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American Morning

More on Explosion at Yale University

Aired May 22, 2003 - 08:05   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: More on that explosion at Yale University, the law school there. The investigation right now as to who was behind it. No one injured, but nerves definitely rattled there.
From New Haven with us today, the city's mayor, John Destefano, is with us, and Linda Lorimer, the vice president and secretary of Yale University.

Thanks for your time this morning and good morning there.

MAYOR JOHN DESTEFANO, NEW HAVEN MAYOR: Good morning.

LINDA LORIMER, VICE PRESIDENT & SECRETARY, YALE UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

HEMMER: Mr. Mayor, bring us up to date. What is new today?

DESTEFANO: What's new is still no one got hurt. We did have an explosive device. The campus at this time of year is pretty quiet. Classes are over. Most exams are over. There were folks in the law school. The law school complex is residential as well as having classrooms. This happened in a classroom. There were no secondary devices. The scene has been turned over for the investigation now and they'll be figuring out who did this.

HEMMER: What is the chief concern right now for FBI investigators on the scene there?

DESTEFANO: I think their concern is to find out what happened. Where we are with this right now is making sure that folks feel comfortable to come up here, there's no reason not to, and to tell people what this was, which was a limited event.

HEMMER: Yes, Ms. Lorimer, has there been a claim in any way of responsibility?

LORIMER: There's been no claim that we have heard of, before the fact or after the fact.

DESTEFANO: And there's no suggestion, quite frankly, here that this is connected to anything having to do with the orange alert level or terrorist activities. Law enforcement officials certainly haven't ruled it out, but there is nothing in the character event, there was no one speaking on campus, there was no forum on Mideast issues going on. It was an empty classroom. HEMMER: I think that's an excellent point to underscore and I appreciate you bringing that to our attention yet again today. I'm curious to know, have you, either of you known from investigators, was there a timing device on this explosion?

DESTEFANO: That law enforcement officials are not commenting on. There was some reports that it was gas, there were some reports that it was a mail device. None of those are accurate.

HEMMER: Ms. Lorimer, had there been any threats directed at the school in recent memory?

LORIMER: No, there are no threats that I'm aware of in my 25 years here directed toward the law school.

HEMMER: Yes.

A wall was blown out. Have you been given an indication as to how much explosive was packed into this?

DESTEFANO: You know, what happened was there was an explosion in a classroom and it pushed a wall over into the adjacent lounge and a lot of portraits were knocked off the wall. You know, going into the room, I mean it was clearly an explosion that happened. But there was no structural damage, no bearing walls blown out or anything like that.

HEMMER: Yes, Ms....

LORIMER: Not even the windows were blown out.

HEMMER: Not even the windows, huh?

LORIMER: No.

DESTEFANO: No.

HEMMER: Does that indicate that there was not that much power packed in here?

DESTEFANO: Look, you know, it was an explosion. We take it seriously. We're treating it seriously. Law enforcement doesn't want to comment yet on the character of the device.

HEMMER: I understand.

Listen, I want to let you go here. But Ms. Lorimer, what is the mood right now at Yale after this?

LORIMER: Well, obviously, this is a very disquieting event. But the Yale community rallies, as it always does. We have moved the examinations scheduled for the law school building to another location and most of the students and family will be getting ready for commencement next week.

HEMMER: Yes, one final shot, Mr. Mayor. Reports yesterday a package explosive. Do you have any more on that?

DESTEFANO: It was not a package explosive that we could see. The mail room was on a different floor. I mean the suggestion is something was placed in the vacant classroom.

HEMMER: John Destefano, the mayor, Linda Lorimer of Yale University, thank you.

Best of luck to you, all right?

DESTEFANO: Thanks, guys.

LORIMER: Thank you.

HEMMER: Stay safe this weekend.

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 May 22, 2003 - 08:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: More on that explosion at Yale University, the law school there. The investigation right now as to who was behind it. No one injured, but nerves definitely rattled there.
From New Haven with us today, the city's mayor, John Destefano, is with us, and Linda Lorimer, the vice president and secretary of Yale University.

Thanks for your time this morning and good morning there.

MAYOR JOHN DESTEFANO, NEW HAVEN MAYOR: Good morning.

LINDA LORIMER, VICE PRESIDENT & SECRETARY, YALE UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

HEMMER: Mr. Mayor, bring us up to date. What is new today?

DESTEFANO: What's new is still no one got hurt. We did have an explosive device. The campus at this time of year is pretty quiet. Classes are over. Most exams are over. There were folks in the law school. The law school complex is residential as well as having classrooms. This happened in a classroom. There were no secondary devices. The scene has been turned over for the investigation now and they'll be figuring out who did this.

HEMMER: What is the chief concern right now for FBI investigators on the scene there?

DESTEFANO: I think their concern is to find out what happened. Where we are with this right now is making sure that folks feel comfortable to come up here, there's no reason not to, and to tell people what this was, which was a limited event.

HEMMER: Yes, Ms. Lorimer, has there been a claim in any way of responsibility?

LORIMER: There's been no claim that we have heard of, before the fact or after the fact.

DESTEFANO: And there's no suggestion, quite frankly, here that this is connected to anything having to do with the orange alert level or terrorist activities. Law enforcement officials certainly haven't ruled it out, but there is nothing in the character event, there was no one speaking on campus, there was no forum on Mideast issues going on. It was an empty classroom. HEMMER: I think that's an excellent point to underscore and I appreciate you bringing that to our attention yet again today. I'm curious to know, have you, either of you known from investigators, was there a timing device on this explosion?

DESTEFANO: That law enforcement officials are not commenting on. There was some reports that it was gas, there were some reports that it was a mail device. None of those are accurate.

HEMMER: Ms. Lorimer, had there been any threats directed at the school in recent memory?

LORIMER: No, there are no threats that I'm aware of in my 25 years here directed toward the law school.

HEMMER: Yes.

A wall was blown out. Have you been given an indication as to how much explosive was packed into this?

DESTEFANO: You know, what happened was there was an explosion in a classroom and it pushed a wall over into the adjacent lounge and a lot of portraits were knocked off the wall. You know, going into the room, I mean it was clearly an explosion that happened. But there was no structural damage, no bearing walls blown out or anything like that.

HEMMER: Yes, Ms....

LORIMER: Not even the windows were blown out.

HEMMER: Not even the windows, huh?

LORIMER: No.

DESTEFANO: No.

HEMMER: Does that indicate that there was not that much power packed in here?

DESTEFANO: Look, you know, it was an explosion. We take it seriously. We're treating it seriously. Law enforcement doesn't want to comment yet on the character of the device.

HEMMER: I understand.

Listen, I want to let you go here. But Ms. Lorimer, what is the mood right now at Yale after this?

LORIMER: Well, obviously, this is a very disquieting event. But the Yale community rallies, as it always does. We have moved the examinations scheduled for the law school building to another location and most of the students and family will be getting ready for commencement next week.

HEMMER: Yes, one final shot, Mr. Mayor. Reports yesterday a package explosive. Do you have any more on that?

DESTEFANO: It was not a package explosive that we could see. The mail room was on a different floor. I mean the suggestion is something was placed in the vacant classroom.

HEMMER: John Destefano, the mayor, Linda Lorimer of Yale University, thank you.

Best of luck to you, all right?

DESTEFANO: Thanks, guys.

LORIMER: Thank you.

HEMMER: Stay safe this weekend.

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