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CNN Saturday Morning News
Ceremonies Open Day 2 of NATO Summit; North Korea Says Satellite To Be Launched Soon; Motive Unclear in Deadly Binghamton Shootings; U.S. Unemployment Rate Bolts to 8.5 Percent
Aired April 04, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING show. It is Saturday, April 4. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Drew Griffin, in today for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting your day with us, or maybe ending it with us. 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
NGUYEN: It's early.
GRIFFIN: 3:00 a.m. on the left coast, and noon in Strasbourg, France, where the leaders of the 28 NATO nations are meeting for Day 2 of their summit.
NGUYEN: Yes, and today marks the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and we are going to take you there live this morning.
But right now, we want to show you some live pictures from Strasbourg, France. As you can see, protests already under way. You see police officers out there in full force, and there's a little bit of smoke to the top left-hand portion of your screen. We are monitoring this very closely as protests are indeed under way and military forces, police forces have been called in. We'll be watching it for you.
But first, an entire community mourning after 13 people were shot to death inside an immigrant center in Binghamton, New York. Four others are in the hospital, and police believe the suspect, Jiverly Wong, took his own life. There's still no word on the motive. Now we'll have a live report from Binghamton in just a minute.
GRIFFIN: And it could be the final countdown for a very controversial rocket launch in North Korea. North Korea says they are going to launch an experimental communications satellite. This despite warnings from the U.S. and allies in Asia.
A North Korean news agency says the launch is going to happen soon; actually, sometime between this morning and Wednesday. Some other nations, including the United States, believe they are really testing a more powerful, long-range missile.
NGUYEN: Well, a pledge of support and meeting ahead of today's NATO summit. French and German leaders already promise to endorse President Obama's strategy of increasing troops in Afghanistan. The president will also be looking for more civilian aid as he formally lays out his plan today. And we of course will bring you the president's speech live in France, beginning in the next hour.
But back to our top story -- let's talk about this right now: Binghamton, New York, left in just shock after a deadly shooting rampage. Investigators are trying to figure out a motive.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is live from Binghamton, which is in upstate New York.
And Allen, what do you know -- at least, what's the latest as far as we've been watching this play out and people search for clues as to why it all happened?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, there certainly are a tremendous number of mysteries here.
Let's review exactly what happened, because we do have full details now after having spoken with the police chief very late last night and with the mayor. First of all, Jiverly Wong just barged into the American Civic Association; he barricaded the back door with his vehicle, and then walked in, shot two people right at the reception area. Eventually, he would kill 13 victims.
Let's hear a little detail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW RYAN, MAYOR OF BINGHAMTON: He -- apparently, he shot the receptionist. First person he shot was -- actually, he shot two receptionists. One died, and one survived. And this woman apparently faked that she was also killed, and waited for the gunman to go down the hallway. Then found a place where she could make a phone call and called the 911.
CHERNOFF: And then actually gave a description.
RYAN: I think she said it was a -- a male and -- an Asian male. So that's about all. But she was in pretty bad shape. She -- went to the hospital and -- had surgery. She -- she was shot in the abdomen, and she's in critical condition. But they do expect her to survive.
CHERNOFF: So, really a heroine here.
RYAN: Yes, absolutely. If there's a hero in that building, it was her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: As you heard, the police and the mayor, they all that she was definitely a hero in this situation.
Now, Jiverly Wong apparently had recently lost a job, was distraught. Former coworkers say he was actually a very intelligent person, that he worked as an engineer at a high-tech company, Endicott Interconnect Technologies, although it's not clear if he had lost his job recently from that precise company.
Also, neighbors say he was a very quiet person, mild-mannered, didn't talk all that much.
Now, Betty, the big question here, why exactly would he attack the American Civic Association, an organization that actually helps immigrants. So that's one of the key questions over here -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Baffling, because we're also reading that Wong also received his own citizenship here in the U.S. in the mid 1990s. So, yes, the question is, why would you go to the civic center?
What else can you tell us about this community and how they're coping with this? Because this is obviously a huge shock.
CHERNOFF: People are -- are just -- just absolutely stunned. I mean, this is a -- a town where last year there was only one homicide. And as I said, the description of the man, it seemed that he was very mild-mannered.
I spoke with several coworkers yesterday. One said that he was -- he was just incredibly helpful. Part of his job at -- at this company was to actually train others in the use of machinery and the use of high-tech machinery, and that he was very, very helpful, always cooperative.
But -- but apparently losing his job was -- was just very, very distressing. And clearly he snapped.
NGUYEN: All right. We, of course, will be following it very closely. Thank you for that, Allan.
GRIFFIN: Well, in that quiet town of Binghamford (ph) (sic), in a matter of hours they were on high alert as police tried to find that gunman. Schools in the area, of course, on lockdown, and city streets closed. Even snipers on the lookout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was crazy. Like, everyone was in there and -- because I left fourth period, and I heard about it and I was talking to people. And everyone said that they had to stay in fourth period for the rest of the day until every -- until they caught the people. And they couldn't -- they didn't meet at all yet. We were just on lockdown all day. We couldn't leave -- no -- they couldn't do nothing. They had to stay in the classroom all day long.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So have you heard from your parents yet? Have they been concerned? What have you -- what have you been talking about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) since, like, 10:30. And I know -- and I seen everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So tell us, what has this scene been like? What did you see? Were you nervous? Were you scared? Were you worried? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, yes. Well, I didn't -- we didn't know what was going on. We were just at Ron's (ph), and we didn't -- we were just watching. And all of a sudden, we seen every -- we saw all the cops come, and we didn't know what was going on. And then, like, we had to stand in there, and his wife was in there (INAUDIBLE).
And she called -- like, and was telling what's going on. And he tried to get down here as fast as he can so -- to get her, but the cops was already down here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that you were actually able to sort of sneak behind police barricades and get a little close to the building. Tell me what you saw.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the river banks, right in front of the civic center. We got Army Reserve down there. There's SWAT teams in the back; they're sited on. You got snipers on the roof. This is the real deal here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: That's some of the live coverage during the event yesterday from affiliates in Binghamton, who were on that the whole day, trying to understand what was going on. And now, the community trying to understand how this could happen, as you heard from Allan Chernoff.
Well, we may learn more today. At noon, Binghamton police holding a news conference, and we will bring you that live as it happens, and of course bring you any updates in the meantime, right here on CNN.
NGUYEN: Well, President Obama is overseas in France right now. But the Binghamton shooting captured his attention, and he released this statement, saying -- quote: "Michelle and I were shocked and deeply saddened to learn about the act of senseless violence in Binghamton, New York. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and the people of Binghamton. We don't yet know all the facts, but my administration is actively monitoring the situation, and the vice president is in touch with Governor Paterson and local officials to track developments."
And there is plenty else on President Obama's mind today. He started the day at ceremonies surrounding the 60th anniversary of NATO at the French-German border.
And right now, it is back to business, as the NATO summit is under way in Strasbourg, France. The president will speak there at 8:15 this morning Eastern time, and we will bring that to you live, when it happens.
After the speech, the president and first lady then leave to attend the EU summit in the Czech Republic. GRIFFIN: And these are live pictures of protests happening right now in Strasbourg, France. Of course, there was some -- well, big protests and some scattered violence in London for the G-20 summit. But this is happening right now live in Strasbourg, France. We're hoping to get Jim Bitterman as soon as possible, our senior international correspondent who is in Strasbourg with the president.
The president really trying to get NATO to go along with plans, his plans, in Afghanistan to go after the terrorist contingent there, the al-Qaida, and also to get some pledges of troop support from other NATO nations to try to share the load. That is one of the prime missions of the president today.
And also, he will be having that news conference we'll be carrying. We'll have his remarks from the NATO summit this morning, and that's going to be, as Betty said, at 8:15 Eastern time -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, another major story that we are following for you this morning, the unbelievable number of job cuts. It is one of the top stories on CNNMoney.com. Millions unemployed, and CNN is trying to help. We have a resume expert answering your questions, and we're going to give you 30 seconds to make a pitch as well to employers out there. Why should they hire you? Well, we'll give you 30 seconds to do that.
GRIFFIN: Plus, Reynolds Wolf tracking powerful storm -- Reynolds.
NGUYEN: Yes. Again.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Yes, I know. I mean, it's -- it's kind of a recurring thing on the weekends.
NGUYEN: Yes.
WOLF: We do that here. Go figure.
We are watching one storm in the Great Plains. We are also watching another storm system that is moving through parts of the Northeast. Some scattered showers and light snow showers also from Syracuse back to Buffalo. I'm going to let you know what this storm system and the one in the Central Plains is going to mean for your weekend. That's coming up in just a few moments.
NGUYEN: And listen to this: What was supposed to be a White House conference call ended up being a phone-sex line. Yes, the wrong number. We'll show you what happens when reporters called it.
GRIFFIN: Wait -- you called it.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So the rains that hit the West Coast -- and it is creating an unbelievable mess for a lot of folks out there. WOLF: Absolutely. Like Whobey Island, which is roughly 30 miles north of Washington state.
NGUYEN: Yes.
WOLF: You know what's funny though, Betty, is when you think about the Pacific Northwest, you think -- well, rain, you know? I mean, it's...
NGUYEN: Yes. And a lot of it.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: Exactly. But too much of anything is bad.
And take a look at this.
NGUYEN: Wow.
WOLF: This is just some of the video we got yesterday from Whobey Island.
NGUYEN: Oh my goodness.
WOLF: A lot of people were evacuated. And Betty, when I -- when the area -- when the dirt all gets saturated, and it comes down that hillside -- I mean, it's going to destroy anything in its place. I mean, it was a huge mess.
Authorities went door to door to -- to either assist or help evacuate people. Water from the Block Colverg (ph), just a little bit up that -- up the road from where you see this point...
NGUYEN: Uh huh.
WOLF: ...washed out a road. It was about 7 a.m. Friday, and of course it's going to carry the debris a long way. In fact, all the way down hill to Puget Sound.
NGUYEN: What about the homes? Do they slide down with it, or just some of the debris?
WOLF: Quite a few did. I mean, look at this.
NGUYEN: Yes. I mean, it looks -- it looks like there's a lot of damage to it. I mean, we see that in California with the mudslides and whatnot, but you don't hear about it that often up north.
WOLF: No, it doesn't happen there. I mean, Southern California, we hear it happen in Malibu all the time.
NGUYEN: Right.
WOLF: But what I did hear is that some of the locals are saying, they heard a -- a cracking noise, almost like thunder during a thunderstorm. NGUYEN: Mmm.
WOLF: And then -- that was the trees being uprooted and the homes being lifted off their...
NGUYEN: Jeez.
WOLF: ...their -- I -- I know. Just a tremendous mess.
Well, we're going to be seeing some storms later on Betty -- not probably of the magnitude of at least mudslides.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: I am so tired of storms on the weekends.
WOLF: Yes, I know.
NGUYEN: It seems like -- how many weeks have we been going straight with storms?
WOLF: This many, maybe? Something like that?
Well, we're going to show you the latest one over here, Betty...
NGUYEN: OK.
WOLF: ...on the -- on the wall, and this one is kind of hard of miss. You see two of them, one that's developing right now across parts of the central Rockies and into the Central Plains. The next one is going to be in parts of the Northeast.
Now first, let's tackle the one in the Plains. It is going to ramp up. The Gulf of Mexico is wide open. All this moisture is coming on through. We also have a lot of cold air surging in from the north, and as this moisture goes through that upper level -- or rather, drops to the low levels of the atmosphere, and it's going to freeze. And when it freezes, it's going to turn into some snowfall. It could get fairly heavy in places like Belle Fourche, back over to Rapid City, maybe even into Aberdeen.
Now, watches and warnings -- we have plenty of these. We're going to pull away a little bit, moment -- show you all the winter-storm warnings that we have in effect, not just in the Central Plains, but also back into the Rockies. And then when we pull away a bit more into the Midwest; for review, we've got, of course, those advisories that will be in effect south of Minneapolis.
Now into the Northeast, it looks really bad. But I'm going to tell you, other than delays that you're going to be dealing with on the roadways, like along parts of 81, you're not going to see a whole lot in terms of snowfall. Maybe an inch; maybe a half inch at most. And if you happen to be in Georgia or some places like northern Florida, that sounds like a bit deal; but if you happen to be in Syracuse or Binghamton or even Buffalo, that's nothing. That's nothing at all. Scattered showers also from Schenectady back over to Chickabee (ph). In places like New York, later on today, you could see some scattered showers develop. To the Southeast, nothing doing, very mild conditions. Same deal out for the West Coast; your temperatures very quickly for places like Seattle and into Portland, mainly in the 50s and 60s; 39 in Salt Lake City; 64 in D.C.; 50 in Boston; 54 in New York.
And as we wrap it up, Dallas and Houston, mainly into the 80s.
That is a look at your forecast across the nation. Let's send it back to you guys at the news desk.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. We do appreciate it.
WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: Talk to you soon.
GRIFFIN: We now have senior international correspondent Jim Bitterman in Strasbourg, France, where, Jim, the President Obama is well into his day.
Can you tell me what he has done?
JIM BITTERMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, at least, they've had a very symbolic morning in which they walked across the bridge, the -- 27 of the 28 leaders walked across the bridge from Germany towards France, which is hosting this summit.
On the other side was from the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who came out and halfway across the bridge, the two sides came together. This is a very symbolic meeting in the sense that France is coming back into the military structure of NATO. Of course, crossing the Rhine River, which separates from France from Germany was symbolic as well, showing that these two old enemies, France and Germany, are friends these days, and thanks in part, at least, to the organization that's having its 60th birthday today, NATO.
The president then went with some of the other leaders to the first of the official meetings here today, and that is a plenary session, which all of the 28 members are getting together to talk over some serious business. How -- what kind of conclusions they come to after that is a good question, but at least they started off with some very high-sounding, high-meaning speeches about Afghanistan, about the contributions and burden-sharing in Afghanistan.
The United States, of course, would like to see a lot bigger contribution in Afghanistan from other members of NATO. It doesn't look like that's going to come in the form of boots on the ground in terms of troops. But it may come in terms of commitment to training Afghan police or helping out in reconstruction or perhaps putting some money on the table for Afghanistan.
But what the U.S. would really like to see is some extra troops to go in with the 21,000 American troops that are going to be added to the Afghan front (ph).
GRIFFIN: And -- and as you said, there doesn't seem to be any thawing on that, especially from the -- the -- the Germans or the French.
Very pretty pictures today, Jim, but we're also seeing some protests in Strasbourg. In fact, we have live pictures up now. I know you are inside at the -- what looks like the press center.
But who are these protesters? Do you know? And -- what are they protesting?
BITTERMAN: Well, it's a little mix -- it's a mixed bag of just about everything. They've been around for the last couple of days here. There's anti-nuclear protesters; there's anti-NATO protesters; there's Greenpeace; there are a number of people who are against globalization; and some anarchists.
And all of them have been camped out in a camp south of Strasbourg, about three or 4,000 in number. And they have, over the last couple of days, made several attempts to get into the center of city to sort of disrupt this somewhat if they can.
In fact, they did disrupt a tiny part of it today, because the first ladies, including Michelle Obama, were going to go to a cancer hospital and visit some other sites around the city this morning. And that was canceled because some of the protesters were able to get inside the outer ring of security, outer police ring, and had a sit-in demonstration and some other demonstrations right in the center of Strasbourg.
So that has, I guess, gotten people worried enough that they were canceling that visit this morning. They were afraid that the first ladies would come across the protests on their visit this morning.
GRIFFIN: All right. Jim Bitterman, thank you so much, live from Strasbourg, France.
And President Obama we will have live from France. He's going to make some remarks at the NATO summit, afternoon in France. We will bring you that live at 8:15 Eastern.
NGUYEN: Also, this back here at home: Parents, they are worried now more than ever about being able to afford to send their kids to college.
And you've got kids about...
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: I am writing this, Josh. And -- I mean, if you look -- if you look at the numbers right now...
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: ...the cost of college... NGUYEN: It is astronomical, isn't it?
GRIFFIN: ...has gone up hundreds and hundreds of percent.
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: And I don't know why, Josh. I'm kind of looking into this myself. But anyway....
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know.
GRIFFIN: ...you're here to get me some money, right?
NGUYEN: Yes, we need some scholarship money.
LEVS: It makes me feel old when we hear about how much it costs these days.
NGUYEN: I know.
LEVS: Because I'm like, how did it skyrocket that much just since we were there?
GRIFFIN: Yes, well I -- I was just reading, 450-some percent...
LEVS: Incredible.
GRIFFIN: ...in the last 10 years.
LEVS: Yes.
GRIFFIN: That's beyond any -- that's beyond health care.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
LEVS: You can see that at a lot of private schools; even public schools in a lot of cases have -- have had to go up.
And you guys know there's this rumor, a lot of people have heard, that there's millions of dollars in unused scholarship money.
NGUYEN: Mm-hmm.
LEVS: Well, is that true? And how can you get your hands on some of that cash? We are going to show you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: That was a look at the latest...
GRIFFIN: Boy.
NGUYEN: ...unemployment numbers. Boy, they're depressing, aren't they? And in this economy, millions of people are struggling to pay for college on top of all of that. Some actually delaying school because they can't afford it; some just giving it up. GRIFFIN: Yes. (INAUDIBLE). Did you see the teenage number was 21 percent?
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Obviously, teenagers without a college degree.
But there are scholarships, right, Josh, that you can get...
NGUYEN: Hopefully.
GRIFFIN: ...hopefully, out there to save some of these people and get them into school?
LEVS: Yes, they do exist.
Did you guys ever hear this rumor? Because I've heard it so many times, that there are all these tens of millions of dollars in unused scholarships?
NGUYEN: That go unused? Yes.
GRIFFIN: Right.
LEVS: That go unused every year? If you only knew how to find them?
So here's what we did: We tracked down an expert; I -- I posed that question to her, and unfortunately, the answer to that one is 'no.'
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TALLY HART, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: A quote was taken out of context that's been used to, I think, promote this idea that there are unused scholarships.
The fact is that there are a lot of scholarships available. And while they really do go used, it's important that every family get the scholarships that are intended for them.
LEVS: Yes. All right. Well, first of all, thanks for that reality check. We appreciate it.
Now let's talk about these scholarships. How do you find -- what's the best way to find scholarships?
HART: There are three ways.
One is a good, free Internet service. The second is to look locally. And the third is through your college.
LEVS: Well, let's break those down.
Free Internet service -- where do they look? HART: They look through a service -- there are several available. Fastweb.com, Petersons.com, the College Board, are examples of services that are free that keep your information confidential unless you release it, and notify you later if they add a scholarship for which you're eligible.
LEVS: OK. And we're showing these Web pages, but I'm going to emphasize what you said: only work with a free one, not one you have to pay for.
HART: That's right.
LEVS: Tell us about this idea....
HART: Sure.
LEVS: ....look locally.
HART: Talk with your guidance counselor. Talk with the places that the student or the parent work. Look at organizations like rotary and Kiwanis. And at religious organizations -- your mosque, your synagogue, your church. All of those are examples of local entities that will offer scholarships. And you want to be sure you cover that base, too.
LEVS: And these are things that, for someone who lives in that town or is a member of a specific group, there might be some money out there to pay for college wherever you go.
HART: That's exactly right.
And -- and don't let the amounts dissuade you. A $500 scholarship pays for half of your book for a year. That may sound like small, but that can be really valuable in keeping down your loans or making it a little less necessary to work while you're a student.
And also, the colleges to which you'll apply will have every interest in you getting scholarships that they know about.
The biggest way that people miss scholarships, though, is missing deadlines. It isn't that scholarships go unused, it's that students fail to apply or fail to apply on time. So in the scholarship business, that's the most important component to keep in mind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: So as you can see there, we got some great advice from her. But that's only a piece of it.
Later this morning, we're going to look at the other half of it, which is how to win those scholarships once you have find them. What are the keys to that winning application?
We're going to have that in our 8:00 hour this morning, guys, right here in the newsroom. NGUYEN: Yes, that's good information. Because, you know, half the battle is just finding the scholarship, and the other half is setting yourself apart from all the other applicants, some of them with better grades.
LEVS: Right.
NGUYEN: You know, extracurriculars that may make them stand apart. So how do you make sure you win that scholarship once you find it? That's tough.
LEVS: Yes, and imagine the -- the competition for this scholarships...
NGUYEN: Yes.
LEVS: ...in this economy? You really got to set yourself apart. That's why we're going to break that down for you.
GRIFFIN: When are we going to do that?
LEVS: In the 8:00 hour today.
GRIFFIN: I'm going to call my daughter and get her out of bed.
LEVS: Get on the phones!
(LAUGHTER)
GRIFFIN: Watch TV!
(LAUGHTER)
GRIFFIN: Thanks, Josh.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Josh.
GRIFFIN: A shooting rampage -- this shooting rampage in Binghamton really has that New York community stunned. We're live where it happened. We're going to have the latest information. Who is this gunman, and why did he do it?
NGUYEN: We're also expecting President Obama to speak live from France this morning. We will bring that to you, 8:15 Eastern time.
And then -- within the hour though, we also have a live report on how today's ceremonies are. You don't want to miss that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back on this Saturday morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
GRIFFIN: I'm Drew Griffin in for T.J. Holmes. Thank you for starting your day with us. NGUYEN: Good for you to be with you. Appreciate that. You know, we do have a lot to tell you about and some of the top stories that we're working on include this.
President Obama visits Germany, France and the Czech Republic today but it is hardly a European vacation. He is rallying support from members of NATO for his administration's new strategy in Afghanistan.
NATO's 60th anniversary summit being held at the French/German border and we're going to have a live report for you at 7:00 a.m. Eastern as well as live video of the video at the summit at 8:15.
GRIFFIN: And what exactly is NATO? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. An alliance, 28 countries from North America and Europe is growing, created in 1929 to safeguard the freedom and security of its members then against the Soviet Union and does so by political and military means.
A really sad day. 41 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. shot and killed on a balcony in a Memphis hotel. He was there with -- to help the garbage workers who were on strike. The assassination dealt a devastating blow to the civil rights movement championed by him.
During the next hour, 11 new photos from the day of King's assassination. And then tonight at 8:00 Eastern, a special "CNN PRESENTS." If you haven't seen this, really worth watching, "Eyewitness to Murder, the King Assassination."
NGUYEN: Well, the Supreme Court is refusing to release dozens of sex offenders who had finished serving federal sentences. The government considers many of them too dangerous to be put back on the street.
Now the men will remain in custody while a federal appeals court handles this case. The courts have to determine whether the government has the authority to detain anyone who has done serving their time but is still considered a threat to the public.
GRIFFIN: The city of Binghamton, New York, in shock this morning. Thirteen victims are dead in a shooting spree at an immigrant center there.
NGUYEN: And police believe the suspected gunman took his own life.
CNN's Randi Kaye takes us through this terrible event moment by moment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 10:30 a.m., upstate New York in the small city of Binghamton, pure horror erupts. A man opens fire at the American Civic Association in a room full of people taking a citizenship class. Police say the shooter had blocked the back door exit with his car before he enters the front. The man has two handguns. He shoots two receptionists, one dies, the other pretends to be dead and calls 911.
CHIEF JOSEPH ZIKUSKI, BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK POLICE: He went into a room off that reception area, shot several people, and as he exited down the hallway in the building, she crawled underneath the desk and some time after that she called us.
KAYE: Up to 60 people are trapped inside, dozens huddle quietly in the boiler room, hiding throughout the ordeal. Hostage negotiators arrive, so does the FBI. SWAT sharp shooters take positions around the building looking for a shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got army reserve down there. There's SWAT teams in the back. They're sighted on. You've got snipers on the roof. This is the real deal here.
KAYE: Then word comes four are dead and the gunman is still inside. Instant message boards are on fire online. Some have loved ones inside.
LISA BEHR, WITNESS: About 11:30 some hostages being released. About 15 people, mostly women at that time came out, they were crying.
KAYE: The neighborhood is evacuated. Binghamton High School locked down.
(On camera): Here's why. We'll start out in New York. Going to take you right down to Binghamton, fly you in on our Google Earth map so you can take a look at where this all happened today. It all went down at the American Civic Association building, which we're going to show you. That's it, right there. OK?
So that's where everything happened. Now let me show you the neighborhood in this area. Here's the building. Take you over this from the ground view, you can see there's a church there on the corner. There are many homes, small businesses, so you can see why this area would have been evacuated just a few blocks from the main downtown area of Binghamton.
So if a gunman left this building, he would have ended up in a very busy, densely populated area of Binghamton.
(Voice over): By early afternoon, at least 12 dead then comes word the gunman is dead. Police say the suspect took his own life. He was Jiverly Voong, a local man in his early 40s.
ZIKUSKI: Among the dead, there's a male victim that has a satchel around his neck or arms and there is ammunition in there.
KAYE: Only four hours had lapsed before it finally ended. Thirty-seven hostages are released, four others, critically wounded, are taken to the hospital, 13 victims dead. And the one man who could tell us what anger, what rage triggered this awful rampage, the gunman himself, is gone.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, the shooting is being called the worst tragedy ever to strike Binghamton and while it will take a long time to heal, city officials say the community is already starting to come together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN: This is a community that comes together in time of crisis and you can certainly see that that's happening already here in this community. I want to thank all our state and federal officials who are here today and our local officials, everybody who understands the severity of this crisis.
We want to, again, reiterate that this is -- this is going to be tough on those families who have victims, many of them are originally not from this country and we want to make sure that that process goes out in a way that's fair to those families. So please respect the families.
GOV. DAVID PATERSON, NEW YORK: Lives have been lost and there is absolutely no reason or excuse for this kind of shooting and brutal attack of innocent people right here in New York state and, so, on behalf of the residents of New York and I'm sure Americans and people around the world, we'd like to send the prayers to the citizens of Binghamton and to the families who have been, obviously, traumatized by this event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: A prayer vigil was held in Binghamton last night and a group of local churches is working with the Red Cross and Catholic charities to help the families of the victims.
GRIFFIN: Our iReporter Garo Kachadourian captured these pictures of the chaos outside the immigration center in Binghamton following that shooting. The photos show people and law enforcement outside the center.
If you have pictures of news happening, you can always send them to ireport.com. And police hope we'll get more information on why, how, what happened there from a news conference. It's going to happen at noon in Binghamton and we're going to bring you that live. And we'll also have updates throughout the morning, if we get any more information on this terrible shooting in Binghamton, New York.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, we want to bring you up to speed on the weather outside. Reynolds Wolf has been tracking storm that is ramping up this afternoon. We should see more of that a little bit later today.
What do you have, Reynolds? WOLF: Absolutely. You know, it's Mother Nature giving us a one- two punch. We're watching one storm system ramps up in the central plains and actually now moving into portions of the northeast. I'm going to give you the story on both of them, let you know when they're expected to really accelerate in their power and how many people it might be affecting, especially in the northeast corridor. That's only moments away right here on CNN.
NGUYEN: All right. And Drew, what was supposed to be a White House conference call number, right? We get these numbers, we're supposed to call in, and this is supposed to be a line where you hear the Secretary of State. Oh, no, ended up being a phone sex hotline. Find out what it said when I called in.
(LAUGHTER)
GRIFFIN: I can't wait. I'll shut my mouth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: I'm in a nice, warm studio with Reynolds Wolf. We're dry. But last week you were wet, cold, freezing, filling sandbags. I don't know what you were doing but...
WOLF: Absolutely.
GRIFFIN: ... you had a devil of a time there in Fargo and Moorhead, right?
WOLF: Yes. We thought we had difficult time but the poor people that lived on both sides of the Red River and all those communities had a heck of a time. Take a look at some of this video that we got for you, Drew.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
WOLF: It is amazing thing to see how quickly people were able to respond in both communities in Moorhead and also, obviously, in Fargo. Not out of the woods just yet. You know they have plenty of snow and there is a chance that later on this month that the river could rise up one more time.
Something else is kind of weird. You take a look at this, that caption there. "Flood walls helped Moorhead, Minnesota." Certainly true and the flood walls which you might see in a few moments, they're really odd looking. It's almost like a giant, sort of a dark in color, inflatable thing.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Right.
WOLF: You know what that is?
GRIFFIN: No.
WOLF: (INAUDIBLE) some of that?
GRIFFIN: What?
WOLF: Water. They fill those up with water. So it's really the -- darndest thing. I mean you've got water keeping people from being affected by water.
GRIFFIN: But it's very effective when you lay them out and then you fill them up with water.
WOLF: Exactly.
GRIFFIN: So obviously a lot easier to manipulate those sandbags.
WOLF: Yes, very much.
GRIFFIN: And to get rid off. Who's draining them?
WOLF: Yes. You know, that's a good question. That's one question I did not ask, which I need to do next time. What do you do when with the water when it's time to get rid of it, you know?
GRIFFIN: Here's the deal with this. Freezing, right? And that's part of the problem here, because the water isn't draining anywhere.
WOLF: Absolutely. You know, that's a great point and we're talking during the break how the Red River is a north flowing river and if you have a warm up in the central plains all that snow pack is going to -- well, it's going to melt and that water feeds into that river and as it goes north, the skin will run into cooler areas where the ice is all jammed up and the water has no where to go.
GRIFFIN: Right. So rough times.
All right, let's move on. You know, this is like turbulence season, I'm on planes all the time.
WOLF: Absolutely.
GRIFFIN: And right now, you know, for, like, the next two months, it's already started, we're bumping all over the place.
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: What's happening?
WOLF: Well, we've got two places that are getting bumpy for people today. Let's walk over to the map. I'm going to map over here and show our viewers across America two places concerned for us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: That's a wrap on your forecast. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. You need to stick around for this story because, you know, many times as journalists we have to hop on the conference calls to get the latest information.
WOLF: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: Well, this week this happened at the White House. A conference call where reporters hoping to hear Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Right?
WOLF: Right.
NGUYEN: So they get to the phone number, they dial in and, well, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN (on camera): OK, so, just imagine you're a journalist on your deadline, you need to dial into a White House conference call with a number that they provided and this is what you get.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any hidden desires? Well, if you feel like getting nasty, then you came to the right place.
NGUYEN: Oh my.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brought to you by the girls of "Swank" magazine. If you're an experienced caller, you can enter your credit card number at any time during this message. Don't forget, if you're experienced as a caller...
NGUYEN: All right. All right. Enough. John, my photographer, put that credit card away. Your wife is not going to be happy with you.
So supposed to be hearing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that was definitely not Mrs. Clinton.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Yes, I don't think she picked up the phone saying, do you have any hidden desires. Can you imagine?
WOLF: And you responded -- and let me guess, you responded, oh, yes, tax cuts. Oh absolutely. Defense spending.
NGUYEN: Yes, those are...
WOLF: Exactly. Boy that's...
NGUYEN: Those are absolute needs.
GRIFFIN: That's change we can believe in, huh, Reynolds, at the White House?
NGUYEN: It is hilarious. You know a lot of people on Facebook, I posted it and the report that CNN did on it and people, yes, said exactly that. Change that you can believe in, is this the kind of change that we were looking for? But hey, you know, mistakes happen. GRIFFIN: That is hilarious.
NGUYEN: Wasn't meant to be, someone typed in the wrong phone number and there you go. And believe it or not, a similar thing happened during the Bush administration, not a phone sex line, but homeowners seeking mortgage relief, they got a Christian-based church group instead.
GRIFFIN: I seem to remember there was a Web site that kind of plays off the White House that's a porn site, too.
NGUYEN: How do you know this?
GRIFFIN: Well, I'm an investigative reporter.
NGUYEN: It was one -- a part of your investigation.
GRIFFIN: But you know what's interesting, Reynolds?
NGUYEN: What?
WOLF: Absolutely. What's interesting?
NGUYEN: Yes, Reynolds.
GRIFFIN: That these things -- it always stuns me that these exist. That people are actually calling up and giving their credit card and listening to these people.
NGUYEN: Here's what's so funny...
GRIFFIN: It's unbelievable. What losers.
NGUYEN: If you listen to it for a little bit longer, not only your credit card, you can write a check. They take checks, as well. Can you imagine? I mean, really.
WOLF: Well, you know, they say politics is a dirty business.
NGUYEN: Get out of here.
WOLF: So maybe this is going a little bit above and beyond that.
NGUYEN: Yes. Taking it to a whole new level.
WOLF: Exactly.
GRIFFIN: Yes. The stimulus package there.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: We could go on. All right, thank you, Reynolds.
GRIFFIN: All right.
NGUYEN: All right. We're going to tell you serious news now because Anderson Cooper, he talked with Timothy Geithner during the G- 20 summit on how the treasury secretary wants to fix this global economic crisis.
GRIFFIN: And the G-20 was the topic of President Obama's Web address released just this morning. We're going to play some of that for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG SARAFAN, CNN IREPORTER: Hi. As a student at Binghamton University, I definitely was affected by the shooting today. I personally found out about it in the middle of class. But I know many students are having trouble getting to classes today because of the shooting.
The buses for the university are not running through the area of downtown where the shooting is and that is a large portion of the student that live off campus. That's about all the information we know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And that was Greg Sarafan and he sent us that iReport following, of course, the shootings at the nearby immigration center. And if you have an iReport that you'd like to share, e-mail it to ireport.com.
GRIFFIN: This was such a scary time. Many of the survivors were hiding in a boiler room in that building whispering on cell phones to dispatchers and family members on the outside.
Well, yesterday, CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke with the daughter of one of those survivors and here's what the mom told us was happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: So what happened after she heard the shots?
ANAYA OSORIO, DAUGHTER OF SHOOTING HOSTAGE: They were moved from one room where she was taking the class to next -- to another room next to where she was and they locked the door and they stay there all the time.
COOPER: How many people were in that room? That boiler room, how many people were inside?
OSORIO: I believe she told me it was 26 people.
COOPER: And I understand it was a pretty small room, so it was a pretty uncomfortable situation. Everyone must have been incredibly frightened.
OSORIO: Yes, yes. COOPER: How often was she talking to you on the phone?
OSORIO: Between my husband and myself, we were trying to tell her to make contact with us every five minutes just to make sure that she was OK, that she's still alive and nothing else was happening over there.
COOPER: And what sorts of things was she saying to you during this time?
OSORIO: Not much. We're trying to tell her to be calm and just to lock the door and to be there and be quiet. Her phone was on silent and all what she was doing sometime was just calling us and we can see from the caller ID that it was her, but she wasn't talking too much.
COOPER: And I think at some point she asked you to watch TV to try to get some information because they didn't really know what was going on, right? What were you able to tell her?
OSORIO: Exactly. Yes. In the beginning I didn't say anything to her, I was trying to be calm and make sure she was calm, too, as well, because I know she was worried about it, what was going on over there. So to be a daughter I'm just trying to be, you know, calm and not worry her about it.
COOPER: Well, I'm so glad that she and the others are OK who are in that room and I appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much. Give your mom our best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Yes, 37 people hiding there for three hours...
NGUYEN: Right.
GRIFFIN: ... just trying to...
NGUYEN: Not knowing what's going on.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
NGUYEN: Fearful the shooter is still out there.
GRIFFIN: Can you imagine being a parent on the outside with your daughter calling you every five minutes?
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Just to make sure you're still alive? Wow.
NGUYEN: And you want them to call you every five minutes.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Well, we're continuing to follow the details of what happened during that shooting. We're going to have a live report with the latest information in a few minutes from now. NGUYEN: We're also expecting President Obama to speak live from France this morning and ahead a live report on the importance of today's ceremonies. Stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO MCGOWAN, UNEMPLOYED WORKER: My name is Mario McGowan and I'm a graduate of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. I'm also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps Weapons Company 25. I've been the CEO of my own Internet-based company.
I am looking for employment. I have a huge background in sales and marketing. I am looking for employment in just about anything, but I think I'm highly qualified to do a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well said. Unemployed workers making their case, telling people out there why they should be hired because there are jobs out there, it's just a matter of getting the message out. Record these videos. Just sell themselves in just 30 seconds.
Can you imagine trying to sell yourself in 30 seconds? Why should we hire you, Drew?
GRIFFIN: Well, I've got a job, but I think Mario sounds great.
NGUYEN: Yes, he does.
GRIFFIN: Right. You know, he's a vet, he's got experience. Mario McGowan. What is it?
NGUYEN: MarioMcGowan@gmail.com for those employers out there.
GRIFFIN: Gmail.com.
NGUYEN: If you're not an employer, please don't fill his inbox. But if you are, MarioMcGowan@gmail.com. He needs a job. If you're hiring, he sounds like a great person.
GRIFFIN: Illinois State grad. Good job.
NGUYEN: All right. OK. So is the United States squarely to blame for the global recession? And if so, should we apologize for it? Well, CNN's Anderson Cooper caught up with just the man to answer that question at the G-20 summit in London, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner. Here's what he has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: European papers have called this the most important economic summit since World War II. What do you actually accomplish though? What new or concrete steps? TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: The most important thing, again, is to get the leaders of the world, these countries represent 85 percent of global output, to stand together and say we'll act together to do what is necessary to bring this recovery back on track and we're going to act now to start lay the foundation for a stronger financial systems in the future.
More stable system does a better job of protecting our economies.
COOPER: Well there has been a lot of finger-pointing to the U.S. Does the U.S. have anything to apologize for in terms of creating this financial crisis?
GEITHNER: No. I believe the U.S. bears some of the responsibility for this. But responsibility goes around. And I think all countries were sort of overwhelmed by the force of global capitalism.
Our challenge now, though, is to make sure we're moving with the rest of the world to pull the world towards higher standards. We want us to go race to the top rather than race to the bottom and we need them to come with us if we're going to be effective in correcting our system.
COOPER: There have been real disagreements most notably France and Germany, President Obama, you yourself, wanted them to spend more, fiscal spending to stimulate their economies. They weren't willing to do it. How big a disappointment...
GEITHNER: No, I wouldn't say it that way. You know, these are (INAUDIBLE) some of it work. You know people come with their own different interest and priorities, (INAUDIBLE), but the president came with a strong agenda, very, very broad support for that agenda. You'll see very, very strong support for his priorities and his agenda and the world, really, was with him on this.
COOPER: A lot of people in U.S. raised their eyebrows when they've heard France's president talking about a global regulator who would actually be able cross borders, reach into the U.S. economy, deal directly with U.S. financial markets.
GEITHNER: That's not going to happen. And there are really no support around the room for that.
COOPER: He said that was nonnegotiable.
GEITHNER: No, but countries around the room -- you know, the markets are global, but regulation is still the sovereign responsibility of governments.
COOPER: Just two more quick questions. Timeline, I mean, a lot of folks wondering -- bottom line they're wondering is when is this thing going to be over? When is the bottom going to come?
GEITHNER: Well, you know, we've seen some encouraging signs. You know the pace of deterioration has started to slow, some improvement, but it took a long time to get here. Still enormously challenging. Progress is going to be uneven. And we need to make sure we're acting as forcefully and quickly as we can across the board, not just on the recovery but on housing, help get credit flowing again, bring the world with us to make sure there's expanding markets for U.S. exports.
COOPER: Finally, most important of all -- you met the queen yesterday. How was that? I saw you gave a little bit of a bow. Did you practice that?
GEITHNER: I did not practice it, but I was -- I was careful and respectful, as you would expect.
COOPER: Secretary, thanks so much.
(CROSSTALK)
GEITHNER: Thank you.
COOPER: I appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And you can catch Anderson Cooper week nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is Saturday, April 4th.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
GRIFFIN: I'm Drew Griffin. I'm in today for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting your day with us. It's 7:00 a.m. Eastern, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 in Strasbourg, France.
NGUYEN: Glad to have you with us, Drew.
You know, President Obama says the White House is monitoring the shooting investigation, but he's got plenty of other things on his mind in Europe today. He started the day at ceremony surrounding the 60th anniversary of NATO at the French/German border. And right now, he is attending the second day of the NATO summit in Strasbourg, France.
We're now hearing that the president will speak there at 10:45 this morning, and we will bring that to you live when it happens. After that, the president and first lady leave to attend the E.U. summit in the Czech Republic.
Well, we want to turn now to senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry. He is live in Strasbourg, France, one of two countries hosting the NATO summit.
Ed, where is the president right about now? ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Betty.
He's been here on the French side. But a little earlier, there was a dramatic picture when he was on the German side, of the Rhine River. There is a pedestrian bridge dividing these two countries and it was a symbolic move for President Obama and other NATO leaders were standing on the German side and walked to the middle of the bridge to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. And they did that because France is now official at this 60th anniversary summit rejoining a full military partnership with NATO after being gone for so many years.
And that's important symbolically for France to come back as President Obama is trying to get some of the U.S.'s traditional European allies to step up to the plate on Afghanistan, the war there. He's been trying to get some of the allies to bring in more troops, but also to bring in some training of both the military and the police in Afghanistan, as well as some developmental aid. As you know, the U.S. has now committed another 21,000 U.S. troops for the war in Afghanistan, but have not able to get many of the European allies to step up, as well.
Yesterday, at the joint news conference with President Obama and President Sarkozy, I actually asked President Sarkozy whether or not he's going to commit more, and he essentially said that he would not put more troops on the table, but that he would commit to more training from the French and also, potentially, some development aid as well for Afghanistan. And so, that's what we're largely seeing President Obama tried to do here as an introduction on the world stage. You saw him mostly focusing on the financial crisis in London at the G-20 summit that you're just talking about. Now, it's really all about Afghanistan.
He's sort of using some interesting tactics. Yesterday here in France, he had a town hall meeting with young French and German students, certainly, a very unconventional way for an American president to reach out while he's in Europe at an open forum, a town hall meeting and take questions from foreign students. He's almost trying to reuse some of the tactics he used in the U.S. presidential campaign of reaching out like that.
And, in fact, we've seen very large crowds here in France and Germany welcoming here. He's very popular here in Europe right now, Betty.
NGUYEN: Popular but there are still some protests there.
HENRY: (INAUDIBLE).
NGUYEN: Talk to me about what's going on this morning.
HENRY: Certainly, in fact, there were some protests that prevented first lady Michelle Obama from doing a hospital visit here in Strasbourg. Instead, she's been with some of the other spouses of the NATO leaders, taking a tour of this historic city. That's because there is such large numbers of protesters.
Almost any time you have a large summit -- we saw them in London at the G-20. It's not always geared, directly aimed at what is going on at the summit. In London, for example, we saw people protesting on global warming. They were protesting on the financial crisis. They were protesting on all kind of different issues.
We see that at any large gathering of world leaders and sometimes that prevents their movements around town. But we have not seen anything too dramatic, any sort of outburst of violence or anything like that. It's just sort of your traditional protests around a large summit, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Ed Henry joining us live -- thank you, Ed.
And do not forget to stay tuned to CNN SATURDAY because we will be live in Strasbourg, France, to listen to the president address the world leaders at the NATO summit later this morning, scheduled to begin at 10:45 Eastern.
GRIFFIN: Earlier this week, Mr. Obama attended the G-20 summit in London. Those talks between leaders of the world's top 20 industrialized and developing nations were the topic of the president's weekly radio and Internet address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ultimately, the only way out of a recession that is global in scope is with a response that's global in coordination. That's why I'm pleased that after two days of careful negotiations, the G-20 nations have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps that I believe will be a turning point in our pursuit of a global economic recovery.
All of us are now moving aggressively to get our banks lending again. All of us are working to spur growth and create jobs, and all of us have agreed on the most sweeping reform of the financial regulatory framework in a generation -- reform that will help end the risky speculation and market abuses that have cost so many people so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: That looked, Betty, and sounded like it was recorded on Air Force One ...
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: ... in the captain's chair there. Very interesting.
The president praised an agreement among G-20 leaders to act together, to act globally on the economic slowdown. He called it a turning point in the global economic slump.
NGUYEN: But while the president has world affairs on his mind this weekend, Republicans -- they are keeping their focus on the budget battle here at home. On Thursday, the House and Senate passed their versions of the budget. Both are pretty close to what the president wanted.
But no Republicans voted in favor of either of them -- Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan explains why in the weekly GOP address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R) WISCONSIN: The president's budget, which passed the House and Senate this week, will make the crisis much, much worse. Rather than getting spending under control, it sends spending out of control. Rather than keeping taxes low to create jobs, it chases ever-higher spending with ever-higher taxes and results in ever higher debt -- an unprecedented, unsustainable increase in red ink.
It doubles our national debt in five years and triples our debt in 10 years. Put simply, the Democrats' budget spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much from our kids and their kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now, the final price tag will probably be more than $3.5 trillion.
GRIFFIN: Binghamton, New York, in shock after that deadly rampage at the immigration center there. Police say the suspect is Jiverly Voong.
What set him off is still unknown, but here's what we can tell you: Police say earlier yesterday morning, Voong barricaded the backdoor of the center, then stormed through the front doors and began shooting. Thirteen people killed, most of them immigrants, taking classes, trying to become U.S. citizens. Four others are critically injured. After the rampage, police say Voong killed himself.
We want to go live right now to Allan Chernoff, a CNN reporter there.
And, Allan, I understand you have some late-breaking developments this morning -- Allan?
CHERNOFF: Well, Drew, of course, everybody is trying to figure out what might have possibly been the motive over here particularly since he attacked, according to police, an institution that was helping immigrants. He himself, apparently, is a Vietnamese immigrant. And we can tell you at least a little bit about the investigation.
Now, I was at the house yesterday in nearby Johnson City. The police, FBI, ATF agents were all there, taking items out of the home -- included in those items, a computer, a hard drive, also apparently, a gun case, as well. Our Susan Candiotti is reporting that that case was actually empty. But we do know that the two handguns found at the scene of this crime apparently were licensed to Jiverly Voong. But, still, the motive -- police are saying it could be weeks and weeks before they are able to come to some idea as to what possibly might have been the motive. What we do know, though, is that, apparently, he had recently lost a job and was distraught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JOSEPH ZIKUSKI, BINGHAMTON, N.Y. POLICE: We got (ph) from her before she went to surgeries that he came in and started shooting.
CHERNOFF: Do we have any motive here?
ZIKUSKI: Other than -- we talked to some family members and that he recently lost a job. Spoke very little English and he said people were disrespecting him and looking down upon him and he wasn't happy with his life.
CHERNOFF: Man loses a job, apparently, but why -- why strike there? I mean, any connection to that center?
ZIKUSKI: We believe so. We believe he has been there, he is Vietnamese, that is a civic association. And, in fact, he borrowed a car to go there and he said he was going there to a class -- is my understanding at this point. So, he didn't pick the location randomly. It's my understanding at this point he's been there before.
CHERNOFF: He's been there before, but that's a center that provides assistance to immigrants.
ZIKUSKI: Exactly. And why somebody do something like this -- you and I don't think like these types of people, so I don't really have an answer for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Adding to the mystery, some of his former co-workers at Endicott Interconnect Technology tell me that he was actually very well respected at that company, at least, where he did work previously and perhaps he was very, very much attached to that work. He was an engineer there, according to co-workers -- Drew?
GRIFFIN: Allan, good line of questioning there. Did they have any contact with him during any of this standoff? Was there any cell phone or any communication that you know of?
CHERNOFF: Drew, actually, according to police, it was all done before the police even arrived. Two minutes, pretty much, they say, is the time it took for this entire massacre. So, the police arrived thinking that there was a hostage situation. In fact, at that moment, once they had arrived, Voong had apparently already killed himself after killing 13 others.
GRIFFIN: OK. All right, thanks, Allan Chernoff live in Binghamton, New York.
And, of course, police is holding a news conference there on the shooting today at noon, and we'll bring you that live and, of course, if Allan comes up with more information as he works his sources, we'll bring you that, too, as soon as he can get it to us.
NGUYEN: Well, the window for North Koreans to launch a missile is closed, but there is another chance. And we're going to talk to an expert on international security about the concerns.
GRIFFIN: And Josh has some never before seen photos of a tragic American event. The story behind this one, huh, Josh?
LEVS: Yes, you guys have seen a couple of these, right?
GRIFFIN: Yes.
LEVS: Have you seen them? These things are stunning. This is from the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died. Photographers from "Life" magazine somehow got unlimited access to the Lorraine Motel that day. And what I'm going to show you here is historic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: And we're told it could happen any time between now and Wednesday. North Korea, apparently, isn't backing off its final preparations to launch a long-range ballistic missile -- a rocket, Japanese later say, could possibly carry a warhead capable of reaching the United States.
This warning from President Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Should North Korea decide to take this action, we will work all interested parties in the international community to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it can't threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: What could the president possibly do to North Korea? This is an isolated country. It hasn't listened to us or anybody else in the past.
So, we turn to Jim Walsh, an expert on international security and nuclear terrorism -- an impressive background -- and he joins us from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
So, let's begin right there with what the president is saying, Jim. What can he do? Obviously, North Korea is not listening to him now.
JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT, MIT: You're right on with that. Now, the president -- number one, he will try to reassure Japanese friends. It is Japan -- of all the countries in the region, it's Japan concerned about this, most sensitive about this. So, he's going to say we've got your back. Secondly, he will probably endorse some (AUDIO BREAK) out of the U.N. Security Council, but that resolution (AUDIO BREAK) only, it's going to be hard to get a sanctions resolution because China or Russia may not be too enthusiastic for that, and, of course, (AUDIO BREAK) power. And at the end of the day, you know, North Korea is one of the most (AUDIO BREAK) countries in the world. So, there's not much you can squeeze out of that stone.
GRIFFIN: Yes. You have argued in the past and other, that sanctions really don't work and when they do work, they take a lot of time to work, right? So, there's nothing that you're going to impose ...
WALSH: Exactly.
GRIFFIN: ... that's going to stop this missile launch. Let me ask you this question, why not take care of the missile right now on the ground? If we don't want them to launch the missile, blast it.
WALSH: Yes. And, you know, we heard talk early on, when North Korea first announced this a couple weeks back, there was (AUDIO BREAK) about that. But I think the consensus opinion, even among (AUDIO BREAK) in Asia, even among Japan who feels most strongly about this, is if you go in and you attack that missile, in other words, you launch a military attack against a North Korean target, then you start down a road where you don't know what's going to happen next.
Certainly, the North Koreans would feel compelled to respond. They might respond military and then the South Koreans would have to respond, and here's a country that no one has a lot of good communication with, you know, under a system of (AUDIO BREAK) crisis. That's when things get very, very hairy militarily. So, people don't want to go down that road.
And if anything, the more you raise this as a crisis, the more it plays in the North Korean hands. So, in the last week or so, what you see is the U.S. president try to dial it back a little and not play into what North Korea is trying to do.
GRIFFIN: All right. OK, Jim Walsh, thanks a lot. I guess we're all hoping this missile does what the last missile did in 2006, right? It just fizzled.
WALSH: Exactly. That would be the best, that's the best outcome, a clean failure. The worst outcome is a dirty failure, where it goes up and then it has problems and starts to break up air space in Japan, that would -- and then the Japanese feel compelled to try to shoot it down because it's not (AUDIO BREAK). I think the worst outcome, but the best outcome is a nice, clean failure. You know, 40 seconds in. That's what happened in 2006, and hopefully, that's what will happen this time.
GRIFFIN: OK, thanks, Jim. Next launch window later on today and we'll be looking for you, Jim, to keep us up-to-date on this and also the intrigue that happens whether this fizzles or not. Thanks, Jim -- Betty? NGUYEN: Yes, we'll be watching very closely.
In the meantime, though, saving money, also saving the planet -- a look at how one young woman is doing just that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: OK. So, new, never-before-seen photos from the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed.
GRIFFIN: The story behind this is just incredible.
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: The pictures, Josh, are amazing.
LEVS: I know. You know -- and we were just talking during the break as reporters. We cannot imagine how this can be physically possible.
NGUYEN: The access.
LEVS: In today's world, it wouldn't be.
NGUYEN: Yes.
LEVS: Yes, I mean, you know, the civil rights leader has just been assassinated and this photographer, let's zoom in so you can see the pictures, he's just -- he went to the Lorraine Motel and he just walked around. I mean, he just -- he just took these pictures and no one was stopping him.
And I'm going to show you, he also went to the abandoned building across the street where they believe the shot came from and he just walked right in. This is the balcony at the Lorraine Motel right there. We're looking at this from "Life" magazine -- I'm looking at Life.com. And he wrote, "The colleagues gather in the balcony outside Room 306, just a few feet from where the shooting took place.
Let me scroll through some more of these. You can see what we're talking about. Check in here -- let's see how close that we can zoom in.
This is in Dr. King's room, inside the Lorraine Motel. I don't know if you'd be able to tell, but that right there is Andy Young -- a youthful Andy Young, one of the many people who's gathered in the bedroom right there. And the caption here says, "Stunned, silent members of the SCLC, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference," have gathered in the wake of that assassination.
Again, this photographer had been in the area and just came along and decided to take these pictures after the news happened. You see Ralph Abernathy and William Campbell embracing each other in the time, in the wake of what happened. And the story here, guys, is that after he took these pictures, they were never published and according to "Life" itself, they're not sure why, nothing ever came of these or where they went. He's right outside the room.
We have a little bit of time left, check this out. OK, you're looking from across the street now at the place where Dr. King was shot and the caption here says that the photographer, Henry Groskinsky, just walked across the street into the abandoned building where they believe the shot came from and he just took the same pictures.
So, look, we have a lot to learn about how this happened, where it came from, and we're going to -- we're going to learn a lot about this tonight because our Don Lemon has an interview with the photographer who took these pictures. That's tonight, on the 7:00 o'clock Eastern hour here in the newsroom and that is all leading up to our special at 8:00 o'clock tonight, which is as we've been telling you, the documentary, "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination." So, brand new photos and the story behind them, all part of the lead- up to our special, tonight at 8:00.
GRIFFIN: That photo right there ...
NGUYEN: That photo right there -- yes.
GRIFFIN: ... is why the photographer is saying his photos didn't get on.
LEVS: Yes.
GRIFFIN: I mean, that was a classic, everybody pointing at the shooter photo that they were using. And so, his photos were just kind of ...
NGUYEN: Yes. But after all these years, you'd think he would release those.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVS: He would have come out by now.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
NGUYEN: Yes, maybe we'll get to the bottom of that Don Lemon.
GRIFFIN: It's an interesting story.
LEVS: Hundred of history books -- exactly, we don't know why.
NGUYEN: OK, looking forward to that. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: OK.
NGUYEN: Also, we're expecting President Obama to speak from France this morning. So, stay with CNN, we're going to bring that to you live.
GRIFFIN: And a reporter on the scene of that deadly shooting in New York, Allan Chernoff. He has been breaking some news there and he's going to speak to the mayor of Binghamton and the police chief. He's going to bring us that very latest information in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: You know, it's not always easy being green when you don't have a lot of green to spend. Well, Melissa Long introduces us to a young designer making eco-friendly clothing that's also affordable in today's "How We Got Started."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE GOLDWATER, OWNER & DESIGNER, AUH20: This is made from a man's button-up shirt.
MELISSA LONG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At AuH20 in New York's funky East Village, fashion designer Kate Goldwater gives new life to recycled clothes.
GOLDWATER: I want to make one of a kind, individual pieces that aren't really within the trends but they're always be in style.
LONG: In college, Kate's personal style caught the attention of her NYU classmates and business bloomed.
GOLDWATER: Whenever anyone said, "I like your skirt or I like your shirt or I like your dress," I would hand them my card and say, "I can make you one."
LONG: She turned to online social networking sites to reach even more customers.
GOLDWATER: I started a Web site in my senior year to showcase my design and linked to that on my Facebook page, on my MySpace page. Somebody contacted me and said, "Would you like to participate in a fashion show?"
And that was sort of really got thrown (ph) out there.
LONG: After graduation, the Wisconsin native set up shop in the Big Apple.
GOLDWATER: I spent the whole summer contacting lawyers, bankers, accountants, real estate agent.
LONG: Two and a half years later, Kate is weathering the current economic storm with price cuts and a sunny outlook.
GOLDWATER: I used to have dresses that were sometimes $60, sometimes $70 and sometimes $80. And now, I tried to have all my dresses under $50. I'm also very good with discounts, I always say yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: We're going to live pictures now in France, not of handshakes across the bridge, but of looting, we're being told now. The protest near the NATO summit where President Obama is discussing his Afghan plans with other NATO leaders, specifically France and Germany, trying to get them to commit troops, boots on the ground in Afghanistan to fight the insurgents there.
But outside of there, these are the protesters who have had some effect on this summit. Mrs. Obama was not able to visit a hospital because these protesters who were blocking the way or at least blocking the route, we are told, Betty, that there has been some looting going on. And Jim Bittermann and Ed Henry both told us this is kind of like the usual rattle crowd that follows any big summit just about anywhere in the world.
NGUYEN: Yes, we've been watching these protests since, what, about 6:00 o'clock this morning when they started to kick off. And we'll continue to watch as well.
In the meantime, though, President Obama will be speaking live, 10:45 Eastern, right here on CNN.
But in the meantime, "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts right now.
