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Michigan Mass Shooting Leaves Three People Dead; U.S. Senate to Get Classified Briefings on Unidentified Airborne Objects; Judge to Release Parts of GA Grand Jury Report; Rescue Efforts Continue in Turkey. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 14, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, we are learning more about the suspect in a deadly mass shooting at Michigan State University. We will look at how the community is responding and the latest on the investigation.
Plus, the U.S. Senate is set to meet as new details emerge about three airborne objects shot down over North America.
And hopes are fading in Syria and Turkey, but people are still being found alive after that major earthquake. We will have a live report from Istanbul.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: It is 3:00 a.m. in East Lansing, Michigan where police are trying to figure out the motive for a mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University. Three people have been killed. Five others are hospitalized in critical condition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Oh, my God!
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Akers Dining Hall! Dining hall!
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Akers Dining Hall.
CHURCH: This was the scene as students fled when the shots rang out. Police say the first 9-1-1 call came in at 8:18 p.m. local time. Officers were on the scene within minutes and located several victims. Here is what some of the students told CNN affiliate XY -- WXYZ.
UNKNOWN: We were there locked in the rooms and the guys were telling us to run out the backdoor as quick as we can and run for our lives. I sprinted out there as fast as I can into the woods. And then from there, I thought, you know, I thought the side of the campus would be safe. And then I got a brother -- I got a text from my brother saying that they are over near that area and that I entered Akers. And then on -- I came to Akers. People started running, telling me to run, that they came from Akers. So, it is just a terrifying experience.
UNKNOWN: I had friends texted me before the incident in Akers even happened. We started barricading doors. I thought it was safe because, you know, there are metal bar doors in there, I didn't think anybody would get through. We started barricading. I heard go, go, go. Everybody just trampled through.
UNKNOWN: Yeah.
UNKNOWN: Everybody got out of there. They ran over here from way over there. Those were horrible.
CHURCH: Police say shots were fired at two locations on campus and there were fatalities in both places. So far, they have not identified any of the victims publicly.
Police released this photo of the suspect a few hours after the shooting. A (INAUDIBLE) noticed a man matching the description near campus just a short time later. Officers say the man pulled out a gun and fatally shot himself.
CHRIS ROZMAN, INTERIM DEPUTY CHIEF, MSU DEPARTMENT OF POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY: That suspect is we now know is a 43-year-old male. That 43-year-old male is not affiliated in any way with Michigan State University. He is not a student, faculty, staff. And we have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation.
CHURCH: The university has canceled classes on all school activities for the next 48 hours. The campus lockdown has now been lifted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The president of Michigan State spoke to the community, thanking police and others for their efforts throughout the night. She vowed the school would come back together stronger than ever.
TERESA K. WOODRUFF, PRESIDENT, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: This is a day of shock and heartbreak here across at campus and a region. It's something that's quite unimaginable. That has been imagined in other places and other times, but we just can't imagine that it's here.
We are devastated at the loss of life, and we want to wrap our warm arms around every family that is touched by this tragedy and give them the peace (INAUDIBLE) understanding in moments like this.
[03:05:05]
WOODRUFF: Our campus grieves. We will all grieve. And we will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again. I want to thank the SMSU president, SMCU and faculty senate and their leadership for their leadership throughout this event today, to our police, to all of those in the East Lansing area to the governor, to our senators and all of the folks who have reached out to make sure that we at MSU know that they are standing by our side.
To our students, we will take two days, but we will move to emergency operation to give ourselves time to think and to grieve and to be together. To our faculty and staff, we will similarly provide to all of you the next two days to think and grieve and come together. In this community, this family, we will come back together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The Michigan State shooting suspect is dead, but the search for motive is only just beginning. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe explained earlier.
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ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: The FBI and their colleagues are going through the history of this person to try to understand what his motivations were, to try to understand what brought him to this moment in this community at this time.
You know, Michigan State is -- this community is struggling to understand why they are the latest in what is a uniquely American experience in understanding and experiencing a mass shooting in their midst. But it is the job for law enforcement to understand as much as they can about what brought this person to this moment and this mass shooting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The shooting once again raises the crucial question of security on college campuses across the country. CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem explains.
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JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: We are going to see ripple effects over the next couple of days not just for MSU but I think the colleges and universities. My own (ph) is going to have a larger police presence, you know, in a way that will satisfy -- not satisfy but just make people feel comfortable in their whereabouts. But there is -- this is a big campus. There is no way, you know, you can make it safe and still have it be a campus because then it is just a jail, right, and then we have to accept that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Earlier, the mayor of East Lansing, Michigan also spoke with CNN about the shooting, as well as the community's response. Here he is.
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RON BACON, MAYOR OF EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN (voice-over): There are a lot of support tonight. We had our Congress personnel here with us, our state representative, Julie Brixie, our chief and our staff here. We are actually a support team backup to Michigan State who has their own police, of course, Michigan State Police, and the FBI, which were all present on the scene.
We are just here in our command center providing support. But after tomorrow, we'll pick up and again to, you know, piece things back together here as a community. It won't be easy but we will start there. Our students are half of our population. We call it (INAUDIBLE) relationship with East Lansing.
Michigan State is strong. It is vibrant. We all consider ourselves Spartans here in the big 10 cities. Whatever impacts Michigan State impacts East Lansing and the capital region. So, we are basically all in this together.
Governor Whitmer has been in contact, other local officials and everyone else. So, it is a regional approach to things. That's kind of what happened tonight as far as law enforcement support and everything else. We are kind of one big region here along with the capital city of Lansing.
We host many things. So, public safety and security, celebration security and that kind of thing are constant conversation for us to show the difficulty -- to predict the unpredictable and readiness for that. But we do spend a lot of our time on planning for and executing and drilling for public safety and even mass casualty-type events. I think the community responded accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And that was East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon speaking with us a little earlier.
And we are getting this statement from Kris Brown, president of Brady United Against Gun Violence.
[03:09:59]
CHURCH: And I quote -- "Just as we are recognizing the fifth anniversary of the deadliest high school shooting in history, we are experiencing yet another school shooting. This is a 145th school shooting since Parkland and it remains wholly devastating to live in the only country in the industrial world where we regularly wake up to this horrific news."
Much more to come on this shooting ahead here on CNN, including any new details from the investigation of the gunman and his possible motive.
And we are learning more about the three objects shot down over the U.S. and Canada over the weekend. We'll have the latest reaction from Washington.
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[03:14:55]
CHURCH: More now on the latest developments from Michigan where police say a gunman suspected of killing at least three people on the Michigan State University campus is dead, apparently, from a self- inflicted gunshot wound.
At least five other victims have been hospitalized with life- threatening injuries. School officials say the incident has shaken the community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROZMAN: Our hearts are with those who have been affected by the senseless act of violence. Giving an update like this is never easy. As a father, I can only imagine how parents are feeling right now. This will be the beginning of a long healing process for everyone who has been affected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Police released this image of the suspect they were looking for after Monday night's shooting. They later confirmed he was 43 years old and not affiliated with the university. They say there is no longer a threat to the campus and a shelter in place order has been lifted as they investigate the shooter and his motive.
Members of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, who play their home games just an hour or so away from the Michigan State campus, are speaking out in this tragedy.
DYLAN LARKIN, DETROIT RED WINGS PLAYER: Tonight, coming into the locker room and hearing the news, we're all just pretty devastated by it. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved, all the students, all the families. It's just very sad. You now, we dealt with this last year, you know, Oxford. It's hard. We feel for everyone involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The Red Wings head coach echoed those thoughts, saying he has children approaching college age and that the shooting is gut- wrenching.
In the coming hours, the U.S. Senate will get a classified briefing about the three objects shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace over the weekend. But ahead of that meeting, officials have revealed new information. The object shot down over Alaska and over Canada's Yukon territory are said to have been carrying unknown payloads. All three objects apparently look similar, but have different shapes. None as large as the Chinese balloon shot down more than a week ago.
CNN's Phil Mattingly has more on Washington's reaction.
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JOHN KIRBY, COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We are laser-focused on confirming their nature and purpose.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three days, three identified objects shot down by U.S. fighters. No precedent.
KIRBY: Efforts are actively underway right now at all sites to find what is left of those objects so that we can better understand and communicate with the American people what they are.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): And no shortage of unanswered questions, driving a robust all of government response from President Biden.
KIRBY: Every element of the government will redouble their efforts to understand and mitigate these events.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Recovery efforts underway for the downed objects and critical.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): They are focused like a laser on figuring out what happened and coming up with sort of a comprehensive analysis of how we deal with this present and future.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): As even White House allies are raising concerns.
UNKNOWN: In an absence of information, people fill that gap.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): But a new cabinet level task force underscoring a rapid evolution in the U.S. approach.
JASON CROW, U.S. HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: We're actually looking for these with extra vigilance. We're starting to see them in different ways. President Biden has now made the decision that we are going to not allow those over U.S. territory.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): With U.S. fighters in three separate occasions using a single missile to take down objects over Alaskan airspace, over Canada's Yukon on Saturday, and over Lake Huron on Sunday, all in the wake of the shootdown of a Chinese spy balloon earlier this month. Officials making clear these three objects are demonstrably different in appearance and capabilities.
CROW: First of all, these are not posing a threat to the United States of America. These are benign objects from what we can tell.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Current officials signaling they don't believe they originated in China.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Does that mean you think it's China?
UNKNOWN: No, I do not --
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Or any other state actor. But acknowledged it. There has been a shift in radar parameters even as the White House dismissed the idea of political pressure has contributed to the rapid escalation in the use of U.S. force.
MATTINGLY (on camera): This isn't reacted to the Chinese spy balloon. There is political pressure and so we are going to act quickly to take down any objects over our airspace because the pressure came from --
KIRBY: This was -- this was -- these were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interest of the American people.
[03:19:58]
MATTINGLY (voice-over): All as they tamp down any theories tied to extraterrestrial or alien origin.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There is no -- again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.
MATTINGLY (on camera): And while we still haven't heard publicly from President Biden since those three consecutive days of shootdowns of objects, officials say he is very engaged, being briefed regularly on the matter. He has been consulting with people inside the government as well as at least one foreign leader, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is involved in this process throughout.
Officials say they will also be keenly interested in keeping the hill informed. Capitol Hill will be getting briefed on this issue. Some briefings have already occurred. There will be an all-senators' briefing on the shootdowns of these objects, classified briefing, on Tuesday.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: China is defending the actions of a Coast Guard ship in the South China Sea. The Philippines says the Chinese vessel pointed a military-grade laser at one of its ships last week, temporarily blinding some of the crew. China claimed the ship trespassed into its waters without permission and the Coast Guard was defending China's sovereignty. The Philippines says its vessel was delivering food and supplies to a grounded navy transport ship.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release a key gauge of inflation today, January's consumer price index. Wall Street is hoping for more evidence of falling prices. The Dow gained more than 375 points on Monday. The Nasdaq was up one and a half percent. The S&P 500 gained more than 1%. So, let's quickly check the U.S. futures markets. They are down, but only slightly. We'll keep a very close eye on that.
This week, a judge in Georgia is set to release parts of a grand jury report which focuses on efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. It's expected to include an introduction and conclusion to the panel's findings and will describe concerns they had about possible perjury.
CNN's Sara Murray reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A judge in Georgia says parts of a special grand jury report that looks at efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia can be made public later on this week.
But only parts. The judge said the special grand jury that has been looking into efforts by the former president and his allies is trying to determine if any crimes were committed. Most of that is going to stay under wraps, including most importantly, whether the special grand jury recommended that anybody should face charges as part of this investigation.
But the judge says that the introduction and the conclusion and another potentially important section of this report could be made public, a section about whether any witnesses potentially perjured themselves when they came before the special grand jury.
The judge wrote that the special purpose grand jury discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under the oath during their testimony to the grand jury. Because the grand jury does not identify those witnesses, that conclusion may be publicly disclosed at this time.
That's what's coming on Thursday. The judge did not want the meat of this report released because a number of people who went before the grand jury, they're not allowed to have their lawyers with them in the grand jury. He mentioned there could be people named in this report who never appeared before the grand jury. Former President Donald Trump would be an example of one of those.
Either way, this ruling is making Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County who's been overseeing this investigation, pretty pleased. She said she has no plan to appeal this decision. She said last month that her decisions on whether she is going to bring charges against anyone are imminent.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: It has been eight days since a powerful earthquake leveled entire neighborhoods in Turkey and Syria. And even as the death toll has risen to more than 36,000 people and the U.N. says rescue efforts are coming to close, the race to save lives is not over yet.
Earlier today, emergency crews found two more survivors in Turkey and carried them out of the rubble. One of them was a teenager who was reportedly located when the search team heard his voice under the debris.
CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now from Istanbul. And Nada, it is incredible to think that they're still pulling people out of the rubble. So, what is the latest on that rescue effort and, of course, those efforts, too, to get aid to those in need? NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: It is truly incredible, Rosemary. Look, more than a week on, rescue workers say they are still hearing voices beneath the rubble. There is still hope that there could be survivors there buried beneath the rubble. And, of course, that rescue effort is continuing, not just teams from Turkey, but certain rescue teams that have traveled in from across the globe.
[03:25:00]
BASHIR: We are, in fact, still seeing those teams flying in overnight. We heard that a team from Australia, a specialist team, is coming in to help with that search and rescue effort. But, of course, the window for finding survivors is closing very, very quickly. The focus is now shifting to recovery effort.
Of course, there are thousands of people impacted by the earthquake now left homeless. That aid effort is of crucial importance. We've seen that here in Istanbul where there has been an outpouring of support. We were live from an aid center yesterday where thousands of volunteers are working around the clock to sort through these donations to be distributed to southeast Turkey.
We were speaking to one of the coordinators at the center. She told us there simply isn't enough. They need more aid, more donations, more support from the Turkish government, and also more support from the international community. She said they did not want to be forgotten by the world.
And, of course, we have to focus on the situation in northwest Syria as well. For days now, we've been told by the White Helmets, the volunteers that are leading on that search and rescue effort, that they had no hope that any survivors were left beneath the rubble. This quickly turned into recovery effort. They say they felt abandoned and continue to feel abandoned by the international community.
We have seen aid now crossing over into northwest Syria. Of course, we are learning now that the Syrian government has come to an agreement with the United Nations to open further two crossings for aid to come into the rebel-held territories of northwest Syria. This simply isn't enough. It is, according to volunteers, too little, too late.
This is a region already devastated by years of war at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad. Millions are already heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance. Now, of course, the aid that is getting into northwest Syria is simply not enough. It is far less robust than the aid program that we are seeing coming into Turkey.
Of course, the Turkish government here has its infrastructure in place. We've seen that firsthand, but the real focus for the next few weeks and indeed for the next few months will be on getting aid and humanitarian assistance and support to those impacted by the earthquake. Thousands and thousands now made homeless and with very little else to support them. Rosemary?
CHURCH: That is critical. Nada Bashir joining us live from Istanbul, we thank you for that report. And for information on how to help the earthquake victims, you can go to cnn.com/impact. There you will find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts.
Still to come, as fighting rages in Eastern Ukraine, NATO defense ministers are set to focus on how to maintain support for the country, drawing a meeting in Brussels. More in our live report just ahead.
[03:30:00]
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. An update now on our top story this hour. Police say the suspect in a mass shooting at Michigan State University has killed himself. He opened fire at two locations on campus late Monday, leaving three people dead and five others in critical condition. Police are trying to determine a motive. They say the 43-year-old gunman has no affiliation with the university. Students describe the chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: I was (inaudible) in the dining hall. Once you hear those -- once you hear like the go, go, go, and the one, it's really -- it's really -- you got to -- you got to -- you got to take care of yourself first, you got to get out of there. And then, so, I get out of there and I'm like text my friends, I make sure -- this is my roommate. So, you got to make sure that he's okay. My other roommate is back there. So, it's more of just you had to take care of yourself first and once you got out of there and you got where the police led you to, then you were -- then it was a procedure texting friends and family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A campus wide lockdown has been lifted but Michigan State has canceled classes and all activities for the next two days.
Ukraine's defense minister will soon be sitting down with his counterparts from NATO for a two-day meeting in Brussels. He wants to focus on protecting Ukrainian skies, building the tank coalition and preserving military support. All that to take place as intense fighting rages in eastern Ukraine, including in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut.
And CNN correspondents are tracking the latest developments for us. Scott McLean is live for us in London and Nic Robertson is standing by in Warsaw, Poland. So, Nic, what can we expect from this upcoming NATO meeting?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We can expect from the Ukrainians that they will continue their push requesting fighter jets. It's beginning to gain a little traction. No country is committing. No country is saying that it's completely off the table, but they're not -- they don't appear to be moving very fast towards a decision.
There will be -- we'll hear from the NATO secretary general as we heard from him yesterday, a call for NATO's member nations to increase the ammunition production. Yesterday he said that Ukraine is using more ammunition than the NATO partners are actually producing at the moment and that's not a sustainable situation when you are in a war of attrition against Russia that has vast stockpiles of ammunition and equipment. So, there likely be a quest to move forward on that.
[03:34:58]
We'll also probably hear from the Polish defense minister outlying Poland's choice that the best way to train the Ukrainian crews on Leopard 2 tanks is sort of divide into two brigades if you will. The more modern V6 version that some nations are providing along with the version that Poland is providing, the V4 version, to build for Poland to lead the way in training and getting Ukrainian troops ready with that particular version of tank.
We also heard from Poland's president yesterday who was sort of watching some of the first of the Ukrainian troops getting training on the Leopard 2 tanks her in Poland saying that he hopes that the United States will contribute to that brigade, version four brigade with the U.S. Abrams tanks.
The training here that's underway for the Ukrainian troops, part of a larger structure that will probably get this broader discussion at NATO headquarters, but it is an accelerated training program. The Polish officer in charge of part of the training along with Norwegian and Canadian training officers said that the normal training speed is about eight hours a day, five days a week for operative. At the moment, they're giving the Ukrainian troops 12 hours a day, six days a week and they hope to have those crews ready within a month.
CHURCH: And Scott, what is the latest on that intense fighting on the frontlines?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rosemary. Yeah, the latest update that we have from the Ukrainians is that over the last 24-hour period between airstrikes, rockets and missiles, there are about 90 bombs dropped by the Russians on Ukrainian territory and things appear to be particularly difficult in Bakhmut. This town that has taken on this outsized importance on the front lines, in part because it is so, so well-fortified.
The Ukrainians have called it an unwinnable fortress, but as of late, it is coming under increased Russian pressure. That is not new. The Russians have tried and failed to take it for months now about what is new, is that they appear to be making progress. There is now fighting house to house in the actual town, and according to our CNN team on the ground and also military sources in the area, it also appears that there are supply lines that are being cut off by the Russians at this point.
The Russians are also making some progress in trying to surround the town, having claimed to have captured a nearby town called Krasna Hora, just a few miles to the north of Bakhmut. But a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military says that plainly that is not true. The battle continues there they say and that there is still ongoing fighting, that the Ukrainians are in fact in control. But what the military is acknowledging is that the Russians do have
access to actually strike the supply routes in and out of Bakhmut making things particularly difficult. All of these will surely color the tone of the discussions that Nic mentioned taking place in Brussels today. You have the NATO secretary general yesterday calling on weapons shipments to be accelerated because in part, the spring offensive that Ukraine has been warning about his starting already.
And that the Russians in his view are able to sort of use their size in numbers advantage where they lack in quality. And one good example of that is the town of Vuhledar in southern Donetsk region. There are plenty of examples caught on video showing really basic strategic blunders that have been criticized even by Russian military bloggers.
Troops and tanks tried to approach this elevated town straight on and essentially being mowed down by the Ukrainians. One military blogger said that it was like shooting turkeys at a shooting range. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, Nic Robertson, Scott McLean, many thanks to you both for joining us.
And still to come, a couple of winter storms are expected to impact the western United States today. We will go to the CNN Weather Center for details.
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[03:40:00]
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. More on the mass shooting at Michigan State University. Police say the suspect has died from a self- inflicted gunshot wound. This was the scene on Monday. At least three people were killed and five others are now hospitalized in critical condition. Police say there is no longer threat to the campus and a shelter-in-place order has been lifted.
Authorities released this photo of the suspect earlier. They say he was a 43-year-old man who had no affiliation with the university, but the motive for the shooting is still unknown.
High wind alerts have been issued by the National Weather Service for much of southern and eastern United States, and comes as we're monitoring two winter storm systems that are impacting parts of western U.S. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the details. Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey Rosey (ph). You know, the meteorologists at the CNN weather center are monitoring two separate storm systems that will impact the country from west to east many locations feeling the impact of these storms. I'll do my best to differentiate between the two because they are indeed two completely different storms.
There is the first low pressure, kind of tracking through the four corners region. Lots of snow throughout the area and that's going to move towards the upper Midwest through the next 24 hours bringing a rain-snow mix depending on where you're located. [03:45:02]
The other low pressure and associated cold front kind of enter in the equation across the Pacific northwest. This is the secondary storm that's a little bit more powerful and will bring us the chance of severe weather across the nation's midsection, come to middle to second half of the work week.
In fact, you can kind of differentiate and separate the two storms with our winter weather alerts. The first storm, again, moving through the four corners. It's got its eyes set on the upper Midwest. That's where we have winter storm watches in place. The secondary storm system, the more powerful storm, moving across the Pacific Northwest bringing snowfall with winter weather alerts, stretching from Billings to Portland.
Lots of energy associated with these two separate systems and we have over 70 million Americans with a high wind alert. It does include St. Louis, Dallas, all the way to El Paso and Los Angeles. Lots of rain, too. You can see on the warm side of the storm, showers through the middle of the week from Chicago to St. Louis.
There is a snow on the cold side of the first storm. And then the snow piles up once again across the Colorado Rockies and throughout the Pacific Northwest. You can see the first, kind of, storm moving through and then our secondary more powerful storm system that's going to interact with warm, humid air.
And we all know what happens when that takes place. We get that collision of air masses and severe weather chances start to go up. We have a slight risk of isolated tornado activity, damaging winds and large hale, Memphis to Shreveport and Little Rock. This is for Wednesday. But let me point you in the direction of Thursday. More -- several tornadoes I should say, according to the Worthington Storm Prediction Center where you see the shading of yellow. That includes the Gulf Coast all the way to the Ohio River Valley as a cold arctic blast of air settles in. It will be short lived but nonetheless, you will feel it in places like Chicago, New York as well as Detroit. Rosemary, back to you.
CHURCH: Thank you so much, Derek. Well, passengers on a flight from Hawaii endured a terrifying incident when their plane started plunging toward the water just after takeoff. Details on what happened and what federal investigators are saying. That's next.
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[03:50:00]
CHURCH: Back to one of our top stories. This hour, at least three people have been killed at Michigan State University after a mass shooting on campus. Five victims are wounded and have been hospitalized in critical condition. Authorities say that the suspect was a 43-year-old man who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They say he was not affiliated with the university and have not yet
determined a motive for the shooting. Over the next two days, classes will be canceled as police investigate.
A United Airlines flight from Hawaii took a terrifying plunge, nearly nosediving into the ocean shortly after takeoff. It happened in December, but it's just now coming to light. And some of the passengers are describing their experience. CNN's Gabe Cohen has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another alarming incident in U.S. aviation. A United 777 diving toward the ocean just after takeoff.
UNKNOWN: It certainly felt like a rollercoaster.
COHEN (voice-over): Rod Williams was traveling home from vacation with his family.
UNKNOWN: It's one of those things where you start counting your blessings, you start, you know, asking yourself is this the last time that you're going to see your family?
COHEN (voice-over): The flight takes off from Maui December 18th, climbs 2,200 feet, then suddenly plunges 1,400 feet towards the ocean, falling for 21 seconds, reaching just 775 feet above sea level before abruptly leveling out and rapidly ascending once again. The plane, which can carry more than 300 passengers, was mostly full according to Williams.
(ON camera): What did pilots tell the passengers?
UKNOWN: They got on the intercom and simply said, well, ladies and gentlemen, you probably felt a couple of jeez on that one and everything is going to be fine. It's going to be okay.
COHEN (voice-over): The crew itself reported the incident after landing safely in San Francisco according to the FAA. After its investigation, the pilots who have a combined 25,000 hours of flight time received additional training, but neither the FAA nor United will say why the pilots ended up in a dive, telling CNN those safety investigations are confidential.
LES ABEND, RETIRED 777 PILOT: They are being directed to prevent this behavior from happening again, which indicates to me that something occurred that could've been prevented by the crew.
COHEN (voice-over): Les Abend is a retired 777 captain from a major airline.
(On camera): What might have happened here?
ABEND: There are numerous things that could happen, Gabe, in the cockpit that would cause a distraction. And they may have unintentionally lost control of the airplane to the extent that the altitude decayed (ph).
COHEN (voice-over): It's unclear if weather played a role with the severe storm pounding parts of Hawaii that day.
UNKNOWN: It was torrential.
COHEN (voice-over): Hours earlier, 36 people were injured during extreme turbulence on board a Hawaiian Air flight approaching Honolulu after a cloud shot up in front of an airplane in a matter of seconds and there wasn't enough time to avoid it, according to the NTSB. It's been a rough few months for the aviation world, from cancellations to system meltdowns, two near collisions in New York and Austin, and now this mysterious incident with little explanation.
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(On camera): And this Wednesday, the FAA's acting administrator is set to testify in front of the Senate Commerce Committee about all of these recent problems.
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And a spokesperson for that committee tells CNN that this incident will likely come up during that questioning. Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: And I want to thank you for your company and I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo, next.
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