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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Elaine Shannon, Bernard Vittone
Aired October 12, 2002 - 18:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For the latest on the sniper shootings, we're going to go to Bill Hemmer right now who's in Montgomery County, Maryland, who is with -- also I believe joined by "TIME" magazine's Elaine Shannon and an anxiety expert -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah -- great topics to discuss here, Anderson. Hello, again. I want to bring in Elaine Shannon quickly from "Time" magazine -- we talked in the last hour here.
Before we get to anxiety -- and I'll explain to viewers why you're going to be a part of that in a moment -- tell us your reaction about the release of the photograph -- the composite, I should say, Elaine.
ELAINE SHANNON, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, this is a truck that wasn't sited in Virginia so you ask, "Why are they releasing what witnesses think they saw in Maryland?"
Well, I think if they found this truck abandoned they might be able to find fingerprints, they might be able to find ballistics evidence or they could find pieces of paper. They would certainly have a vehicle identification number that could tell them who bought that truck, who owned it, if it was stolen where from. And that might give you something about the killer.
HEMMER: A couple of things -- this only deals with Montgomery County -- the cases here -- nowhere else is this truck -- apparently does it deal with.
SHANNON: Yeah.
HEMMER: And the other thing is they have more than one witness -- perhaps several. They didn't give us a number but . . .
SHANNON: That's important because look around here. You hear a shot ring out, you see some vehicles but is that the right vehicle?
But if they have multiple witnesses that gives us more sureness.
HEMMER: Yeah. We're going to go to a psychiatrist right now -- Dr. Bernard Vittone is down in our D.C. bureau. And, Doctor, I want to say good evening to you.
We want to change our focus here just a bit to essentially community reaction -- the mentality of those who stay indoors as opposed to going outdoors. And just as a jumping off point, perhaps you could, as a psychiatrist, give us a sense for what people feel and fear knowing that what they're experiencing right now is such a part of the unknown.
BERNARD VITTONE, ANXIETY EXPERT: There's a pervasive anxiety going through people in the D.C. area that I've never seen before.
Everyone I've talked to is nervous and some people are terrified to the extent of being afraid to leave their houses. They can't sleep at night, they can't go to work, they can't function -- especially people that live near where that cluster of initial shootings occurred.
HEMMER: Tell us this -- why is it that some people go to work, carry on with their lives and other people stay indoors? What's the difference in how they approach it?
VITTONE: It's how personally they take it. Some people are able to distance themselves from it and assume it's just happening to other people. Other people just feel that they're going to be the next victim. And some people take these incidents much more personally than other people.
HEMMER: I want to bring in Elaine Shannon. She lives in Montgomery County. You're a mother. How many children?
SHANNON: I have one 13 year old who's dying to get back on the soccer field.
HEMMER: Is that right?
SHANNON: Yeah.
HEMMER: A bit stir crazy? Your question to the doctor then as a mother is what?
SHANNON: Well, how do you talk to your kids? What do you say? Different ages you have to say different things.
I've heard of young kids wanting to know what it's like when you're shot.
HEMMER: What then, Doctor, is the advice you give?
VITTONE: I think you have to be honest with the kids that there is some degree of danger out there but you have to help the children put it in perspective.
The degree is truly minuscule.
In fact, I tell this to all of my patients that ones chances of getting hurt or killed in a car accident are considerably greater even over the same 10 day period than getting hit by the sniper. People have to keep this in perspective. And people don't let it get in the way about living their normal lives as far as driving. And by the same token I think they have to as much as possible taking some precautions try to live their normal lives when it comes to the sniper.
HEMMER: And it appears to me that a lot of people take this to different degrees. And they take the advice to different degrees as well. And based on that advice they offer their own response.
Elaine, what do you tell your kids?
SHANNON: As the doctor says, I've been very honest. How can you hide anything from kids when they know they're not going out to the playing fields? They know that their dances have been canceled. They know that car pools have changed.
And the best thing you can do is tell them that they're safe.
HEMMER: Doctor, does it change then over time? Let's say, for example, this story does not wrap up tomorrow or even next week but it continues to go on maybe weeks -- maybe as long as a month. At that point does your advice change?
VITTONE: My advice still wouldn't change because it's, again, in the last 10 days odds are 20 people have been killed in car accidents as opposed to by the sniper. Odds are people will gradually get desensitized.
I think it's going to escalate for awhile -- the anxiety. But then after awhile just as with cars we're all going to become somewhat desensitized about it.
One saw the same thing after 9/11 where people were terrified at first and became desensitized as time went on.
HEMMER: Interesting. We hear from people with a high level of anxiety right now throughout the area. They mention 9/11 as the only thing they say that compares to what they're feeling with their senses now. Doctor, thanks. Doctor Bernard Vittone, down in D.C. -- a psychiatrist -- for his insights.
And as a mother and a colleague, Elaine Shannon, from "Time Magazine." Thanks, Elaine.
More when we get it, Anderson. Back to you now at the CNN Center.
COOPER: All right, Bill -- we'll be talking to you basically all night long. Thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 12, 2002 - 18:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For the latest on the sniper shootings, we're going to go to Bill Hemmer right now who's in Montgomery County, Maryland, who is with -- also I believe joined by "TIME" magazine's Elaine Shannon and an anxiety expert -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah -- great topics to discuss here, Anderson. Hello, again. I want to bring in Elaine Shannon quickly from "Time" magazine -- we talked in the last hour here.
Before we get to anxiety -- and I'll explain to viewers why you're going to be a part of that in a moment -- tell us your reaction about the release of the photograph -- the composite, I should say, Elaine.
ELAINE SHANNON, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, this is a truck that wasn't sited in Virginia so you ask, "Why are they releasing what witnesses think they saw in Maryland?"
Well, I think if they found this truck abandoned they might be able to find fingerprints, they might be able to find ballistics evidence or they could find pieces of paper. They would certainly have a vehicle identification number that could tell them who bought that truck, who owned it, if it was stolen where from. And that might give you something about the killer.
HEMMER: A couple of things -- this only deals with Montgomery County -- the cases here -- nowhere else is this truck -- apparently does it deal with.
SHANNON: Yeah.
HEMMER: And the other thing is they have more than one witness -- perhaps several. They didn't give us a number but . . .
SHANNON: That's important because look around here. You hear a shot ring out, you see some vehicles but is that the right vehicle?
But if they have multiple witnesses that gives us more sureness.
HEMMER: Yeah. We're going to go to a psychiatrist right now -- Dr. Bernard Vittone is down in our D.C. bureau. And, Doctor, I want to say good evening to you.
We want to change our focus here just a bit to essentially community reaction -- the mentality of those who stay indoors as opposed to going outdoors. And just as a jumping off point, perhaps you could, as a psychiatrist, give us a sense for what people feel and fear knowing that what they're experiencing right now is such a part of the unknown.
BERNARD VITTONE, ANXIETY EXPERT: There's a pervasive anxiety going through people in the D.C. area that I've never seen before.
Everyone I've talked to is nervous and some people are terrified to the extent of being afraid to leave their houses. They can't sleep at night, they can't go to work, they can't function -- especially people that live near where that cluster of initial shootings occurred.
HEMMER: Tell us this -- why is it that some people go to work, carry on with their lives and other people stay indoors? What's the difference in how they approach it?
VITTONE: It's how personally they take it. Some people are able to distance themselves from it and assume it's just happening to other people. Other people just feel that they're going to be the next victim. And some people take these incidents much more personally than other people.
HEMMER: I want to bring in Elaine Shannon. She lives in Montgomery County. You're a mother. How many children?
SHANNON: I have one 13 year old who's dying to get back on the soccer field.
HEMMER: Is that right?
SHANNON: Yeah.
HEMMER: A bit stir crazy? Your question to the doctor then as a mother is what?
SHANNON: Well, how do you talk to your kids? What do you say? Different ages you have to say different things.
I've heard of young kids wanting to know what it's like when you're shot.
HEMMER: What then, Doctor, is the advice you give?
VITTONE: I think you have to be honest with the kids that there is some degree of danger out there but you have to help the children put it in perspective.
The degree is truly minuscule.
In fact, I tell this to all of my patients that ones chances of getting hurt or killed in a car accident are considerably greater even over the same 10 day period than getting hit by the sniper. People have to keep this in perspective. And people don't let it get in the way about living their normal lives as far as driving. And by the same token I think they have to as much as possible taking some precautions try to live their normal lives when it comes to the sniper.
HEMMER: And it appears to me that a lot of people take this to different degrees. And they take the advice to different degrees as well. And based on that advice they offer their own response.
Elaine, what do you tell your kids?
SHANNON: As the doctor says, I've been very honest. How can you hide anything from kids when they know they're not going out to the playing fields? They know that their dances have been canceled. They know that car pools have changed.
And the best thing you can do is tell them that they're safe.
HEMMER: Doctor, does it change then over time? Let's say, for example, this story does not wrap up tomorrow or even next week but it continues to go on maybe weeks -- maybe as long as a month. At that point does your advice change?
VITTONE: My advice still wouldn't change because it's, again, in the last 10 days odds are 20 people have been killed in car accidents as opposed to by the sniper. Odds are people will gradually get desensitized.
I think it's going to escalate for awhile -- the anxiety. But then after awhile just as with cars we're all going to become somewhat desensitized about it.
One saw the same thing after 9/11 where people were terrified at first and became desensitized as time went on.
HEMMER: Interesting. We hear from people with a high level of anxiety right now throughout the area. They mention 9/11 as the only thing they say that compares to what they're feeling with their senses now. Doctor, thanks. Doctor Bernard Vittone, down in D.C. -- a psychiatrist -- for his insights.
And as a mother and a colleague, Elaine Shannon, from "Time Magazine." Thanks, Elaine.
More when we get it, Anderson. Back to you now at the CNN Center.
COOPER: All right, Bill -- we'll be talking to you basically all night long. Thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
