects and works out the speed, and works if it's going to collide with it. But that's great if you're looking for ships or land masses. It's suboptimal if you are looking for aircraft debris.

CUOMO: Now is that where the submarine comes in? You have the pinger being dragged below it then you have the submarine. How the submarine work to help?

KAY: HMS Tireless, this is what's called a hunter submarine, so it carries the Tomahawk missiles. It's a little bit quicker than the "Ocean Shield." What this thing has, which is really specific to its capability is the passive and active sonar and they're really sensitive. This submarine is used to track other submarines. So it's sonar systems are super, super sensitive.

CUOMO: So it gives you more range because it's faster and better capability to find things because it's more sensitive with its detection technology.

KAY: Absolutely. It is listening for those pings. As we've already pointed out, we're down to the last few days of this now. We know from experts the battery life could last up to 40 days, but we are nudging on that final 10 days.

CUOMO: It could also be 20 days based on how they're stored --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Michael Kay and Chris Cuomo on CNN's "NEW DAY." Coming up, we are answering your questions about the missing plane. Make sure you tweet me using #370 qs.

BALDWIN: But coming up next, back here live in Fort Hood, just in, we are hearing when and where this 34-year-old Army specialist, the shooter, actually purchased this gun he used to launch this attack yesterday afternoon. Stay right here special CNN coverage continues after this.

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BALDWIN: Welcome back to CNN's special coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Live here in Killeen, Texas outside one of the main gates on to Fort Hood post, an investigation clearly under way as I speak. Really the big question at this moment, who is this U.S. Army specialist, Evan Lopez, the soldier who is 34 years of age, father accused of committing such a horrendous act.

Here's what we do know. He had served in Iraq enlisting in 2008, deployed for four months. But the Army says he never actually saw combat. He did serve two deployments, the first as he was a member of the Puerto Rican National Guard. He served for a year and he has been described as normal by neighbors. He lived off of coast with his wife and daughter about three years young. They just moved there this past February.

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XANDERIA MORRIS, NEIGHBOR OF FORT HOOD SHOOTING SUSPECT: As far as I knew, he was a nice guy. He always smile and waved. That's about it. Typical average family. They were always coming and going. They smiled whenever they see someone. That was it.

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BALDWIN: My colleague, Miguel Marquez, joins me here off coast. I wanted to begin with what we are learning as far as what neighbors are saying, people who knew this 34-year-old. They seemed totally normal.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The most incredible part of this story is that this guy didn't seemed to show any signs of what was to come. Even the hours before he came here. Neighbors saying that they waved to him and saw him at noon yesterday just hours before this deadly rampage. He went to the leasing office at this new apartment that he was at 12:30. He came here and did what they said he did. He paid his lease and added his wife's name to that lease. Incredible. Every single neighbor we spoke said this just seemed like a normal guy.

BALDWIN: Let's take a listen.

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MARQUEZ: What did he seem like?

IESHA BRADLEY, NEIGHBOR: Fine, happy. He didn't seem like the type that would do what he did.

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MARQUEZ: This is the shock that people have. That this is somebody who seemed completely incapable of carrying out this sort of thing. Everything about his military record from what we can tell at this point, dating back 12, 13 years. All the same. Even though all of these issues with the claim of PTSD and concerns about his mental health were below the surface, but didn't raise the alarms.

BALDWIN: We know that he was getting treatment for anxiety, depression, but was in the process of being diagnosed and had yet to be diagnosed with PTSD. I want to ask you about the gun because we are trying to get more information. You went with the crew to Guns Galore where he legally performed this .45.

MARQUEZ: Look, law enforcement sources say that he legally and properly purchased this gun on March 1st of this year. This is also around the same time that he was seeking assistance for what he said was PTSD, had not been diagnosed with it, purchased the gun there. It's not clear why he purchased the gun at that time. That is the gun that he brought on to base.

The other thing that is essential about this. The military saying that if he purchased that gun and brought it on base, it had to be registered on base. It was not registered on base. That is illegal by military standards.

BALDWIN: He did that bringing it on unlawfully. You are supposed to register with commanders as you well know as we are learning. I want to bring in HLN law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks. Because Mike, I know that you have what this sheet, this piece of paper that it explains. You want to buy a gun. What exactly whether you are military or not, what are they looking for as far as medical history.

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, whoever goes in to buy a gun, whether it will be a hand gun or a rifle, Brooke, has to fill out the ATF, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Explosives Form 4473, and they ask you a number of questions on this form that you fill out, that you answer yes or no. In line number 11-F reads have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective, which includes a determination by a court, board, commission or other lawful authority that you are in danger to yourself or others or incompetent to manage your own affairs or have you ever been committed to a mental institution.

Then it said see instructions for question 11. It's more detailed, asking you questions about have you ever been insane and have you ever been guilty by reason of insanity. Most likely people are going to go ahead and check no. Since the fact that he had not been declared a danger to himself or others, even though he was being treated for anxiety or depression, even being treated for PTSD, he may not be deemed by a court or any board that he was mentally incompetent. He could still after that legally buy a weapon.

BALDWIN: OK. Mike Brooks, thank you so much. Miguel Marquez, quickly, Guns Galore. Who else bought guns there?

MARQUEZ: Nadal Hasan and (inaudible), who was arrested in a sting operation before he tried to replicate what Hasan did here in 2009, killing 13 people, injuring 32 others. It's a gun store here in Killeen. It's not maybe surprising that he went there. It has been in the center of so many different shootings.

BALDWIN: That is was worth noting. Miguel Marquez, thank you so much. Don, we will send it back to you in New York.

LEMON: All right, thank you, Brooke. Appreciate that. Next, Australia promising a big announcement about its operations. This as a British ship reveals they are zeroing in on a specific search area. Stay right there. This is CNN's special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Happening now on CNN, a special event at the White House. The president and first lady hosting members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams. The White House said it's a chance for the president and Mrs. Obama to thank the Olympians for their hard work representing the United States. Let's listen in.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: I have never seen it more clearly than in the story of someone that I met here at the White House four years ago under far different circumstances. Lt. Commander Dan Nasan was sitting with leaders of the military and I got to see Dan and we were remarking because we were in the same room we had dinner in together.

Just a few months earlier, Dan had been in Afghanistan. He was leading a platoon of Navy SEALs when he stepped on an IED. Dan lost both of his legs in the explosion, but he never lost that fighting spirit. I will always remember Dan because just four months after that explosion, he finished a half marathon in a wheelchair. Four months after the explosion.

On the one-year anniversary of his injury, he ran a mile on his prosthetics.