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Man Vows "Slaughter" Before Killing Six; Pope Francis Calls for Peace; Colorado Mudslide; Honoring the Fallen

Aired May 26, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

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

In southern California, a young man wallowed in his loneliness and then looked into a camera and gleefully described the murderous rampage he was about to unleash. His parents alerted to this YouTube video race to stop him but by then their son's so-called slaughter of college students had begun.

CNN's Pamela Brown has more for you.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol we spoke to a close friend of the Rodger family. His name is Simon Astaire (ph). He said there was a desperate search under way to find Elliott Rodger as the shooting rampage was taking place that's because his parents received the e-mail he sent them with a manifesto attached. His mother read it at 9:17 p.m. Pacific Time according to this family friend. She knew something was terribly wrong and found his retribution video on YouTube.

That's when she called 911 according to the family friend. And there was desperate search to find him. They were in the car on the way to Santa Barbara and that's when they found out there was a shooting, their worst nightmare came true when they learned the person behind that shooting was their 22-year-old son.

They admit that hindsight is always easy and they too are asking themselves what more could they have done? The friend says they are going through indescribable grief coming to grips with the loss of their son and knowing what he did -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Pamela Brown reporting.

There were warning signs from Elliott Rodger but in the end as Pamela said no one was able to stop him from murdering six people on Friday night. In the weeks leading up to the attack, sheriff's deputies even went to Rodger's home all because of mental agency and the family relatives were so worried authorities were alerted on April 30th.

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SHERIFF BILL BROWN, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: The relative had indicated that there was some concern about his well-being and the person from the Mental Health Department had been contacted our agency and ask that we conduct a welfare check to determine if he was a danger to himself or anyone else. And deputies from the sheriff's office contacted him. They found him to be rather shy and timid, polite, well spoken. He explained to the deputies that it was a misunderstanding and he was able to convince them that he was not at that point a danger to himself or anyone else and wouldn't have met the criteria for an involuntary hold to examine him further.

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COSTELLO: Rodger wrote about that meeting in his manifesto which CNN obtained a copy of from affiliate KEYT. This manifesto says quote "The police interrogated me outside for a few minutes asking me if I had suicidal thoughts. I tactfully told them that it was all a misunderstanding and they finally left. If they had demanded to search my room that would have ended everything." Because he had guns in his room and his plan was already in the works apparently.

Lou Palumbo is a retired law enforcement agent from Nassau County Police Department. He joins us live this morning. Good morning.

LOU PALUMBO, RETIRED LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: This is such a tough case. You heard what that deputy sheriff said. He said they went to his home. They checked him out. He answered the door. He seemed very timid and they left without worry because the kid convinced them that it was all a misunderstanding. Sound plausible to you?

PALUMBO: Absolutely. It happens every day. We encounter people every day in the street and when we question them they give us the answers that they know we're looking for. And at that point we have no alternative legally but to let them go on their way. In the instance of this young man, they had no justification to further their actions by forcing entry into his residence and searching and so on and so forth. I mean they just did what we normally would do.

And these welfare checks are a bit more common than most people realize and most of the time the focal point of them are the elderly. I was involved in one myself. We got a heads-up from the family that hadn't been able to contact their father. By the time we got to the residence, the father had expired. He was in his late 80s. They're not that uncommon and unfortunately the police are limited or restricted as to what they may or may not do in conducting these checks.

COSTELLO: Well whenever these tragedies happen, there are all people who always ask could -- could we have prevented this? And some people say yes if there were stricter background checks to buy weapons.

For example, this kid had no criminal history. He had never explicitly threatened anyone. He'd never been voluntarily committed to a mental institution. So it was perfectly legal for him to buy a gun. Should that change?

PALUMBO: Absolutely. And I've spoken to this for the past few years. I think what should happen at this point, Carol, is the federal government should establish a mandate that the states are required to follow. And it would not restrict or inhibit you from obtaining a concealed weapon, for example, with prerogative to carry it nationwide. What it would do is ask you to comply with the same vetting process that we comply with in law enforcement which includes but isn't limited to Minnesota multi face screening, raw shock, word association, interviews with psychologists, criminal history, firearms training and then education in a classroom setting to teach you exactly what the laws of force will allow you to do.

I think this is a reasonable expectation and it would not infringe or encroach upon anybody's right to carry. If anything it would give more people the prerogative to carry in a capacity they might like.

And one final thing I would like to say. We need to explore changing the ages for these children to buy handguns. In other words, right now you can buy a long arm at the age of 18. You can buy a handgun at 21 years of age. Maybe we need to up the ages on these handguns to perhaps 25 because we're looking at this demographic that's consistently demonstrating their participation in these types of events or occurrences.

COSTELLO: And I should have mentioned that this kid was being treated -- he was undergoing psychological treatments since he was 8 years old. He had just never really hurt anyone. He had never specifically threatened anyone. There were sort of these blanket -- I guess blanket threats. Does that make a difference because once you -- once you say you can't own a gun because you're being treated psychologically, isn't that a slippery slope?

PALUMBO: Not in my opinion it isn't. In fact I'll tell you something interesting. Earlier today Tom Fuentes he's a former deputy director of the FBI pointed out something rather interesting.

In Virginia Tech, the individual who obtained two high capacity handguns was adjudicated by a judge to be mentally defective. That was nowhere to be found in the community where he could purchase a firearm. We have a broken system here. We have a broken system when it comes to mental health and apparently with the regulation and control of these firearms.

So we need to sit down and put our thinking caps on and start to problem solve. The point I'm trying to make is that even if it's reported, who is it reported to and then how is that information further communicated to business establishments for example that sell firearms? You know we have to start to address these issues.

The tragic part is this has becoming redundant -- these cases are no longer an anomaly. And we are not addressing this problem. Not in any capacity. And I don't want to hang the burden of this incident on gun control because this isn't a gun control issue. This is a mental illness issue and one that we just continue to gloss over.

COSTELLO: And I have to ask you one more thing because people will bring this up. This young man stabbed three people. He used a knife to kill. And then he used the gun to kill three more. He also tried to use his car to kill someone. So it's stricter laws? Is stricter gun control laws the answer in this case?

PALUMBO: Absolutely not. In fact if we go back approximately a month ago in the state of Pennsylvania, if my recollection serves me correctly, we had an individual who attempted to -- successful in stabbing 20 people followed by an incident in New Jersey in a shopping mall with a homeless person who stabbed two people and killed one.

What we have is a consistent demonstration of aggression or attacks with the one common denominator -- mental defectiveness. It has nothing to do with the vehicle so to speak in which they deliver their message. It has to do with someone's mental state of mind and the fact that we need to figure out how we're going to address, how would you say, disseminating information that these people are in existence and we need to prevent them from getting their hands on handguns for example.

COSTELLO: Lou Palumbo, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Pope Francis wraps up his three day tour in the Mideast today inviting Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the Vatican to help build peace in the Middle East. Right now he's conducting mass in Jerusalem. Ivan Watson is there.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. The Pope and his denunciation of anti-Semitism at the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem and his call for Palestinian/Israeli peace. We'll have more on that after the break.

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COSTELLO: All right. These are live pictures of Pope Francis; he's now conducting mass in Jerusalem. He's actually wrapping up his trip to the Holy Land later today but his visit will long be remembered -- filled with incredibly powerful images like this one.

This is Pope Francis pressing his palm against a graffiti covered wall. It's Israel's imposing separation wall erected to keep Palestinians out of Israeli territory. Palestinians see it as a symbol of Israeli oppression. The Pope quietly told the crowd he knows about this wall and then he put his forehead against that wall and he prayed.

With me now to talk about this, CNN international correspondent Ivan Watson and Father Thomas Reece a Jesuit and senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter. Welcome to both of you.

THOMAS REECE, SENIOR ANALYST, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Ivan, I want to start with you. Why was the Pope's gesture so powerful?

WATSON: Well I was in Bethlehem yesterday and Palestinians were delighted because that separation barrier, which was built by the Israeli Security Forces, is really a symbol of what they consider to be oppression of occupation. They call it the apartheid barrier. So by walking up to it and also showing the cameras the graffiti that you see in those images, they believe that the Pope was bringing attention to an occupation that has gone on for decades here. It was interesting that when the Pope was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, Prime Minister Netanyahu actually said to him, you know, we wish for a day when there won't be any further acts of terrorism, when we won't need this wall.

The Pope actually didn't respond to Prime Minister Netanyahu. He -- he basically asked for the room to be cleared of journalists before he issued a response to the Prime Minister's assertion there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So Father Reece, the Vatican spoke and said the Pope's stop at that wall was not planned. And you know, this trip was not supposed to be political but it most certainly turned out to be. Why did the Pope press this way?

REECE: It's hard to enter the Holy Land or the Middle East without having political ramifications. But I think what the Pope was trying to do is to show that religion can be a force for reconciliation, for building bridges, rather than a source of violence and conflict. And by inviting the leaders of Israel and Palestine to come to the Vatican to pray for peace, this is bringing together two people who have never wanted to be in the same room with each other. And I think this is an extraordinary achievement of the Pope showing how he's trying to build bridges between people who are in conflict.

COSTELLO: And Ivan, Father Reece mentioned that other unprecedented move, the Pope has invited the leaders of Israel and Palestine to pray for him in Rome. Do you think they'll go?

WATSON: Well, both offices of the Palestinian Authority president and the Israeli president -- they have both indicated that they're open to this, that they welcome the initiative. But there's something to keep in mind here. Israeli president Shimon Peres, he's stepping down from office in about two months and he's not really the big decision maker, the power broker in the Israeli government. That is Prime Minister Netanyahu.

So this is a good symbolic gesture. I think everybody kind of agrees with it. But whether or not it will actually change anything on the ground after negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians that were brokered by the U.S. collapsed last month -- well, that's a big question. Just to underscore how complicated it is here, Carol, the mass that the Pope is currently performing is taking place -- in a place called the Cenacle where Jesus is believed to have eaten the last supper -- huge Christian symbolism there. But it was also the focus of some Israeli Jewish protests because it's on top of the tomb of King David and some Israelis protested against the Pope even coming to this place. That just shows you how complicated Jerusalem is and how complicated the Holy Land is and what a high wire act the Pope is walking on right now.

COSTELLO: And Father Reece it also shows the Pope was willing to push some buttons. Will he continue to press like this? REECE: I think he's done a marvelous job during this trip of reaching out to Muslims, to Jews. He's been there giving hope and encouragement to the very small Christian population that is being attacked by Jewish extremists and Muslim extremists. So, I think that he's there to build bridges and to bring people together, to point out that the only way toward peace is reconciliation and mutual respect and understanding. And I think he's going to continue to do that.

COSTELLO: Ivan Watson, Father Edward Reece (SIC) -- thank you so much. I appreciate it.

REECE: Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a massive mud slide in western Colorado -- eight square miles now covered. Jennifer Gray has more on the conditions of this very unstable area -- that's next.

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COSTELLO: Unbelievably big -- that's how emergency crews describe a massive mud slide on the western slopes of Colorado. Four miles long, two miles wide and about 250 feet deep. This entire area remains very unstable. Right now three people are missing. One witness said the mudslide sounded like a freight train.

Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joins us now to tell us exactly where this is. Good morning.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you. Yes, it just happened right outside of Culver, you can see in Colorado. A lot of rain has fallen in the past 24 to 48 hours. This is radar from the past 24 hours. We'll zoom in a little bit and concentrate it right over that one area. Those showers came through yesterday and even on Saturday evening. This is the rainfall totals about an inch of rain which doesn't seem like a lot but if the ground is already so saturated, it's not going to take a lot more to cause some of these landslides out there.

The area is still very unstable. Of course, the good news is the system that caused the rain in portions of Colorado is going to be pushing out as we speak so conditions should be improving. We're going to get more of a dry pattern as we through the next couple of days to let the area dry out some.

What happens is the ground just gets extremely saturated from the rain and because the slope is so steep, it can't hold the weight of the water within the soil and that slope fails so that's where you get those landslides unfortunately. The good news is it looks like we're going to dry out a little bit for the next --

COSTELLO: That is better news. Thanks so much, Jennifer.

GRAY: Right.

COSTELLO: Still to come, this Memorial Day we pay tribute to service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice. President Obama arrives at Arlington National Cemetery in moments. You'll see it live.

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COSTELLO: In just a couple minutes, the President will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. And then about a half hour from now, he'll make remarks at Arlington National Cemetery. You can see they are getting ready over there.

Let's bring in CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, she's live at Arlington National Cemetery this morning. Hi -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We're just down the hill from where the President will appear shortly at section 60 in Arlington, the place where more than 800 troops who fought on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have been laid to rest and it's always on Memorial Day you can see the people who have come here to pay their respects -- families, friends, colleagues, battle buddies. So many people are here. And like so many years in the past, we see so many small children getting older with every year but still so much small children being brought here by their parents to pay their respects -- many of them having lost a parent in the war.

So this is a place of great sadness but also I always say every year it's a place of great love. There is really nothing like seeing some battle buddies coming here, pausing, spending some time at their buddy's grave side and paying their respects.

We're going to hear from the President shortly. We're beginning to hear some in the background here some of the assembling of the ceremony where he will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown. But you know, for the people who think that maybe Memorial Day is a day off from work, a day to go to the beach, to barbecue, to go to the pool. Absolutely go and have fun but around the country people are indeed pausing and taking a moment and paying their respects to the nation's fallen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I would like to think people take a moment to pay their respects and enjoy the love of their families which they should certainly honor because there are so many where you are today who cannot share the love with their family today.

Barbara Starr, thank you so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" starts now.