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Michigan School Shooter's Parents Now in Custody; WHO Reports No Deaths from Omicron So Far; South Africa COVID-19 Cases Quadruple since Tuesday; Biden Wants to Calm Tensions between Russia and Ukraine; Philippines Court Allows Maria Ressa to Attend Nobel Ceremony. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 04, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And a warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.

A manhunt is underway this hour. Authorities are searching for the parents of the Michigan school shooting suspect, now considered fugitives in a stunning twist of events.

A dramatic spike in COVID cases in South Africa as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly. Scientists are trying to understand more about this strain.

Later, new evidence Russia could be preparing for a long conflict with Ukraine.

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NEWTON: A Michigan couple is on the run after being charged in connection with the school shooting that left four teenagers dead. Now just a short time ago, authorities announced they had found a car in Detroit, believed to belong to James and Jennifer Crumbley.

The pair was supposed to show up for an arraignment on charges of involuntary manslaughter on Friday afternoon. Instead, authorities say, they turned off their phones and withdrew $4,000 from an ATM.

Prosecutors allege their son opened fire at Oxford High School on Tuesday, killing four students and wounding 7 others. The U.S. Marshal Service is offering thousands of dollars in reward to try to help find this couple. I want to go straight to Detroit now. That is apparently where the Crumbleys' car was found. Shimon Prokupecz is on the phone with us now.

You have been following this for days and obviously intensely in the last few hours.

What more do we know?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: OK. We have breaking news here now. They have taken the parents in custody. We're being told here by the Detroit Police that they were taken into custody here a short time ago here on Detroit's East Side.

What brought police here was the vehicle. Police had put out this photo of the vehicle they were looking for. Someone in the neighborhood spotted the car and then alerted police.

And then police swarmed this area and they found them. They found them in a first-floor building. They were hiding. I'm told they were fine. They were removed by the police and now they have been taken away.

But there were several dozen police officers, who swarmed this area in heavy tactical gear and K-9 dogs, which helped in the search. But it seemed, when police came here, they had a pretty good idea of where they were.

A woman, someone from the neighborhood, saw them walking away from the car and called police. And then police came here. And just a short time ago, as we were getting on the air here, we are -- were told they were taken into custody.

So, this manhunt is now over. Detroit, I would say, is probably about 30 or so minutes from where the family lived, out in Oakland. We got word of this manhunt around 11 o'clock here in Detroit.

And so, we moved over here. And the minute we arrived here, we saw dozens and dozens of police officers. And actually, police are now taking us to the area where they did the search and where they found them. So, we'll get a better idea of where they are.

But this manhunt is now over. The parents are in custody. We'll see what the next steps are.

NEWTON: And this will come as a relief to so many parents and students at that school. I know how closely you have been covering this and you have been speaking to everyone.

I mean, how angry were they?

And we'll talk about the particulars of this case.

But how angry were they that this couple was on the run for several hours at this point?

PROKUPECZ: People were very angry over it.

The concern was how did it happen?

How was it that they were able to escape?

How was it that they were able to flee?

That was a big concern because everyone thought the police were tracking them, had eyes on them, knew where they were. And it seems like they didn't. There was also some talk they were going to surrender. [02:05:00]

PROKUPECZ: But obviously none of that happened. They have been on the run. They have been on the run for several days. They have not been seen in the area.

Police said they thought they knew where they were. But certainly, the fact that they were lost angered a lot of people. There has been a lot of emotion in the community over the school and what the school knew and the information they had and the fact that they didn't act on it.

And then obviously anger toward the parents, because they knew a lot. As the law enforcement has alleged, they were the ones that purchased this weapon for him. So there has been a lot of anger, a lot of fear also that we're starting to see in the community over this, because there was a vigil tonight.

And there was a scare there after one of the attendees passed out and someone thought it was something else, so people started running. So, there is a lot going on right now in this community. And certainly, this did not help them.

NEWTON: Yes, a community rattled, to be sure. If we could just backtrack to the extraordinary events of today, how really unique it is that the parents of an alleged school shooter would be charged in this way.

And the stunning revelations that I know you heard firsthand from the prosecutor, about how much these parents knew about their son's distress and how dangerous he could be.

PROKUPECZ: Right. And it's unprecedented for parents to be charged in connection to something like this here. It is actually, everyone, you know, it's hard to go back and look because there has been so many, sadly, shootings like this.

But it's probably one of the first cases that a case like this has been brought and charges have been filed against parents. So that is certainly a very rare occurrence.

You know, the fact that the parents knew so much and really didn't do the right thing and, in some ways, just didn't take care of their son, it is clear what the prosecutor said, there was things going on in this child's -- 15-year-old -- head, in this child's mind. He needed care and just didn't get the proper care.

And the fact that the parents went and purchased this weapon for him, they knew, based on what the school told him, that he was having certain thoughts about harming people. They never checked to see if he had the gun on him at the school.

The fact that the school told them to take him home, but they refused to take him home and they said, no, just let him go back to class, these things have really upset a lot of people here in the community.

NEWTON: And as you indicate, at this point in time, what they heard today, they suspected, the parents and students and, certainly, unfortunately, the parents of the victims as well heard that not only did the parents understand how, perhaps, disturbed he was but that the school had evidence and still allowed him to remain in school that day.

Just explain to us a little bit about how that has really angered the community as well.

PROKUPECZ: This all started a couple days ago when we heard there was something more going on at the school. And we started talking to some of the law enforcement folks, who went into the building, went into the school the minute the call came over, saying there was a shooting at the school.

They were really angry about it. The family, the community was really angry about it because they have felt that this is something obviously that could have been avoided, had the school just reported it to the police.

We don't know why the school never went to the police and said, we have a student here who wanted -- has been researching ammunition on his cell phone. And the next day, he was making these threatening drawings and thinking about killing people.

There was an officer that's assigned to the school. And no one can really understand, and we have no explanation yet as to why the school didn't go to the police after the parents really refused to do anything.

So, all those things that were done, that were not done certainly have angered -- and you heard the anger from the prosecutor today also, who said she is angry over this as a mother, as a member of the community. She's angry over it.

The sheriff, he is really angry over it. So there is a lot of accounting that's going to have to go on down the line. And the school is going to need to explain itself at some point. A lot of parents want answers as to what happened.

NEWTON: And, you know, so much has been made of what the school could have done.

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NEWTON: We heard so many people say that the school otherwise, in terms of understanding that they had an active shooter, that they did everything right. The kids barricaded themselves in the room. They made sure that they tried to stay as safe as they could. Police got there in just a matter of minutes.

And, yet, four teenagers died, several others were injured.

Has there been a reexamining of the protocols?

So many of us are so used to our kids going through this active shooter, you know, sessions, which disturbs them and disturbs so many parents.

PROKUPECZ: Right. They have not gone back yet to look at some of this. I think that's going to take place. The prosecutor possibly will start looking at some of that explanation.

Certainly, I think the parents will hire lawyers and perhaps file civil lawsuits to try and get answers. That's going to happen down the line. It has to happen. And I think the prosecutor understands that and I think other officials here understand that as well. So, I do expect that to happen somewhere down the line.

NEWTON: Just want to recap as well, just for anyone just joining us, that the couple, the parents of the alleged school shooter in Michigan, apparently have now been arrested and will obviously in the coming hours or days face arraignment.

If we could just recap as well more of those details from that press conference. I monitored it, as did you in person. The conversation between the mother in this case and the alleged shooter, it was extraordinary in terms of what led up to all of this.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, really extraordinary. There were several text messages that the prosecutors and investigators now have.

On Monday, the day before shooting, when he was in class, the teacher reported to the school and to the parent that he was researching looking at ammunition, bullets on his cell phone. They alerted the school administration.

The school then went and alerted the parents. The prosecutor said that they have the text message that the mother sent to her son, saying, "LOL, I'm not mad," at what happened. You just have to be better -- "you just have to be better at not getting caught." So that was one of the text messages.

Then on the day of the shooting, they talk about -- she talked about another text message, where, after they get word and they hear there is this shooting at the school, there is a text message that she sends to her son, saying something to the effect of, "Don't do it."

So obviously, really just incredible and chilling information, just to have -- for her to have that presence of mind and to say things the way she did to her son, it was really -- really disturbing and frightening to listen to the prosecutor lay all this information out.

And, you know, to think that just that a mother would do something like that or think the way she was thinking, certainly was very, very chilling and striking.

NEWTON: Yes. And the prosecutor then laid out the fact that the father immediately apparently went home and went to look for the gun.

There is the issue of that backpack, right?

PROKUPECZ: Yes. NEWTON: That he had a backpack with him and the prosecutor, Karen

McDonald, made clear that she alleges they have every reason to believe that, while he was going through that meeting with parents and school officials, right there with him, was that backpack -- the gun was in there.

And that she believed the parents should have assumed that he could actually have that weapon on him and, yet they let him go back to class.

PROKUPECZ: That's right.

And, yet, they were in the room, right?

They come to the school for a meeting with the administration. They never tell anyone at the school that there is this concern, because, you know, they bought this weapon for him, according to the prosecutor.

They never say, OK, well, let's look in your bag. Or let's look and see if the weapon -- if the gun is at home before we come there, like certain steps were not taken.

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PROKUPECZ: And that's all part of why the prosecutor announced these charges, these charges of involuntary manslaughter against them, because of the fact that these parents did nothing to try and secure the weapon, the fact that she said that, obviously, they say that they know that their son went to a gun range with one of the parents.

So, all of this was what led them to ultimately decide, where they thought the parents didn't do enough to protect really the students, right, but also the kid from getting -- from getting his hands on that gun.

NEWTON: We will pause there for one second. I want to welcome our viewers just joining us here with the breaking news into CNN that the parents of the alleged school shooter in Oxford County, Michigan, they were charged, will be charged or yet to be arraigned in connection with that shooting.

And they have been on the run for several hours. The breaking news into us here at CNN, that police now say in Detroit they have located the parents and they now have them in custody.

Joining me again here, Shimon Prokupecz, on the scene several days now but in the last few hours, as police were mounting a significant search in that Detroit area.

If you will, bring us up to date with what's going on right now.

As you understand it, police do have the parents in custody now, right?

PROKUPECZ: They have the parents in custody; they were apprehended a short time ago after a car was discovered, the car that police have been searching for, was discovered on Detroit -- in Detroit's East Side, about 40 minutes or so from Oakland, where we have been the last few days.

The car was discovered by someone in the neighborhood near an industrial building. And they were seen, the parents, these fugitives, were seen walking away from the car and into a building.

The police descended on this area, heavily armed officers; some of them are still here and also federal officials, the U.S. Marshals and police officers from all around this area came to this location.

They searched the building and were told they were found on the first floor of this building, taken into custody without incident. They have now been transported by the police to a detention center.

NEWTON: And as you are speaking, we are seeing video of the scene right now. Obviously quite a police presence. They didn't get very far and not for very long.

During the day it was interesting to hear certain conflicting information from their lawyers. At one point they said, oh, no, they haven't gone anywhere. They fear for their safety. They will be at the arraignment and then they didn't show up.

Can you take us through what prosecutors were thinking at that time?

At that point, they faced criticism themselves because the prosecutor Karen McDonald was having a press conference. At the same time, we know now the sheriff's office had no idea where these parents were at that hour.

PROKUPECZ: No, they had clearly no idea.

For days, we have been asking the sheriff's office, do you know where the parents are?

Do you know where they are?

And they didn't want to tell us and they said to us, well, we have ways to track them. We learned, yes, they were tracking them through cell phone pinging sites. That's how they were look, kind of had an idea of where they were.

When the prosecutors announced that they were going -- that they were filing charges, obviously the parents were not in custody yet.

That obviously raises a lot of concerns, because why would you announce charges against someone without them being in custody?

So, it's just not the way things are usually done here. And, so, what happens is, for hours, we're waiting and waiting to get word on whether they are in custody. There was supposed to be an arraignment about four hours after the charges -- four hours after the announcement of the charges. Then about two hours or so before that, we started getting information

that they were nowhere to be found, that they had not surrendered and that the police were looking for them.

Then we get word from a lawyer, who claims to have been hired by them, who tells us that, well, the police may be saying that they are fugitives, and they are fleeing. That's not the case. They're going to surrender. They left the area for their safety but they're going to come back and surrender.

Obviously, that didn't happen. And by about 2:00 here, we started seeing a different tone from police, as they started calling them fugitives.

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PROKUPECZ: And they started searching for them. Now obviously, several hours later, they have been found and taken into custody.

NEWTON: Yes, and you can only imagine the relief in the community although, this is certainly something that should not have happened. I will let you go right here. I know you will continue to be on this story in the coming minutes and hours as we learn more about what police did in terms of apprehending this couple.

The fact they are now in custody and the fact that tomorrow they might finally get to that arraignment they were supposed to get to on Friday. Shimon Prokupecz live on the scene again in Detroit.

And recapping once again, the parents of the alleged school shooter in Oxford County, Michigan, are now in custody.

Now I want to stress here, we have spoken a lot about the crime and, yet, here are the victims, right?

The tragic part here is that there are four young teenagers lost here. As Shimon just mentioned, there were crowds of mourners gathered in Michigan Friday night. You see them there. They are holding candles as they remembered the lives cut short by gun violence earlier this week.

Those four students, who were killed when that gunman opened fire at Oxford High School on Tuesday, there they are. They range in age from 14 to 17. And it has been absolutely heartbreaking. It has shaken the community to the core to hear about those four young people, who are now dead.

And many asking questions about why, whether it was the parents or the school or law enforcement in the area, about why something was not done about this sooner.

We will continue to stay on top of the story for you in the coming hours. For right now, though, we are going to go to a quick break. We will be back with more news right after.

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NEWTON: So there are good reasons not to panic over the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Vaccines is just one of them. The World Health Organization says that so far, though, no deaths have been reported from it.

Most cases do, at this point, although it's early, most cases do seem to be mild. Here's what the WHO's chief scientist said Friday.

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DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, WHO CHIEF SCIENTIST: It is something to worry about certainly. We didn't want to see another variant emerge and spread around the world at this stage of the pandemic. Certainly not what we wanted. But we're not entirely surprised. And I think we're much better prepared to handle it.

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NEWTON: So there is a strong caveat, of course, on coronavirus spreading with lightning speed across the planet. And scientists don't know if vaccines offer enough protection.

They are optimistic that shots are still the best option; they just don't have the hard data yet.

In South Africa, where Omicron was first found, COVID cases have quadrupled since Tuesday. A surprising number of those cases have also been diagnosed now in small children. Now Omicron is a mutated form of the coronavirus. You can see a diagram of it here.

Now the areas that we see indicate a color difference from the original virus that was first seen at the end of 2019. Researchers now say the mutation includes genetic material that looks like it came from a virus that causes the common cold. That could make Omicron more transmissible.

What we don't know is if it will also make it perhaps weaker in terms of illness. A university study in South Africa also found that it is likely that Omicron can evade immunity from a past infection more easily than other strains. That means there could be a greater risk of catching COVID twice or even more.

CNN's Larry Madowo is in Johannesburg, South Africa, right now.

The news in South Africa, quadrupled; test positivity 25 percent.

What is the situation right now with hospitalizations?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So that's what we don't know, Paula. There is not enough data yet. There is an explanation for that because it is very early in the fourth wave of COVID here in South Africa. There is just not enough data the scientists have been able to gather to figure out how serious this is.

And that is because the severity is usually very low at the beginning and at the end of the wave. So they're waiting for a couple more weeks to see if more people getting COVID will end up in hospital.

What we do know is that cases have quadrupled just in the last four days. That's extraordinary. And the positivity rate of 24.3 percent in South Africa is also out of the ordinary. The health minister saying just two months ago, the positivity rate was under 5 percent, so you can see how quickly that has jammed.

The two tidbits is that they are seeing some reinfections in some people already vaccinated who are getting COVID again but they don't know if this will be more serious than Delta, for instance.

Another tidbit to take from the data we have seen from South Africa, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, some children as young as 2 years old in one small region are making up some of those who are getting hospitalized.

What we do know here in South Africa is that at least 98 percent of those getting COVID right now are those who are unvaccinated. That's why this country is encouraging as many people as possible to get vaccinated.

As they learn more about the Omicron variant, they think that vaccines will still be reasonably useful to protect against severe disease.

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MADOWO: And to protect against them, even as they still try to figure out where exactly are we going with this, Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, that piece of advice is one constant we have had in the year now since we have had these vaccines. Larry Madowo, thank you.

In the meantime, countries in Europe are enforcing additional restrictions as cases climb and the Omicron variant is discovered right across the continent. I'm joined by Barbie Nadeau from Rome, following all the latest developments.

Barbie, you and I have been talking about this for several days. The caseload is alarming in Europe but now also the new variant.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They're still dealing with the Delta variant here. They're predicting maybe 6,000 people in Germany in intensive care by Christmas no matter what restrictions they take.

We have seen every country in Europe have a slowly inching-up high number of new cases. But it is still the Delta variant. The Omicron variant has been found across the European Union but it is still Delta that everybody is dealing with right now.

And it is still the unvaccinated that are propelling this forward. And every country now is doing something with regard to the unvaccinated. The European Commission has suggested vaccine mandates for the entire European Union might be the next step.

NEWTON: I want to thank you for that update. As you said, this is really fueled by Delta, not even the new variant right now. And they're having significant problems going into the holiday season. Barbie Nadeau live from Rome, appreciate it.

Still to come here, fears of a Russian invasion in Ukraine are growing as tensions escalate. Ahead what the U.S. President says he's prepared to do to keep that from happening.

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NEWTON: As things grow increasingly tense between Russia and Ukraine, the Biden administration is looking for ways to quiet things down in that region. The U.S. President indicated Friday he is ready to do what's needed to keep Russia from invading Ukraine. As many worry, Moscow is now planning to do just that.

Kiley Atwood has more now from the State Department.

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KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Russian forces have the capability in place, along the border with Ukraine, to carry out a swift invasion into Ukraine if they choose to do so. That's according to sources familiar with the latest intelligence.

They've erected supply lines, things like medical units and fuel. If they are to carry out a sustained, long-term engagement there, they have the capabilities to do so. The forces on the front lines have the capability to sustain themselves for 7-10 days.

Now this is a situation that the Biden administration is watching extremely closely, and they have warned there will be repercussions for Russia if they invade Ukraine. This is what President Biden had to say on Friday about what his administration is looking at doing to deter this possibility.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I am doing is putting together what I believe to be -- will be the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do.

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ATWOOD: Now earlier in the week secretary of state Tony Blinken talked about high impact economic measures that the United States is looking at in terms of things they would inflict upon Russia if they were to invade Ukraine.

So we will watch closely to determine what those options exactly are that the Biden administration is looking at. We will also look for a call between presidents Biden and Putin that officials say is in the works -- Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.

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NEWTON: Stay with us here at CNN. We will come right back with an update of our top story. The parents of the alleged school shooter in Michigan have apparently been arrested. Stay with us for more.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

NEWTON: And I want to welcome back our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Paula Newton. We are updating you on the breaking news.

The parents of the suspect in the deadly Michigan school shooting are now in custody after hours on the run. James and Jennifer Crumbley were found shortly after police announced they discovered a car in Detroit, believed to belong to the couple.

Now they were supposed to show up for an arraignment on charges of involuntary manslaughter on Friday afternoon. Instead, they turned off their phones and withdrew $4,000 from an ATM.

Prosecutors allege their son opened fire at Oxford High School on Tuesday, killing four students and wounding seven others. We are learning more information about this shooting as authorities tell us about the warning signs leading up to this tragedy. Tom Foreman has an in depth look at the timeline of events.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before the gunfire, the terrified students, police and ambulances, there were warnings.

KAREN MCDONALD, OAKLAND COUNTY PROSECUTOR: There was absolute reason to believe that this individual was dangerous and disturbed.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Authorities suggest the immediate trouble starts November 26th, when James Crumbley takes his 15-year-old son, Ethan, to buy a Sig Sauer 9-millimeter pistol at a local gun shop. Although the dad fills out the paperwork, the son posts the picture on social media.

MCDONALD: Along with the caption just got my new beauty today. SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: No, no. Legally that's not his.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The sheriff says by law the gun can't actually belong to the boy, raising key questions.

BOUCHARD: Was it given to him?

Was it allowed to be picked up and taken freely at his discretion?

Or was it stolen?

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FOREMAN (voice-over): November 27th, prosecutors say the mother, Jennifer, posts, "Mom and son day testing out his new Christmas present."

November 29th, a teacher reports the boy is searching for ammunition on his cell phone in class. Officials say the school calls and emails the mom, no response.

But Jennifer texts her son, "LOL, I'm not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught."

The next day another teacher sees the boy with a note.

MCDONALD: A drawing of a semiautomatic handgun pointing at the words, quote, "The thoughts won't stop. Help me," end quote.

In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet, quote, "Blood everywhere," end quote.

FOREMAN (voice-over): There is also, prosecutors say, a drawing of a bloody body; the words, "My life is useless. The world is dead."

Shortly after 10:00 am, officials say his parents come to a meeting at the school are told their son must get counseling, but they resist taking him out of school, don't mention the new gun and the boy returns to class. His parents leave.

BOUCHARD: We have to believe that he had the weapon either on his person in his backpack or somewhere secreted in that travel route.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Just before 1:00 pm, investigators say Ethan goes into a bathroom with his backpack, comes out, gun in hand, firing. Four students were killed, seven wounded. He is apprehended minutes later.

At 1:22 officials say, his mother texts, "Ethan, don't do it."

His father --

MCDONALD: Upon hearing that there was an active shooter on that day, Mr. Crumbley drives straight home to his home to look for his gun. FOREMAN (voice-over): 1:37: the dad calls 9-1-1 to report his gun missing and to say his son may be involved. But in the wake of the note just hours before the violence, officials clearly thought there should have been more.

MCDONALD: The notion that a parent could read those words and also know that their son had access to a deadly weapon that they gave him is unconscionable. And I think it's criminal.

FOREMAN: Of course, there are questions about whether school officials acted properly. But the prosecutor says simply, anyone who saw the warning signs, who could have stopped this, should have done something -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

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NEWTON: There are so many disturbing allegations in that report. Earlier I spoke with CNN legal analyst Areva Martin about how rare it is for charges like this to be filed against parents, especially when it comes to school shootings. Take a listen.

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AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: We have not seen parents charged frequently in cases involving active shooters on school campuses. In fact, there have only been four parents charged in similar type cases. So, it is groundbreaking for this prosecutor to come forward with involuntary manslaughter charges against these parents.

But when you look at the evidence in this case, it is really overwhelming. You mentioned at the top of the show about parenting. These parents are examples of everything you don't want to do with respect to a kid and primarily it's ignored the warning signs.

Apparently, there were really significant red flags and warning signs that these parents quite simply ignored.

NEWTON: That text message chilling, where she allegedly -- prosecutors say the mother texted him and said, "Don't do it."

Does that perhaps intend to say that she knew that perhaps he was even having thoughts of this?

MARTIN: That is a really important question one and I'm sure one that prosecutors want to learn more about. We do know that this mother sent another inappropriate text message when she was notified that her son was on his phone looking for ammunition.

She sent him an "LOL," "I'm not mad at you," try not to get caught rather than saying, "Son, what's going on? We have to talk. This is serious."

She seemed to be encouraging him. We know there's the Facebook post message where she is also seemingly bragging about buying him this gun as a Christmas present. So, there are so many inappropriate and, now what we know according to this prosecutor, criminally negligent conduct engaged in by the parents of this school shooter.

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NEWTON: So, we will have the full interview with Areva Martin coming up next hour. CNN NEWSROOM continues right after a break.

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NEWTON: Pope Francis has pledged to relocate 50 migrants from Cyprus to the Vatican. It comes as he wraps up a two-day visit to the island, struggling with a large influx of migrants. Their plight has been a key focus of his visit. He has condemned the harsh conditions in the camps there.

The pope's next stop is Greece and will include a visit to Lesbos, another island dealing with a surge in migrants.

A court of appeals in the Philippines will allow journalist Maria Ressa to travel to Norway to accept her Nobel Peace Prize.

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NEWTON: Ressa is CEO of the online news site Rappler and an outspoken critic of the president Rodrigo Duterte. She also spent nearly two decades here at CNN, reporting from Southeast Asia.

She had been subject to travel restrictions because of pending charges. She was awarded the peace prize in October, along with investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.

I'm Paula Newton. I want you to stay right here at CNN. We are awaiting a news conference in Detroit, where the parents of a deadly school shooting in Detroit are arrested. We'll bring you more news after the break.