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New Timeline for Uvalde, Texas, School Shooting Indicates Gunman Left in Classroom with Children for More than One Hour before Room Breached by Law Enforcement; Multiple Children Trapped in Classroom with Uvalde School Shooter Called 911; Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez Interviewed on Grieving of Community in Uvalde, Texas, after School Shooting Kills 19 Children and Two Teachers; Husband of Teacher Slain in Uvalde School Shooting Dies of Heart Attack. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired May 28, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And just moments ago, barriers were put up behind us as we believe this area is in preparation for a visit from President Biden who has now made multiple visits to parts of this country where there have been mass shootings in the span of just days.

We begin this hour, though, with anguish and anger from the parents who lost children at the mass shooting at this elementary school. They are now demanding answers. Why did it take 77 minutes from the time that a gunman entered the school to the time that tactical officers confronted and ultimately neutralized him? What about the children inside the classroom who were calling 911, pleading for help while just outside their class 19 officers were waiting in the hallway? And the haunting questions that are now presented by these details, by these revelations by law enforcement, could more children have been saved?

Two teachers and 19 children were killed in all, most no older than 10 years old. As the horror played out inside the school, frantic parents were rushing to the scene, desperate to get to their children. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Investigators now admit it was the wrong decision for those 19 officers to stay waiting in that hallway and not breach the door of the classroom where the shooter was holed up immediately.

Meantime, we're learning disturbing new details about posts made on social media by the gunman. According to users of the social media app Yubo, the shooter threatened to rape women and shoot-up schools in the weeks leading up to the massacre. The admission by authorities that they made the wrong response to the shooting only adding to the grief and sorrow of the parents who lost children.

For more on the mistakes made and the search for answers, let's bring in CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll. He's here with us, live. He's been here now for several days since the shooting took place. What's the latest on the investigation?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When you talk about mistakes being made, a lot of questions about what went wrong in that classroom, what went wrong outside the classroom in the hallway there. The governor said it was an unmistakable error, that it was inexcusable. He says that he was misled like much of the rest of the public. He is now asking for answers. All of this as parents say more should have been done.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

COL. STEVEN MCCRAW, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: It was the wrong decision, period.

CARROLL: A damning new admission from Texas authorities. The incident commander made the decision not to immediately enter the classroom where the gunman was hiding.

MCCRAW: The decision was made that this was a barricaded subject situation. There was time to retrieve the keys and wait for a tactical team with the equipment to go ahead and breach the door and take on the subject at that point.

CARROLL: Officials explained how the shooter got into the school.

MCCRAW: Where we knew the shooter entered, Ramos, was propped open by a teacher.

CARROLL: Investigators clarifying the timeline as police arrived.

MCCRAW: The three initial police officers that arrived went directly to the door, and two received grazing wounds at that time from the suspect while the door was closed. At 11:37 there was more gunfire, another 16 rounds was fired, 11:37. One at 11:37, and 16 seconds, 11:38, 11:40, 11:44. At 11:51 the police sergeant and UFB agents started to arrive. At 12:03 officers continue to arrive in the hallway, and there were as many as 19 officers at that time in that hallway.

CARROLL: Officers did not enter the room until a janitor provided keys.

MCCRAW: They breached the door using keys that they were able to get from the janitor because both doors were locked. Both of the classrooms they shot into were locked when officers arrived. They killed the suspect at that time.

CARROLL: In that crucial time, survivors inside both classrooms made desperate calls to 911.

MCCRAW: She identified herself and whispered she's in room 112. At 12:10 she called back in room 112 and advised multiple dead. At 12:13, again she called on the phone. Again at 12:16 she's called back and said there's eight to nine students alive.

[10:05:02]

CARROLL: Minutes later a student called.

MCCRAW: A student child called back and was told to stay on the line and be very quiet. She told 911 that he shot the door. At approximately 12:43 and 12:47 she asked 911 to please send the police now.

CARROLL: Alfred Garza says his daughter Amerie may have been one of those students who tried to call 911. She was killed during the shooting.

ALFRED GARZA, PARENT OF DECEASED STUDENT: Something has got to be done now. Where do we go from here? You were wrong. What do we do now? That's my question. What are we going to do now?

CARROLL: The accountability you're talking about.

GARZA: Right, the accountability. Someone's got to be responsible.

CARROLL: Warning signs missed.

MCCRAW: Ramos asked his sister to help him buy a gun. She flatly refused. That was in September of 21.

CARROLL: With social media group chats and posts as far back as last February offering red flags.

MCCRAW: He had an Instagram for a group chat, and it was discussed as Ramos being a school shooter. And that was on February 28, 2022. On March 14th there was an Instagram posting by the subject in quotations, "10 more days." A user replied, are you going to shoot-up a school or something? The subject replied, no, and stop asking dumb question and you will see.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CARROLL: Well, the governor says both the FBI and the Texas rangers will be investigating all of those in law enforcement who were involved with what happened here at the school. But as you can imagine, the question that a number of people out here are asking is, what would have happened if they had breached that door immediately like the training says they should have? What would have happened? Is there a possibility that perhaps one of those children that was desperately calling 911, is there a possibility one of those children inside there who may have been injured could have survived?

SANCHEZ: It's just heartbreaking to listen to accounts of parents who were outside the school as officials were declaring this a situation in which a suspect was barricaded, not an active shooter situation, saying that they heard screaming and gunshots inside the class. CARROLL: Yes, and on that point, Boris, I remember speaking to a

parent earlier this week who ran up here to the school, heard the gunshots, had a fourth grader in the school, ran up to the school and said to one of the officers out front, he said, hey, give me a vest, give me a gun. I'll go in myself. He was obviously held back for any number of reasons, but that just speaks to the level of heartache and frustration these parents were going through.

SANCHEZ: We also heard from another parent, a mom who said that she was handcuffed by officers. They said that she was interfering in the investigation. No doubt as officials take a closer look at everything that happened, not just inside the building but the police response, we're hoping these parents will get some answers. Jason Carroll, thank you so much, as always.

While we learn more about the response from officers outside the school, we're also hearing accounts from inside the classroom where these children and their teachers were killed. CNN producer Nora Neus spoke to an 11-year-old survivor who was inside the class as the horror unfolded. Listen to how this survivor made it out alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORA NEUS, CNN PRODUCER: She said she was scared the gunman was going to come back and kill her. And so her friend was playing dead next to her, and she put her hands on her body and in her blood, and then smeared that blood all over her own body so that she could play dead if the gunman came back. And then one of her friends was shot, injured but alive still and was screaming out of the pain. And they were scared the gunman would come back. And so Mia (ph) and a friend put their hand over this little girl's mouth to try to muffle her scream until the police came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's get back to CNN's Christi Paul right now. Christi, imagine being the parent of a child that survived this that is going to be impacted forever. How do you overcome the horror these children witnessed, not to mention the heartache that will live on, that will linger in this community? I'm not sure that these families are going to get the closure that they're seeking.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: But whatever they do, they will do it together and they will be strong. I think we're all pretty certain of that based on what we've seen from that community thus far.

Let's talk to Juliette Kayyem, Boris, former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a CNN national security analyst. Juliette, I always appreciate and value what you have to say in every situation, particularly in these. It struck me, there were 19 officers in the hallway. That's one for every kid that died is the first thing that struck me.

[10:10:04]

The second thing was we know that those kids were calling from the classroom, they were calling 911. Where was the disconnect, Juliette? How does that happen that you've got those 911 calls and obviously that information was not getting to those officers outside the door? How does that happen?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. So as we heard yesterday, the incident commander, so the person who's in charge of what's called the incident command, and that is the people going to run in an active shooter situation, rapid deployment is what we call it, made the wrong call. That's such an egregious wrong call, I can't defend it. I can just explain it.

The thing with incident command and active shooter is they're not self-executing. In other words, you don't just -- someone has to say this is an active shooter situation, everyone run in and essentially eliminate the threat. That's it. There's no risk calculation. There's no weighing of the evidence. There's no, could we save more kids if we got these kids out and kept those kids -- none of that goes into play.

We've learned from 20 years of school shootings, certainly since Columbine and mass shootings, that the best way to save lives in that moment is to eliminate the threat. Everything else can be taken care of after. And so these questions, for example, that you and Boris are asking, which of course our question, which is could more people have survived? Those kids in there are calling. To be honest, none of that should have been relevant. In other words, they should have just gone in and then you eliminate the threat, and then you make the calculation of who can we say, who should we triage, how do we get the kids who weren't in that room out?

But it's not self-executing. It's dependent on an incident commander knowing what the heck he was doing. And your rage is my rage. It's incomprehensible. It's -- you know, it's basic crisis management 101. It's incomprehensible.

PAUL: And to that point in terms of crisis management, I understand, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that there were federal response teams there, and local teams told them to hold off. At what point would somebody on the federal side of this say look at all this time that's going by, we're taking over? Or do they not have the authority to do that?

KAYYEM: They would -- the problem with incident command, I guess, is also that it's chain of command. And so people are trained to sort of just follow the lead. So obviously we had just a totally unprepared lead. We're starting to hear about whether there wasn't some sort of breaking of that chain in particular. We're going to learn more. The one question we don't know is how exactly was the gunman killed, and whose gun, and sort of all those specifics. If those were federal authorities, you would just assume they broke rank.

But normally in these situations, it's the local official, in this case someone ill-qualified, unprepared, not brave enough to simply say, guys, you're going in, this is what you've been training for. This is your job. Like, it's not -- you don't get to pick -- you get to carry guns, but then when it's hard you don't save children. And that's the problem is that the feds would fall into the local

chain of command. And we will learn -- look, this story is going to change again. We will learn, I suspect, that there was essentially and eventually a breaking of that chain of command when it became utterly clear that the leader had no capacity, no communications, no situational awareness of what was going on, and that this was indeed an active shooter situation. To make that judgment call that all the kids in the room were dead, essentially, I'm assuming that's what he thought, is just not a judgment call you make.

PAUL: Because you don't see it. You haven't seen it for yourself, yes.

KAYYEM: It's like there's a fire, you get rid of it. If that's the way it works, you're not making calculations like that, because, like you said, maybe he doesn't know the phone calls were made, or there's kids that are injured that could have been saved. And that's the -- that's the incomprehensible part of this. But it's the best -- it's the most understandable explanation as we get more. And it will change.

PAUL: I literally have like 10, 20 seconds left. What does accountability look like to you in this case?

KAYYEM: So I don't see how either the locals or the states do this anymore. Some federal entities should come in.

[10:15:00]

Look, they're getting lots of federal funds. There's got to be conditions for those federal funds, whether it's the FBI or some part of the Department of Justice that comes in and has to do a review. The locals are unreliable. The state is now unreliable, and you need a separate entity. Not for blame. We do after actions not for blame, although there probably -- there should be some blame, but also because as we debate the policy of guns, school safety, access to guns, it'll be really good to know what, in fact, happened, because now it looks like there were a lot of armed officials.

PAUL: Right. Juliette Kayyem, it's so grateful to have you take time for us today and explain it from your perspective. Thank you so much.

KAYYEM: Thanks so much.

PAUL: As always.

So we all have families. Cannot imagine, right, how it has changed for these families in a matter of minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please do not forget us, the babies, the kids. Don't forget them. Please do something about it, I beg you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: They are very graciously and very openly, as you can see there, sharing their stories about their grief and about the children and the two adults that they lost. We'll show you more.

Also, just a short time ago Vice President Kamala Harris and the second gentleman Doug Emhoff landed in Buffalo, New York. The community there getting ready to say good-bye to one of the victims of another mass shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:51]

SANCHEZ: We are continuing to follow the very latest on the investigation out of Uvalde, Texas, after a gunman entered Robb Elementary School on Tuesday and opened fire, massacring 21 people, two teachers, 19 children, most no more than 10 years old.

This morning there are still major questions about police response to the shooting and how they handled the investigation afterward. We also want to hear from survivors and families of victims to bring you their stories and to give you an impression of what this community is dealing with right now.

I want to bring in Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez. He's been here seemingly every day since this happened. And, sir, just a few moments ago you were walking to the memorial behind us. It has grown significantly since just a few days ago when this incident happened. I saw you become emotional as you were guiding the family out there. And you were telling me that a young boy not from Uvalde came here to pay his respects. What struck you about that?

ROLAND GUTIERREZ, (D) TEXAS STATE SENATOR: Yes, this was a -- his father had asked me -- they saw the shirt, and he asked me if they could take their little boy over there. They're a family from Del Rio (ph) which is a just few miles down the road. And he asked my parents, he said I want to go pay my respects. And you saw his trepidation. We asked the rangers to allow him to go over, DPS to go over. We went over there, and he was so heartbroken. This little boy, he doesn't know anybody here, but it's just a heartbreaking experience to be here with all these families.

SANCHEZ: And you were sharing with me just a moment before we came back on-air that there's something unique about this community. There's something about families in Latino communities.

GUTIERREZ: We're all -- Latinos, there's something very humbling about us. I'm the son of immigrants, and you strive to be in this country. And you come up. And we try to -- we work hard. And this community is an incredibly hardworking community, multi-generational Americans here, four, five generations of Hispanic Americans. And they're just such wonderful people. And I'm just heartbroken for them all.

SANCHEZ: That resonates so much with me. As an immigrant myself my parents when I was growing up, my parents, all the sacrifices they made to offer my sister and I an education. They always repeated to us, this is for you. We're doing this is for you. And we've heard from multiple members of the community now talking about the youth, the children here in Uvalde being the center of the community. What's your message to those folks who are grieving children, innocent children like the boy you met earlier this morning?

GUTIERREZ: So to the families that were directly affected, they were just destroyed, first of all. It's hard for me to talk to the few that I have been able to talk to and tell them they're going to be OK, because you and I both know, they're going to be destroyed for so long. I have to make sure we have the mental health resources in this community long-term. And I've asked the governor to drop $2 million immediately in a community health clinic. I've not gotten a response back. That's the resource side.

To the people of Uvalde, I'm not leaving. I've got a vast district from San Antonio all the way to Alpine. We're now putting a district office here. We're going to make sure state resources are here long- term. All I can say is that we love you and we're here for you. And we have to -- we must create change at the capital. Certainly, I have asked my Republican colleagues for that. We'll see what unfolds in the next few weeks and months.

SANCHEZ: And you have put out the request directly to the office of Governor Greg Abbott to invest $2 million in a mental health resource facility here in Uvalde.

GUTIERREZ: There's a community health development inc., which is a non-profit here. It serves the people of this community, 11,000 patients. That tells you how many people were underserved.

[10:25:02]

In rural Texas there are not psychiatrists. There's only one psychiatrist in Uvalde, and it happens to be at this clinic. The therapists have to do telemedicine, teletherapy. That's not what needs to happen. We need to have therapists here in place. So they have to compete with big city wages to get folks to come out into the rural area. And so I've asked them to develop a budget, it is around $2 million for the next two years for behavioral health. And that's the space, that's where I'm at. If I can't get it from the governor's office, I'm going to get it from the private sector.

SANCHEZ: Sir, I don't want you to speculate. I don't expect you to answer for an ongoing investigation, whatever decisions were made by law enforcement, but specifically for the families that we have heard from who are questioning the police response, who are angry, what would you say to them?

GUTIERREZ: That we're all angry. Law enforcement is angry. I had a long conversation this morning on the way in with Steve McCraw, and he was crying to me and I'm crying to him. And everybody is frustrated about the failures of what happened. He has assured me that I will have a detailed report, including ballistics by next week. I want to know when each agency was here. Moving forward, he assured me that never again will DPS stand down for any law enforcement agency. I hope that that's true.

SANCHEZ: State Senator Roland Gutierrez, thank you so much for sharing some time with us and for being candid. We hope that we'll keep lines of communication open and be in touch, because we can't let this get swallowed up by the news cycle. We can't forget about what happened here.

GUTIERREZ: I would ask -- I would simply ask that when the news cycle is over here next week after some funerals and you guys leave town, America needs to understand that no community should have to ever deal with this kind of tragedy. No community anywhere in the United States should have to deal with it. How an 18-year-old can access militarized weaponry anywhere is beyond me. And so please stay engaged. Please stay engaged, because they'll listen to you.

SANCHEZ: We'll be in touch. State Senator Roland Gutierrez, thank you so much for the time. We appreciate it.

Stay with CNN's Newsroom. We'll be right back in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:32:15]

PAUL: Well, the White House has announced tomorrow President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Uvalde, Texas, to meet with the families of the 21 victims including the 19 children who were killed in Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. CNN White House reporter Jasmine Wright is with the president in Wilmington, Delaware, this morning. Jasmine, always good to see you. Talk to us about what the president's plans are once he gets to Texas.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the plan is to bring a message of support to the communities and the families really affected. The president said just a few days ago that the reason why both him and the first lady would go was to show the families that the first family of the United States has a sense of the pain that they're feeling and really to try to bring a little bit of comfort to the community suffering at large there that is suffering, really shock, trauma, and grief.

And now the president right now is giving remarks here, in Delaware, at the University of Delaware commencement speech. He hasn't yet addressed the shooting. We're not sure he will. But we know this is top of mind for the president, and he really has a special way of communicating that empathy to families. We know that because we saw it not long ago. It was less than two weeks the president and first lady Jill Biden traveled to Buffalo where they laid flowers at a memorial at that supermarket where 10 people were killed, just the latest mass shooting, really pulling from that deep sense of empathy and loss he has from his own life where he lost his son, his baby daughter, and his first wife decades ago. So that is something that the president is going to be able to communicate tomorrow when he goes to Texas.

Now, an open question is what the plan he has really to address gun violence in this country. Really, he's been urging Congress to take up what he calls sensible gun reforms like background checks in the aftermath of these two major shootings in just the last two weeks. And the president, we've heard him say he's sick and tired of these shootings, about talking about them, about having to talk about them as president. And of course, he wants to see some change, asking Congress where is your backbone? One thing that the White House has made clear is that in terms of

executive actions, they do not really see that as the route in trying to curtail some of this gun violence that we're seeing across the country, these mass shootings. They feel like they've done everything that they can in that arena, and now the ball is really in Congress's court here.

PAUL: Jasmine Wright, we appreciate it. Thank you so hutch.

Jasmine mentioned Buffalo. Vice President Kamala Harris is there this morning to attend the funeral of a black woman who was killed in that deadly grocery store shooting. Her name, Ruth Whitfield. She's one of the 10 people killed by a self-described white supremacist. There's a picture of Ruth right there.

[10:35:00]

Authorities say the gunman targeted the Tops Friendly Market store because it was in a predominantly black neighborhood. CNN's Joe Johns is in Buffalo as well. Joe, what do we know from what we'll see from the vice president today?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know that she is going to be here along with a number of dignitaries. By the way, this is the second White House visit since the rampage. The first visit came from the president himself and the first lady. They came up and spent some time with the victims, the survivors, I should say, and their families and talked to them.

Now, Ruth Whitfield is the woman who's being memorialized here. She's 86 years old. She was the oldest person who was killed in that rampage. The initial reports were that she had just left visiting her husband at a local nursing home and then ended up at the grocery store just buying some groceries. And that's where she was killed.

The vice president flying up from Joint Base Andrews this morning with Kirsten Gillibrand, the junior New York senator, also the governor of New York. We're also expecting a variety of other people in the audience, as I said, including the Reverend Al Sharpton. He is expected to give remarks. And also some of the lawyers that have come to be involved in this case, including Ben Crump, also Terrence Connors who's a local New York attorney who has quite a bit of familiarity with suing people in situations like this. In fact, he did sue some gun manufacturers in another case, essentially on a theory of public nuisance. So that might give you some idea of where the lawyers think they might be able to go with this case.

But a very sad day here in New York, quite frankly. Meanwhile, the question is, what is America going to do about it? As you know up on Capitol Hill the negotiations continue to get some kind of legislation. Back to you.

PAUL: All right, Joe Johns, good to see you this morning. Thank you so much for the update.

And we have to remember Memorial Day weekend is where we are right now together. And I want to show you a live look here. That is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, of course, at Arlington National Cemetery right outside the nation's capital. And you see people there, members of the public, allowed today to lay flowers before the sacred memorial site. It's of course in tribute to our country's unidentified heroes who gave their life so we could have freedom. We thank all of you who have served and who continue to serve, and we remember.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:30]

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We are live here in Uvalde, Texas. The end of the school year is supposed to be a time of celebration, but as students are supposed to be enjoying summer break here in Uvalde 21 families are preparing for funerals. Here's what we've learned about some of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: Three days after 21 innocent lives were taken, we're learning more about the loved ones this small town is grieving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't forget them, please. Do something about it, I beg you.

SANCHEZ: Miranda Mathis was 11 years old. A friend of her mother's told "The Washington Post" Miranda was a fun, spunky, bright little girl. Ten-year-old Rogelio Torres, his aunt telling CNN affiliate CSAT he was a, quote, "very intelligent, hardworking, and helpful person. He'll be missed and never forgotten." Maite Rodriguez, also 10 years old. Her mother Ana says Maite dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and wanted to attend college at Texas A&M. In a touching Facebook tribute, Ana calls her daughter, quote, "sweet, charismatic, loving caring, loyal, free, ambitious, funny, silly, goal-driven," and her best friend.

Other victims' names have also been confirmed. Layla Salazar, 11 years old, Makenna Lee Elrod, Alithia Ramirez, and Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, all just 10 years old.

And in a tragic twist, the husband of Irma Garcia, one of the murdered teachers, has also died. According to the archdioceses of San Antonio, Joe Garcia suffered a heart attack after news of his wife's death and passed away on Thursday. The couple had been married more than 24 years and were high school sweethearts.

EDUARDO MORALES, SACRED HEART, UVALDE: They came to mass every Sunday.

SANCHEZ: Father Eduardo Morales of Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde knew the family well and greeted Irma as she walked into service on Sunday morning. He says the couple were a fixture in the community and leave behind four children who he privately consoled shortly after Joe's death. MORALES: I told the community that in my own family when we've had a

death, that it's the church and prayer that has gotten us through all this, not that it takes the pain away.

SANCHEZ: The Garcias among a list of names of lives cut too short.

[10:44:58]

Eva Mireles, Amerie Garza, Uziyah Garcia, Xavier Lopez, Jose Flores Jr., Lexi Rubio, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Jacklyn Cazares, Tess Mata, Nevaeh Bravo, Ellie Garcia, Jailah Silguero, Elijah Torres, names that will forever be etched in the memories of those touched and affected by this horrible tragedy.

GEORGE RODRIGUEZ, GRANDFATHER TO JOSE FLORES JR.: Show them to the state, the nation. Show them to the world. When he died, I died part with him.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: And we wanted to share this moment with you. Just a short while ago, a family visited this site. We chatted about this with State Senator Roland Gutierrez. This young boy that you see with his mother isn't even from Uvalde. He asked his family to bring him here from miles away to pay his respects at this memorial that we've seen grow. It is an extremely emotional time here in Uvalde. There is pain, there is anguish as the community continues to mourn. And there's anger as they await answers in an investigation that only makes their agony grow as they raise questions about the police response to this tragedy.

Stay with CNN. We're back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:01]

PAUL: So it is Memorial Day weekend. I know millions of people are hitting the road even with the dramatic surge in gas prices nationwide, which I also know you've been paying attention to. The national average for a gallon of regular gas this morning, $4.60. That's a 46-cent increase in just a month's time. CNN national correspondent Nadia Romero has more on this. Nadia, good to see you this morning. People out and about?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christi. You know it, because here in Atlanta we have gorgeous weather, a nice little breeze, it's sunny, and it's a holiday weekend. But unfortunately, we have the highest gas prices on record this year. As you mention $4.60 for unleaded gas. That is up about $1.55 compared to just last year. But despite those numbers, AAA still estimates some 35 million people will travel by car throughout this weekend, that being up about five percent compared to last year.

And who's on the road more than rideshare drivers? So we spoke with an uber driver who says gas prices are affecting business. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIE BARKER, ATLANTA RESIDENT: Some Uber drivers that want to give up because of the gas prices, and that's probably because they don't go out that much. But me myself, I go all over. I've been to Tennessee, Alabama, all north, south, east, west, Georgia, Florida. So it doesn't bother me as far as the gas prices are concerned. But I have seen how they fluctuate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And that is Ms. Valerie with such an optimistic outlook. She says, listen, I'm going to make my money this weekend. Leave your car at home, give me a call, I'll give you a ride despite the gas prices. And we also know that people are taking a look how they're flying, travel by air. And here at the busiest airport in the country, the Atlanta Airport, they sent out a tweet reminding travelers that there will likely be long lines at TSA. Christi, they're expecting 22 million people to go through their airport -- excuse me, 2 million passengers to go through their airport throughout this weekend with the busiest day for travel that would have been yesterday on Friday. Christi?

PAUL: I don't know, but I think it would be fun to travel with Ms. Valerie. She exudes goodness.

ROMERO: She seems a blast.

PAUL: Yes. Nadia Romero, good to see you this morning. Thank you for the update.

So, listen, this is also one of those weekends where you're hoping for good weather, but we're talking about storms, triple digit heat. Karen Maginnis, are we talking about snow as well?

KAREN MAGINNIS, METEOROLOGIST: Well, yes, but you have to go pretty high up in the mountains in southwestern Montana, maybe in the higher peaks in Yellowstone Park. But it's going to be severe weather. I know that interferes with a lot of graduation plans, get togethers, also maybe some family reunions, in the northern tier into the Midwest. This is where we're looking for a chance of severe weather. Could see some of those isolated super cells which could spawn up maybe an isolated tornado, large size hail and some pretty gusty winds. There you see a rapid city that's spreading across the state, then moving past Bismarck and then towards Fargo.

So it's going to be a very dynamic situation and multi-day. That is the problem. We could see some heavy downpours here with that severe weather I was telling you about across South Dakota and into Nebraska. It shifts a little bit further towards the east as we go into Monday -- Sunday and then into Monday. So this is going to be the focus of the severe weather, but not to be left out today in the northeast you could also see pretty heavy downpours.

All right, taking you Sunday into Monday, from Duluth to North Platte, we've got that enhanced risk for severe weather. It moves further towards the east across Minnesota all the way down into Iowa and portions of Nebraska, then across the southwest, that huge fire just to the east of Santa Fe burn in excess of 300,000 acres. Now we've still got some gusty winds. It is tinder dry. There could be some dry thunderstorms there.

[10:55:01]

Look at these temperatures. It's going to be close to 90 degrees for Sunday in Chicago. Behind the front, much colder. And Christi, yes, that's where we're going to pick up some of the coldest air and could be measuring snowfall in southwestern Montana in feet. It's amazing.

PAUL: My goodness. It is. Karen Maginnis, thank you for the heads up.

And thank you so much for sharing part of your morning with us. I'm always grateful to have you here. There's more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom with Jessica Dean in just a moment. Stay close.

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