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Alison Parker's Father Pleads for Gun Control; Harris County Sheriff Deputy Shot and Killed; Remember Katrina Ten Years Later; Congress Passes Pets Act; About 3,600 Have Died Trying to Cross Into Europe by Sea in Last Year. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired August 29, 2015 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:24] POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday.
We begin this afternoon in Roanoke, Virginia. A story that is continuing to capture the country's attention. The shooting death on live television of a reporter and her photographer, Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Their names emblazoned on the headlines, their faces and their smiles etched in our minds forever.
And as come on the air today, we are learning new details from police and investigators and hearing new calls for gun control. But before that, I want to pause for a moment and I want to remember the most important thing of all, the two victims at the center of this story, Alison and Adam.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON PARKER, VICTIM: I am a Virginia girl.
HARLOW (voice-over): She was a shining star.
PARKER: I wanted to go through a sleep study to see if my job impacts how I snooze. Adam and I work the same early morning shift, but have completely different sleep schedules.
HARLOW: A 24-year-old reporter. Colleagues say she never shied away from a story. Unfailingly positive. Relentlessly hard working.
ADAM WARD, VICTIM: In Salem, Adam Ward.
HARLOW: And her 27-year-old photographer, Adam Ward.
PARKER: I have to bring him out. Adam, come out from in front of the camera. He is the ugly stepmother. And just looking absolutely gorgeous.
HARLOW: The pair beginning at interns at WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia.
PARKER: Hey, everyone, I'm Alison Parker, photo journalist. Adam Ward and I are putting the final touches on our Special Report. HARLOW: Parker was in a relationship with Chris Hurst, an anchor at
the station.
CHRIS HURST, ALISON PARKER'S BOYFRIEND: I lost the love of my life. It was not slow and it was incredibly painful and it was immediate.
HARLOW: Ward was engaged to morning show producer, Melissa Ott. Wednesday was supposed to be her last day at work before moving to a new station. Instead, she watched her future husband get shot and killed.
SETH KOVAR, FORMER COLLEAGUE/CNN EMPLOYEE: The most horrific thing about this all is that she was in the control room and watched it happen live.
HARLOW: Enter Andy Parker.
ANDY PARKER, ALISON PARKER'S FATHER: I'm not saying let's take away guns. I'm just saying let's make it harder for people with mental issues.
HARLOW: Alison's father, and a new call.
ANDY PARKER: There has to be a way to force politicians that are cowards and in the pockets of the NRA to come to grips and make sense of -- have sensible laws so that crazy people can't get guns.
HARLOW: A murder captured on live television. A snapshot in time on social media that took our breath away. An evolution playing out before cameras and the country.
ANDY PARKER: It's been gut wrenching for me to try to get through anything without breaking down in tears.
HARLOW: Of a father now trying to remember his daughter and her co- worker.
ANDY PARKER: Alison was a force of nature. And I think that her life is going to have meaning not just as a journalist, but if we can effect meaningful changes in our gun laws here, you know, this senseless act, this senseless murder will not go in vain. This stuff won't go away. You cannot let this die.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Absolutely not. I do also want to give you an update that we've just gotten today on Vicki Gardner. She is, of course, the head of the local chamber of commerce there who was shot in the back, survived this tragedy. She is still in the hospital. She has undergone two surgeries. Her family issued a statement saying she is recovering well. They say they are so grateful for the overwhelming love shown by you in support of Vicki these last few days for the countless prayers, flowers and phone calls. Thank you from the bottom of our heart.
You heard at the end of that piece Alison's father pleading to have his daughter's murder make a difference. I want you to know that on this program tonight, we will not be naming the shooter at all. We will only be showing his picture when it is absolutely editorially necessary. We do this out of respect for the victims. It is their lives that we will honor.
Joining me now, CNN contributor Casey Jordon, she is a criminologist and an attorney. Thank you for being with me.
CASEY JORDAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (on the phone): Always a pleasure, Poppy.
HARLOW: We just heard from Alison Parker's father saying this is his mission. He will push for what he calls sensible gun laws in this country, saying he does stand by the second amendment. When you look at this, his daughter's murder, legally purchased two handguns. He had no known criminal record. But he did have a long history of anger management issues at work. So much so, he was fired from two television stations where he was a reporter, including the one where the victims work. What does his behavior tell you about him psychologically?
[15:05:23] CASEY: In terms of the shooter, we know that he was very difficult to work with for years. So when everyone says well, he got it in his head to kill his colleagues, you know, in the last two years, you have to realize that he had felt maligned, persecuted, picked on, bullied his entire life. And we have records of this going back to his firing from a different station in 2000.
So I think our takeaway from this is we look forward to the future in terms of policy changes. Guns is going to be a huge issue, but employment law and confidentiality issues are going to be huge, because people who have mental disorders, perhaps who have never been committed, never seen a counselor, never sought out medication or a psychiatrist, can still be extremely dangerous. And there has to be a way to protect the public while still protecting the rights of others. Currently, the system is not working and I think last week's murder really proved this.
HARLOW: It's a great point. We're going to be speaking with an attorney about that later in the program about that line that employers walk, what they can do, what they should do, and what they're legally responsible to do.
Let me ask you about this. In his car, police found getaway disguises, three different license plates. He had a rental car, swiped out, you know, his own for that. Do you think this was someone with the mindset that believed he could get away with this?
CASEY: No, I don't think he ever planned to get away with it. And I think the proof is this 23-page manifesto that he faxed to another news network that included something called suicide notes to his family and friends. He knew he wouldn't survive this. And in fact, when you see these kind of rampages, these massacres, the shooter knows that he is going to die at the end of it and is prepared to commit suicide. What gives him the strength to actually start fantasizing about how to make the ultimate statement before he goes out in a blaze of glory, or sometimes at his own hand. But the key is that he wanted to stretch it out for as long as possible after attacking these two journalists. He had the car prepared. He had the fax machine ready. He had the manifesto ready. And most disturbing, of course, he had the footage that he put on Facebook and tweeted about. But this is what's really dark. He wanted to get away with it so he could continue with the social media terrorism for as long as possible before dying.
HARLOW: Casey Jordan, thank you for the analysis. Incredibly disturbing. We'll see if this things the way things are handled. You know, his station - the station, they are coming out and saying they did everything that he could, he was fired and went through anger management. But we'll talk more about that a little bit later in the program.
Casey, thank you.
I also want to tell you about some more horrible gun violence, this time in Texas. Police near Houston hoping someone will identify a person who shot and killed the sheriff's deputy last night. Harris County sheriff deputy Darren Goforth was filling up his patrol car at a gas station when someone walked up and shot him in what the sheriff there described as unprovoked and execution style. Deputy Goforth was only 47 years old. He's survived by his wife and two children.
Here's our Nick Valencia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say it appears to be an unprovoked execution style killing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A witness called 911, let us know one of our deputies had been shot, multiple units arrived, EMS arrived on scene, unfortunately the deputy passed.
VALENCIA: The deputy is identified as 47-year-old Darren Goforth, a ten-year veteran who was married with two children.
SHERIFF RON HICKMAN, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: I have been in law enforcement 45 years. I don't recall another incident this cold- blooded and cowardly.
VALENCIA: Authorities say the uniformed deputy was refueling his patrol car Friday evening when this man caught on surveillance camera came up behind him and opened fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The deputy then fell to the ground. The suspect then continued over to him. And shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.
VALENCIA: The suspect then fled the scene in a red or maroon colored ford ranger pickup truck, also caught on surveillance camera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How bizarre is this? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very bizarre incident. It is, you know,
people understand, you know, that it's tough enough being a deputy and being in law enforcement in this country right now. But for people -- the way that they are right now, I have no words for what this type of person did.
VALENCIA: There's no apparent motive in the case. The deputy had investigated an accident about half an hour before the attack. Police are looking into whether there's any connection.
HICKMAN: I think it's important to ask for the prayers of our community, for this deputy, his family, and our department family.
[15:05:07] VALENCIA: Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
HARLOW: Nick, thank you very much for the reporting.
Also this. Heavy hearts along the gulf coast today as residents pause to remember the day, the day ten years ago when hurricane Katrina changed their life forever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, as we come, we thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: A somber clarinet solo and a wreath laying ceremony mark the anniversary this morning in New Orleans. You see Bobby Jindal speaking there. It was held as a mausoleum where 80 unidentified victims from Katrina were buried after the storm. Katrina unleashed a staggering loss of life, more than 1,800 people died as a direct result of the storm. For many survivors, rebuilding has been a hard- fought struggle and battles are still being waged to rebound. We will have much more on Katrina's legacy coming up later this hour.
Still to come here, Donald Trump defending his comments about Anthony Weiner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's married to a guy who obviously is psychologically disturbed. I think it is a very fair statement that I made, and a lot of people have congratulated me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: We will explain why this is yet another twist in the Clinton- Trump showdown. Our M.J. Lee one-on-one with Trump today. Hear what he said about running television ads. That answer as well, next.
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[15:14:59] HARLOW: Donald Trump back on the campaign trail today. He was in Nashville in just the past few hours speaking to a tea party crowd. CNN politics reporter M.J. Lee spoke one-on-one with the Republican front-runner. I want you to hear this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: So far I haven't had to.
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Will you?
TRUMP: I will if it's appropriate. So far I would have said I would have been in by ten or 15 million, I haven't had to saving a lot of money. I can't when it's all news all the time. All Trump all the time. On CNN, right?
LEE: Who are you most likely to attack in your first TV ad?
TRUMP: Nobody. I just want to talk about my accomplishments. I'm not looking to attack anybody.
LEE: So if you ran TV ads, it would be about you?
LEE: I would actually rather have positive TV ads.
LEE: Can I ask you (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Yes, sure.
LEE: You talked about the fact that, you know, you wouldn't mind raising taxes on yourself? Does that mean that you would be willing to raise taxes, marginal tax rate on upper income?
TRUMP: I want the hedge fund guys to pay more taxes. I know them. They're all supporting Jeb Bush and Hillary. I want the hedge fund guys who pay very little to pay. They make a lot of money and a lot of it's luck. They pick a stock and all of a sudden, you know, they make a lot of money. I want the hedge fund guys to pay more taxes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: M.J. Lee joining me now live from Nashville.
So he's promising to run no negative ads. Is he truly living up to that?
LEE: Poppy, it's a pretty fascinating answer coming from a candidate who is so well-known for going after his candidates. Even at the speech today, and this wasn't surprising, he went after some of his rivals like Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, not to mention he has been running what you could basically call attack ads, except they're not on television yet, on his social media accounts. You remember the ad that he posted to his social media account recently going after Jeb Bush and his family connection. Take a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like to see him run?
BARBARA BUSH, JEB BUSH'S MOTHER: No. I really don't. I think it's a great country. There are a lot of great families. There are other people out there that are very qualified and we've had enough Bushes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: So it's a little hard to believe that if he were to start running TV ads, that they wouldn't be attack ads, but that's what he's saying for now. And I think, Poppy, he does make an interesting point that, you know, so far in the cycle, he has been getting a lot of media attention, and his opinion, he can sort of ride that wave and doesn't actually have to spend money yet on TV ads. And a lot of the other candidates have not actually started doing that yet. But that could change as soon as folks like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush do start going on the air.
HARLOW: Right. We'll be watching for that.
I also want to ask you about this. So he doubled down yesterday -- today, rather, on these insults that he threw yesterday about Hillary Clinton's top aide's Huma Abedin's husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner. He called Weiner, and this is a quote from him, a quote "perv." He also suggested, and I have the transcript here, that Huma Abedin shared classified secrets from Hillary Clinton with former congressman Anthony Weiner. He doubles down on that today. Why? M.J., can you hear me?
LEE: Yes, I can hear you. I'm sorry, I didn't catch the end of your question.
HARLOW: No. I was just saying he doubled down on that attack today against Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner. What's the strategy here?
LEE: Well, it's interesting, we were talking about how he's so good at going after his fellow candidates. And when he went after a staffer, someone that works for Hillary Clinton, that's taking it to a different level. And I think questions are being raised about whether that's professional, whether that's something that a candidate should do.
I actually asked him at the media availability, well, does that mean that you think your own staffers are fair game? And he answered yes. He wouldn't elaborate, but his answer was yes. He thinks that his own staffers could be attacked and he is perhaps expecting it. But I do think that this takes the presidential cycle and, you know, what sort of fair game and what's acceptable to a different page I think, because so far the attacks have mostly been, you know, between the candidates. And so, are we going to sort of a new stage of the campaign where staffers are also fair game?
HARLOW: Yes, absolutely. All right. We'll talk more about it later in the program. M.J., thank you, as always, appreciate it.
LEE: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: You do not want to miss the second Republican debate. It will be right here on CNN on September 16th at the Ronald Reagan library in California. CNN also hosts the first of the six Democratic debates October 13th from Nevada, right here on CNN. Still to come, the Roanoke television news crew shooter. His troubled
past and his checkered work history. We will talk to one of his former producers who says he saw his tempers flare time and time again with co-workers.
We are back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:23:51] HARLOW: We are looking into the past troubles involving the gunman who shot and killed WDBJ reporter and photographer, and also shot the head of the chamber of commerce there, Vicki Gardner in the back. He was fired from his reporting job in Roanoke two and a half years ago. More than a decade earlier, he was fired from another television station in Tallahassee, Florida, WTWC.
Michael Walker was the shooter's producer back there. He joins me now from Tallahassee.
Thank you for being with me, Michael.
MICHAEL WALKER, FORMER PRODUCER, ROANOKE SHOOTER: Sure, Poppy. Good afternoon.
HARLOW: When you heard that he had murdered these two journalists, what was your first thought?
WALKER: Just complete shock. I never thought that someone that I knew, let alone worked with, would be capable of something.
HARLOW: Yes. I can only imagine. You did notice, though, right, Michael? You noticed his anger and rage early on at work, didn't you?
WALKER: Yes, I did, Poppy. You know, as you know, and I'm sure by now a lot of people around the country know, news gathering is a team sport. And it can often be an unforgiving business. And you know, it is oftentimes people look and see the glamour. But behind the scenes, it can get down and dirty, and as a result, you know, a lot of tempers, a lot of emotions come into play quite often. Most of the time you brushed it off and keep going, but I think you have to come into this industry with the capacity to handle that and to mitigate that and I'm not so sure that Mr. Flanagan did at the time. He was in his 20s and this was a second job. But he didn't to me seem to have some of the pre-requisite you need to deal life --
HARLOW: Did he come across to you as so rageful, so angry, so clearly mentally unstable, insane that he could carry out something like this?
WALKER: No, not at all. I think he was a young man at the time who was very self-absorbed. Probably a little bit more than most people that I've met in the business or this industry. I think he was trying to figure out his life and career. He had some obstacles and challenges. But as I noted before, one of the things that he didn't seem to come prepared for and deal with is how to handle his emotions and also how to take constructive criticism. As you know, a vital part of any growth, but a specialty in our business. HARLOW: Yes, absolutely. Just an unbelievable tragedy.
Michael Walker, thank you very much for joining us. Everyone trying to get their heads around this still.
WALKER: Thank you, Poppy.
HARLOW: Coming up next, ten years ago today, hurricane Katrina, a city flooded, a dome heavily damaged, but a people resilient. Our Suzanne Malveaux live for us in New Orleans.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Poppy.
We're going to tell you, of course, the improvements ten years later after Katrina, as well as some areas that still need some work. We're also going to talk about specifically the school system, a dramatic radical change here in the city of New Orleans. We'll have that up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:43] HARLOW: Ten years ago, hurricane Katrina ripped into the gulf coast and tore apart thousands of lives. FEMA calls it the single most catastrophic natural disaster in U.S. history. Katrina left New Orleans under water and the city's already troubled public school system was wiped out. But after the storm, officials tried something never done before in in country.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has a fascinating report. She is live in New Orleans with more.
Hi, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Hi, Poppy. We've taken a look at so many changes in New Orleans. Ten years later, you're talking about a brand-new levee system, new hospitals as well, new businesses, and hotels, and restaurants. And one of the major changes, of course, first time done in this country, a major city whose public schools now mostly all charter schools. We were here last week to see the first day of school and how this is working out for students, the parents and the teachers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First day of school at New Orleans Bricolage academy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First grade. Did you have a great summer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hug, I'll take it.
What are you looking forward to the most? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Math.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awesome. Love that.
MALVEAUX: Now, on its third year, Bricolage is already one of the most sought after charter schools in the city.
DEBRA STEVENSON, BRICOLAGE PARENT: When I drop my babies off I leave with a peace of mind because I know they are going to be taken care of.
MALVEAUX: Debra Stevenson has already seen a remarkable change in her two granddaughters, Journey and Sky.
STEVENSON: Journey won top reader award. Sky is a wonder woman. She can do anything and she tries because they give them that courage.
MALVEAUX: For Melissa Beese, innovation and creativity is what with her son, Tristan, need.
MELISSA BEESE, BRICOLAGE PARENT: I'm thrilled that we were able to choose the type of school a tailored to my child.
MALVEAUX: Josh Densen, the founder and CEO of Bricolage says the student bodies is about 50/50 black and white from both affluent and disadvantaged families.
JOSH DENSEN, FOUNDER/CEO, BRICOLAGE: We believe that bringing kids together from diverse backgrounds is a great way to increase equity, to increase empathy, and to catalyze creativity.
MALVEAUX: When hurricane Katrina hit in August of 2005, the public schools of New Orleans were considered among the worst in the country. The storm damaged and destroyed most of those schools including ones like this, abandoned for ten years.
The state of Louisiana seized more than 100 schools, fired about 7500 teachers and turned the buildings over to independent school operators or charters.
DEIRDE JOHNSON BURELI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC EDUCATION NETWORK: There was a narrative created that somehow everything and everyone here was broken.
MALVEAUX: But some community leaders say this experiment has destroyed community schooling and has disproportionately benefitted whites over blacks.
ANITRA BROWN, MANAGING EDITOR, NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE: This brand of reform that has been employed in New Orleans and then touted across the nation as some kind of miracle is simply not working.
MALVEAUX: But a study by Tule University shows under the charter school system student achievement is up, with 63 percent of students passing state assessment tests in 2014. Up 30 percent increase since 2005. And graduation rates are up from 56 percent to 73 percent. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, everybody, get out the calendar.
MALVEAUX: Initially charter schools were able to recruit the most desirable students. Now, parents can write their school choices and go through a centralized lottery process.
DENSEN: We have no say over who attends per class at all.
MALVEAUX: Parents say when a spot un-expectably opens up at a good school, they run.
THERESA FIELDS, BRICOLAGE PARENT: When we got in, there were two spots left and I said thank you, Lord. This one is for my baby.
MALVEAUX: But some students do not get any of their choices leaving some parents to question whether the program really works.
JANE KATRINI, BRICOLAGE PARENT: I don't know that we're succeeding necessarily in that the same quality education is available for everyone.
MALVEAUX: Ten years after the storm --
DENSEN: We have gone from a school district that was an f to a school district that is a c level.
MALVEAUX: New Orleans is still trying and won't stop until they get that a.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[15:35:03] MALVEAUX: And some of those teachers, the 7500 teachers who were fired, the public teachers from New Orleans school system, they took their case, Poppy, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is not actually going to hear their case. They are hoping for some kind of compensation. Some have already been absorbed into the system.
But another thing that has happened too is that some educators say look, be wary of the numbers, because there's a certain group of kids who just dropped out of school altogether and never came back into the school system. They got to get those kids back in the schools as well.
HARLOW: And so therefore, they're not even counted in those numbers.
Suzanne, before I let you go, I know it's been a day full of beautiful, somber ceremonies there. What's ahead tonight in New Orleans to mark this ten years?
MALVEAUX: Well, this is going to be somewhat of a celebration. We have seen earlier today very somber memorial service for those, the 80 unidentified hurricane Katrina victims. Today it's going to be President Clinton. He is going to be with the mayor, Mayor Landrieu and it's going to be a celebration of resilience. It really is about the people, about the community, and moving forward.
We have seen, Poppy, in the last three days, three presidents. So it is very clear that this city is really a part of our history and a part of the legacy of so many people involved.
HARLOW: Absolutely. Suzanne, you were there then, there now. Fascinating report. Thank you so much.
You will not want to miss our special tonight. Anderson cooper returns to the gulf coast for CNN's Special Report, "Katrina: the storm that never stopped." That is tonight, 7:00 p.m. eastern only right here on CNN.
Still to come, the story of Helen and Chaz, a New Orleans resident and golden retriever and a friendship that almost never happened. This is too cute to miss. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:39:51] HARLOW: Ten years ago today, hurricane Katrina made its devastating landfall on the gulf coast. Thousands of people refused to evacuate for one reason -- they were not willing to leave their dogs and cats, their beloved pets behind. But for many families, the only way to save their own lives was to put their pets' lives on the line. Most rescue crews and shelters could not house animals.
Here's our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even almost ten years later, he is terrified of thunderstorms. Terrified of thunderstorms.
HARLOW (voice-over): Over 160,000 people didn't evacuate New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, in a city where over a quarter of households didn't own a car and government evacuators wouldn't take animals, many faced a gut wrenching decision. A survey revealed 44 percent of those that weathered the storm chose to do so because they didn't want to abandon their pet.
ANA ZORILLA, CEO, LOUISIANA SPCA: For so many of us, our pets are our family members. It's hard to imagine leaving your pet behind, and for so many people that did leave their pets behind, they came back to just devastation. You know, not only were their homes destroyed, their communities destroyed, but their lost their pets.
HARLOW: Like so many other New Orleans institutions, the local SPCA headquarters was destroyed in the storm. They quickly set up a temporary facility in an old coffee warehouse. Helen Hester came to help. That's where she first met Chaz.
HELEN HESTER, LOUISIANA SPCA VOLUNTEER: He was brought in actually on my birthday in 2005, about three months after the storm. He was so frightened and under socialized at that point. He didn't remember that humans were his friends. And the volunteers would come in and read to the animals, so they would get used to human voices again. And I'd be reading, I would put my hand in the cage. And he'd come over and start sniffing. And then you'd feel that fur. It was like, he's soft. Those are soft ears. Wait. This is a nice dog.
HARLOW: Chaz was recovering, but after six months, no one came to claim or adopt him.
HESTER: I kept thinking that his real family would come back to him. Or his real family would find him and then gradually it came to me that his real family had found him and it was myself. I don't think of myself as his owner. I think of myself as his human. I'm sort of his pet. I hope he sort of feels that way about me.
HARLOW: In the decade since Katrina, they built a new facility and new legislation that assures no American should have to choose between evacuation and leaving their pet behind.
ZORILLA: When the city calls a mandatory evacuation, not only does the city provide transportation for the people, but we step in and we make sure that all of the pets that belong to those people can also be evacuated.
HARLOW: Six hundred thousand animals were killed by hurricane Katrina, another 13,000 like Chaz were rescued by the SPCA, but were never reunited with their owners. But new bonds formed and helped heal.
HESTER: As humans were suffering from a great sense of loss of home. So I think that made us identify with the animals probably. I mean, that sense of fear and insecurity that they were experiencing. So it made us want to help them. And then they helped us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: In the years following the storm, Congress passed the pets act, which authorizes these rescuers to evacuate, shelter, and care for people with pets and service those animals. You can see much more from this beautiful series "picture this: New Orleans." It is all at CNNmoney.com/Katrina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM CARTER, CNN HERO: When I was 17 years old, I had my first hit to crack cocaine. I didn't know then that that I was going to lose the next 12 years of my life. I was recycled in and out of the system. I stayed out on the streets. I wanted to change. What I needed was a place to change at.
This guy Joe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Had no shoes, no food, no nothing, nowhere to go.
CARTER: You're strong. And you're ready and you're willing because you wouldn't have came here if you wasn't.
We help homeless women and children to reclaim their lives. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been homeless almost six months.
CARTER: We meet women where they are. We'll pick them up and put them into an environment where they can heal.
When a woman transfers from myself to program to our permanent supportive housing, they stay connected with us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's beautiful.
CARTER: A lot of women come in very traumatized. We have licensed counselors that work with women on some of the deep issues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK to be angry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I left with nothing. I got my two girls and left. I worked so hard to not lose them and then I lost them.
CARTER: Any mother that comes to us who doesn't have her children, we help get her children back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a long journey fighting for them, trying to get them back.
[15:45:01] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Miss Carter. Thank you.
CARTER: Homeless women, children, I call them individual people because we pretend that we don't see them, but I see them. And I know there's something that we can do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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[15:49:45] HARLOW: Another truck filled with desperate people trying to cross European borders was discovered today on the border between Austria and Germany in site. Police found 26 people from Syria, Afghanistan and Bangladesh packed inside of the truck, three of them young children. And all of them today are luckily alive.
This was not the case earlier this week, when more than 70 people, all migrants from other countries, were found dead in a transport truck also in Austria. These people are either refugees or displaced by conflict. And Asylum seekers are making these dangerous journeys in high numbers. Higher numbers, and frankly, we have ever seen before. Thousands upon thousands. Some countries insist they are doing all they can to accommodate the refugees but are just overwhelmed.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rubber dinghy packed with migrants takes on the Turkish coast guard. Just before dawn, we are on the same waters. Help us, help us, the men cry out as our captain tosses a rope. Sixty
migrants crammed together clutching their life-vests and inner tubes. On shore, most disappear into waiting taxis. One young man bitterly says if death wasn't chasing us we would not be trying this.
By day, holiday makers enjoy the same beach. For them, the Greek island destination, of course, is just part of the view. The remnants of the migrants' treacherous journey litter the shoreline. Shoes, clothing, a discarded dinghy. This is just one of the many launch points that surround the Turkish capital.
Mohammad arrived a week ago from Syria.
ISIS detained us for two days, he says. They wanted us to confess that we were coming to Turkey to be trained to fight against them. After enduring beatings, he says he was finally released.
It is the pain of parents who thought they were saving their children, hardly able to comprehend that this is the Europe they risked their lives for.
People here are so angry, so upset. They can't believe that this is happening to them in Europe. Everyone who we have been speaking to here has been stuck in these conditions for the last four days.
Macedonian police opened the border for a few at a time. They stumble through, tightly gripping their children's arms. Some collapse and are carried off. Panic swells. Young men throw themselves across. Other refugees decide to make a run for it, bolting through any opening they find, darting across the fields.
For the refugees, the trek is a pendulum of emotions. From elation at the small moments of respite to sheer despair. These woods make up part of the unmarked border between Serbia and Hungary, where migrants hide out under cover of darkness to evade capture.
Exhausted children slump on their parents' shoulders. Others, like this 9-year-old, (INAUDIBLE) bravely declare that he's not tired. He's from (INAUDIBLE) in Syria. One of his relatives from the ISIS capital, (INAUDIBLE). It's famous, he jokes. A dark humor is all many have left in the face of all they have endured.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Hungary.
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HARLOW: More people have tried to cross the Mediterranean into Europe so far this year than in all of 2014. Consider this number, 3600 people have died trying to cross into just Italy, Greece and Spain by sea in just the last 12 months. They are trying to get out of Syria, North Africa, places where conflict, terror and poverty make this risk worth it for them, even risking their lives. But some officials think there is a different reason. At least one world leader believes there's a direct link between migrants flooding into Western Europe and the rise in terrorism. Is that really the case?
Kimberly Dozier with me now, CNN's global affairs analyst.
Thanks for being here, Kimberly. Let's begin with that. I'm talking about the prime minister of Hungary saying there's a clear link between migrants heading to Europe and the rising terror threat there. Is that correct?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You know, most European officials who are working with this problem say for terrorists, there are unfortunately easier ways to get to Europe. They have the kind of wherewithal, they have the kind of cash influx, ISIS especially, that they can talk to smuggling groups and get their own ship all to themselves. They don't have to risk piling on to a leaky vessel with 300 or 400 or 500 other people and possibly not making it there.
Now, what could be going on is once those young people, many of them young people, military age men, get into those European countries, and find no job, no acceptance, that's when you get into dangerous territory.
[15:55:16] HARLOW: Isn't that sort of painting with a very broad brush? Clearly desperate people? What is your take on that?
DOZIER: I agree. This is -- you're looking at both economic migrants and refugees who are fleeing war and have a legal right under international law to sanctuary. And you've got countries in Europe that already feel like some of their resources are being overstretched by their own population and they're saying we can't let these people in because they might be terrorists.
The fact of the matter is, the European Union doesn't have a unified plan for dealing with migrants or refugees. The countries at the edges like Hungary are supposed to be stopping them and sorting them out and kicking out the economic migrants and accepting the refugees, but this gives them an excuse not to do it.
HARLOW: Also want to ask you this. (INAUDIBLE), he is a former French intelligence agent who heads up the European strategic intelligence and security center in Brussels said this, let me quote. "The Islamic state has no need to export fighters from Europe because it imports fighters from Europe."
Do you think that's a correct assessment? And also, do you believe that ISIS is preying on some of these refugees, some of them who cannot find footing, cannot find a job, cannot find stability?
DOZIER: Well, you have two different groups of people. You have the young affluent Europeans that ISIS wants to recruit to either do attacks in their own country by coming to Syria, getting training and going back, or just staying where they are and learning what they need from the web. The self-radicalized attackers that we have seen so far.
But then you also have the groups of refugees in camps and places like France, where they don't assimilate well and they don't have possibilities of getting a job, starting a family. What are their choices? Those people eventually if something isn't found to give them some sort of safety net or some way to make them feel included, they're targets.
HARLOW: Kimberly Dozier, thank you very much. Important analysis.
Up next, they have been buddies and colleagues for years. When we come back, one of the best friends of Adam Ward, the young photojournalist executed on live television this week, remembers him.
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