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New Day

At Least 20 Dead, 100 Injured at Las Vegas Concert. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2017 - 07:00   ET

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

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news is coming in, obviously very fast. It's an extremely fluid situation in terms of the numbers and the investigation. But the Las Vegas sheriff's department did just confirm that the suspect was killed.

[07:00:30] The shooter has been identified. He is 64-year-old Stephen Paddock. Police say that there was a female companion of his or a roommate. She was called a person of interest. For a while she was missing or they were looking for her, along with two vehicles that they thought were involved. But all of that has now been located by police. It's believed the woman is being spoken to by police. And they've found the cars.

BERMAN: Again, this music festival was the Route 91 Harvest Festival right next to the Mandalay Bay resort. It was going on while country music singer Jason Aldean was performing. The shooting -- you can hear it -- it went on and on and on. Thousands of spectators running for their lives.

Our Jean Casarez on the scene just shortly after the shooting happened. She joins us now from Las Vegas with the breaking details -- Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're right here on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. But I want to let you know what I just saw.

I just saw two ambulances leaving from behind me, which is where the Mandalay Bay is. But more importantly, I just saw an ambulance go back into where would the crime scene be. It did have its lights on, and it was traveling at a rapid rate of speed. But this crime scene investigation is going to be long. It is going to be protracted. And we can tell you, because police just said in a press conference that at this very minute, a search warrant is being executed in the room of Stephen Paddock. That is at the Mandalay Bay. It is right behind me. We are about one mile away.

And while that search warrant is being executed at the hotel room, moments from now, they said a search warrant would be executed at Stephen Paddock's residence here in Las Vegas. Yes, he's a local person. He is 64 years old. They do believe that they have found his female roommate they are calling a person of interest. Now, at the police headquarters, the Red Cross is assembling because,

as the police said, the hospitals are overwhelmed at this point. There are at least 50 dead. They don't have a firm number. There are at least 200 people injured. We do know one police officer remains in critical condition in the hospital. We also know that, as part of that country music concert, that one off-duty Las Vegas police officer was shot and killed as he was watching Jason Aldean perform.

But the Red Cross is assembling, so family members and friends, if they do not know where their family members are, they can come and get assistance to try to find them.

University Medical Center, level one trauma center here in Las Vegas. A level two trauma center also here in Las Vegas. It was 10:08 in the midst of a country western music concert by superstar Jason Aldean. It was lively on the Strip, and that's when the shots rang out.

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CASAREZ (voice-over): Terrifying moments in Las Vegas after a gunman opens fire at a country music concert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was chaos and mayhem. People were running out of everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone said hit the floor. So everyone was just, like, literally laying on top of each other.

There were people hiding underneath my car for cover.

CASAREZ: It happened on the final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Festival outside the Mandalay Bay resort. The chaos unfolding as country singer Jason Aldean was performing.

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CASAREZ: Police say the barrage of bullets were fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The gunshots lasted for 10, 15 minutes. Like, it didn't stop.

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CASAREZ: ... knocking frantic concertgoers to their knees. People running for their lives.

JOE PITZEL, WITNESS: People were climbing the fences, pushing their way through. The barricades were coming down. People were screaming, crying. Everybody was just trying to get out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had a man come running up to us, blood down his shirt, saying his friends were dead, his friends are dead, and please come help. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via phone): I have three critical patients in my

vehicle. I'll be taking them to Sunrise (ph). Is there any available vehicle to assist me with keeping the traffic out of my way?

[07:05:07] CASAREZ: One witness capturing the horror from above, swarms of people scattering for their lives.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) We can't go yet. We can't go yet.

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CASAREZ: And this city has virtually been paralyzed since 10:08 last night. We do understand the freeway, Interstate 15, which is a direct route from California up through Utah, is now open for through traffic.

Exits are still closed at this point. The airport, McCarran International, the runway is right to my left. Over two dozen flights were curtailed. They were not allowed to land. I have seen one plane land since we've been here. And I think the lasting memory at this point of what we're hearing from the police is that family members are in search of their family members this morning, not knowing what hospital they may be in, not knowing what condition they may be in -- Alisyn, John.

CAMEROTA: You know, to that end, Jean, they did put out a number. The sheriff's department did put out a number. I'll read it right now. Maybe CNN NEW DAY Twitter account can tweet this out to everybody: 866-535-5654. That's 866-535-5654.

Obviously, there's just mass confusion after something as horrific as this. We want to bring in Jim Gagliano and Joe Giacalone, who are standing by. These are our law enforcement experts who have been with us all morning.

So this is -- Jim, it's worse than we could ever have imagined. It is the worst mass shoot in U.S. history. Fifty people, at least, were mowed down from the window of the Mandalay Bay, the 32nd floor. We do know the sheriff confirmed the shooter who was killed, his identity, Stephen Paddock. He's 64 years old. We don't know much more else about him. They didn't share any motivation, if they have found any sort of evidence on social media or any note. What do you hear in what the sheriff said and what's happening?

JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Well, from what the sheriff said, Alisyn, we've learned a couple of things. Obviously, we talked earlier. The age of the shooter is just outside of the bracketing of the folks that...

CAMEROTA: Sixty-four is older than sometimes the 20-something year old.

GAGLIANO: Or 30-something, you know, 30, 35. It's older. BERMAN: As far as we can tell, we've gone back and looked at the mass

shootings in the United States. And it's tragic there are so many in the United States. But this would be the oldest perpetrator that we've seen.

GAGLIANO: Absolutely. And with the number now having risen to 50 casualty of 50 confirmed dead, I fear it's going to be more as I continue to listen to the chilling machine gun fire. And that's what it was.

When I first heard it, I thought it was a Khrushchev (ph) weapon from Afghanistan. So the sheriff confirmed there were multiple, multiple rifles. But he also had to have extended magazines, because an automatic weapon typically has a 20- or 30-round magazine. And he had additional rifles cached, and probably just fired one until it was empty or the barrel got hot, dumped it, picked up the second and continued shooting into the biomass.

BERMAN: And Joe, based on what we've heard, this information that we've been given by the sheriff, what can you tell about the killer? Again, 64 years old. Multiple guns. Knew enough to choose that room from the 32nd floor because it looked out over this mass of thousands of people.

JOE GIACALONE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it definitely looks like extensive planning. I mean, there's going to be some evidence of that. I think they're going to find it when they execute the warrants at his house and the cars. I think they're going to uncover a lot of material, whether it's a manifesto that he's written or, you know, social media posts. That's going to play a big role in this. And you know, to try to, you know, get drilled down to what -- what made this guy tick, what prevented -- what made him do such a thing.

CAMEROTA: Just a little more background. This was the final day of a four-day concert. This was the Route 91 Harvest -- Harvest Festival. It's the fourth year that they've had this.

Country music entertainer of the year, Jason Aldean, was on stage. He was just finishing up his set. This was the last moment of this big celebration. Hard to know if, obviously, any of that was in the shooter's head.

We spoke to one of the Sirius XM hosts who was on stage with Jason Aldean. He just said, you know, like everybody. At first when this is happening, you can't believe it. Your mind can't go there. You think it's pyrotechnics. You think it's fireworks. You think it's anything but this, that somebody is just mowing down in cold blood all of these concertgoers. We just don't have a lot of information yet.

But look, I mean, you guys deal with this all the time. This isn't the first mass killing we've seen at a concert. These big venues are soft targets now.

GAGLIANO: Sure. And Alisyn, as you point out, the amplification of music and sound. And the fact that a number of the witnesses have now said they thought that the initial barrage of gunfire was the end-of- the-show fireworks. And so that kept people in more of an unsuspecting mode for a lot longer and let this -- let this person continue to kill folks.

I thought it was -- it was also interesting here in that -- the place that he picked, we talked about soft targets. People know that trying to get bombs on airplanes is difficult now. They know that attacking a federal building or doing something inside a venue is difficult.

But to have that proximity and to have that elevated high ground, the fact that he was in a position, a commanding position to be able to shoot down from not that far distance with a rifle that, you know, could reach that distance quite easily and then just to spray into the biomass. And I just -- I fear there are going to be more dead, listening to the sounds of that gunfire.

BERMAN: And again, the number right now is at least 50 people dead, more than 200 injured. And that number 50, it went up by 30 just over the course of 90 minutes in the early morning hours. So yes, I fear, tragically, that that number will go up. We also heard, Joe, from a witness, Storme Warren on stage that there was tons of security at this concert, and which there are now and there is at most concerts in America right now. There's big security. But that doesn't account for the nearby buildings, the hotel. You didn't have to have a ticket for the concert to check into that hotel.

GIACALONE: That's what happens. Everybody felt safe because of all the different measures that they put into this. You know, not thinking that this could happen from a half a mile away or a quarter mile away. And that's -- that's the thinking behind this.

And you know what? I mean, what Storme was also telling us, too, is that he saw the bullets raining down onto the stage. That's why he knew to look up. But everybody else in the crowd, they were concentrating on the -- the music and the containers. They weren't interesting in anything else. He was -- he saw them hitting right in front of them. And that's what led him to look up. But unfortunately, everybody else was just kind of concentrating on what's going on, because that's what they're there for.

CAMEROTA: So this gunman, again, we only know scant details. But 64 years old. That jumps out at both of you, because that, as John points out, is the oldest shooter of a mass shooting. They're generally much younger.

In terms of what you would think that his background would be, how hard is it to shoot an automatic weapon? I mean, you don't have to be a marksman or an expert or having been in the military. Right? You can just -- this is a kind of weapon you just fire down, and it finds victims.

GAGLIANO: Absolutely. And obviously, you know, purchasing one of those, you can't do that in the United States. But are there some that are out? Sure. Or could people buy a semiautomatic weapon and then modify make an illegal modification to it to allow a semiautomatic weapon to become a fully automatic weapon. That was automatic weapon fire. No doubt about it. Nobody was squeezing the trigger and got that sustained rate of fire.

BERMAN: I want to tell you right now, the president did just put out a statement on Twitter. Let me read it out loud to you right now. "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you."

Again, that is the first we have heard from the president this morning, 7:12 a.m. on the East Coast. Our Joe Johns is at the White House with the very latest.

Joe, I can imagine the president has been briefed.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is clear the president has been briefed. This is a statement that was put out to the White House media pool just a few minutes ago and disseminated to all of the news organizations that are party to it. It reads, "The president has been briefed on the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas. We're monitoring the situation closely and offer our full support to state and local officials. All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers."

So as I said, that's been put out across the White House to the media news organizations. What's interesting is that the president himself, though he's been extremely active on Twitter over the last 48, 72 hours, has not himself tweeted on the issue of Las Vegas. There we go. We just got something.

And it still has not come up on my phone. So perhaps you can tell me.

But it's been a while since the president has taken this long. And it's also very interesting, I think, to say that the president has been very quick off the draw to talk about mass casualty events, whether in the United States or other places. And this time he's held off a bit. I know that comes not too long after the president said that he wants to get all the facts before weighing in on certain issues. So perhaps you can tell me at this time what that tweet says, because it's not on my phone.

BERMAN: I'll read it right now. Joe Johns at the White House again. The news is the president has been briefed. This is the statement the president just put out on Twitter: "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you."

That came up from the president again after 7 a.m. I did say that the shooter believed to be one of the oldest in any mass shooting we've seen.

The shooter at the Republican baseball practice last spring was also older than 60, as well. So this is the second time we've seen someone in the older years do something like this, which is odd. So talk to me about this crime scene. It's a huge crime scene right now. You have essentially the Las Vegas Strip and this very big concert venue right in the middle of it. These are some live pictures right now.

GIACALONE: Certainly, I mean, we have multiple crime scenes, right? You're going to have his house. You're going to have his cars. And, of course, you have this park where it's going to be a huge undertaking. Because all of the ballistics that have to be recovered from this.

Any of the other information that they're going to be able to find, they're going to have to coordinate a crime scene search where they're going to use a grid pattern so that they don't miss anything. They're going to have to flag all the different pieces of evidence that they do find.

And then also, we've got to remember, there's going to be evidence, unfortunately, at the hospital where some of these victims have passed away now. So they're going to have to go and collect those things, too. So I mean, this is a huge undertaking for any police department. But this one is going to be extremely difficult to deal with because of the amount of people that have been killed.

CAMEROTA: Jim, investigators like you always try to figure out what this is, what the motivation was. Is this terrorism? I mean, isn't it -- isn't it domestic terrorism, something that rains terror down on thousands of people at a concert? What's the technicality that would keep them from calling this domestic terrorism?

GAGLIANO: Absolutely. The difference between domestic terrorism and international terrorism is just simply where it originates. So is it somebody that was born here or is it somebody that comes from some other place?

I think the military is often criticized, and they say generals are always caught fighting the last war. But we have to look back at what's happened and we have to make sure to try to prevent those type of things but be forward leaning. Because whatever we do to prevent a terrorist act, the terrorists are always thinking of something else. OK, they can't hit hard targets. We'll hit a soft target.

And Sun Tzu, I think, the Chinese general from 500 B.C. once famously said that there are no stable conditions in warfare. It's like water; it doesn't retain its shape.

Terrorism is the same way. We have to look at this and learn from this. This is eerily reminiscent of August 1, 1966, the Texas -- the University of Texas clock tower shooting. Eerily reminiscent of that, where you have somebody in a high position. And again, he knew he wasn't going to survive that. He knew that the police were getting ready to take that. Same thing here.

There was no getaway car. There was no plan. There was no seeking out of a negotiated settlement: "I'll turn myself in if." There was none of that. Kill as many people as possible and then either be vanquished by the police or kill yourself.

BERMAN: You can't go into a concert, find a building near the concert. An again, this is the largest, deadliest mass shooting. We believe in More than 50 killed, 200 injured. The suspect, Stephen Paddock, 64 years old, he is dead. He was killed in the hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay. Numerous other guns inside that hotel room. Did you just get some

other news from our White House reporters. Jeff Zeleny reporting that an administration official tells CNN the president's trip to Puerto Rico, which was planned for tomorrow, is now under review. I think the White House looking at the situation right now, trying to get a sense of Las Vegas and the aftermath and will decide whether or not the president still does go to Puerto Rico to see the damage there himself.

CAMEROTA: There had been a person of interest, just for a couple of hours that people were looking for. It was a woman. She was described as a roommate or a companion somehow of this gunman. The sheriff came out and said that she has been located. We assume that they are talking to her. She will, obviously, Joe, be their best link to what his mindset was, who he was, what his background is, why he did it.

GIACALONE: Well, certainly. And they're also going to ask if she knew anything if she knew anything, why didn't she tip police off? You just don't go with bags full of guns in a hotel and say, "OK, bye, see you later." So there's a lot of questions that need to be answered. But they're going to treat her with kid gloves, initially. Because she's going to be there, the No. 1 source of information. But I think soon as that's over with, I think she's going to be facing some stiff penalties.

CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, please stand by. We're going to need your help. We're going to go now, though, to Jake Owen, his country music star. He was on stage next to Jason Aldean while this horrible scene was unfolding. And he joins us now. Jake, where are you this morning?

JAKE OWEN, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR (via phone): Hi. How are you all doing? I'm still on my tour bus on -- in a parking lot. It's about 300 or 400 yards away from the stage. I somehow made it over here from the stage area when the shooting started. It was all -- it was raining off the top of the stage. You could hear it hitting trailers, people scattering. And there was -- it was chaos. I've never, don't ever want to be part of anything like this ever again.

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course. And so what happened? Were you playing on stage with Jason? And how long did it take to figure out what was unfolding?

OWEN: I was standing there. You know, I'd played -- I'd just come off stage before Jason's set is. And I was back out there like we always do. We're all friends out here. And we all -- I was out there watching the show, and wanted to support him.

All of a sudden you just heard a couple of individual -- what sounded like -- you would ask yourself, that sounded kind of like a gunshot. Then the next thing you know it was just unloading, like no doubt an automatic sounding rifle or some sort of machine gun or something that hat that point you could tell the chaos and the fear in everyone's eyes and their demeanor was changed.

And everyone just started scrambling for some -- any sort of cover. In the way that it's set up you could see where the guy was in Mandalay, it's like shooting fish in a barrel where he was. I hate to say that sort of term. But I mean, it was -- I feel so bad for these people. And we're all lucky. We were just talking about this. My crew, everyone else's crew backstage, we were so lucky that none of us were in the line of fire. Because there are so many innocent people that were there to have a great time. That's what we're here to do for them. And they've lost their lives.

CAMEROTA: Yes, it's just -- the numbers are staggering. Jake, I don't know if you've gotten an update, but at least 50 people have been killed.

OWEN: Yes, I mean, when this thing started, and I got back to the bus -- and that was another thing. This is not an exaggeration. This shooting was going on for at least 10 minutes. I mean, it was nonstop.

And by the time I got back to the bus after hopping a few fences, we were all laying down in the middle of the bus, and the gunfire was continuing outside. So this is something that was an ongoing situation.

CAMEROTA: God, Jake. You know, look, this was a huge outdoor concert. I mean, there were thousands and thousands of people there. Before you go and play at an event like this, do you think about any sort of worst-case scenario? Who was security like last night?

OWEN: Security is always great at these festivals. Our friend, Brian O'Connell, was the promoter for this festival. This was the second time I've been here, and I, quite frankly, was looking so forward to coming back here. They, and the show, they do such a great job.

And I say that because the festival itself there, great with security. And Las Vegas as a whole, the responders, the police department, their police department, everyone. You could tell people were doing everything they could to keep people safe. But to answer your question, we don't -- we don't ever step on stage and think to ourselves something like this is going to happen.

I mean, I think we're all so blessed and lucky to live in this country where we literally take the safety almost for granted sometimes because of the men and women that fight for our freedom. It's unfortunate these types of -- these types of things have now become our reality.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I'll say. Well, when -- when you started hearing what you determined pretty quickly was automatic weapon fire, was there -- were there moments where you were taking cover on the stage, were you with the other performers, or did you run right to your tour bus?

OWEN: We started running -- we started -- actually, I was on the opposite -- opposite end -- opposite side of the stage of where my personal tour bus was. So it's -- I can't even get to my tour bus now. It's a crime scene. They won't let us on it. They won't let us anywhere near it because it was in the line of fire of everything that was happening over there.

But I made it over to where all of our crew buses were parked on the far side of the stage where I still am. We haven't even left the bus. I'm just -- you know, I'm following the news here, watching you guys cover this. So now I'm hearing that it's in the largest mass shooting in the history of our country. It is mind-boggling. I've got a little girl back in Florida. I can't wait to get to our kids. We're so lucky.

CAMEROTA: Have you -- how quickly after this were you able to talk to your family?

OWEN: I tried calling them immediately. I think it caught them off- guard. They were back asleep in Florida on a three-hour time difference. So I think that -- I don't know if it's necessarily hit them yet. But it's -- we're all out here kind of in a shock. I have a friend who got separated from her husband. She couldn't get a hold of him. So we were all scared. We have now gotten word that everyone is OK.

So there were a lot of people, it was a scary situation. And I wouldn't wish this upon anyone. And I think, you know, we need to continue to stand up and fight this, these cowards that are doing this. This isn't what America was built to be. We're stronger than this.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Jake, it just looks as terrifying as we could ever imagine. I mean, just the chaos that ensued, the terror of hearing those shots. And again, this is just such a normally happy celebratory event. It's the Route 91 Harvest Festival. It's the fourth year of it. You know, all of you guys, all of you country stars there play. Everybody was just rocking out and having a great time. Have you connected with any of the other performers at this point?

OWEN: I have. I've checked in with quite a few of the guys. Everyone is doing OK. But you know, you hit the nail on the head. Our job is to come out here, and we make sure these people smile and have a good time, and sing along with their families and friends. We saw kids on their parents' shoulders. And this will be something they'll never forget. And it's up to us as entertainers to continue to come out and make people smile and sing our songs and not -- not be -- back down to this. Because we have to -- we can win this. I truly believe that. We're going to continue to do what we were meant to do.

[07:25:15] CAMEROTA: Well, from your lips to God's ears, Jake Owen, thank you very much. Thanks for sharing everything that you endured last night with us.

Obviously, we're thinking of you and everybody there tonight.

OWEN: Well, thank you. And thanks to all the people and responders here in Las Vegas. Really, I'm sitting here firsthand, watching from my window. They're doing everything they can. Everyone outside of even the responders, just the citizens that were here helping one another. And we live in a beautiful country. I think it's important for people to remember that. Stuff like this happens. So we're going to all be stronger because of it.

CAMEROTA: Jake, thank you very much for that message. That is such an important message to hear this morning. Thank you very much for joining us.

OWEN: Thank you guys.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: I hope he gets to go home and hug his daughter very, very soon. Again, the deadliest mass shooting in mystery. At least 50 people killed, more than 200 injured.

The suspect, a 64-year-old man, has been killed, on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel with numerous firearms in his room, as well. We have another eyewitness joining us right now. Twenty-one-year-old Taylor Benge. She was at the concert in Las Vegas with his sister, Corinne. Taylor joins me now.

Taylor, thank you so much for being with us. Are you doing OK?

TAYLOR BENGE, EYEWITNESS (via phone): Yes. I've had better nights, but I'm doing all right.

BERMAN: Tell me what you saw. I understand you were on the right side of the stage when the shooting started. What did you see?

BENGE: At first, you know, we were just watching the concert. I heard about four pops. It almost sounded like a firework or one of those things you pull the strings from.

But then immediately after that, I noticed that the artist, he ran to the back and then the lights turned on. And a man not even five feet away from me, I don't want to go into detail, but I don't think he was with us much longer after that because of a bullet wound to the head.

But as soon as I saw that I knew something was wrong. And you know, like the previous guy said, then it was just unrelentless bullets. And I think the only reason he went to take a break is so the muzzle didn't weld itself shut and so he could keep shooting.

And it was just -- it was really horrible that -- everything that was going on. We -- we started running to the left end, because we could hear the shots were coming from Mandalay Bay, or at least in that general direction. But even, you know, hurdling over everything and getting over the fences and whatnot, it almost felt like we were getting closed in. Because no matter which direction you went in, no matter where you took cover, there was at least two or three bodies that were part of it, and you didn't know where you were safe.

BERMAN: Where did you go and how long was it before you did know you were safe?

BENGE: Honestly, I didn't even know I was safe until about an hour or two after the fact. Once we -- my sister and I, we started running to the left. And every time they shot, we took cover. Because you know, you don't want to be the one guy who's just standing up running, because for all we knew, that would just make us a target.

But my sister, you know, being as noble as she is, she actually threw herself on top of me and was saying, "I love you, Taylor, I love you." And I'll never forget that. But we didn't know we were safe until, like, we were sitting in the McCarron -- one of their hangars almost. A car almost ran through the gate just to get on the runway, just to get away from that location. Because as far as we knew, there was multiple gunners. And we didn't know which -- which direction they were coming from. And the employees at the time weren't letting us in, because they didn't know what was going on. But even -- you know, even an hour and 30 minutes, I didn't even know if I was safe.

BERMAN: You said you believed the gunfire was coming from the Mandalay Bay? Did you have any sense -- and it can be very hard to tell this kind of thing. Did you have any sense it was coming from above, from the 32nd floor?

BENGE: Part of me did, just because of the vantage point he must have had to get some of the shots that I've seen. Because there was a tent. And if it were on this side and I took cover here, there were still bodies on that side of people just laying in pools of blood. And -- you know, I still didn't even know if that was safe or not. But it's kind of a fight or flight situation.

You can't really -- you've just got to take it to God at that point and, you know, hope that you can make it and hope that you're safe. And I know I can't speak for everyone, but for me I'm just -- you know, I was agnostic going into that concert, and I'm a firm believer in God now. Because there's no way that, you know, all that happened and that I made it, and I was blessed enough to still be here alive talking to you today.

BERMAN: We've heard stories from people in and around there, saying that, despite the chaos we've seen, and we've seen some horrific video of the incident and the aftermath, that despite that chaos, people were doing whatever they could to help whoever they could.