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CNN Live Event/Special

Four Killed at University of Arizona

Aired October 28, 2002 - 13:48   ET

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

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


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: We're taking you to a news conference in Arizona, where there has been a shooting involving at least four people.
Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and we're following up on information. Obviously, we're not giving that out right now. We have to investigate what is going on.

QUESTION: Chief, you alluded to the fact there may have been a previous bomb threat. Had this man make threats to the building before, and was he known to either local law enforcement or the personnel here at this college?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the threats of the bomb -- the threats made about the bomb threat we learned about a couple of hours ago, so we don't know if we have any type of information on file as to his...

QUESTION: Did he make those recently, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to talk about that right now.

I think what's important for you to keep in mind, if you would, it's still a very dynamic situation, it's unfolding, we're still discovering information, confirming information. There's literally probably thousands of people in the city right now very concerned with their spouses, their children, the people who are students that worked in the buildings. And the last thing to be part of is putting out bad information that makes them feel that their particular loved one has somehow been one of the victims.

So we don't want to speculate, and we're not releasing information now about whether they were faculty, students, staff or anything else until we absolutely know and we have had the opportunity, and certainly the Tucson Police Department had the opportunity to notify next of kin and provide the kinds of services that need to be provided. I think any other premature kind of speculation running around about who they are, starting to name them as professors, or name them as staff people, or take third party information from somewhere else and share that information with all these people out there, who are out there concerned about their loved ones would be irresponsible, and we don't want to engage in that.

QUESTION: ... bomb threat came in the time that the suspect shooting people or before that? Is it possible there was another bomb threat nothing to do with this person?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The information that I have is that the bomb threat was made in the past, and that that information was passed on to us this morning.

QUESTION: In the recent past? Last two hours or days? Weeks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll say weeks.

QUESTION: Chief, can you give us any information about the gunman?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I just -- look, we're not going to release any information prematurely. The information we have released now is what we'll release until we confirm further information, make whatever notifications that we need to, and make sure whatever we release doesn't jeopardize the investigation.

QUESTION: Do you know how many people were in the building?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we'll do now is we'll continue to keep you updated. We'll be doing this on 30-minute intervals here, and we have that plan to continue with the investigative updates. We do not have much investigative information, because obviously, that hasn't been in full scale yet, but we have a representative from the University Hospital here to provide information what services and what condition the hospital is, what precautions they have taken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'm Katie Riley, university medical center. As you've heard, several of the colleges are closed. University Medical Center is also closed to the public. We're asking visitors not to come by now.

QUESTION: What about patients?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our patients are being cared for. They're complete safety.

QUESTION: Patients who need to come to the hospital today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Emergency and trauma being diverted to other hospitals just now.

SAVIDGE: You're listening to a news conference that is coming out of Tucson, Arizona, where has been a shooting a short while ago at the University of Arizona. It appears to have revolved around the area know of as the college of nursing. Four people have been killed, reportedly two of them professors, one of them also thought to be the shooter, and the identity of the fourth person unclear at this particular point. You heard officials there saying that they obviously wanted to notify next of kin before they notified the media, and that is understandable. We'll keep you posted on that story as information becomes available.

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





Aired October 28, 2002 - 13:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: We're taking you to a news conference in Arizona, where there has been a shooting involving at least four people.
Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and we're following up on information. Obviously, we're not giving that out right now. We have to investigate what is going on.

QUESTION: Chief, you alluded to the fact there may have been a previous bomb threat. Had this man make threats to the building before, and was he known to either local law enforcement or the personnel here at this college?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the threats of the bomb -- the threats made about the bomb threat we learned about a couple of hours ago, so we don't know if we have any type of information on file as to his...

QUESTION: Did he make those recently, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to talk about that right now.

I think what's important for you to keep in mind, if you would, it's still a very dynamic situation, it's unfolding, we're still discovering information, confirming information. There's literally probably thousands of people in the city right now very concerned with their spouses, their children, the people who are students that worked in the buildings. And the last thing to be part of is putting out bad information that makes them feel that their particular loved one has somehow been one of the victims.

So we don't want to speculate, and we're not releasing information now about whether they were faculty, students, staff or anything else until we absolutely know and we have had the opportunity, and certainly the Tucson Police Department had the opportunity to notify next of kin and provide the kinds of services that need to be provided. I think any other premature kind of speculation running around about who they are, starting to name them as professors, or name them as staff people, or take third party information from somewhere else and share that information with all these people out there, who are out there concerned about their loved ones would be irresponsible, and we don't want to engage in that.

QUESTION: ... bomb threat came in the time that the suspect shooting people or before that? Is it possible there was another bomb threat nothing to do with this person?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The information that I have is that the bomb threat was made in the past, and that that information was passed on to us this morning.

QUESTION: In the recent past? Last two hours or days? Weeks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll say weeks.

QUESTION: Chief, can you give us any information about the gunman?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I just -- look, we're not going to release any information prematurely. The information we have released now is what we'll release until we confirm further information, make whatever notifications that we need to, and make sure whatever we release doesn't jeopardize the investigation.

QUESTION: Do you know how many people were in the building?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we'll do now is we'll continue to keep you updated. We'll be doing this on 30-minute intervals here, and we have that plan to continue with the investigative updates. We do not have much investigative information, because obviously, that hasn't been in full scale yet, but we have a representative from the University Hospital here to provide information what services and what condition the hospital is, what precautions they have taken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'm Katie Riley, university medical center. As you've heard, several of the colleges are closed. University Medical Center is also closed to the public. We're asking visitors not to come by now.

QUESTION: What about patients?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our patients are being cared for. They're complete safety.

QUESTION: Patients who need to come to the hospital today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Emergency and trauma being diverted to other hospitals just now.

SAVIDGE: You're listening to a news conference that is coming out of Tucson, Arizona, where has been a shooting a short while ago at the University of Arizona. It appears to have revolved around the area know of as the college of nursing. Four people have been killed, reportedly two of them professors, one of them also thought to be the shooter, and the identity of the fourth person unclear at this particular point. You heard officials there saying that they obviously wanted to notify next of kin before they notified the media, and that is understandable. We'll keep you posted on that story as information becomes available.

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