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Club Patrons Crushed in Deadly Stampede

Aired February 17, 2003 - 13:13   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Another top story we've been following, a cloud of pepper spray and mace in a packed Chicago nightclub. The patrons panic and stampede. At least 21 people are killed and dozens more injured.
Jim Wagner, of CLTV live in Chicago now.

Jim, what can you tell us?

JIM WAGNER, CLTV REPORTER: Well, Kyra, we have now learned that when authorities arrived here at about 2:00 a.m. Central Time this morning, they discovered the doors in the back of the building locked, and in some places blocked by certain items on the inside. They had to pry those doors open in order to begin rescue operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our preliminary investigation of the building shows a number of fire code violations. Our investigation will be ongoing. Most of the fire code violations that we found were related to locked and blocked doors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGNER: Well, meantime here at the scene, people are starting to come and lay flowers, and also some people here scrambling to identify the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just killing me. It's just totally killing me.

WAGNER (voice-over): Chicagoan Darrel Bell (ph) desperately trying to find his daughter, 25-year-old Daria Bell (ph). He says no matter what, she calls him every morning at 9:00 sharp. This morning, no phone call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tried to call her girlfriends, all of her friends. Nobody has answered the phones. I don't know what's happening. She was here last night. I know she was here. She was here.

WAGNER: Bell (ph) says his daughter was among some 1,500 people inside the club Epitome on South Michigan Avenue when the melee began around 2:00 a.m. Clubgoers say a fight broke out. Witnesses say security sprayed mace. Some in the crowd went into a panic, and people running towards the exits, trampling (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the process.

Firefighters say three people were dead on the scene, but knew more would follow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is probably going to be more fatalities once they get to the hospitals and the hospitals work on them for a while. We knew there were people were in a life-threatening condition when they left here.

WAGNER: A fire prevention team is on-hand investigating whether everything was up to code, because witnesses say with 1,500 people inside the club at the time, there was only one stairwell to get down from the second floor.

In the meantime, Darrell Bell (ph) says he's checking hospitals and praying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just do what I can right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to try to find her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to try to find her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGNER: Well, authorities say as far as past code violations go, this particular business has been hit with them, but not in a quote, "overwhelming nature."

Chicago police superintendent Terry Hillard (ph) saying they are working very hard right now to make sure this never happens again here. And with 21 people now dead and confirmed dead by Chicago police here, he says the investigation is going to be lengthy and very complicated.

Live in Chicago, I'm Jim Wagner.

Back to you in Atlanta -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Jim, really quickly, the use of pepper spray and mace, can you just give us a few more details on that?

WAGNER: Well, according to the press conference they had just a little while ago, Kyra, they're still trying to determine whether it was actually mace, whether it was actually pepper spray, and who actually sprayed it up into the air. All of the witnesses say that the security people on duty at the time sprayed it, but Chicago police saying they are interviewing a lot of people right now to try to get to the bottom of that very question -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jim Wagner, live from Chicago -- thank you.

WAGNER: You bet.

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 February 17, 2003 - 13:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Another top story we've been following, a cloud of pepper spray and mace in a packed Chicago nightclub. The patrons panic and stampede. At least 21 people are killed and dozens more injured.
Jim Wagner, of CLTV live in Chicago now.

Jim, what can you tell us?

JIM WAGNER, CLTV REPORTER: Well, Kyra, we have now learned that when authorities arrived here at about 2:00 a.m. Central Time this morning, they discovered the doors in the back of the building locked, and in some places blocked by certain items on the inside. They had to pry those doors open in order to begin rescue operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our preliminary investigation of the building shows a number of fire code violations. Our investigation will be ongoing. Most of the fire code violations that we found were related to locked and blocked doors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGNER: Well, meantime here at the scene, people are starting to come and lay flowers, and also some people here scrambling to identify the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just killing me. It's just totally killing me.

WAGNER (voice-over): Chicagoan Darrel Bell (ph) desperately trying to find his daughter, 25-year-old Daria Bell (ph). He says no matter what, she calls him every morning at 9:00 sharp. This morning, no phone call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tried to call her girlfriends, all of her friends. Nobody has answered the phones. I don't know what's happening. She was here last night. I know she was here. She was here.

WAGNER: Bell (ph) says his daughter was among some 1,500 people inside the club Epitome on South Michigan Avenue when the melee began around 2:00 a.m. Clubgoers say a fight broke out. Witnesses say security sprayed mace. Some in the crowd went into a panic, and people running towards the exits, trampling (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the process.

Firefighters say three people were dead on the scene, but knew more would follow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is probably going to be more fatalities once they get to the hospitals and the hospitals work on them for a while. We knew there were people were in a life-threatening condition when they left here.

WAGNER: A fire prevention team is on-hand investigating whether everything was up to code, because witnesses say with 1,500 people inside the club at the time, there was only one stairwell to get down from the second floor.

In the meantime, Darrell Bell (ph) says he's checking hospitals and praying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just do what I can right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to try to find her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to try to find her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGNER: Well, authorities say as far as past code violations go, this particular business has been hit with them, but not in a quote, "overwhelming nature."

Chicago police superintendent Terry Hillard (ph) saying they are working very hard right now to make sure this never happens again here. And with 21 people now dead and confirmed dead by Chicago police here, he says the investigation is going to be lengthy and very complicated.

Live in Chicago, I'm Jim Wagner.

Back to you in Atlanta -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Jim, really quickly, the use of pepper spray and mace, can you just give us a few more details on that?

WAGNER: Well, according to the press conference they had just a little while ago, Kyra, they're still trying to determine whether it was actually mace, whether it was actually pepper spray, and who actually sprayed it up into the air. All of the witnesses say that the security people on duty at the time sprayed it, but Chicago police saying they are interviewing a lot of people right now to try to get to the bottom of that very question -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jim Wagner, live from Chicago -- thank you.

WAGNER: You bet.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.