Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Nightclub Tragedy

Aired February 17, 2003 - 08:46   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Panic leads to tragedy at a nightclub on the South Side of Chicago. At least 21 people killed in a stampede. Police say a disturbance prompted hundreds inside the dance club to rush for exits, but they couldn't find their way out.
Let's go to Marcella Raymond of affiliate WGN in Chicago for the very latest on that.

Good morning again -- Marcella.

MARCELLA RAYMOND, WGN-TV REPORTER: Good morning, Paula.

That death toll has continued to rise throughout the morning. As you say now, 21 dead. We've got 5 to 10 more who are critically injured and about 30 other injuries. One witness tells me the scene here early this morning was like a scene from Titanic, everybody trying to get down a staircase and out the front door.

It started at about 2:00 this morning when a fight broke out between three women. Security guards tried to break that up and they sprayed a combination of mace and pepper spray on the women. That caused many people to get sick, some were vomiting, some were passing out. That triggered panic throughout the second floor of this building. Everyone trying to get out down that one staircase that was inside. People were being trampled as those 1,500 patients stamped -- patrons stampeded towards the front door.

Witnesses just say it was mayhem. People falling all over each other. At one point, one tells me, there were 30 to 40 people who were crushing a woman who was pregnant. It was just horrible. Lots of people trying to help those who were down. They were giving ice and water, trying to get people out, holding hands, trying to keep them calm throughout this whole thing until the fire department could get here. They did get here quickly. They tried to control the scene, taking people out, giving them oxygen, giving CPR to dozens of those who were injured. It was just a horrible scene.

And, Paula, what makes it even more tragic is that the fire department says the back door to this club was locked at the time. They had to physically break it down to let some of these people out. So that could have contributed to even more of these deaths and injuries as well. But it is a tragic scene here and it's expected to get -- the injury toll and the death toll expected to rise as well this morning. ZAHN: So sorry to hear that. But based on what you're saying, it sounds like the second-guessing of the police is about to begin and the police actions and what they may have sparked?

RAYMOND: Exactly. I mean what is going to happen now is an investigation in to really why this back door was locked and what the security guards did to, some say, induce this panic. So there is definitely -- this is not over. There's definitely going to be a long investigation here. The people who own this building are going to have a lot of hard questions to answer as well.

ZAHN: Marcella Raymond, thank you very much for giving us a live update here on AMERICAN MORNING.

RAYMOND: You're welcome (ph).

ZAHN: We took her away from her normal job at WGN.

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 - 08:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Panic leads to tragedy at a nightclub on the South Side of Chicago. At least 21 people killed in a stampede. Police say a disturbance prompted hundreds inside the dance club to rush for exits, but they couldn't find their way out.
Let's go to Marcella Raymond of affiliate WGN in Chicago for the very latest on that.

Good morning again -- Marcella.

MARCELLA RAYMOND, WGN-TV REPORTER: Good morning, Paula.

That death toll has continued to rise throughout the morning. As you say now, 21 dead. We've got 5 to 10 more who are critically injured and about 30 other injuries. One witness tells me the scene here early this morning was like a scene from Titanic, everybody trying to get down a staircase and out the front door.

It started at about 2:00 this morning when a fight broke out between three women. Security guards tried to break that up and they sprayed a combination of mace and pepper spray on the women. That caused many people to get sick, some were vomiting, some were passing out. That triggered panic throughout the second floor of this building. Everyone trying to get out down that one staircase that was inside. People were being trampled as those 1,500 patients stamped -- patrons stampeded towards the front door.

Witnesses just say it was mayhem. People falling all over each other. At one point, one tells me, there were 30 to 40 people who were crushing a woman who was pregnant. It was just horrible. Lots of people trying to help those who were down. They were giving ice and water, trying to get people out, holding hands, trying to keep them calm throughout this whole thing until the fire department could get here. They did get here quickly. They tried to control the scene, taking people out, giving them oxygen, giving CPR to dozens of those who were injured. It was just a horrible scene.

And, Paula, what makes it even more tragic is that the fire department says the back door to this club was locked at the time. They had to physically break it down to let some of these people out. So that could have contributed to even more of these deaths and injuries as well. But it is a tragic scene here and it's expected to get -- the injury toll and the death toll expected to rise as well this morning. ZAHN: So sorry to hear that. But based on what you're saying, it sounds like the second-guessing of the police is about to begin and the police actions and what they may have sparked?

RAYMOND: Exactly. I mean what is going to happen now is an investigation in to really why this back door was locked and what the security guards did to, some say, induce this panic. So there is definitely -- this is not over. There's definitely going to be a long investigation here. The people who own this building are going to have a lot of hard questions to answer as well.

ZAHN: Marcella Raymond, thank you very much for giving us a live update here on AMERICAN MORNING.

RAYMOND: You're welcome (ph).

ZAHN: We took her away from her normal job at WGN.

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