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American Morning
In Paris, Deadly Shooting Rampage Has Left Eight People Dead
Aired March 27, 2002 - 07:20 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We turn now to Paris, France, where a deadly shooting rampage has left eight people dead and about 30 others injured. Early this morning in a suburb of Paris, a man opened fire with automatic pistols at a city council meeting. He got off as many as 50 shots before he was eventually apprehended. Police and firefighters, including a visiting group of New York City firefighters, rushed to the aid of the many who were wounded.
Manhattan fireman Dennis Collopy and George Ideart were in Paris on a training mission, and the shooting occurred on the first night out with their French colleagues. They join us this morning live from Paris to tell us more about what they witnessed.
Dennis and George, welcome to the broadcast. Nice to have you with us. Tell us what went on last night.
DENNIS COLLOPY, NYC FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well we were observing with the Paris Fire Department, and we went to the scene and we just, as I said, observed the operations of the Paris Fire Department.
CAFFERTY: Were you asked to assist in any way? Did you get involved, or did you simply observe what they were doing?
COLLOPY: No, we just watched what they were doing. They had everything well in hand. It was a surreal scene; it was unbelievably quiet, you know, with what had just occurred. And everybody was just going about their business taking care of the victims.
CAFFERTY: Was it reminiscent at all, George, of some of the things you guys saw here in New York City four or five months ago? I'm looking at some tape that we're running on the air here, and it looks as though it was kind of foggy or hazy, almost like that day after the World Trade Center situation.
GEORGE IDEART, NYC FIRE DEPARTMENT: I don't hear you very well, but I think you asked about how this compared to the World Trade Center, or...
CAFFERTY: Right, just the scene -- right.
IDEART: Is that your question?
CAFFERTY: Yes. IDEART: This was obviously a very tragic occurrence. And there were -- there were a lot of people injured. And we observed the Paris Fire Brigade doing their triage and their -- taking care of the survivors. And this coming close after the World Trade Center for us is not the same, because we really didn't have -- at the World Trade Center -- any real survivors.
CAFFERTY: Right.
IDEART: But we -- as Dennis said, we observed the operations. They operate a little differently than the New York City Fire Department as far as the way they actually -- they actually have doctors on the scene who treat the -- and do extensive treatment of the patients at the scene. And we were quite impressed with their professionalism, their training and the way they operated in a very calm and efficient manner.
CAFFERTY: Dennis, we mentioned in the introduction that you're over there on a training mission now. What exactly is the purpose of your trip there?
COLLOPY: Well we're here at the invitation of the Paris Fire Department to bring family members of our deceased firefighters from the World Trade Center. They're going to participate in the parade on July 14th, Bastille Day. And also we're here to create a partnership in training with the Paris Fire Department.
CAFFERTY: How much longer do you plan to be over there?
COLLOPY: We'll be here until Friday afternoon. And then hopefully we'll be back some time in July to help run the program.
CAFFERTY: All right. Gentlemen, let's hope that the rest of your trip to France is a little less eventful than the last 24 hours have been. I appreciate you joining us this morning. Dennis Collopy and George Ideart, live from Paris, two members of the New York City Fire Department.
Just to recap, they were with members of the Paris Fire Department when a bizarre shooting broke out following a city council meeting. A gunman squeezed off 50 rounds, killed eight people, wounded 30 others. And these two gentlemen, along with the rest of the contingent from New York, who had gone through all that this city has experienced, suddenly were thrust right back into the middle of a major emergency last night. But they were not called upon to participate, rather they did observe. And they were kind enough to share their experiences with us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: They're awfully lucky they didn't get hurt.
CAFFERTY: Oh, boy.
ZAHN: All right, Jack, thanks.
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