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Police In Uvalde School Shooting Scrutinized Over Response; NRA Forges Ahead With Convention In Houston; Fighting Has Intensified In The Donbas Region; Police Face Growing Questions about Timeline, Response; Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell Opens Door to Bipartisan Legislative Response to Massacre; Countries Report Decline in Violence after Changing Gun Laws; Tracking the Retreat of Iceland's Glaciers; Ellen DeGeneres Says Goodbye to Talk Show after 19 Years. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 27, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:12]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause.
Texas officials are facing a growing number of questions as well as increasing criticism over law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
For two days now, the official count has been inconsistent and outright confusing at times, with some major changes to some very important details. Did police engage with the shooter as he entered the school on Tuesday and Wednesday? The answer was yes. By Thursday, no. Shooter was never confronted by a school resource officer or anyone for that matter. It never happened.
Authorities say it took up to an hour before the gunman was killed. And during that time, police were calling for backup, evacuating students and teachers from other parts of the school negotiating with a suspect keeping him pinned down in the classroom. But later they said they did not know his exact location for an immediate takedown and video from outside the school shows parents screaming at police pleading for them to enter the school and save their kids.
One parent told The Wall Street Journal she was put in handcuffs. Another claim has been tackled by police and thrown to the ground. But a third says they will pepper sprayed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSIE RODRIGUEZ, FATHER OF ANNABELL RODRIGUEZ: As a father I would have just went in. I don't need nobody telling me to go in defend armless children. Why wait?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Jason Carroll begins our coverage with a timeline of how the massacre unfolded.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 11:21 a.m. Tuesday, I just shot my grandma in her head. The gunman wrote to a girl he met online, it was the start of a shooting spree that would leave 19 students and two teachers dead. Seconds later he wrote, I'm going to go shoot up in elementary school right now. The gunman took off in his 66-year-old grandmother's truck leaving her fighting for her life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was able to run across the street to a neighbor and get help.
CARROLL: The shooter drove less than a mile crashing into a ditch at 11:28 am. Two minutes later. Investigators say a 911 call reported the wreck and the gunman walking toward Robb elementary school with a long rifle. His weapons legally purchased just days before. May 17th, he bought a rifle at a sporting goods store. The next day, 375 rounds of ammunition, and on May 20, another rifle from the same store. It was those guns he had with him on Tuesday.
VICTOR ESCALON, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: He jumps out the passenger side of the truck base these two witnesses at their funeral home across the street from where he rent. He engages and fires towards them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they came to the hitting the dirt on the floor and --
CARROLL (on camera): The bullets were hitting close bullets from where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess he was -- I guess he was coming from the school this week.
CARROLL (voice-over): The gunman climbed a fence at the school and started shooting at the building, according to Texas investigators. They now say earlier information a school resource officer engaged the shooter outside is wrong. At 11:40 a.m., the gunman walked in an unlocked door firing.
ESCALON: He walks and approximately 20 feet, 30 feet he makes a right walked into the hallway, he makes a right, walks another 20 feet. Turn left into a schoolroom, into a classroom that has doors open in the middle.
CARROLL: There in those connected classrooms, authorities say the gunman barricaded himself and killed the students and the teachers and wounded 17 people. One of the victims 10-year-old Amarie Joe Garza tried to call police on her cell phone, a birthday present two weeks ago.
ANGEL GARZA: I got confirmation from two of the students in her classroom that she was just trying to call the authorities. And I guess he did shot her.
CARROLL: As the gunman sporadically shot through the wall, police wait for reinforcements and evacuate other students.
ESCALON: Officers were there. The initial officers they receive gunfire. They don't make entry initially because of the gunfire they're receiving.
CARROLL: Parents outside the school are distraught, demanding police immediately stormed the building or let them.
VICTOR LUNA: I told one of the officers myself where they didn't want to go under let me borrow gun and a gest and I'll go into myself to handle it up. And they told me no.
CARROLL: Around 1:00 p.m., one hour and 20 minutes after the gunman went inside, law enforcement forced their way into the classroom and Customs and Border Protection agent killed the gunman.
[01:05:08]
CHIEF RAUL ORTIZ, U.S. BORDER PATROL: They came up with a plan. They enter that classroom and they took care of the situation as quickly as they possibly could.
CARROLL: But it was still too late for so many.
(on camera): And those that we've spoken to whether it be the two people who were there, their funeral home, or Victor Luna, who was arguing with authorities about trying to move into the school sooner. This was before that press conference where they were trying to clarify that misinformation that they had given out. So people were angry even before that. Now, this just compounds the anger, the frustration, the grief, that so many people out here are now having to deal with. Jason Carroll, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: For two days, the families of those who were shot and killed had been struggling with a pain and grief like no other. And it's about to get worse. The bodies of 19 of the 21 victims have been released to funeral homes. So instead of celebrating the end of school and some of vacation, families are planning funerals, and memorial services.
In a small town like Uvalde, it seems everyone knows everyone else, and no one is untouched by this tragedy. And then there are the youngest survivors, the little ones who saw what no child should ever see and will now live with those emotional scars for years.
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AURALEIGHA SANTOS, STUDENT: I got really scared and I didn't know who was her or dad. And then we started looking around on Facebook. And then I realized that all the people I knew were dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean they? How many?
SANTOS: I knew all of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Boris Sanchez has more doubt on the lives lost in Uvalde.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the families of those killed at Robb Elementary School plan their final goodbyes --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hearts are broken. We are devastated.
SANCHEZ: CNN is learning more about the 21 victims loss in Tuesday's massacre. Eliahna "Eli" Garcia was in fourth grade just nine years old. Her grandparents telling the LA Times she loved the movie Encanto, cheerleading and basketball. She dreamed of one day becoming a teacher.
10-year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez was also killed. Her family telling affiliate KHRU, the fourth grader shared a classroom with her cousin, Jacklyn Cazares is who was also murdered. Jackie's father says she touched a lot of people's lives and recently had her First Communion.
JACINTO CAZARES, FATHER OF JACKLYN CAZARES: Just for the love and for the life as you would do for anybody. To me, she's a firecracker, man. She comforted me a little bit to think that she needed the one to help her friend.
SANCHEZ: Another 10-year-old Tess Marie Mata, the fourth grader love TikTok and Ariana Grande. Her older sister Faith says she was saving money to take the whole family to Disney World. She posted on Twitter quote, My precious angel you are loved so deeply. In my eyes you are not a victim but a survivor. I love you always and past forever baby sister. May your wings are higher than you could ever dream.
10-year-old Nevaeh Elisa Bravo (ph), her family telling the Washington Post she could put a smile on all of their faces. They say they're devastated by her passing.
10-year-old Jailah Nicole Silguero, her mother telling Univision Jailah enjoyed dancing and making TikTok videos.
And Eliahana Cruz Torres, a 10-year-old who went by Elijah. Her aunt Leandra Rivera telling CNN quote, our baby gained her wings.
DR. LILIAN LIAO, PEDIATRIC TRAUMA MEDICAL DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY HEALTH: It was a difficult day for all of America.
SANCHEZ: The medical experts working tirelessly to ensure the 21 last won't become more now grappling with the trauma of those they could not help.
LIAO: I think that's what hit us the most not of the patients that we did receive everywhere else where we are honored to treat them. But the patients that we did not receive.
SANCHEZ: Victims lost in another horrific shooting at an American school.
GARZA: There's one little girl was just covered in blood head to toe. Like I thought she was injured. I asked her what was wrong. And she said she's OK. She was hysterical, saying that they shot her best friend that they killed her best friend. She's not breathing. And then she was trying to call the cops and that's the little girl the name and she's -- and she told me he said Amerie --
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: That's how you learn?
SANCHEZ: Daughters, sons, mothers, wives, names and faces this community will never forget. Amerie Jo Garza, Uziyah Garcia, Xavier Lopez, Jose Flores, Jr., Lexi Rubio, and two teachers hailed as heroes dying as they shielded their students from danger. Eva Mireles, Irma Garcia.
[01:10:03]
GARZA: Look at this girl -- oh, baby. I miss you, my baby.
SANCHEZ (on camera): And we confirmed the tragic news on Thursday that the husband of one of the teachers who perished on Tuesday suffered a medical emergency Joe Garcia married to Irma Garcia for more than 25 years, having to be rushed to the hospital ultimately passing away. His family saying that they believe he died of a broken heart. Boris Sanchez, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: Despite this mass shooting, despite the loss of life, the carnage community once again in mourning, the National Rifle Association's annual convention will go ahead as planned in Texas. Members of the gun lobby will meet Friday in Houston.
Among those who are expected to speak former President Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Dan Crenshaw. Texas Governor Greg Abbott will send a pre-recorded video message. He canceled his interference person at the NRA so he could attend a huge conference in Uvalde. At least four musician performers have canceled their performances at the convention as well.
Well as U.S. mourns its most recent mass shooting, we'll take a look at ways that other countries have responded to deadly gun violence and what the U.S. could learn. If only they would. That's ahead.
Plus details why the U.S. is considering supplying Ukraine with one of those formidable weapons as Russians gain ground in eastern Ukraine.
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VAUSE: Welcome back. Well, Ukraine's military apparently continues to slow a Russia advance in Donbas from the North. Still, Russian forces have made some modest gains in recent days. The Donbas region has been under constant and intense Russian assault for weeks.
U.S. defense officials say the Russians are trying to push towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Multiple sources say the Biden administration now considering Ukraine's request for advanced rockets, which have a much greater range and the recently deployed howitzers.
New video from Mariupol shows one of Russia's so called filtration centers set up at a supermarket. Sources familiar with Western intelligence say it's through facilities like this, that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been forcibly sent to Russia from eastern Ukraine.
On Thursday, Finland's Prime Minister visited Ukraine, including heavy damage villages where the Russian advance on Kyiv was stopped. She also announced additional support for Ukraine including more weapons. Ukraine's president said visits by European leaders show that Ukraine is not alone.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRANIAN PRESIDENT: Today, all the leaders when they come to Ukraine, that great signal, very important direct message.
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VAUSE: Well, from the war ravaged city of Mariupol, CNN has received videos and spoken with those who lived under Russian occupation and CNN's Melissa Bell reports grim hardly describes what the city has become.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After three months of war, with Azovstal, that symbol of Ukrainian resistance in ruins, Mariupol is a city of ghosts. These exclusive pictures obtained by CNN show the dead only now being retrieved from the rubble. At least 22,000 people are now believed to have died, according to the City Mayor's office, now working in exile.
PETRO ANDRIUSHCHENKO, ADVISOR TO MARIUPOL MAYOR: It's absolutely, absolutely dark inside the city just lights why Russian troops, you know, by Russian patrols and everywhere is smell of this and really a smell of the fire. Smell of the smoke and smell. This is very old reality.
BELL: This is very different to what's now being transmitted inside Mariupol. Russian TV channels to go with a Russian passports, residents here have already been issued with.
20-year-old Nicole (ph) is one of the lucky ones. She fled Mariupol with her five-year-old nephew in early April. It took them five days to get to Ukrainian held land on foot. She won't give their full names because her parents are still trying to get out. As she starts to tell us her story, Carol (ph) who had to be silent she says for the five days it took them to flee, says he wants to speak. He says it was very scary getting out and showing us how he had to hide his head from the shelling. His message now, I want everyone to stay alive, he says.
To the west of Mariupol, the city of Kherson. The picture is now emerging secretly filmed lines of residents waiting to buy oil and medicine. Tales of hardship shared also by those who fled the city since it fell to Russian forces on March 2nd.
Those still inside too scared to be identified. One man telling CNN of a protest four days ago at the main train station when a Ukrainian flag was raised, he says, anyone within a mile radius was arrested.
In Mariupol too, the images speak of the new reality of what lies beyond the reach of the free press. Russian controlled Ukraine. Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.
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VAUSE: President Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of genocide since the early days of the war. Now those claims are backed up by a new independent report by more than 30 international experts. They concluded that Kremlin propaganda, destruction of Ukrainian cultural sites, mass graves forced relocations of Ukrainians and more pose a serious risk of genocide triggering all states obligation to act in In order to prevent under Article One of the Genocide Convention.
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Azeem Ibrahim is director of the New Lines Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank, as well as author of the report on Russian Breaches of the Genocide Convention. Professor, thank you very much for being with us.
AZEEM IBRAHIM, DIRECTOR, NEW LINES INSTITUE FOR STRATEGY AND POLICY: Thanks so much for having me.
VAUSE: OK, so this report points out the main purpose of the Genocide Convention is essentially prevention, as well as the responsibility to act by all 152 countries who are signatories to this, and that includes Russia, and when they should intervene.
The incident that the states learn or should normally have learned of the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed. It would seem when it comes to Ukraine, we reached that point a long time ago.
IBRAHIM: Yes no, you're absolutely right, John, you know, the word genocide is used very often, and it's used very interchangeably with mass murder. But it does have a very precise legal definition, which has articulated in the 1948 Genocide Convention, and that is an intent to destroy an entire group of people.
This is a first report from the New Lanes Wallenberg Institute to examine whether Russians actions have breached the Genocide Convention, we put together three teams of experts, open source intelligence experts, language experts, and an army of lawyers over 35 of the top legal minds that examined the evidence, and the conclusions were very clear, and conclusions are damning that this Russian Federation is interior breach of the Genocide Convention. They be a state responsibility for incitement to committing genocide. And there's a pattern of the atrocities that indicate that they have an intention to destroy Ukrainian as a national and ethnic group.
And so that's the conclusion of this is essentially that there is a very serious risk of genocide, which triggers Article One of the Genocide Convention which is to prevent a full scale genocide from actually occurring.
VAUSE: Let's take a look at some of these details that you mentioned. So, in terms of atrocities, the report has found national and international investigators and analysts have documented rapidly expanding mass graves, and a pattern of Ukrainian civilian corpses found with hands tied, tortured, and shot at close range.
In this report, the point is made that many of these Russian soldiers have been totally immersed in Russian state propaganda. So how does that build into this case for genocide?
IBRAHIM: Yes, so we have to understand, John, that is not the killing itself, or the manner in which they have killed that what constitutes genocide, it's their intent. And we can see from the propaganda that's emerging from Russia, and the manner in which that propaganda has been interpreted on the ground, that this is a genocide war that Russia is engaging in Ukraine.
For example, Putin, and one of his essays has clearly indicated themselves, that he does not believe Ukraine is a new country. He believes that was an artificial creation. The chair of the Duma, for example, said that there is no Ukraine, there is no Ukrainian pneus (ph). And this is a disorder of the mind, and it is no nation.
And we've seen these repeated claims denial of Ukraine existing, the denial of the people of Ukraine, their own identity. And this is not just the rhetoric is actually translated into action. We have reports of over 180,000 Ukrainian children that have been transferred forcibly into Russia and dispersed throughout Russia to ensure that they do not coalesce and as a collective identity group. So the evidence is overwhelming in terms of what Russia's intentions are in Ukraine, it is to wipe out Ukrainian identity.
VAUSE: 180,000 children, that is staggering. There are individual actions of the Russian soldiers as well as the big picture of military tactics. And on that, in this report, you're right. In besieging cities, Russian forces have followed a similar pattern of striking water power and communication sources early on, and further targeting medical facilities, grain warehouses and aid distribution centers, demonstrating a military strategy and policy of deliberately inflicting fatal conditions on Ukrainian inhabitants.
And then the (INAUDIBLE) goes on that this directive must have come all the way from Vladimir Putin, either directly or implied. So what does that actually mean now in terms of state responsibility for genocide?
IBRAHIM: The implications are very clear. The Genocide Convention was set up to prevent and punish genocide. And in too many occasions, you know, we only examined the genome after the fact it becomes an academic exercise was the Rohingya situation a genocide or Srebrenica genocide, or Darfur genocide. And the purpose of the Convention is to actually prevent genocide.
And so here we have a situation in which the evidence is overwhelming, and the evidence has no been presented. So the obligation is now on all 151 state parties who are signatories to the Genocide Convention to intervene and put a stop to the this Russian aggression in Ukraine but pour it spills over into a full scale genocide which will then be too late.
[01:25:05]
VAUSE: Never again. Azeem Ibrahim in Washington, thank you.
Just ahead here on CNN, as families prepare to bury the dead, most of them young children, the most powerful gun lobby in the United States who spends millions of dollars trying to get easier access to guns will hold a convention, just down the road a few 100 miles from Uvalde, but some in Houston are saying don't come.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
A lot of questions are being asked about the timeline and police response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The law enforcement official says the shooter was not confronted the by police before entering the school, which contradicts earlier comments from authorities. And it took more than an hour for officers to take down the 18-year-old gunman.
The lengthy response time and the lack of communication to the public caused chaos outside the school.
As the stand off (INAUDIBLE) on, frantic parents started to arrive desperate to know if their kids were still alive, begging police officers to get inside the school and stop the shooter or let them do it themselves.
And the family of one of two teachers killed in this massacre has suffered another loss. The husband of Irma Garcia died on Thursday. Joey Garcia had a medical emergency according to his family's GoFundMe page. And his cousin wrote on the Web site that she believes Joe died of a broken heart and that losing the love of his life for more than 25 years was too much.
Joe and Irma were parents of four children and their story has touched a lot of people. More than $1.7 million has already been donated to the Garcia family.
In Washington, Republicans have long refused to compromise on gun control. Many have received hefty campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association. But the senate minority leader and other conservatives are now under tremendous pressure to do something.
Mitch McConnell exclusively told CNN that he is now calling for a bipartisan effort on a potential legislative response to the shooting and encouraging Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas to begin discussions with Democrats.
The other Republican senator from Texas, Ted Cruz is showing no willingness to budge on gun reform. He was pressed on the issue two reporters, one of them from Sky News and Cruz became extremely defensive.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why does this only happen in your country. I really think that's what many people around the world just -- they cannot fathom, why only in America. Why is this American exceptionalism so awful.
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TEXAS): You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this aspect --
CRUZ: You know what, you got your political agenda. God love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is America the only country that faces this kind of mass shooting?
CRUZ: You know what --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't answer that -- you can't answer that, can you, sir? You can't answer that. Why is this --
CRUZ: Why is it that people come from all over the world to America because it's the freest, most prosperous, safest country on earth.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may be the freest, it may be the most --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The National Rifle Association's annual convention will go ahead as planned despite the shooting in Uvalde. And it's being held in the same state where the tragedy took place, that's Texas.
Some expected attendees are now backing out saying it is not the time for such an event. How about that.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has our report.
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MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER, HOUSTON, TEXAS: With all due respect, you should not come.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The NRA defiantly unyielding.
TURNER: It wouldn't be respectful for the families who are planning funerals for their children for them not to come.
SERFATY: Releasing a statement calling the shooting evil but pushing ahead to kick off their annual conference in Houston tomorrow, only three days and 300 miles from the site of the mass shooting in Uvalde.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think it's shameful and it's shameful for any politician to attend this conference.
SERFATY: former president Donald Trump will give the headline address with a roster of high-profile Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Texas Governor Greg Abbott scheduled to speak.
GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): I'm in it living moment to moment right now. My heart, my head and my body are in Uvalde right now.
SERFATY: This moment eerily similar to the days after the columbine shooting which killed 13 people in 1999. The NRA conference that year was also scheduled shortly after and just miles away in nearby Denver.
A private audio recording since obtained by NPR revealing the tense deliberation within the topo brass of the NRA whether they'll cancel or pare down the event.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the same period where they're going to be burying these children we're going to be having media trying to run through the exhibit hall looking at kids modeling firearms which is going to be a horrible, horrible, horrible juxtaposition.
SERFATY: The conference went on as scheduled, though shortened and without the planned gun show. That decision shaping the NRA's response to mass shootings ever since leading to this provocative moment the following year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From my cold, dead hands.
SERFATY: All this comes as the NRA is facing a slew of other financial and legal problems. In March the New York State Supreme Court blocked an effort to dissolve the organization but allowed a lawsuit from the Democratic New York attorney general to go forward.
[01:34:44] SERFATY: The suit accusing the NRA's leadership of violating laws governing non-profit groups using millions for personal use in tax fraud alleging quote, "greed, self-dealing and lax financial oversight" at the highest levels of the NRA. The NRA sticks by their claim that they always operate in the best interest of their members.
In January 2021 the NRA filed for bankruptcy which was dismissed last May for not having been file in good faith. In revelations from NRA leader Wayne LaPierre that he used a friend's yacht for free as a security retreat after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 and the Parkland shooting in 2018.
And at least three musicians who were set to perform at the NRA convention this weekend have now cancelled, one of those performers Don McLean saying it would be disrespectful and hurtful to perform. And Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers also dropping out saying that he could not in good conscience go on to perform.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Beto O'Rourke, the Democrat nominee for Texas governor is not letting up on criticizing the current governor and Republican Greg Abbott.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETO O'ROURKE, DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR TEXAS GOVERNOR: You are doing nothing --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: O'Rourke was shouted down as he confronted Abbott during a news conference Wednesday. He blames the governor for increased gun violence in the state partly because Abbott has encouraged people to, in his words, take matters into their own hands after another mass shooting in El Paso three years ago.
Now O'Rourke says he has no regrets about his lone protest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'ROURKE: We can continue to do things the same way and expect a different result but that's the definition of insanity. Or we can decide we're going to stand up for one another and change this and do everything we can to make sure that not another child is killed in their own school. Not another teacher has to face a gunman with a AR- 15, a weapon originally designed for use on a battlefield.
To commit ourselves to changing this so this does not become our permanent future or fate, I'm going to do everything I can. I'm going to do whatever it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: O'Rourke is expected to face an uphill battle when he runs against Abbott this coming November.
Elsewhere around the world when mass shootings happen, action is usually taken. Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway -- all have tightened gun laws after mass shootings. And as CNN's Tom Foreman reports, inaction after shootings is a unique American reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When five people were gunned down in the United Kingdom last summer, the nation was shocked. It's had some of the world's toughest gun laws ever since the mass school shooting in 1996. Gun deaths fell by half, mass shootings became extremely rare.
So in the wake of the new attack, the government announced tighter restrictions, including mandatory medical tests for mental illness or and instability in would-be gun owners.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: My thoughts are very much with the families of all those who tragically lost their lives in that appalling incident.
FOREMAN: Large scale shootings have triggered new limits on gun ownership and access in numerous countries and advocates for gun control point to them as proof that mass shooting incidents can be dramatically reduced.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A gunman kills more than two dozen people and injures several others.
FOREMAN: 35 people were killed during an Australian shooting spree in 1996. Despite a strong gun culture and stiff political resistance, the government launched a massive gun buy-back program, banning automatic and semi-auto weapons.
Murders and suicides with firearms plummeted and there's been only mass shooting since.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: There is no need in Canada for guns designed to kill.
FOREMAN: Canada has enacted tough gun education, qualification and registration requirements in response to mass shootings there. A slaughter in Nova Scotia in 2020 spurred opponents to say those laws don't work. But again gun control advocates note an overall downward trend in gun deaths over the past 20 years.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know that other countries in response to one mass shooting have been able to craft laws that almost eliminated mass shootings.
FOREMAN: After 51 people were killed in New Zealand in 2019 by an Australian gunman who targeted mosques, the government in six days, went after military-style semi-automatic weapons, high capacity magazines and more. JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: Every semi-automatic
weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country.
FOREMAN: And the prime minister said just this week, they are not done.
ARDERN: There are still obviously guns that are misused in New Zealand, and so I won't sit here and say that our system is perfect. But we saw something that wasn't right and we acted on it and I can only speak to that experience.
[01:40:01]
FOREMAN: Gun right supporters insist you can't prove these regulations reduce mass shootings or that they would work in America. But these countries believe they have found the key to cutting down on the gun violence and it starts with the guns.
Tom Foreman, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, Ellen DeGeneres is now saying goodbye to her talk show after 19 years. An emotional farewell that's positive and final message in a moment.
[01:40:33]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Iceland's glaciers are melting faster now than at any point in the past 200 years because of global warming. Tracking that loss could give a glimpse of what the future looks like in a changing climate.
Today on "Call to Earth" we follow a team documenting the retreat of the glaciers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are some of the glaciers of southern Iceland. Despite its name, only about 10 percent of the country's landmass is actually covered by ice but since the year 2000 it's estimated that Iceland's glaciers have decreased in size by around 800 square kilometers. Some are retreating by over 150 meters in a single year.
Thorvardur Arnason (ph), the director at the University of Iceland has witnessed the retreat up close.
THORVARDUR ARNASON, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND: About 14 years ago I started to do repeat photography at one of the glaciers here, (INAUDIBLE). I went once a month for eight years. It's like visiting an old friend. There's a sense of familiarity.
We have about 20 outlet glaciers that come down from the (INAUDIBLE) icecap. All of them have receded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arnason is part of a team documenting the glacier retreat overlaying archive aerial photos with current-day drone footage reveals the dramatic change in the landscape.
Rising global temperatures driven by rampant fossil fuel consumption have left some experts warning that the glaciers in Iceland are at risk of disappearing entirely.
ARNASON: We need to tell people what the reality is. On the other hand we don't want to frighten people to immobilize them to anxiety.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melting ice is the biggest contributor to sea level rise but as most of the world is worrying about flooding, here in the town of Hofn, climate change is causing the opposite problem.
ARNASON: As the glacier melts and the pressure of the icecap becomes less and less. The fjords are becoming shallower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As Iceland's glaciers lose their weight, the landmass rises out of the water in a process known as isostatic rebound.
ARNASON: So every three or four years the land lifts up by an inch. Closer to the glacier these effects become enhanced. So up by the glacier margin we're looking at up to an inch and half per year.
There have been very noticeable changes here in this area. And one of them is all of these small islands that you can see in the fjords. These are only visible during low tide but as the land is lifted up these become more and more noticeable.
Nature here is very much alive. It's always generating new things. It's always destroying other things. But climate change speeds everything up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arnason and the team's next project is to use time-lapsed photography to look into the future.
ARNASON: We want to pre-visualize what our fastest receding glacier (INAUDIBLE) -- will look like 100 year from now. Based on worst case, business as usual, and best case.
There is always a range of potential future that is open to us. There is still a chance for the wounds to heal and for the glaciers to recover at least to some extent. We have to make a conscious, informed decision about which future we choose.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Let us know what you're doing to answer the call with #calltoearth.
We'll be back in just a moment.
[01:49:06] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: British prosecutors have authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey. The Academy Award winning actor faces four counts of sexual assault that allegedly took place between 2005 and 2013.
He also faces a possible fifth accusation. But he cannot be formally charged until he enters England or Eales. Spacey was dropped from the hit Netflix show "House of Cards" in 2017 after misconduct allegations.
Spacey's representatives did not immediately responded to our request for comment.
Actor Ray Liotta has died. The movie star who will always be considered a "Goodfella".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you do?
RAY LIOTTA, ACTOR: I'm a construction worker.
If we wanted something, we just took it. We didn't even think about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Liotta played tough guy Henry Hill in the film "Goodfellas". He played it so well, it became his trademark role.
He denied he was a fighter though, co-stars called mushy on the inside. Publicist says that the actor died in his sleep. He was in a hotel in the Dominican Republic where he was filming a movie.
Co-stars have said they are shattered on news of his death. He was an actor so versatile, he also played a sensitive shoeless Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams".
He did commercials and soap operas. He was always working, it seems.
Liotta leaves his fiance and his daughter. He was 67 years old.
Well, from a sitcom star with mixed reviews to Ellen DeGeneres talk show host, total sensation. Now, after 19 years, the influential host has signed off for the final time Thursday.
[01:54:50]
VAUSE: Fans were treated to clips from all 3,200 episodes and highlights of her career. She also discussed the social progress which has been made since the Ellen DeGeneres show premiered in 2003, including being able to open up about her sexuality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: If I have done anything in the past 19 years, I hope I've inspired you to be yourself. Your true authentic self. And if someone is brave enough to tell you who they are, be brave enough to support them even if you don't understand. They're showing you who they are and that is the biggest gift anybody can ever give you.
And by opening your heart and your mind, you're going to be that much more compassionate. And compassion is what makes the world a better place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There was no mention of any recent controversy such as reports of a toxic culture within her show.
"The Kelly Clarkson Show" will move into DeGeneres' time slot.
Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague, Paula Newton, in just a moment.
Have a good weekend.
[01:55:51]
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