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Rick's List

BP Plugs Well; Connecticut Workplace Shooting Spree; New Study Links Corn Fructose to Cancer; California Judge to Decide If Gay Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional

Aired August 04, 2010 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Here is what is making your LIST today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At approximately 7:26 a.m. yesterday morning, reporting that there was an active shooter inside of the building.

SANCHEZ: Eight people gunned down in Connecticut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hearts go out to all those Hartford Distributors and Company's families who are hurting today.

SANCHEZ: Who are the victims? Were there warning signs? Was there racial harassment and did it make Omar Thornton snap?

One hundred days, and no longer counting. BP says the well is plugged.

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: High confidence that there will be no oil leaking into the environment.

SANCHEZ: Now we assess the damage. Where is it? What is it?

OZZIE GUILLEN, CHICAGO WHITE SOX MANAGER: A couple of days ago, we wasn't talking (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Now we're (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

SANCHEZ: White Sox coach Ozzie Guillen defends Hispanic players with another tirade -- why he may be dead wrong.

A major ruling happening momentarily in California -- same-sex marriage ban about to be ruled on. And Jeff Toobin joins me live.

The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing? Who's landed on the list you don't want to be on? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why I keep a list.

Pioneering tomorrow's cutting-edge news right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Hey, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. So glad you're here with us once again. And I'm reading here tweets from thousands and thousands and thousands of you who have been talking about this story that we have been telling you that we here at CNN and on RICK'S LIST jumped on last night.

It is the story that tops our news once again. It is also the latest incident of violence in the American workplace and it may have a racial component to it as well. Started with a meeting where a man has been forced to resign. But he turns around with a gun and opens fire on his co-workers.

After more than 40 minutes of shooting, nine people, including him, are dead. We have heard this story before. But this time, it not only sounds like a shooter, this Omar Thornton, targeted his victims. From what police in Manchester are saying today, in Manchester, Connecticut, it sounds like he hunted some of them down, hunted some of them down.

I want you to listen now to Police Lieutenant Chris Davis. He explains the chain of events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. CHRIS DAVIS, MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT POLICE: It started in an office area where they had the disciplinary hearing. After that, he was escorted out of that meeting after he tendered his resignation.

He briefly stopped in the kitchen area, where he said he wanted a drink of water, which is also where he had his lunch box hidden. At that point, he went into the kitchen area, got his lunch box with the weapons inside, exited the kitchen area, and then started shooting as soon as he got into the hallway.

From the hallway, he went through like an office complex, and then went into a large warehouse area, where there were some other additional victims there. He then chased one or more victims through the building and out into the parking lot, before reentering the building itself, walking back in.

He was unable to get in because it was a locked door. So, he had to shoot through the glass and open the door to get back into the building. And then he continued to walk through the building, where we found other victims, and then that he was finally located in a southwest corner office deceased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Chased some of them -- some of them -- through the building and out into the parking lot, did you hear him say that? And here's something else we're learning today.

This beer distributorship paid a private detective to follow Thornton around for the two weeks prior to this incident. Listen again. Let's go back to the Lieutenant Davis there, Rog.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVIS: They suspected him of stealing alcohol from the company. So, they had a private investor following him around for a few weeks. And we're still working with him and the company to determine exactly what other measures they may have taken in regards to that.

QUESTION: Following him around at the workplace, or--

DAVIS: No, outside of the workplace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, well, outside of the workplace because he was driving a truck. So, it comes down to yesterday, yesterday morning. It was about 7:00, 7:30 a.m. Thornton gets pulled into a meeting as he comes in to work. He's told after that meeting, look, you either have got to resign or you're going to be fired.

Police say the first 911 call came in around 7:30 in the morning, followed by several calls. During more than 40 minutes, Thornton wandered the site, shooting people with two -- not one, but two .9- millimeter hidden handguns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Some of the calls that we received were from people inside that were hiding in their different office areas under desks or wherever they could.

You know, as I said, there are a lot of different nooks and crannies, per se, in this building. So, he went through the whole building, though, in a fairly short amount of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: People at work running for their lives, some of them hiding under desks while this co-worker armed with two handguns hunts them down.

Now, there's another part of this story that has many Americans talking, because he has said -- or prior to being deceased, he was on the record telling friends and his girlfriend and one uncle in particular that he was being racially harassed by fellow employees and supervisors. The local union says there's no record of any of these complaints from Thornton.

But listen once again to what the girlfriend's mother told CNN last night. We're going to turn that around for you and we're going to bring it in just a little bit.

I want to bring in Lou Palumbo now.

You know, that's a part of the story that seems a little sketchy.

Lou, you've got a lot of experience with this. You're a former New York area police officer. You now have a security company that helps people deal with this kind of thing. Part of the stories -- and we should just get it on the record -- part of the story we're hearing from people who knew him was that he was heard to complain about people using the N-word around him, saying he heard two supervisors say they wanted to get rid of the -- him -- N-word, and that he saw a noose scrawled on a bathroom wall and that may have been the thing that made him snap. What do you make of that?

LOU PALUMBO, FORMER NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER: I don't think that's likely what happened. I think the fact that they brought him in for termination and he realized that he was probably guilty of the theft kind of took him to the point where he was considering homicide.

I don't question that there was probably some volatility in the workplace and an issue with co-workers. But, at the end of the day, at this point, I don't believe whether or not there were inappropriate comments made to him has anything really to do with his actions.

I think his actions were precipitated by the fact that he was losing a job and things were not exactly going the way he wanted them to go there.

SANCHEZ: You think he was caught red-handed stealing?

PALUMBO: Based on what I'm hearing. They had the wherewithal to hire an organization similar to mine to set up a surveillance on him to clearly identify the fact that he was engaging in theft of their product. Yes, I think they pretty much had him.

The thing that's astonishing, Rick, is that they didn't think this through to completion--

SANCHEZ: Yes.

PALUMBO: -- and realizing that you're taking someone's gainful employment, that you might want to have someone from an organization similar to mine on hand to make sure that he didn't go as he went this afternoon. This was an avoidable incident.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Listen to what you're saying, Lou Palumbo. You're saying that they had the wherewithal to look -- to hire somebody to follow him around for two weeks prior to firing him. But on the day they fired him, they didn't have somebody there for the eventuality that he may overreact, just to have -- keep an eye on him.

And there was nobody armed to fight back against this man with two handguns going around shooting people.

PALUMBO: Rick, the only thing I can say to this whole incident is that there was, in my opinion, a substantial oversight on behalf of the management team at this facility.

This could have been avoided. The normal procedure with us would have been, the moment we met him, he would have never left our supervision. And his opportunity to reach into a lunch pail undetected and draw out not one handgun, but two, would have never happened. And that is unfortunately the bottom line with this case.

SANCHEZ: What do you mean by that? Because that's a new detail we're getting today, by the way. We didn't know yesterday where these weapons came from, whether he was packing or whether he had hid them somewhere, as you and I were discussing last night.

But today we're learning that he actually had planted them in his lunch pail. What would you -- would that immediately have triggered something for you, as a security guy, when you saw the lunch pail, or what?

PALUMBO: Well, standard operating procedure is, we would have searched any of his personal belongings, including his lunch pail.

The reason he didn't carry them on his person, Rick, is because of the weather. In other words, it would be rather difficult to secrete two .9-millimeter automatic handguns on your person. So, he did the next best thing. He brought them in, in his lunch pail.

Again, with proper supervision and his proximity, this incident could have been avoided. We would never allow him in an unsupervised capacity to reach into anything in our presence, including his lunch pail.

SANCHEZ: All right, here's that sound I promised you just a little while ago.

Again, there are two versions of this story, and one of them involves him and people who knew him saying that he was being harassed at work. That obviously does not excuse the fact that he turned into a cold-blooded mass killer and took the lives of eight people.

But, nonetheless, it's something that we have been following up on as well. We went and asked these questions of a woman who knew him, because she is the mom of his girlfriend at the time, prior to his having this incident or dying yesterday morning. Listen now to what she told our Alison Kosik.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joanne, your daughter Kristi dated Omar for eight years. What can you tell me about the working conditions for Omar at the warehouse?

JOANNE HANNAH, MOTHER OF SHOOTER'S GIRLFRIEND: Well, third party, that's all I'm getting it from, because I'm just getting it from what my daughter's told us, but he was being harassed racially at work.

Supposedly, there was -- which he had pictures on his cell phone, on his camera of the cell phone, showing that there was the word (EXPLETIVE DELETED) written on the bathroom walls. There was a stick figure with a hangman noose on the bathroom walls. And comments had been being made to him, like he earned his way in that position because he was a (EXPLETIVE DELETED), supposedly had gotten a voice recording of a supervisor that came in the bathroom. They didn't know he was in the bathroom stall. He told my daughter to be quiet and listen.

And he taped and had my daughter verify that one of the supervisors that came in the bathroom was saying we need to get rid of this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here, referring to Omar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, look, Lou, I know you're not a social psychologist. You're not a sociologist. But I also know from having a brother who's a police officer and being a cop beat reporter for many years that all the really good cops that I know and trust are like sociologists and social psychologists without the degree because of the nature of the work that you do.

Let me just explain to you what this was. This is a company that only had two men of color working there. Only one of them, this man, Thornton, the deceased, was an African-American. The other one was Jamaican. Does that play into this equation at all for you?

PALUMBO: Not necessarily, Rick.

I don't think because there wasn't what we would consider to be substantial ethnic diversity that it necessarily lent itself to this event.

But the simple fact of the matter is, if there are individuals there that were inappropriately addressing him and they, in fact, displayed a hangman's noose in a bathroom or any part of that facility, I hate to say this, but they precipitated part of this problem. The unfortunate dynamic here is none of it justifies homicide.

SANCHEZ: Of course not.

PALUMBO: And the thing you also have to be mindful of, Rick, is that the police are not going to go in here now and conduct an investigation to see if anybody called him the N-word or displayed a hangman's noose. They're dealing with a homicide.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

PALUMBO: Without question, if anyone addressed this individual in a way anything less than dignified, simply stated, it's wrong, period. But one doesn't lend itself to condoning the other. And that's really the thing in a nutshell.

And the funny thing is that I would like to know how many employees actually are at this particular facility.

(CROSSTALK)

PALUMBO: -- Manchester.

SANCHEZ: Quite a bit, several hundred, yes.

PALUMBO: And I have to say this to you, Rick, that if there were individuals at that facility making derogatory or demeaning remarks to this individual, others would have been aware of it than just those who were making them. And that's what I really believe.

And the unfortunate part here is, I don't know if the media is going to follow up in this direction. I know the police are not, because the police are rather singularly dimensioned in their approach to this thing.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Well, let me ask you one quick question about the police before I let you go. And a lot of people want to know this. If there is, in fact, as she, the mother of the girlfriend, stated, a videotape or a cell phone photograph that shows that hangman's noose, which he says he got a picture of, or anything else that he got a picture of before he died, and police have that on their property, should they release that to the public?

PALUMBO: I would have to say, you would have -- you know, Rick, that's a rather spontaneous question, and I don't want to give you a spontaneous answer.

SANCHEZ: OK. That's fair.

PALUMBO: I would have to intellectually digest that.

But hold on one second.

SANCHEZ: OK.

PALUMBO: I do think that there should be an obligation or responsibility bestowed upon someone to go in and find out exactly what the work conditions were in this particular facility, because all of these things may have precipitated this incident. The incident was wrong in its intrinsic form.

But you have to know this. If you push people to desperation, if you push people to levels of frustration, to anger, they end up resorting to things that you're not quite ready for. And that's exactly what happened here.

So, there are a lot of components to this incident.

SANCHEZ: Right.

PALUMBO: It deals with the conditions that he worked within. It deals with the fact--

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Look, Lou -- and this is the point that we have been making here. We're not drawing conclusions. You're not. And the fact is, certain things are being reported. We're interviewing the people who are saying this. And hopefully we will be able to drill down on this and you and I will continue to have conversations until we get some more definitive answers. That is our job and it's our mission.

Lou Palumbo, always a pleasure talking to you. Thanks so much for taking the time for us today.

PALUMBO: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: I want to keep you in the loop on this. We're awaiting a major decision now on whether the same-sex marriage ban in California will stay law. This is a huge ruling that could ultimately affect states all over the United States. We're going to bring this to you as it happens. It's literally plugged into our computer. And when the court hits send, we will get it and we will read to it you right here.

Also, what you're seeing right now, let me put this up for you, is a brand-new video of the static kill operation in progress. So, is this finally the end to the worst oil spill in our history? Wait until you hear just how much oil is actually left in the water. We have got the numbers, what it is, where it is, coming up right here on RICK'S LIST. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: OK. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. So glad you're here.

It's the question that we have been asking every single day about what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. And today we finally have some answers. Here we go -- 74 percent of the oil that leaked because of the Gulf Coast disaster is gone, 74 percent, they say. It's either been collected, has dispersed or has evaporated.

This is according to a government report released just today. So, you can take it to the bank, sort of. The remaining oil, by the way, they say, is located just below the surface of the water or in tar balls, tar balls that are either washing ashore, being collected from the coastlines or buried in sand and sediment. Again, this is definitive word from the government.

As for the static kill operation, mud is still being successfully pumped into the well. BP says that it's still unclear whether cement will follow the mud.

In Washington, the president talked about both the good news and the work that remains ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, the long battle to stop the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end. And we are very pleased with that.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Our recovery efforts, though, will continue. We have to reverse the damage that's been done. We will continue to work to hold polluters accountable for the destruction they have caused. We have got to make sure that folks who were harmed are reimbursed, and we're going to stand by the people of the region, however long it takes until they're back on their feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Seventy-four percent of that leaked oil out the Gulf is gone. That's the big number. That's the big nut today, OK, that we're getting from the government. That doesn't mean we're going to stop drilling down or stop asking questions.

As for the ultimate solution, these relief wells we have been telling you about that comes after the static kill, BP continues to work on them. We understand from them today -- and we asked -- that they hope to have them finished in less than two weeks.

Here we go. Look at this, more now on that shooting at the Connecticut beer distribution plant. We know you want questions asked. We will ask them. Who was the gunman hunting, for example? Why did he target eight people? What is with the accusations he made about racial harassment? We will check into all of it.

What happens to a Republican who goes against the party's position on immigration? Lindsey Graham has just found out. Oh, my goodness. You got to hear this. Jessica Yellin has that story. She's joining us next right here on the LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. So much going on and so much that I need to bring you.

First of all, a little programming note for you here. We're standing by for a federal judge's ruling in a case that's challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage. Remember what a huge controversy that was? Well, it takes a while to snake through the court system and it finally has.

And it's very possible that at any time now during this newscast, we will get a decision. Opponents of the law are saying it violates the Constitution. CNN correspondents and analysts are standing by to cover all of the angles of this ruling. We will break it down for you. We will get Jeffrey Toobin on, of course. The guy is a genius when it comes to stuff like this. So, he's going to be on in just a little bit as soon as we get a decision from the court. So, stand by for news.

Meanwhile, here's some other news. Lindsey Graham, right, you know who Senator Lindsey Graham is, right, pretty conservative guy from South Carolina. He was censured Monday night, censured in his home state. South Carolinians are censuring him, the guy who has represented them for all these years, censured by the Republican Party of Greenville County. That's a big place, a lot of people in Greenville, a censure resolution that passed by a vote of 61-2.

And what was one of the main reasons that caused Senator Graham to be singled out for this vote? Quote: "His stance on immigration."

Jessica Yellin joining me now from Washington, D.C.

Jessica, you know, I have to ask this question, because if I don't ask it, I wouldn't be intellectually honest. What happened to the middle in the Republican Party? Is there a middle in the Republican Party? Because Ronald Reagan would be censured, if you look at his record and what people are saying today, in the Republican Party. I'm not kidding when I say that.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

Well, independents all say they want members to show bipartisanship, and then member do show bipartisanship and get slapped by the base. So, it's a tricky environment to be in the Republican Party these days.

This is the third county Republican Party to actually censure Graham. Lexington and Charleston, Rick, already slapped his wrist. And it's not just over immigration. They're calling him out for his votes for the bailout, his decision to support President Obama's nominee Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Doesn't this guy have like a high 80s or 90 percent conservative record?

YELLIN: Ninety, exactly. That's it. His office issued a statement saying that he has a 90 percent conservative record, voted with Republican leadership 92 percent of the time.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

YELLIN: So, he is being slapped for that 8 percent of working with the other side. It apparently is making some of his base very angry. We have yet to see if it really hurts him in the long run. He's not up for reelection until 2014.

So, let's see how this plays out. But there clearly is a -- part of the party doesn't like it.

SANCHEZ: How far to the right do you have to go before you get them to -- I mean, this fellow, Senator Graham, I understand -- I think I heard him this weekend -- yes -- I record the weekend shows on Sunday mornings, because my kids -- we do stuff in the morning.

YELLIN: And then you watch them.

SANCHEZ: But then I come back and -- I DVR them. I watch them out by the pool. And I heard him say he's in favor--

YELLIN: You have a TV by your pool?

SANCHEZ: Yes, you can do that here in Georgia. It's wonderful.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: So, I heard him say he's in favor of repealing the 14th Amendment, which would basically say, even if you're born in the United States, you still can't be a citizen.

That's pretty far to the right, isn't it?

YELLIN: Yes, he did say that he would consider amending the U.S. Constitution to change that amendment, basically to not extend citizenship to the kids of illegal immigrants.

And he went further than some of the Republican leaders. You will also remember, Rick, that he was talking with Democrats about writing a bipartisan energy or climate bill, but then backed out. So, he clearly has to -- is aware that he has to be careful about exactly when he partners with Democrats. He's not been afraid in the past and it hasn't hurt him in the past to break with his party sometimes. But these are tricky days.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

I won't say the next thing I wanted to say because I will get in trouble, as I always do. So, I will save it.

No, I will say it. No, I will save it.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Jessica, thanks for being with us.

YELLIN: Thanks, Rick.

SANCHEZ: You know those foods you eat or drink almost without thinking about it, you know? And sometimes we give them to our kids, too much of it. My wife and I struggle with this all the time, the sodas, the candy, the breads, the desserts, the stuff that comes in packages at grocery stores. We already know what they do to our waistlines, right?

But we have had this ongoing argument about whether corn syrup and sugar are the same thing, sucrose, glucose, the whole nine yards, right? There's a new study out that talks about the effect of this and cancer. This is very, very important. If you're thinking about your health, if you're thinking about how much of this to put in your system, if you're thinking as a parent about how much of this you let your kids consume, stay right there. Elizabeth Cohen is going to be drilling down on this new information that you don't want to miss.

That's ahead.

Also, it can happen any time, any place. Workplace violence is as unpredictable as the people who unleash it. There is no way to look at someone and know for sure whether they're not going to wig out, right? So the proof is in today's list of recent workplace shootings.

I want to take you through these. Ready? Number four, this is 2006. Jennifer San Marco returned to the mail processing plant she used to work at, shot two people in the parking lot, entered the building, shot four more, before killing herself. We have got a whole list of these that we're going to take you through. Where do you think some of these terms came from?

More on that list in just a little bit. Stay right there. RICK'S LIST continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Eight people shot dead at a Connecticut warehouse yesterday before the gunman, one of the coworkers, kills himself.

Workplace killings are terrifying and completely unpredictable. It's not like you can look at someone and tell. Take a look at the accused killers behind some of the recent shooting sprees.

We did a little research to find out for ourselves. Ready. Number three, after an argument with his supervisor at Atlantis Plastics, 25-year-old Wesley Higdon went to his car in the parking lot, got his gun, then walked back in the building and shot and killed five coworkers before killing himself.

Let's continue this list, shall we? Number two, you know this guy, Major Nidal Malik Hasan accused of killing 12 soldiers, one civilian, and wounding 32 people at the Ft. Hood Army post in Texas where he is stationed.

But who is number one? Well, earlier this year, 42-year-old Professor Amy Bishop Anderson is accused of walking up onto the University of Alabama campus where she taught and killed three professors and wounded three other faculty members. That's just the list of recents that we could share with you. Of course, we could go on and on.

We are awaiting a ruling on the future of same-sex marriage in the state of California, a decision that's going to spark a dramatic reaction from both sides of the debate.

This is obviously not going to be -- this is not going to be the end of the battle on this. That's what we're learning from folks who are drilling down on this story so far. So stand by. As soon as we get any information, we'll know right away. We'll turn it around and I'll share it with you, and then we'll analyze it and bring you all the reaction there from the streets of California.

Also, have you ever wondered how businesses train their employees to handle a robbery? Well, it looks like one store took a page from the defensive playbook of the 1985 Chicago Bears. Or is that "Da Bears"? The video next on the list of today's "Fotos."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You know that I played college football before deciding to become a journalist. And while I think I make a better news anchor than, say, I don't know, a middle linebacker, I don't mind saying I can still throw down a mean tackle -- with my daughter usually. Apparently so can these guys. Let's do "Fotos."

Just another early morning at the local pharmacy in Pensacola, Florida -- that's Joe Scarborough's place -- until an armed robbery tries to make a run with a bag of prescription drugs. He might have got away with it as well if not for this textbook takedown by two of the store's employees. Somebody give those kids a scholarship.

And that's no lava lamp, not right there. See that? We told you yesterday about an explosion that scientists observed on the surface of the sun. Well, that solar activity resulted in some wild light shows across the northern hemisphere. Check this out. This is time- lapsed iReports of the northern lights from Denmark. Somebody sent us this from Denmark. We love you over there.

An amazing solar effect and one you don't generally see so far south. Keep your eyes on the sky tonight as well. If you live in the northern United States, you might be able to see it for yourself. If you just go outside and catch a glimpse, send us an iReport to RICK'S LIST. I'll put it on the air, by golly.

Also, speaking of northern climates, check out this find from beneath the Arctic Ocean. Canadian archaeologists are three sheets to the wind over the discovery of a 19th century ship. It's the HMS Investigator. It was abandoned to the ice in 1853, 156 years ago, after heavy ice trapped the crew during an attempt to cross the northwest passage.

The men were stuck there for two years before their eventual rescue. The boat was left behind and thought to be lost forever until now, because we'll always find you here on "Fotos del Dia," which you can see on my blog at CNN.com/RickSanchez.

We could be just minutes away from a major decision in California. It hasn't happened yet, but we are tuning in to this thing, including the Web site. So as soon as there's a decision, we're going to be able to turn it around for you.

Will the ban on same-sex marriage stay law? A judge decides, and the ruling may spark outrage no matter which side wins on this. As soon as we hear it, we'll turn it around. We'll do it for you.

Also, that massacre in Connecticut -- there are new details tonight. Some of the stuff that's coming in kind of makes you think about what really happened there in the early morning yesterday. This is about the man police are saying shot up his workplace.

It was a mass killing. We're now learning about his eight victims and they all had some very important things in common. Brooke Baldwin's here. She's doing trending topics, and she's going to take us through all of that as well as some stuff out there trending having to do with us, with this newscast that we toil to bring you every single day, right? No.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Yes, that too is trending.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We want to do trending now, which is what Brooke follows for us. And we're doing it -- look, there's a sad note to this.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to talk about it.

SANCHEZ: It's hard to talk about it. The fact that you go to work, you're doing your job, trying to feed your family, and some son of a gun comes up and kills you in cold blood, chases you with a gun into the parking lot. This is what happened yesterday in Manchester. Those are the details coming in.

And the one thing -- it's always hard to tell the stories, but now we're starting to get information about the victims, or you are, right?

BALDWIN: Right. So eight people in total, eight lives just gone in a flash yesterday morning. Imagine, they went to work never to come home again.

Now today we're starting to learn a little bit more about them, including -- let me start with 61-year-old Victor James. He was 30 years there on the job. In fact, his mother recently moved in with him. She told our affiliate she kissed him goodbye before he left for work yesterday morning.

SANCHEZ: Oh, man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He worked his job, you know, but he was getting tired of it. He worked there 30 years and he was ready to retire.

Everybody liked him. He was just -- he had that personality, you know? Just loved people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "Loved people."

Let me run through the other victims for you. This is from our affiliate WFSB who's been all over this out of Hartford. Brian Strigliano, he's the shop steward for the union.

SANCHEZ: He's the one firing.

BALDWIN: He's the one who would have fired him and would have been the one to bring him in yesterday morning for that disciplinary hearing, I think it was 7:30 in the morning. Greg Pepin recently celebrated his wedding anniversary, apparently loved his job according to his family.

A couple of other names, Edwin Kennson, Jr., a father. He was delivering ketchup and mustard to the warehouse when he was killed yesterday. Doug Scrutun, one year from retirement, a kind, gentle man. William Ackerman, a family man. He was taking care of his mother.

And two more names -- Francis Fazio, Jr. and Louis Seldor, Jr. But the big question which you have touched on is were these particular victims targeted or not, or were they simply shot at random?

SANCHEZ: It looks like they were targeted.

BALDWIN: Right. So we're hearing form the Manchester police chief, who's saying it definitely looks like they were targeted. A number of these people were upper management, executives. And in reading some of this, and you've talked about, he was chasing some of the people inside, outside, passed by a few. The newspaper up there said he passed by a woman in a wheelchair. So it appears that they were targeted.

SANCHEZ: If he's chasing people into the building and out of the building and going by people that he could have opened fire on because he doesn't want to shoot them, he wants to shoot somebody else -- some of the witnesses have used the word "hunted."

BALDWIN: Can you imagine when he grabs the two guns out of his red metal lunchbox?

SANCHEZ: Crazy.

All right, there's something else I wanted you to share with us in little bit. That will be coming up in the next hour, right?

BALDWIN: Sure, you got it.

SANCHEZ: I look forward to it.

All right, 45 minutes. Watch this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he didn't have a master list that we found saying these are the people he's going to go after.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: This is a caveat to what Brooke was just telling you about. That's how long, 45 minutes, police officers saying it took the shooter in Connecticut to chase all of his victims down that he apparently wanted to shoot.

The developments continue to pour in. We've been all over this story. We'll stay on top of it and ask the questions for you. And "RICK'S LIST" will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We have been following this workplace violence out of Connecticut for the better part of the last 24 hours now. We're learning a lot more about what happened and what may have prompted the shooting spree that left nine people dead, including the shooter, by the way.

I want to bring in Alison Kosik now. She's done a hell of a job on this story. She was the first reporter there are for us. Then she raced to the scene to get interviews with some of the people involved. She's talked to both sides of the story, talked to family members who made the allegations that he may have been racially harassed.

Alison, thanks for joining us once again today. It sounds like from what we're hearing now -- and this is a conversation I was having with Brooke just a little while ago -- like the news today is that he hunted some of these people down at this workplace, that he was literally going after -- I'll use the word "certain people." Does that seem correct?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right on the money there, Rick. These are really terrifying details about what was going on inside that warehouse for about 45 minutes.

And police say when he pulled out that nine-millimeter handgun from his lunchbox, he didn't stop. He walked, he ran, he chased people. He hunted them for about 45 minutes.

At one point, Rick, he chased somebody out into the parking lot, one of his victims, chasing them out into the parking lot. And when he got out in the parking lot, the door to the warehouse was locked, so he smashed through the glass of the door to get back into the warehouse and continued his shooting rampage until, of course, cops cornered him in an office area and he killed himself.

SANCHEZ: Let me drill down with you now on this. The part of the story that's somewhat controversial and a lot of people are saying, people are saying, look, what this guy did is heinous. He's a mass killer. There's no doubt about it.

But there are these allegations that he made. Now I know it came from one person you talked to. That would be the mother of his girlfriend. And we also have an uncle on the record saying he had heard the same thing.

KOSIK: That's right.

SANCHEZ: So I guess what I'm asking you here is, this is something that had been discussed before the shooting, correct? It's not an excuse being made up after the shooting as some people are wondering about?

KOSIK: Well, apparently Omar Thornton was discussing this only with his family and friends. If you talk to the union, if you talk to the company, they say they didn't know about this alleged racial harassment going on. In fact, they say they didn't receive anything in writing about this.

So, you know -- and we talked with Ross Hollander. He's the CEO of this company. He says it never happened, that the racial harassment never happened, that he never got the complaints. Rick?

SANCHEZ: I tell you what, you've done a really good job thon this story. Stay on it for us, will you?

KOSIK: Will do.

SANCHEZ: Because we have gotten an outpouring of interest and concern, thousands and thousands of e-mails from people who want to know more and are interested in the story and they have you to thank.

KOSIK: There are lots of details on this one.

SANCHEZ: Thank you. You went out there, you hustled, and got the details. That's what we do. Thanks so much.

You remember last week's "TIME" magazine cover that was shocking that showed a woman in Afghanistan whose nose had been ripped off as punishment? I mean, look, that happens to women in Afghanistan. It's part of the reality the reason we're there.

There is an update on this story. And Brooke's got the details. She'll bring it to us in a little bit. You won't believe what's going on with this since we reported it.

Also, as Republicans propose overturning the 14th Amendment, one guy came up with the idea a long time ago. He says it's wrongly interpreted, and he tops our most intriguing list. We're going to be right back. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. It's time now to check the list of the most intriguing people in the news today. We're cutting right to the head of the class.

Number one, he's a United States congressman from Texas and for years has been pushing his version of the immigration reform. He says the 14th Amendment is antiquated and wrongly interpreted. That's the part of our constitution that gives automatic U.S. citizenship to someone born in the United States -- a baby, who is born in the United States, no matter what the condition is of their parent.

Read this, his words. "Passing a law to eliminate birth citizenship would help deter illegal immigration and reduce the burden on the taxpayer of paying for illegal immigrants' education, healthcare, and other government benefits."

Here's what he looks like -- Texas Congressman Lamar Smith. A couple of his fellow Republicans in the Senate wondered aloud this week if the 14th Amendment could use another look as an immigration solution. It is an extreme idea, repealing an amendment of the United States constitution, but it's not a new song. Lamar Smith, Representative Smith, has been singing it for a long time.

The ingredient that sweetens some of our favorite foods is being investigated for possible links to cancer. Yep, we're talking about the difference in sugar and the sweet stuff that comes from corn. This is a big story. I want you to hear it. We'll examine the science, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Breaking news coming in the form of a tweet, by golly. Here we go. It comes from Nancy Pelosi. She just tweeted this. "I am going to be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers' jobs and help seniors and children." So a special session, calling the house back into session early next week, that's what Nancy Pelosi says she will do. We'll drill down on that and obviously have more for you.