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Gunfire in Crowded Shopping Mall in Tacoma, Washington; President Bush Heads Home After Trip to Asia

Aired November 21, 2005 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. An ominous text message just minutes before gunfire in a crowded shopping mall. New details about the alleged shooters identity. We're live in Tacoma this morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez, in for Miles O'Brien this morning. President Bush heads home after wrapping up his trip to Asia, but the war in Iraq looms over that trip seemingly at every turn.

O'BRIEN: And the U.S. military trying to determine if one of the world's most wanted terrorists, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, is dead or alive, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. And welcome, everybody. And boy, you know, top stories that we're covering about, this shooting in this mall in Tacoma. Some of the details are just horrible.

It's nice to have you filling in, by the way, for a whole week for, Miles.

SANCHEZ: Called me back from vacation, no less. But when you have four kids, getting called into work is really like getting called into a vacation.

O'BRIEN: That's so true, isn't it?

SANCHEZ: I'll tell you.

O'BRIEN: Finally, you'll get some rest.

SANCHEZ: Exactly.

Unbelievable story coming out of Tacoma. And when you think about it, the people who were there, what business did they have that this young suspect seemed to be having problems in his life?

O'BRIEN: Terrible, and the descriptions of people who were hiding out in some of these stores, pinned against the wall, holding their kids, as they waited for the gunfire to stop. It's really, really distressing.

New details to tell you about, in fact, about the suspect in this terrifying shooting in Washington. New videotape of this text message that his ex-girlfriend says he, the suspect, sent to her just minutes before the attack. Here is a look at it. It says, "Today is the day the world will know my anger. Today, the world will feel my pain. Today's the day I will be heard."

Kareen Wynter is live for us in Tacoma, Washington. It's about 30 miles from Seattle.

Kareen, good morning.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

Dominick Maldonado is being held on $450,000 bail. He's charged with assault and kidnapping.

Soledad, we've been hearing the horrific accounts from witnesses caught in the crossfire. And this mall right behind me, the last place some people thought they would ever become the target of a gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No emotion. Just pulled out and just started shooting.

WYNTER (voice-over): An armed gunman taking aim at shoppers inside the Tacoma mall. The sound of gunfire interrupting a business Sunday afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At first, somebody thought it was firecrackers. I said, no, those are gunshots, sounded like a .38 and 9 millimeter.

WYNTER: Police say it was a semiautomatic rifle. Shoppers and employees tried to run for cover. Some had no time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He walked past. He turned around, shot, kept walking. They run the salmon shop right next to us, shot at that, kept walking.

WYNTER: This witness and medical assistant described some of the injuries.

JENNIFER JOHNSON, WITNESS: Shot in the stomach, abdomen, exit wound, and then shot in the elbow.

WYNTER: After shooting at least six people, officials say the gunman barricaded himself inside a music store, holding three employees hostage. The standoff lasted three hours, and ended with the suspect surrendering to police. And leaving the unanswered question, why?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: Maldonado could be arraigned in court as early as this afternoon -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Kareen, give me a sense of this mall. I mean, what is the security like this there? Does it usually have a police presence and a lot of police officers?

WYNTER: Actually there is a police substation right inside this mall. It's quite typical of many of the malls in the Seattle-Tacoma area. According to the rash of violence at malls that basically spiked since the 1990s. so we do know that there was a police presence in the mall at the time, but it's unclear what the location of the shooter and how quickly officers were able to respond.

O'BRIEN: Kareen Wynter is in Tacoma for us live this morning. Kareen, thanks for the update.

WYNTER: Coming in just a few minutes, we're going to hear from the suspect's ex-girlfriend. She has got quite a story to tell. The question now is why? And what triggered it? we will get to that later this morning -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Let's take you now to Iraq now, and here is why: The U.S. military is looking into some reports that Al Qaeda's top man there possibly has been killed.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He's live in Baghdad.

We're talking about Al Zarqawi. What are you hearing in these reports, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, there was a gunfight in a house, in a town north of Baghdad, Mosul, a big city, more than a million people, but the gunfight was so ferocious, that when it was all over after several hours, the police went in, the bodies were burned and charred. And because it was so ferocious, they figured maybe Zarqawi was among them. That seems to be being discounted here. It was put on in a Iraqi newspaper over the weekend. But right now, it seems unlikely.

Interesting that it comes at a time when Zarqawi's family back in Jordan have said they want nothing more to do with him since his attack on the wedding party and the other hotels in Jordan. Also Zarqawi recanting or backtracking on the attack on the wedding, saying it was never intended to be a wedding, but it does seems to be striking at the fact that in Jordan, where Zarqawi is from, he seems to be losing support, at least among part of the population -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: How will we know, and when we will know? Is there some type of system comes in place here? DNA tests, for example?

ROBERTSON: This would probably be DNA testing. Also there are other intelligence services in the region who know Zarqawi very well, and they would likely be involved at a firsthand level, a hands-on level if it comes to capturing or determining whether or not the body would be Zarqawi.

SANCHEZ: Understanding there's been more violence there today as well, Nic?

ROBERTSON: Indeed. A car bomb that was targeting a U.S. military. The convoy went by, the bomber detonated the explosives, and it killed five people in a market, wounded 11 others.

And a tragic incident outside, or very close to a U.S. base this morning, in the town of Baqubah. An Iraqi family driving by. They came too close to the convoy. Warning shots were fired. They didn't stop. Shots were then fired into the vehicle. According to the U.S. military, three people died, one wounded. The pictures from the hospital on what the police say, it appears four people dead, among them, possibly a child, five wounded. A lot of anguish from the family involved in that -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson following the story for us from Baghdad. We thank you, Nic. On stories that we will no doubt be following for you throughout the day.

Soledad, over to you.

SANCHEZ: President Bush becomes the first U.S. president to visit Mongolia. The president wrapped up his eight-day visit to Asia this morning. During the trip, and now waiting for him to come back home, more questions about the war in Iraq. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is live for us in Washington.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Not only questions, but he's coming back to an increasingly, if it's possible, increasingly bitter debate about the Iraq War that generated into name calling. It's gotten quite down and dirty here. The vice president will be making a speech as the president wings his way back.

As for the president's trip to Asia, well, it's been described probably best as a lot of motion, but very little movement. The president made multi-nation stops, had discussions, but didn't yield many discernible concrete results. The last time stop, Mongolia, largely ceremonial. This time the first U.S. sitting president to visit that country. Most often described as remote. It's the home of Scalius Khan (ph). It's also a nation that has sent troops to Iraq for which the president expressed his thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know the feeling of living under a constitution that guarantees personal liberties, like free speech, free assembly and equality before the law.

And now, because of the courage of Mongolian and coalition forces, the people of Iraq know this feeling as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: And when he gets back to the United States, which is expected this evening, Eastern Time, when he gets back, not to the U.S., but to the White House, he's probably going to look immediately longingly, back to his trip to Asia -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: One would imagine, right, Bob?

Listen, let me ask you a question. The war on terror is still obviously a big focus for the vice president, too. He's going to giving a speech a little bit later this morning. What's he expected to say?

FRANKEN: Well, the president was more conciliatory when he was talking about the critics of the war. The vice president has become, well, in hockey terms, they would call him the enforcer, as he's expected to give another of his tough speeches this morning -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning. Sorry, Bob, I lost your audio for just a second there. You want to stay tuned to CNN, of course, for live coverage of Vice President's Dick Cheney's speech on the war on terror, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. We're going to take that speech for you.

Thanks, Bob.

SANCHEZ: You know, there is some potential trouble for the road map to peace in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is going to form his own political party, he says. And he's asked the country's president to dissolve the parliament. The stage is now set for some early elections. And joining us from Jerusalem is CNN's John Vause, who has been following this story.

Maybe a bit confusing to some of the folks who don't follow this situation closely, John. Put it together for us. First of all, why is Sharon doing this?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Well, a short time ago, Ariel Sharon submitted his resignation formerly to his Likud Party. That came just hours after he went to the Israeli president, asked for the Knesset, the parliament, the parliament to be dissolved.

Now the aides close to Ariel Sharon say the prime minister he is doing this because he's grown increasingly frustrated by the actions of a small group of rebels within his own Likud Party. And there's a feeling in the Sharon camp that even if he stays and fights the next election, that even if he is elected prime minister, there's no point because he just can't govern. These rebels have opposed Ariel Sharon, in particularly on his Gaza pullout plan, when we saw 8,000 Jewish settlers and soldiers being evacuated from the Gaza Strop earlier this year.

So today did what Sharon does best, he changed the rules of the game. He submitted his resignation. He's now forming this new party. made up of politicians from the both the right and also the left. It's going to be called "National Responsibility." And he's hoping that it will appeal to Israelis who are now supporting Ariel Sharon after his Gaza pullout. He's hoping that popularity will translate. It's a big gamble. It's a huge gamble, but it's classic Sharon. It really is crash or crash through.

SANCHEZ: You wonder, though, as far as the road map to peace is concerned, whether this is going to be a help or a hindrance, John. What are you hearing?

VAUSE: Well, right now, the road map for peace will be on hold, because the Palestinians are holding their elections in January. The Israelis now most likely go to the polls in early March. Everything is on hold until that is over.

Ariel Sharon, in particular, called for these early elections, because he was worried that if elections were held in November, as they were scheduled to be held, then 2006 would be a wasted year. In his words, he wanted to get these elections out of the way for the better or the worse, so that they could quickly return to the peace process -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: John Vause, going to be following that for us. We thank you for the update, John.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're going to talk more about that mall shootout. We're going to talk to the suspect's ex-girlfriend. She's going to talk about those disturbing messages that he sent to her, she says, right before the shooting.

SANCHEZ: Also, was the State Department cut out of the loop before the Iraq War? We're going to talk to one former official who says yes.

O'BRIEN: And all this Thanksgiving Week, we're highlighting stories of kindness in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Today, a couple salvages their life's work with the help of friends and completely strangers, too.

Those stories all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Six people were injured in a mall shooting over the weekend in Tacoma, Washington, one person in critical condition. And police now have 20-year-old Dominick Maldonado in custody. He's is charged with assault, and also kidnapping. Tiffany Robison is Maldonado's ex-girlfriend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Tiffany, good morning.

You broke up with Dominick six months ago, and then on Sunday morning, you get a phone call from him. What did he call you to say? TIFFANY ROBISON, SUSPECT'S EX-GIRLFRIEND: He called me to tell me that he was apologizing for being rude the past couple of months, and to say that he's either going to a good place where good people go, or a bad place where bad people go.

O'BRIEN: What did you take that to mean? Were you afraid by that? Were you concerned by that? Were you confused by that?

ROBISON: I was sleeping at the moment! So I was kind of baffled by it. I was like, what do you mean? What are you talking about? He was like, I can't talk about it right now. I can't talk.

O'BRIEN: Were you concerned at that time that he might go off and something, or did you sort of roll back, go over and go back to sleep?

ROBISON: It's a little bit of both. I wasn't concerned that he was going to go out and do something crazy. But I didn't understand what he was talking about.

O'BRIEN: Just a few minutes before the shooting at the mall began, he sent you then a series of text messages. What essentially did he say in those text messages?

ROBISON: He sent me one text message, saying that the world is going to feel his anger, feel his pain, that today is the day that he's going to be heard.

O'BRIEN: And what did you make of that message when you got it?

ROBISON: I texted back, what are you doing? What are you doing? And he didn't respond.

O'BRIEN: What did you think then?

ROBISON: He's going to do something stupid.

O'BRIEN: You knew at that point that he...

ROBISON: Yes.

O'BRIEN: A couple of minutes later, a friend calls, said, hey, did you hear what is happening at the mall? Did you know at that moment? Did you think at that moment that it was Dominick involved?

ROBISON: Yes, exactly. I was like, that was Dominick! Yes. Yes. And Dominick had called not even two seconds after being on the phone with my friend, and said that he was -- he just shot up the Tacoma Mall, and he was holding people hostage in Sam Goody.

O'BRIEN: What did you say to him? I mean, he says I'm holding people hostage in a shopping mall. What did you say back?

ROBISON: It shocked me. I didn't exactly know how to respond to that. I was like, what are you doing? What are you doing? And he's like I'm crazy, I'm crazy, I can't do this, I'm crazy. And he's like, I got to let you go, I'm on the other line with the police, and that was the end of that.

O'BRIEN: Did you ever think that he would do something like this?

ROBISON: Vaguely.

O'BRIEN: Really? Why?

ROBISON: But not -- because of the way he has talked in the past, the way he has thought, and he said he wanted to do something stupid. He didn't go into details. He didn't explain. He just had said that.

O'BRIEN: Was there something that precipitated it? I mean, do you know? Was there one event that led to this?

ROBISON: I couldn't tell you. This is quite random to me. I know that he was upset mentally, but that's not my place to judge. I just think that he had something going on, and it all built, and finally he did what he did.

O'BRIEN: He was, according to "The Seattle Times," convicted of burglary a while back, and wasn't supposed to have weapons obviously at all. Do you know where he got this automatic rifle, the semiautomatic rifle?

ROBISON: I do not. I don't know where he got weapons. I never heard of him having a gun before.

O'BRIEN: You talked about problems in life. What kind of problems are you talking about with him?

ROBISON: Well, he had lost his father, and he's had normal human being problems that a lot of people deal with a little bit better.

O'BRIEN: Tiffany Robison. Thanks for talking with us, Tiffany. We certainly appreciate your insight on this.

ROBISON: You're welcome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, Soledad, coming up, bad news for thousands of auto workers all over the country. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." He's going to tell you what's going on next right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

If you're an autoworker, there might be some news that -- well, we are the bearers of bad news oftentimes, and this is the kind of news you don't want to hear. Andy Serwer is joining us now to mind our business.

And it's not good news.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: It's not good news. And every once in a while, they make me do news that is not so good on this program, I've noticed. We're talking about two struggling auto giants, GM and Ford. And let's talk about GM, first of all. News reports this morning saying that GM CEO Rick Wagoner will be announcing the closing of three or four U.S. auto plants coming up over the next several quarters. Now, there are 29 auto plants that GM has in North America. And this is a big deal, Rick, because, of course, they employ thousands of people, and they're often central to the employment of various communities.

There is speculation about which plants those would be. One could be Lansing, Michigan, where they're making a Chevy convertible sport pickup that's not selling very well. Also Doraville, Georgia, and also Janesville, Wisconsin are three other plants that are possibly in the crosshairs.

Want to talk also about Ford, because this company is also, obviously, struggling. They're announcing the layoff of 4,000 white- collar employees. That's 10 percent of the salaried work force there. That would be happening in the first quarter of next year. And of course Ford is now the number-three automaker in the United States in terms of market share, behind GM and Toyota, and Toyota is rapidly closing the gap on GM. So they're both struggling.

SANCHEZ: I heard you say this once. I'm wondering whether you still hold true to it, or whether it still holds true, that car companies are going to the way of the airlines? Are you seeing a pattern there?

SERWER: Well, I mean, GM is doing this. They're saying basically to stave off the possibility of bankruptcy. So we're talking about some serious, serious troubles here, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Andy, thanks so much. You look very handsome this morning, by the way.

SERWER: Likewise.

SANCHEZ: Thought I'd share that with you -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And enough from the two of you. What is this?

SERWER: Mutual-admiration society, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Obviously.

SERWER: You're the best-looking one of the bunch, though.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, and I wasn't invited today. Enough, stop! Thanks, guys.

Ahead this morning, the very first part of our special holiday series. We're calling it the week of giving. Today, we're going to meet a husband and wife, restoring history and their life's work as well, thanks to the kindness of others.

And then Later this morning, the world's largest aquarium gets ready to open its doors. We're going to meet the man who made the Georgia Aquarium a reality. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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