Transcripts For KNTV Today 20180215

We are the latest on the investigation the suspect, and the victims, today february 13th, 2018. From nbc news, this is a special edition of today Florida School shooting with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb live from pyeongchang, south korea. And welcome to today on this thursday morning. We are here in olympic park in pyeongchang, south korea, but it goes without saying that our hearts are definitely back home. Our hearts are heavy. Its hard to even imagine that this has happened again. Again. We want to get to the latest overnight the death toll, in a word, its staggering, 17 people were killed, making this one of the deadliest Mass Shootings in american history. At least 14 others were wounded. Some of them are in Critical Condition this morning. The suspected gunman is in custody. Officials identifying him as 19yearold Nicholas Cruz, a former studented a Marjory Stoneman high school who had been recently expelled. We see images recorded as students barricaded in classrooms. This is what kids and their teachers went through. This is how it looked, how it sounded and felt for them. We will show you. We should warn you, it is disturbing. [ gunshots ] oh my god no theres something about seeing that video that puts you exactly where those kids were. And we cannot become numb to this. We cant. We have complete coverage for you this morning. We will talk to one of the students who was wounded. We will begin, though, with nbc news Gabe Gutierrez. Reporter that shooting is so hard to watch the local gunman booked into the jail, surfacing 17 counts of premeditated murder. Authorities say he came to the school. Shot three people outside, went inside, shot and killed 12 others. Two people died at the hospital. Students and teachers huddled together. At first they didnt know what to make about this they had the fire drill earlier in the day. Unfortunately, there was no drill. Lets go reporter these are the unforgettable images of the horror inside the nations latest school massacre. Get down. Reporter Authorities Say the lone gunman 19yearold Nicholas Cruz was a former student at marnlry sto Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in park authority. Just after about 2 00 in the afternoon, he stormed with with an ar15 rifle. We heard gunshots. Reporter he is 14, yet he saw the unthinkable. I saw two girls dead next to each other holding hands. There was another body in front of me. There was three on the bathroom door. Reporter s. W. A. T. Teams swarmed the building racing from one classroom of terrified children to the next. We have got the patient loaded, were getting out of here. Reporter from students barricaded inside came heart breaking messages to parents and loved ones. She was sending us texts like saying, i love you, im sorry. And all that because she didnt think she was going to make it. Reporter overnight the fbi interviewed eyewitnesses, including a senior, he and 15 other students crammed into a closet fearing for their lives. I cant run. I just had surgery. Shes like, you need to come now. Im hopping to her for dear lie. Within it get there i hear gunshots to my left. Reporter students were marched out of the building. We didnt know what was going on, once we saw the students running, i started to think, like whats happening . I heard the gunshots, oh my god i just ran. I just hope all the other kids are okay and oh my god. Reporter President Trump not speaking on camera, but tweeting, my prayers and condolences to the families of the victims. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an american school. Among the 17 killed, a football coach, 14 others were injured. Not all of the victims have been identified. Some of these children had no i. D. They had no they left their back papg backbacks, there was no cell phones to trace it back. Reporter Police Tracked him down to a neighboring city and took him into custody about an hour later. No parent should ever have to send their kids to school and have them not return. Reporter now, the School Superintendent says just before the rampage, the alleged gunman actually came to the school in an uber car. This high School Remains closed the rest of the week. Grief counsellors will be on hand at this community. Hoda, savannah, unfortunately we are seeing this over and over again. But this shooting is now among the list of the deadliest School Shootings in u. S. History. Back to you. That is heart breaking. Gabe, thank you. We turn now to a young woman samantha gradgrady. She was actually grazed by bullets during that shooting. Samantha, good morning. Its good to see your face. Thank you for being with us. Any time. Thank you for having me. Samantha, first i have i want to know how you are feeling. I know you did get some bullet wounds. I know your best trend was shot right next to you. Yeah. Do you know how shes doing . Have you been able to hear what happened to her . Yeah, unfortunately, she didnt make it. Oh. Samantha, we are so yeah. We are so sorry about that, samantha, so sorry. Are you okay, honey . Im okay. Thank you. Were sending love and prayers to you right now. Thank you. Tell us, if you can, who it was what it was like in that classroom during those moments . Did you hear the gunfire first . What happened . Well, i was doing an assignment for my holocaust class and we were leak i was typing and i took my phone out, because i wanted to show my friend something and i heard two shots. My friend pushed med and said, sam, and i ran to the left side of the classroom, thats where like there was a big book shelf and we all kind of huddled there together. We were all making, like we all clamped like really close tightly together and then students in front of me, there was this cabinet, they pushed it in front of them so that it would deter some of the bullets and the gunman, like there was two people in the hallway that i know and i believe, that were shot and after those two, after i heard those two fun shots, then we started running and then he came for our classroom. So he came after he shot those other two people. And samantha, as i understood it, the door to your classroom was actually shot, but he shot through the glass. Is that what happened . Yeah. Yeah. The door was locked, thankfully, but like he shot quite a few bullets into the glass and it hit a few people behind me and, yeah. Sometimes you put anything in front of you that can you to try protect yourself. And we were reading that your friends suggested to you, just get a book. Hold up a book. Can you tell me about that . Yeah. My friend, she was she was the one that pushed me. We were running, we were already situated in the, by the book shelf and shes like grab a book, grab a book, so i took a book. It was a tiny book. I held it up. I believe maybe the book kind of deterred some of the bullets. So it didnt hit me so badly. But she was the one who gave me the idea. Yeah. She definitely helped a lot. Samantha, i know you were able get out of the school. You went over to where it was safer by the ambulance and at some point you were able to calm your parents and see your parents. They must have been so happy to see you. What was that reunion like . Well, when i first left the school, they didnt know anything had happened. So i hid behind a truck and i called them and i made sure i was kind of calm because i didnt want them to go crazy. So after that, i after a long story short, i went to the ambulance and then while i was in the ambulance, they rushed down to the school, but their phone died. So tabor rowed someone elses phone. And then i told them, im in the ambulance, im on my way to north broward and i will, like if try and come there, and then ask for me. Ill tell them your names and thats what happened. So they rushed there, i was already taken care of. I was already in the hospital bed. They walked in. My dad was really worried. Like it was etched all over his face. My mom, she was like balling. As you can imagine, it was pretty scary for both of them. Well, you are such a brave young woman. Just the fact that you were in that classroom, you had the presence of mind to call 911 and you are worried about your parents feelings. Thats what you are thinking about. Tell us what happened when you got home. Were you able to talk it out with your family . Did you feel like discussing it . Well, we did have, i mean, a lot of people asked i was actually at the hospital. Someone came in and they told me talk about it as much as can you so you can get it out of your brain, so you dont have like nightmares about it. So whenever the opportunity came, whenever someone asked, i freely talked about it. Because i dont want nightmares. My family, we talked about it at the hospital. We came back, we had discussions. I told them details i didnt tell other people. I told them spec details. It was an intense moment. My whole family like, we came together. It was, it was pretty it was done. Yeah. The support was nice. Samantha, you have been through too much, way too much for a young woman your age, but what bravery you showed and our hearts are with you and were sending you our love. Thank you for being with us. Thank you any time. Thank you for having me. Thanks, samantha. And as we said, we are now learning more about the suspected shooter. This is new video of 19yearold Nicholas Cruz, he was arriving at jail this morning. Nbc news tom costello has that part of the story. Hi, tom. Reporter they say the picture is of a problem teenager. He had a fixation with guns, his parents died. He had been kicked out of school and on wednesday came to school with a semi automatic weapon. This morning it appears 19yearold Nicholas Cruz planned the attack on his high school. He had countless magazines, multiple magazines, at this point we believe he had one ar15 rifle. I dont know if he had a second weapon right now. Reporter his intention, Authorities Say is to cause chaos and cause as much hoff vac as well. He wore a gas mask. He set off the fire alarm so the kids would come out into the hallways. Reporter investigators say cruz had been expelled from the same school last year, tore behavioral issues and threatening other students. It contained images of cruz wielding knives and showing off a gun. Buzzby is reporting the fbi was warned last year about a youtube post from a user Nicholas Cruz, who wrote, im going to be a professional school shooter. According to buzzfeed, agents spoke with the person that alerted them in october and asked them to follow up after yesterdays shooting. Fellow students say cruz was a socially awkward kid with a pre occupation with guns. I was in the vocational school, an alternate school. He showed me his guns and how he shot them for fun. Hes always been a crazy kid. I heard people say one day he would have done this, unfortunately, today was the day. Reporter since his mother died in september, he was staying with a family friend. The lawyer of the friend says this all came as a shock. He was a very mild mannered kid. He was going through tough times with losing his mom. Reporter the question for investigators was anyone aware of what he was planning. Ti the fbi agents say the mo is all too common. A lot of times you have a disenfranchised young man who is really outside of the norm in the sense as a rupt of bullying, antisocial behavior, is it a romantic issue, just to make a name for himself . Theres multiple motivations. Reporter this morning, yet another mass murder at another american school, yet another heavily armed angry young man determined to kill. This is the 18th School Shooting this year alone. Since the sandy hook massacre in 2012 when 26 were killed, there have been 273 more School Shootings. Fbi profilers say there are signs of danger to look for among a potential shooter. Somebody who is brooding, depressed, disenfranchised from other students, making remarks about others online, maybe drawn to firearms and previous mass murders and almost always say investigators, there are warning signs on social media if anybody is paying attention. Savannah, who dark, back to yho. Thank you. The president tweeted about this, he offered his prayers and condolences, he is tweeting again this morning, lets go to National Correspondent Peter Alexander, who is at the white house. Good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. A very Administration Official telling me there is a strong chance President Trump will publicly address this tragedy at some point today. At the moment there are no Public Events on his schedule. On wednesday the president didnt make oncamera remarks. His advisers recommended he Say Something. You talked about him on twitter moments ago, tweeting, so many signs that the Florida Shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and class mights knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again. With parkland three of the too much ten deadliest shootings in u. S. History have now happened during President Trumps time in office. Officials here this morning telling me since the shooting, the president and staff have been speaking directly with law any, fomt and governor rick scott. Connecticut senator chris murphy an outspoken advocate for gun reform, especially in the wake of the sandy hook massacre tweeted this. Dont tell me this isnt the appropriate team to debate gun violence. If you are a political leader doing nothing about this, you are an accomplice him an interesting note the school where the shooting occurred is 40 miles away from the president s maralago estate. This morning officials are discussing whether the president might visit the area when hes scheduled to be in florida this weekend. Savannah, hoda. Peter alexander at the white house, thank you. We will of course continue to cover this. 7 17. We should get our first check of the weather. Good morning. Well show you whats happening. First of all, we got foggy conditions stretching right now from the gulf coast into northern florida. A foggy and wet conditions through the upper ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Snowing through the northern rockies. Record highs in the Central Plains and heavy rain making its way into the southwest. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning, im meteorologist kari hall. As we take a live look outside in San Francisco an all clear and chilly start. Our highs today warmerian yesterday up to 62. 66 in san jose. 67 in concord as well as 67 in santa rosa. Ukiah up to 60 today. 65 in palo alto. Over the next few days a blast of some really cold air by the end of the weekend with some gusty winds and that stays with us into the beginning of next week. And that is your latest weather. And that is your latest weather. Hoda. Just ahead, we will have more on the investigation and the victims of that shooting in florida. Then we will talk to one of the teachers who is hailed as a hero. She hid her students in a closet as the gunfire rang out. We will talk to her just just ahead from here in south korea, we will have more from our visit to the dmz. Exclusive visit to the areas rarely seen by the outside world. After your local news and weather. Lips lose natural color over time. Lackluster lips . Dont think so. Chapstick total hydration moisture tint. Our 100 natural moisturizing formulas enhance your natural lip color. Chapstick. Put your lips first. In this home. We count our blessings. Uh, this one. Both when theres a little and a lot. There you go. What matters most is made at home. Now with more icing. Can get us all out of sorts. What something is but then, trepidation be darned, we do our taxes with turbotax, snap a photo of your w2 and all your details are uploaded. No kerfuffle, no tears, no drama. See, nothing to be afraid of. Ehhhh. Intuit turbotax. Weve made you all diets dear januand cleanses. Rry. Thing is, food isnt a resolution. Its fuel for our resolutions. Fuel to power us, made for us. 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On, stimulant laxatives make your body go by forcefully stimulating the nerves in your colon. Miralax is different. It works with the water in your body to hydrate and soften. Unblocking your system naturally. Miralax. Its got the Google Assistant in it, so its super helpful. Watch this hey google, good morning. Gh good morning, claire. Its 52 degrees with a chance of rain, so you might want an umbrella. Oh, thats thoughtful. Itll also read you the news, look up traffic, and tell you. Gh your first meeting is at 9am. And you know how sometimes youre in bed and you cant get out of it until you hear that one song that gh ok, playing your get out of bed playlist. Yeah, it can do that too. Its google home mini, now only 39. Here is the latest from a very good morning to you. It is 7 26. Im laura garcia. Heres the latest from parkland, florida, the high school where yesterdays deadly shooting rampage took place. The suspect is a former student there due in court today. Authorities are supposed to have an update anytime now. The today show will carry it live. 17 people confirmed dead. 14 others are in the hospital. President trump is scheduled to speak on the shooting just 30 minutes from now. Nbc will also carry that address live in a special report. Youll also be able to link the News Conference from our home page. Ill personally tweet out a link to that. Follow me lauragarcianbc. A look at the forecast for this thursday morning. Another cool start, kari. It is a cool start which is all sunshine as we get a live look in san jose. This is what well see as we go into the rest of the day, a lot more sun than yesterday and slightly warmer temperatures with a high of 66. 65 in palo alto and 62 in San Francisco. Mid60s for the north bay. Santa rosa, 67. Some low 60s for the next couple of days. A blast of cold air will be here by the end of the weekend. That continues into early next week. Whats happening on the roads now, mike . Getting ready for the big build after 7 30. Were looking at recovery for the dumbarton at 84 and 92. 237 at the bottom are alternates traveling west consider them. More problems in the north bay as this crash leaving a couple of big rigs on the shoulder, at least one is being removed now. Down to just one lane, your left lane, eastbound 80 into vacaville out of fairfield. I80 to the bay bridge a typical pattern there, slow. Another local news update in half an hour. Good morning, everybody, 7 30 on a thursday morning. Its the 15th of february, 2018, and its a hard morning, a day when sadly our countrys mourning and coming to grips with yet another School Shooting. This time it was parkland florida, just near ft. Lauderdale. The 19yearold suspect was taken into custody early this morning, he has been booked on 17 counts of premeditated murder. 14 others were wounded in that rampage. In a moment, we will talk to a very brave teach worry action may have saved some lives. First, nbc news Tammy Leitner has the latest on the investigation. Tammy, good morning. Reporter good morning, guys. This community is waking up realizes that 17 members of their community are dead, while police are searching the gunmans house, trying to find answers as to why this shooter has opened up and fired on this community and yet another deadly shooting. This morning, we are getting a look at the shooter, 19yearold nicolas cruz, he has been charged with 17 counts of premed indicated murder. We now know cruz entered the school just after 2 00 p. M. He had an ar15, multiple magazines, gunfire rang out. Students took cover, barricading themselves inside classrooms wherever they should. This went on for more than an hour, cruz was somehow able to slip outside of the school, not before killing 17 and injuring 14. Police tell us they were able look at under Surveillance Video from the school to determine who cruz was. They located him less than a mile from the school. They picked him up, took him to a nearby hospital and then booked him into the jail. Now, yesterday we spent the afternoon speaking with students, teachers and parents and most of them said that there were warning signs. They tell us that cruz was a troubled individual, that he had shown other students pictures of guns that one day he had even brought bullets to the schools. So the big question today is, could this School Shooting that is now being called one of the deadliest mass School Shootings have been prevented . Guys. All right. Tammy, thank you so much. This woman teaches at Douglas High School. She hid with 19 students in a closet. All made it out safely. Mellissa, good morning to you. Good morning. I know you had such a long night. Just let us know how you are feeling this morning. Im not really sure. I didnt sleep very well last night. Mostly i feel grateful that i got to go home to my family when many others didnt get that. You had such a presence of mind to get your children and put them in a closet. Was that just instinct . I think that that really speaks to you know the training that we had. We had a training about a month ago and you know we talkedant these different scenarios and what to do soond once we made it to the classroom and you know we heard the sirens and the helicopters and it was very obvious based on the time it was happening that it wasnt a drill. You know i made a decision that that was another layer between us and whoever you know was the active shooter and so you know we just moved into the closet and we were there for a while until the s. W. A. T. Team came to get us. Mellissa, its 19 students and you in a small closet and you are hearing gunfire and helicopters and sirens. I cant imagine what those moments were like. How were the Students Holding up . How were you holding up . I mean, we were we were on the opposite side of the building you know from where the shooting was happening, so we didnt hear any gunfire, but we could hear you know the hox and you kn the helicopters, the kids were hysterical from moment one. So its just, you know, trying to keep them calm and telling them that theyre going to be okay and everything is going to be okay, just knowing that it doesnt really matter you know what im feeling in that moment, like they need to be calm and feel like they will be okay. You know, thats my job. I just did my job. You did your job, but i know there was a moment when you called your mom and that must have been heart wrenching . Yeah. My mom actually, she called me and you know when i picked it up, in that moment, i sort of lost my composure and i told her i was okay but i had to get off the phone because i didnt, you know, she ned to know i was okay. But the kids needed me to be composed and so, you know, its hard to in that moment to stay composed so you know i sort of got off the phone with her and you know recomposed and carried on. There were so many casualties in this and i was just wondering if you knew any of the students who passed away. Were you close with any of them . You know, they havent really released the names, so i only know, you know, kind of what im hearing you know through rumors and the grapevine. So i know that there are some former students and current students that i have that may have had siblings that they lost in the shooting. And i dont think that you know there is any one of us at the school in this community that isnt going to be affected, know someone whos affected, know a student a. Faculty members and feel that sense of loss. Mellissa, you did everything right. You did exactly what they told you. You knew the drills. You put the kids in the right place. Yet this happened anyway. So what message do you have given all that . I just think, you know, ive seen this on tv. We all have this you know shooting after shooting and you know there is always the same thing is said. Its not the time to talk about gun control. Its not the time. Its time to pray for the families and i just think that that hasnt gotten us anywhere. I mean, here we are and were like the latest statistic on you know on School Violence and as a society, you know, as americans, were failing our children. Were not keeping them safe and congre congress is failing us, the government is failing us and something has to be done. As hoda say, mellissa, you did it all right yesterday. Thank you for your bravery. Our hearts are with you. Thank you. All right. Lets switch gears now and go to mr. Roker. Hey, al. All right, guys. As we talk about whats happening, as far as our weather is concerned, were looking ahead to the weekend and early saturday, low pressure in the southeast brings a lot of heavy rain, moderate rain across the region. A secondary storm forms off the southeastern coast and americans, brigg snow with it saturday night, depending on where that storm forms and how far off the coast. We could see heavier snow along the coast. Right now, we think the heavier amounts will be up into parts of coastal connecticut on into new england. Snowfall apples about fourtosix inches. The rest of the country today, heavy rain in the southwest. Record highs in the central part of the country. We got plenty of sunshine in Central California down into the good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. A lot of sunshine today. And after this chilly start, it will be a very nice afternoon, slightly warmer temperatures than yesterday. Look for a high of 66 degrees in san jose. 63 in livermore. 67 in concord. Oakland, 63. In half moon bay, 62. 62 today in San Francisco. The north bay some mid to upper 60s there. Were going to have some cooler temperatures moving in by the end of the weekend into early next week. Enjoy this while it lasts. And thats your latest. And thats your latest weather. Al, thank you so much. And when we come back, well turn to the competition here at the Winter Olympics and mick ra shiffrin. She had a delayed big la shiffrin, she had a delay, but it wont be the only one. We will catch up with her right after this. clucking noises Everyone Wants to be the Cadbury Bunny because only he brings delicious cadbury creme eggs. While others may keep trying, nobunny knows easter better than cadbury. When you said youe, sir. Were at the doctor, but your shirt says you were at a steakhouse. Thats when you know its halfwashed. Add downy odor protect with 24hour odor protection. Downy and its done. Pain from chest congestion can make this. When you have a cold,. Feel like this. 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Five whole grains a hint of sweetness and a lot of good. Good goes around and around olympic glory doesnt just belong to athletes. And it doesnt just happen every four years. It happens one morning at a time, and one cup at a time. Folgers. Proud sponsor of team usa. Welcome back. Indeed, our craig melvin joins us. Hello, craig. Reporter for the fifth night in a row team usa struck gold after a string of weather delays, Mikaela Shiffrin making that debut here in pyeongchang and promptly won the giant slalom. Now, one of the worlds biggest skiing stars hopes more gold is in her future. Giant slalom gold for Mikaela Shiffrin in pyeongchang. Reporter with the fierce winds on the mountain finally settling down, american skier Mikaela Shiffrin blowing the competition away, grabbing gold in the slalom after bad weather postponed the event for several days, shiffrin got her first chance at a medal. Finally down goes shiffrin in hopes of more olympic history in south korea. Reporter after putting up the second fastest time on her first run. Not the run but certainly enough to put her in contention. Reporter the 22yearold shiffrin glided through gates to a gold medal finish. These games could not set up any better. The 22yearold Mikaela Shiffrin. That second run i really risked everything that i could. Its an incredible feeling right now. Reporter from the top of the mountain to a showdown on the ice, the u. S. Womens hockey team battling what may be their toughest competition. Canada. The two teams pushing and shoving each other, masktomask in a rivalry that dates back two decades. The shot. Score 20 canada. Reporter the canadian taking a 20 lead into the 3rd period. The u. S. Quickly scoring a goal of their own. Kevin connell. Scores 23 seconds into the 3rd period. The United States is on the board. Reporter then a lastsecond shot, leading to a scramble in front of the canadian net. The puck is under there somewhere. The question is, did it cross the line . Reporter following a lengthy review by the referees, the answer the americans did not want to hear. No goal. The game is over, canada officially wins it 21. Reporter finally, another first for team usa. Married figure skaters. Alexa and Chris Knierim to complete the triple twist in a competition the duo who won a bronze in the team event finished in 15th in the pairs free skate. They say despite their score, they skated from the heart. We wanted to skate for the 17 children that died in the florida shootings and today was much more than about us. We had a lot of mistakes, but i think we are coming on the air with breaking news. Officials in Broward County florida are about to hold a News Conference to give an update on wednesdays tragic mass shooting. At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in parkland in western Broward County at least 17 people were killed. A 19yearold student was taken into custody. This morgue, he was charged with 17 campaign 2000 of premeditated murder. We will take you to the News Conference. It looks like it is about to begin. We will tell you President Trump plans to address the nation shortly after the end of this News Conference. We will cover all of this. Theic with us. Good morning. Today is not any easier than yesterday was. All the victims families have been notified. We will be releasing a list of those that lost their lives yesterday. It will be released through our pio in a very short period of time. But all the family have been notified. Our detectives worked through the night on this very darkening and daunting and challenging task. It had to be done and the right thing to do and they worked tirelessly. This community is hurting right now. There will be a lot of conversation over the next couple of days and weeks and im going to be very animated about what i think this country can do to possibly prevent these tragedies in the future. Today is a day of healing. Stood a day of mourning. The suspect is in custody. He will be appearing before his first magistrate today at 2 00 p. M. At the Broward County courthouse. This morning, we will we have begun working with the fbi. You will be hearing with a special agent in charge of the fbi, rob laskey in a few minutes. We are also working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement under the direction of troy walker. We will interview every single student or every person in that school that possibly knew something or might not know they know something. They will be thoroughly debriefed. We will make sure we are able to prosecute this case. The suspect has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and Law Enforcement will do everything we can, the fbi, ourselves, to make sure that this person is convicted of all charges and that justice is served. Sadly, there have been copecat threats made today in other schools. We will respond to every threat. Every threat we receive, we will not classify it as a copycat or a prank call. We will respond in full and investigate it. Any call that is made fictitiously, any fake call, any calm thats made to take out resources at a time like this and place them in places where we dont need to be. We will do the full power of the Sheriffs Office will investigate this and charge anyone accordingly with a maximum charge we possibly could, for doing something so horrific, so pathetic. Governor scott is going to come up and speak and then you will hear from special agent in charge of the fbi. Ill return to the microphone and answer some questions. I think its noteworthy that at our next press conference, i will be releasing a time line based on an investigation and video that weve captured as to what happened yesterday. Id like to take you through it in chron logical order. Were not ready to do that at this time. We will be back here and we will release that. Now id like to introduce to governor rick scott. Thank you eb in the Sheriffs Department for all their hard work to make sure that the, one, the individual we have justice, two, to make sure this never happens again. So i think everybody appears will say the same thing. Our hearts and prayers are with these families. The families that lost loved ones, other families that have loved ones in the hospital, i had the opportunity to visit with some of those families last night. Also we want to make sure this never happens again. Next week in tam has see, im going to sit down with state leaders. We will have a real conversation about two things. How do we make sure when a parent is ready to send their child to school and in florida that parent knows that child is going to be safe . Number two, how do we make sure that individuals with Mental Illness do not touch a gun . We need to have a real conversation so we have Public Safety for our schools in this state. Ive spoken with the speaker richard corcoran, sitting president joe negron. They are committed to have a real conversation about how to make sure we have Public Safety. I want to make sure that my children and my grandchildren, yours, everybody in this state can wake up and be safe. Im going to stay here and do everything i can. I know all the state resources are going to do here. I know the attorney general, everyone will work hard with the state department and the School District to do everything we can to go forward. But the violence has to stop. We cannot lose another child in this country to violence in a school. There is many families grieving right now. We got to grieve with them, mourn with them, but give them their space. There will be a time that theyll want to sit down, tell their story. Right now, as you talk to individuals, we went through this with the attack. They want their own time to grieve. So i want to thank everybody from the Sheriffs Departments to fdle, everything in the School District that they are doing to keep people safe. I want to thank the tomorrow for the victim advocates coming down here to be help. Good morning my names rob laskey. Im the special agent in charge of the Miami Division of the fbi. First of all, i want to express my heart felt condolences to the victims, the families the friends, the entire community who suffered a senseless and cow readily act. The fbi continues to stand by the Broward County Sheriffs Office, support them, give them every resource they need to investigate this heinous crime. In 2017, the fbi received information about a comment made on a Youtube Channel the comments simply said, im going to be a professional school shooter. No other information was included with that comment which would indicate a time, location, or the true identity of the person who made the comment. The fbi conducted data reviews, checks, but was unable to further identify the person who actually made the comment. Again as a native floridian, my heart goes out to the victims, the families, the friends and the entire community. Thank you. Id like to bring up our superintendent of schools ron runc runcy. Again, we cant say this enough, every minute of the day is focusing on how we can support our families, our students, and our staff as we work through this horrific situation. We have provided grief counsellors at several locations for our students two in parkhappened, two in Coral Springs two in parkland, two in Coral Springs and we are doing etching we can to make sure we are supporting our students. Were also providing grief counsellors on site for students and staff at west glazed middle school, which is near here. Throughout the district, we are providing guidance to all of our schools on how to have conversations with our students on this particular topic. I will tell you that students have been reaching out to me reaching out to staff, probably Board Members and others, saying that now, now is the time for this country to have a real conversation on sensible gun control laws in this country. So our students are asking for that conversation. And i hope we can get it done in this generation. But if we dont, they will. The second thing i would say that the governor alluded to it, something that we can do now that we can get done in this legislative session is some real funding for Mental Health support for our youth and organizations in our community so we can properly provide the right kind of interventions. We should not have disconnected youth wandering around in hour communities when we know they need additional support. I have been on the phone with members of the legislature. Theyre going to work with the leaders there and the governor to substantially increase the ams that are being p amounts put on the table for family workers and case workers in our schools is absolutely needed. The last thing i would say is that there have been a lot of inquiries as to where individuals can provide support. I want to thank everyone in the Broward Community and around the country for your continued thoughts and prayers, acts of kindness that we see minute by minute. There is a go fund me account thats been set up as we talked about yesterday, there have been a lot of fraudulent type of activities set up out there. So weve worked to establish something thats credible. Its a go fund me account. Stoneman douse las fund. Go fund ne, Stoneman Douglas fund, which folks can make contributions. Again, please keep our babies, our families and this entire commune in the your prayers as we go through this healing ross says. It will take quite a fooil while for us to be able to deal with this. But we will do everything key, every day, create the greatest amount of flexible we can to make sure we are supporting our families. Again you want to thank our Law Enforcement agencies, sheriff israel, the fbi, First Responders. They have been incredible. I want to act knowledge some heroes in our school. We had an athletic districtor, campus monitor who responded immediately when there were signs of trouble in the school. Fortunately, those two heroes gave their lives for our kids and probably helped prevent this from being a worse tragedy that it is today. So we need to act knowledge the heroes in our school every single day, our teachers, our educators, for not only ensuring our kids are learning and developing the skills. They need to have a bright future. But they love them and treat them as if theyre their own children. They put their likes on the line every single day. Thats another thing to do to figure out how we can better compensate and reward teachers in this country. Theyre not just getting lip service to the quality of work that they provide. Thank you. As i said yesterday, when our attorney general pam bondy bound out object this tragedy having dealt with the pulse nightclub and having a lot of expertise in this area, unfortunately, she got on a plane and was down here within hours and helped out and has begun to help a lot of our families out. I would like to bring her up here to tell about the great things theyre doing to help our families in parkland. Thank you, sheriff. Thank you, governor. Thank you special agent laskey. Last night, there were two scenes going on. One at the actual crime scene and broward Sheriffs Office and fbi, they were second to none. They were unbelievable what they did. That crime scene from a prosecution point of view was meticulously detailed, pros sesd and it took as long as needed to take to make sure it was thoroughly processed and accurately processed. The other scene was at the hotel where we were with the family members. Having to tell with the fbi advocates and my advocates that a child is 14yearsold, dead, weve to the victims who have lost loved ones. Py pam bondy. Eif we dont have a due sti here or a Police Officer here. This is nationwide. We need more. More heroes, more First Responders, not less First Responders. I know many states have different terms to help our mentally ill, and we all pray for our mentally ill, we pray for them to recover. We all know someone or a family whos affected by someone suffering from Mental Illness. The baker act in florida allows Law Enforcement or medical professionals to confine a person earn voluntarily while they get examined and looked at. But you have to have a reason, have you to be able to articulate that theyre a threat to themselves or a threat to someone else. What im asking our lawmakers to do, go back to places like tallahassee, places like washington, d. C. , and give police the power, if they see something on social media. If they see graphic pictures of rifles and blood and gore and guns, and bombs. If they see something, horrific language. If they see a person talking about, i want to grow up to be a serial killer, we need to have the power to take that person and bring them before Mental Health professionals at that particular time involuntarily and have them examined. People are going to be rightfully concerned about their rights as i am. But what about the rights of these students . What about the rights of young kids that go to schools with book bags and pencils . Dont they have the right to be protected by the United States government to the best of our ability . And thats what well be doing. I dont know about the incident yet, or what actually his performance was, but i know aaron personally. I coached with him. My two boys played for him. I dont know when aarons funeral is, i dont know how many adults are going to go, but youll get 2,000 kids there, the kids in this community loved him, they adored him. He was one of the greatest people i knew. He was a phenomenal man. I dont know the specifics yet, but i can tell you when aaron feist died, when he was killed tragically, inhumanely, he did it protecting others, you can guarantee that, thats who aaron feist was. What is the extent of their injuries, what kind of injuries do they have . We are for the nat today to have our doctors who work so tirelessly and saved so many lives yesterday. So were going to bring up one of our doctors to speak about some of those questions and answer those questions. Doctor . Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. Dr. Evan boyer, director and chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Broward Health north, and i also have our colleagues from Broward Health main here, and the three of us collectively hopefully could answer some of those questions. So for starters. Just because were medical professionals doesnt mean were numb to the emotions and we send out our sympathy to all the families involved, the worst thing as a parent is if your kid doesnt come home from school that day. We sympathize with that. With that being said, nowadays, unfortunately, we do drills for this. About nine months ago, we did a drill specifically for an active shooter. I want to commend the prehospital personnel yesterday for all of their effortses and all the efforts at Broward Health north, Broward Health main and Coral Springs Medical Center got a couple patients as well. Specifically to Broward Health north, and then ill turn it over to dr. Menendez. Broward health north, we had a total of nine patients. One was the suspect treated and released. We had two patients deceased. Three patients have been discharged. We currently have three patients in the hospital. One with an extremity wound who is doing well, and working with physical therapy. Another patient who is still intubated after penetrating trauma to the chest, but is doing well and following commands. And a third patient who remains intubated and in Critical Condition. Im director of the Emergency Department for Broward Health Medical Center. Yesterday was a tragedy that we all as a team took care of. We received seven patients. Of the seven patients, right now, we have two patients in critical, stable condition, the other five went home or are on their way home, theyre in good condition. The other twoville a trauma surgeon dealing with them. If you have any questions about tho those. Im the trauma medical director of Broward Health Medical Center, and unfortunately this is becoming routine for us now. Its the second such episode weve had in a year, which is very sad. The first thing i want to say is that the second time around, just like the first time around, the First Responders did a terrific job. And for those of you who understand what we do in trauma, time is of the essence, and really the delivery of those patience by that ems personnel was fantastic today. It made a huge difference in the outcomes. We received seven patients, along with discharge last night. We had one that was in Critical Condition that went to surgery. We had two more stable patients that also require surgery. We have theyre still out of the six still left in the hospital, were hoping to be able to send home two of them today. But im expecting that all of them will fully recover. Ill be happy to take any questions. Can you please tell us, are you prepared to tell us that Nicholas Cruz can you comment, is that the same person . We do not know if its the same person. We did our database checks, we could not positively identify him, were going back, scrubbing the information, looking at it again, im not willing to say at this time it was one in the same person. Has anyone specifically targeted is there any indication that someone was specifically targeted that started all of this . Not at this time. Its certainly a possibility. The fbi, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and broward Sheriffs Office will be working con junktively to interview as many people as we can, down the road, we can uncover that information. Right now, its no more than a possibility. Do you know how he entered the building . How he got in . We will speak about that. We do know about that, at our next press conference, i will take the media through a time line and talk about through videotapes, well matchup video with realtime information, with things we know, and well disemanate that. Have you received the weapon . What can you tell us about how what is your understanding . Were not going to release that until later today, if we do at all today. Thats something that alcohol, tobacco and firearms are trying to track down the history of this weapon. We believe we know where the weapon was purchased, where the weapon came from, but thats being pieced together. That will be something that we will discuss at the appropriate time. As i said, i talk about this all the time. Its not a phrase its not a term, its the way we have to live our lives in sir ka 2018. If we see something, we need to Say Something. If that neighbor comes home every friday at 4 00 and he or she is always carrying a grocery bag and theres milk and eggs sticking out. The last two fridays theyve gone to a different range and theyve come back with bullets in the bag on fridays. Thats a change in behavior, thats different, thats something we need to know about. Youre our eyes and ears. One Community Member who sees something, could do more in a one minute phone call than sometimes Law Enforcement can do in a period of months. If you know anybody. Right now, if you know anybody whos saying, you know what, this raises a red flag, i was thinking of calling. Dont think about calling us, call us, call the fbi, call the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Call the broward Sheriffs Office. If you have if theres something in your gut that tells you theres something not right with this person, this person has the capabilities in my mind to do this or do that. Please dont remain silent. Please let us know about it. Can you explain why he was expelled. Problems all the way back to middle school. He had an extensive disciplinary record. Was he on the School Districts radar in some sense . What was done about him, people have known him for years already, prior to his expulsion from the high school. You know, as a School District, we have to protect the privacy of our students. So i cant go into much detail at all about the students record and personal information. I will tell you it was a former student. Because of issues that arose here, he was transferred to another school within the county. Was it a troubled school . What type of school was it . Again, im not privileged to provide that information at the moment. It is a student that we have been providing supports for and recognize that there certainly were challenges there. Specifics i cant get into. As far as the student coming on campus, the this particular individual came on the campus at the time of dismissal and that is a fairly open time for the campus, he entered the facility at that moment. Were you aware having a disciplinary record. Having been expelled. Having been ruled as a problem in the schools. District knew he was out there, and he had had had problems in the past, correct . Let me just say this, when we have students within our care in the district we provide the services that we can provide them. This is bigger than just the school system. Our kids are out of our schools, two thirds at a time, theyre up. We need a communitywide approach to helping our students with challenges and Mental Health concerns. And so again, weve got to invest resources to make sure we minimize the occurrence of this ever happening again, if we dont. Its not a matter of if. Its going to be when. Psychological trigger was there a psychological trigger with this student for this event . I have no idea. Where are you guys processing the scene . There are somebodys that are still in the school. Theres right now, the focus of the fbi and the broward Sheriffs Office is on the successful prosecution of this killer. And were not going to leave any stone unturned. Were trying to process this as quickly as we can. But the m. E. Is involved, investigators are involved, theres science dna and a whole plethora of things. We want to go fast, but were not going to rush it, were going to get it right, before we get it fast. Thats whats going on right now. A real conversation about do students in the school know who to report concerns to, if they were concerned about a classmate, is there a phone call or a system youd have to ask im sure there is. He wasnt enrolled. There is a process, they could get ahold of teachers, guidance counselors, their parents, make aknown mouse calls to crimestoppers. If somebody knows something, theres certainly ample way to say yes. We had a School Resource deputy on campus, he was armed. He never encountered at this point, the only thing i can tell you definitively, he never encountered cruz. You. Said you want to have a real conversation about how to prevent Something Like this from happening. Does that real conversation include gun control . Thats something that youll look into . The two things i want to focus on when i have this conversation next week, i want to focus on school safety. And thats going to focus on dollars. Its going to focus as the superintendent said on Mental Health, dollars, its going to folk us on what are the things we can do with regard to school safety. If somebodys mentally ill, they should not have access to a gun. So i want to focus on both of those things. Ive already spoke tonight speaker of the house, and the senate president. And theyre receptive so having this conversation about school safety. All of us have children or grandchildren, nieces or nephews, none of us want anything like this to happen again. Let me also Say Something i should have said something in spanish earlier. Spe [ speaking spanish ] was there a diagnosis, or is it something were assuming because he killed so many people . I think its a pretty good assumption to start out with. You forecast for us, the conversations you plan how will they be different at that point conversations right. Well, lets remember this. First off, pulse was a terrorist attack. After pulse we put i asked for money, legislature supported adding more Counter Terrorism experts through our Florida Department of Law Enforcement. We did that we added 46 additional Counter Terrorism experts. We did that. What we have to think about. All of our schools have to be safe, its as simple as that. How do we do that . Its going to be funding. Its going to be is there both for security, for Mental Illness, for counselors, things like that, on top of that weve got to say to ourselves, if we have someone thats mentally ill, they cant have access to a gun. So im open to having a conversation about things. I dont want my children, your children, my children, your grandchildren ever to go through anything like this. I dont want a parent to have to say, you have to learn how to be careful about a shooter. Thats not the society we want to live in. I also we have out here today im flanked by many of our school Board Members, our elected officials on the school board. We appreciate them being out here. And were going to make sure theyre part of the conversations too. They deeply care about their students and this community. Im glad to see them here today. A few more questions. What has were not going to release anything he said to detectives. Why does if someone can look forward to your agency what could you legally have done about the fact that you owned well, if he legally owned a gun, we couldnt do anything about legally owning a gun. If we think a red flag goes up, and that theres something not right. And we think this person has a propensity to do such a horrific act. I think police all over this nation need to be empowered to take that person and medically deliver him to a medical or her to a medical facility. Where they can be examined. Thank you for your time. Well be back in about an hour. Did you talk to cruz . You heard, that was the last person speaking there, the Broward County sheriff, scott israel. Let me go to the scene now, at parkla parkland. Gabe gutierrez, we have a lot of updates from the sheriff, from the governor, from the superintendent, fill in some blanks here, i think the i think we now know all the victims families have been talked to. But fill in some of the blanks that we now have learned throughout the last hour. Well, hi there chuck. Big piece of news that we just found out from the fbi is that they said they did receive that report back in september of 2017. Now, filling in some of the blanks here, some of the questions we often have after these School Shootings is warning signs missed. A mississippi bail bonds man back in september, saw a comment on his Youtube Channel saying, im going to be a professional school shooter. He says he reported that to the fbi. In that News Conference you just heard an fbi spokesperson say they werent able to positively identify the commenter there. I spoke with a School Superintendent this morning. He says he does not believe the School Missed any warning signs. There was a lot of talk among students who say this gunman had a troubled past, that he often talked about guns, that he had social media accounts talking about guns. And that he was expelled because of disciplinary problems. The investigation is active here overnight. Authorities searched the gunmans home, as you have reported 14 17 People Killed rather, at least 18 injured, the School Remains closed at this point. But there are grief counselors on hand to help this community heal, chuck. Gabe gutierrez from parkland. Were awaiting comments from the president. Hes going to address the nation in a few minutes. Lets go to tom costello who has been doing a lot of background checking on the suspect himself. Yes, a lot of people said something, there were a lot of warnings, clearly the way our background check system works for purchasing firearms, none of that information was in any database or in any rudimentary background check that was done in this country . He legally obtained that a. R. 15 were told within the past year or so, and there were plenty of people in the school who were raising concerns about his erratic or awkward behavior and his threats. So much so that he had been banned from going on to campus. Expelled from the school, and local authorities there, at least the School Employees were told, watch out if he shows up with a backpack. And other students as weve heard over the course of the past 18 hours or so, other students had said, yeah, he talked freely about guns, about killing animals, about this preoccupation with weapons. And they thought that he was, in fact, dangerous. Uber, by the way, is now confirming one of their drivers took him to the school, just before the shooting. And according to the police, he showed up at about dismissal time. So the time line now is starting to appear, and were expecting to get more of that over the course of the next few hours. Obviously we still need to learn what did the uber driver see or didnt see when he dropped him off at the school. The president is speaking in the diplomatic room. Lets take a listen. My fellow americans, today i speak to a nation in grief. Yesterday a school filled with innocent children and caring teachers became the scene of terrible violence, hatred and ev evil. Around 2 30 yesterday afternoon, Police Responded to reports of gunfire at marjorie stonam Douglas High School in parkland florida. A great and safe community. There a shooter who is now in custody, opened fire on defenseless students and teachers. He murdered 17 people and badly wounded at least 14 others. Our entire nation with one heavy heart is praying for the victims and their families. To every parent, teacher and child, who is hurting so badly, we are here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do to ease your pain. We are all joined together as one american family, and your suffering is our burden also. No child no teacher should ever be in danger in an american school. No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning. Each person who was stolen from us yesterday had a full life ahead of them. A life filled with wonderous beauty. And unlimited potential and promise. Each one had dreams to pursue, love to give and talents to share with the world. And each one had a family to whom they meant everything in the world. Today we mourn for all of those who lost their lives. We comfort the grieving and the wounded. And we hurt for the entire community of parkland florida that is now in shock and pain. And searching for answers. To Law Enforcement, First Responders and teachers who responded so bravely in the face of danger. We thank you for your courage. Soon after the shooter, i spoke with Governor Scott to convey our deepest sympathies to the people of florida and our determination to assist in anyway that we can. I also spoke with Florida Attorney general pam bondy and Broward County sheriff scott israel. Im making plans to visit parkland, to meet with families and local officials, and to continue coordinating the federal response. In these moments of heartache and darkness. We hold on to gods word in scripture. I have heard your prayer. And seen your tears. I will heal you. We trust in that promise, and we hold fast to our fellow americans in their time of sorrow. I want to speak now directly to americas children. Especially those who feel lost, alone, confused or even scared. I want you to know that you are never alone, and you never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you. And who will do anything at all to protect you. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member. A local Police Officer or a faith leader. Answer hate with love, answer cruelty with kindness. We must also Work Together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life that creates deep and meaningful human connections. And that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors. Our administration is working closely with local authorities to investigate the shooting and learn everything we can. We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of Mental Health. Later this month, i will be meeting with the nations governors and attorney generals where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference. In times of tragedy, the bonds that sustain us are those of family, faith, community and country. These bonds are stronger than the forces of hatred and evil. And these bonds grow Even Stronger in the hours of our greatest need. And so always, but especially today. Let us hold our loved ones close. Let us pray for healing and for peace, and let us come together as one nation to wipe away the tears and strive for a much better tomorrow. Thank you, and god bless you all. Thank you very much. That was President Trump, as you heard there, deciding not to address any policy ideas at all in his remarks, leaving it mostly trying to strike an empathetic tone. But it was surprising that he decided to strike that tone today given what we heard from governor rick scott, from the superintendent down there, from the Broward County Sheriffs Office. Where the governor is already talking about, what do you do to keep mentally ill people from actually being able to purchase a gun. That is something that the president stopped short of even entering into a conversation on that. Let me bring in Peter Alexander watching this at the white house. Peter, i guess what struck me most about those remarks is, they made a lot of sense if he uttered them yesterday. Today it feels as if hes almost about eight hours behind. Yeah, chuck, i think thats exactly right. I spoke to a senior Administration Official earlier who said advisers to the president urged him, recommended yesterday that he speak immediately in the aftermath of the shooting, but hes the one who opted not to, waiting until today to speak. I was struck by him saying in those remarks, to americans, children, watching right now. We are here for you. We will do in effect whatever we can to help you to ease your pain. But the real question right now is, how . What capitol. What effort is this administration, this president willing to put behind this right now . Prayers and condolences are one thing. Symbolic gestures like lowering the flag as they did or even visiting that community i think will satisfy some. Clearly in the wake of now three of the top ten deadliest shootings now happening since President Trump took office, the real question is, what more will happen. Remember the conversation we had after the massacre in vegas, over those bump stocks that allow a rifle to shoot more rapidly, the president said its too soon to talk about it, months have passed and the conversation ended in effect, they havent been talking about it since. Its been up to the states to take any action. Will the president try . And peter, im struck by again, its as if the president didnt watch the press conference that proceeded his remarks. One of his closest political allies, someone who politically would be seen as a friend of the nra, he already introduced the idea that he wants to look into what can we do to the background check system. Essentially to prevent mentally disturbed people from being able to purchase a gun. He was introducing that idea and this is the fact that the president wouldnt even follow that lead, i thought was striking. He barely i dont know if he even uttered the word gun. I think youre right. What was also striking, let me show you a tweet the president put out earlier this morning. A lot of people raised some eyebrows for them. So many signs of the Florida Shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled for bad and erratic behavior, neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities again and again. In effect saying the community there could have done more at this time. What more are they doing here . This week they raised the issue, the budget, they put out their new budget, whether it goes anywhere, it doesnt matter, it calls for a 22 cut in medicaid alone provides 25 of the Mental Health care in this country. The question is, are they going to do something actively as opposed to just the opposite of what theyre saying publicly. You know how good our team is here, weve already confirmed he did not utter the word gun in those remarks. Peter alexander at the white house. Thank you very much. Let me go down to Gabe Gutierrez one more time back in florida down there, at parkland. Whats happening at the school today, is it grief counselors, victims families, obviously theres no classes. Describe what youre witnessing . A lot of the streets around here are still blocked off. The investigation still underway as i mentioned, the authorities are going through the suspects home, they executed that search warrant overnight. What we have been talking to are students that is all sneaking in for them. Some of them just learning this morning, that some of their friends, people they had known for years did not make it, you heard from that News Conference, a very emotional remembrance from the sheriff. Talking about that football coach, aaron feist, he threw himself in front of these bullets to save some of these children. Many parents we spoke to are realizing the children who were able to survive, theyre clutching them extra hard today. The school here is closed for the rest of the week. Grief counselors are at other sites nearby. In order to help this community heel. Were starting to learn more on the time line of this. The uber driver who brought this shooter to the school. Were expecting to learn more about that in future briefings. Tom, i know youre looking at the gunman, we heard the fbi, the lead agent in charge say they looked into this comment but they couldnt really confirm it, they couldnt find the identity. The comment had his name on there, so i guess were not sure. Its not clear how the fbi goes about looking into these warnings . Thats right. Lets also be clear, nikolas cruz is a rather common name in america. You can imagine that will be difficult to track down. I will tell you, ive been talking to former Police Chiefs and fbi profilers who say, when you look at what has happened across the country, very often in the wake of these School Shootings, you find that the shooter very often a teenaged boy or 20 something young man, that person has been preoccupied with other School Shootings in the past. And almost always something brings them to columbine 19 years ago, that the shooters today, at least in the last 19 years have done Online Research about columbine, and in some cases tried to emulate columbine. That continues to haunt this country 19 years later. Wow tom costello, thank you for that. Were going to be following this story throughout the day, we will kohl back on the air as events warrant. You can find out more on msnbc, nbc news. Com. And youll get full details tonight on everything happening down there in parkland, florida. On the nbc nightly news with Lester Lester holt. For now, im chuck todd, nbc oms news, washington. Its anything from what you probably heard korean popular music to just very generic news about the world. Finally, we drive down to the socalled bridge of no return. Crew members walked in single file across the bridge. A sight of prisoner exchanges after the korean war, named so because once people picked a side, there was no going back. The last prisoners that crossed were the sailors from the captured ship, the uss pueblo. Tour groups arent normally allowed off the bus by the bridge, let alone to stand this close, for good reason as it turns out. So back in august 2016 we observed the North Koreans putting some land mines on the other side. Thats why youve got that big yellow sign there now. If it went off now, we would hear it but its not going to hurt us. But they recently are putting land mines right there. Right. So we dont want to get any closer. No, no. A stark reminder that this last bastion of the cold war is as hot as ever. Wow. So fascinating and surreal is the word that keeps popping into mind when youre there, because youre so close yet so far. Our two countries obviously are literally trading nuclear threats, and yet this dmz, there are public tours. People come to see you can buy a dmz button at the souvenir shop. I bought two. Sorry, craig, i didnt know you were going to be here. Thats okay. One for al, one for hoda. Well have to go back. Well go back. So tourism is up . Its up 20 to 30 . By the way, the North Koreans give tours on their side too. Mostly its people from other countries who want who come to north korea and want to see the dmz. On one hand you hear about the land mines and on the other hand you hear about the kpop. Its such a mixed bag. The whole thing is so strange. Theres the propaganda village, which is a fake village, nobody lives there. They have a humongous flag pole, they blair north korean propaganda and our side is authorized to play stuff back, kpop. How was the land mine worry . It was real. They dont let people out of that bus. They did let us out but the colonel kept saying dont walk off the road. Dont walk off the road because the land mines from the korean war and the North Koreans are still up to it, still putting land mines there. And see eyeballing the people with the binoculars. I have to give a shoutout to our camera operator, kyle. Hes been to the dmz 15 or 20 times. I didnt see it when we were there. He noticed the North Koreans checking it out. Wow, that was great. Coming up, something you have got to see, youre going to freak when you see this story. Keir dives in with south koreas modern day mermaids. Mermaids . Yes, there are mermaids. But first, this is today on nbc. And thats right. We all have daughters. Were all looking for those examples of proud powerful women to tell our daughters about. How about this . Theyre known as women of the sea. Some of them even are called modern mermaids of korea and the story behind this group of amazing women is simply inspiring. At the southernmost tip of south korea, a tiny island operated by a powerful female, women of the sea, modern day mermaids without air tanks, holding their breath up to 2 minutes at a time. These women collect seaweed, shellfish and octopus from the seabed. Local photographer brought us to the island to meet one extraordinary family who follow a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. At 41, Kim Jae Young is the youngest on the island. She, her mother and aunt dive together in these treacherous waters. How dangerous is it . If youre thinking other things, its really dangerous. Last year, a woman was swept away. Is there a risk for sharks . A lot. A lot of sharks. Yes. The handful of seaweed, kim demonstrates how to keep the mask from fogging and the whistling technique to help them control their breathing. Few get the chance to dive here. Start wasnt very good. With a little help from my friends, i began to get the hang of it. I just got one. This is a tough living. Women have a saying. One breath, one shellfish. I want people to know about henu. Documenting these amazing women. Shes 94. 94 . This is kims grandmother. After 80 years, she still dives almost every day. As night falls, its time to cook up the catch. Is this the octopus you caught today . We saw you grabbing it out of the rock. The words of the song are why was i born, the life of a henu is so hard and the water is so cold. To the henu. But at dawn, another day brings another dive. Aspirin to thin the blood, chewing gum in ears to protect against pressure, secrets that may one day be forgotten, their daughters to more modern careers. 4 four and a half thousand left. How long do you hope this tradition goes . Just keep going, just keep going, she says. Were here celebrating olympic athletes, these are olympic level athletes. Extraordinary. 94 . Shes 94. You see her going down to grab an octopus . They dont have oxygen. If it grabs to something and her, shes stuck. Its dangerous. Incredible the way they grab. The secret, the shellfish i caught, they kind of put him there. The sea floor. You still did it. Thats impressive. You worry about whether youre going to be able to get back up again. Youre down, thinking, how high is it . Do i have enough breath left . Wow. Brave. You have the greatest job in the world. Brave and honest. Coming up next, the mustsee places to visit some more in south korea that the olympics inspired you to plan a trip here. First, this is todayn nbc. O i am extremely proud of jackie, gaby and stephanie. We worked with pg e to save energy because we o wanted to help the school. They would put these signs on the door to let the teacher know you didnt cut off the light. The teachers, they would call us the energy patrol. So they would be like, here they come, turn off your lights those three young ladies were teaching the whole school about energy efficiency. We actually saved 50,000. And thats just one school, two semesters, three girls. Together, were building a better california. We are loving our time here in south korea. If the olympics have you dreaming about maybe visiting this place, we do have just the thing. Thats right. We have just the person, contributing editor at traveler with mustsees for visitors. Five of them. Five amazing places. Are they in any particular order . We can take them in an order. Okay. How about seoul, obviously big city, lots to see. The place really the thing you want to see in seoul is like the forbidden city for beijing or versailles for paris, its the palace. You can go inside. Theres amazing history. 143acre gardens, beautiful secret garden out back you have to book a tour of. How far is that from the actual city of seoul . Its right in the city so its very accessible. Lets talk about if we want some Traditional Old School korean culture, you say theres something we should visit called bookchong hanok village. Thats pretty good. That was good. Well done. Its basically a bit like the west village in new york. Imagine an old neighborhood, very historic, near the palace built initially as imperial housing for wealthy people. Fell into a little disrepair and has boomed with lovely boutiques, restaurants. People still live there so its a living part of seoul but history as well. And do you have to know the language . Because weve been Walking Around and sometimes i wonder, we have people who are helping us with that, but do you think a tourist could warned arounder a enjoy . Instead of saying do you speak english, you can say im sorry, i dont speak korean and thats a really good open. What about the marketplaces, the oldest marketplace in seoul . I love that you asked this. You read my mind. This is guangjung. If you want to try all those delicious korean tidbits, which is like a fritatta or maybe live squid, which will still be squirming keir tasted it, right . You have to chew really carefully to make sure that it goes down. But its very fresh. Have you done that . I would. Lets go outside the city for a second. The island that a lot of people call south koreas hawaii. We were just there with the mermaids. But if youre not going to go free diving, if thats a little too much, its like a honeymoon destination. Its a volcanic island like hawaii, 360 volcanos, but it is idyllic. You cant fail. It looks buceautiful. There is a place for foodies if youre into the gourmet. Jeongju. If youve ever tried bibimbop which is basically the worlds best leftovers, its where it was invented. Youve got to have it. Youve got to have the version which is like a guacamole pot but its cooked in a stone pot and crisps up like paella and its basically like the best kind of foods all in a single bowl. I love it. Thank you for this tour. Yes. Exactly. Thank you so much, mark, glad to have you with us here. Were back in a moment. This is today on nbc. At Stanford Health care, we can now repair complex aortic aneurysms without invasive surgery. If we can do that, imagine what we can do for varicose veins. And if we can precisely treat eye cancer with minimal damage to the rest of the eye, imagine what we can do for glaucoma, even cataracts. If we can use dna to diagnose the rarest of diseases, imagine what we can do for the conditions that affect us all. Imagine what we can do for you. At the Marine Mammal center, the environment is everything. We want to do our very best for each and every animal, and we want to operate a sustainable facility. And pg e has been a partner helping us to achieve that. Weve helped the Marine Mammal center go solar, install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. Pg e has allowed us to be the most Sustainable Organization we can be. Any time you help a customer, its a really good feeling. Its especially so when its a customer thats doing such good and important work for the environment. Together, were building a better california. We are back with a look at the olympic cauldron, the olympic flame burning brightly on day eight of these games. We have a lot of great events coming up this evening. Big night in primetime. We have the mens figure skating, so nathan chen, the quad king. And Mikaela Shiffrin. Kaela shiffrin will be here. Megyn kelly is coming up next. Before that lets take a look at these images. When you wake up, its where you turn. Welcome to today. And its the start of a big and busy day. To find understanding. [child yells]. Hope, a smile. [woman laughs] welcome to all the possibilities the morning can bring. Welcome to today. The man and woman accused of killing a tracy woman and good morning. Its 8 56. Im marcus washington. A map and woman accused of killing a tracy woman and leaving her for dead on a rural road near livermore are back in court. Todays hearing is a continuation of the arraignment that got under way yesterday for daniel gross and melissa leonardo. Police say the pair stab and dumped a 19yearold on the side of tesla road early monday. Investigators say the victim managed to flag down for help and tell authorities who her a tackers were moments before she died. Thats where authorities arrested the two suspects. Happening now, we are moner itting todays hearing. You can go to our twitter feed any time where we will post updates as soon as we get them. President trump a short time ago wrapped up an address on the latest School Shooting ram page. We do now know that 17 people are dead. The shooting happened early, happened only about 30 miles or so from his maralago resort in florida. Were learning more this morning about some of the people who died. Go to our homepage for latest developments. On a lighter note, more bay area olympians are getting ready to make their debut in korea. Tonight, that includes figure skater vincent cho. How much money do you think youll need in retirement . Then we found out how many years that money would last them. How long do you think well keep oooooohhh you stopped youre gonna leave me back here at year 9 . How did this happen . It turned out, a lot of people fell short, of even the average length of retirement. We have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. Lets plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Even if no one in your home smokes, Secondhand Smoke can be closer than you think. Secondhand smoke from a neighbors apartment can enter your home through air vents, through light fixtures and even through cracks in the walls and the floors. Secondhand smoke is toxic. Especially to children. Protect your family. Visit tobaccofreeca. Com. Good morning, everyone. Im megyn kelly. We begin today with yet another mass shooting in america. Yet again at a school where children showed up to learn and grow and instead wound up terrified, barricading their classroom doors or running for their lives. 17 students and educators were killed yesterday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in florida, and that number may yet rise. The latest in a shameful string of School Shootings in our country. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is here with the very latest from parkland, florida. Gabe . Reporter megyn, just a heartbreaking scene. The School Superintendent tells me that the gunman showed up here by taking an uber car, shot three people outside the school, then went inside t