Transcripts For CNNW State Of The Union 20121216 : vimarsana

Today, the unthinkable at sandy hook Elementary School. You can never be prepared for this kind of incident. The latest on the investigation with Connecticut Governor dan malloy, and then grief and guns. A conversation with the colorado govern governor. Plus, experts on keeping school safe coping with trauma and profiling a mass murderer, all on this special edition of state of the union. First, the latest on the newtown murders. This morning connecticuts chief medical examiner will perform autopsies on the gunman and his mother, who was killed at her home. The results will be released during a News Conference later today. The names of the victims were made public last night. 12 girls and 8 boys killed, all either 6 or 7 years old. The six adults killed at the school were women. The medical examiner says every victim he saw was hit more than once, and all the wounds he saw were inflicted by the semiautomatic rifle found at the scene. President obama will be here in newtown late this afternoon to meet with the victims families and speak at an evening memorial. Cnn National Correspondent Susan Candiotti is outside the home the gunman and his mother shared. Susan, let me bring you in. Tell me, what is the latest on the investigation . Reporter we know that the investigators including atf agents will be continuing to pound the streets today chasing down leads that they have looking into what is being told to me, described to me as the activities of the shooter. Theyre not giving a time frame. If theyre talking about only the days leading up to this or all of the suspected shooters activities. Obviously, theyre trying to get down to the bottom of what motivated him to carry out this obviously senseless crime and how it was that he got his hands on those guns that came from his mothers home that were legally purchased by the mother according to authorities. We also know they have completed the traces on those three guns weve been telling you about, the two handguns as well as the semiautomatic rifle called the bushmaster. The they were all found in the classroom with the shooter and they know which one he used to kill himself and did not reveal that. Back to todays activitieses they have a lot of territory to cover. Im told there are at least 400 gun dealers in this fourcounty area as well as 30 gun ranges and they plan to make contact with each and every one of them and there are only 30 agents working at trying to accomplish that very difficult task. So candy, they have a lot of work to do to get down to the bottom of what started this, where those guns came from, how he got his hands on them, whether he trained on those weapons. Those are the kinds of questions theyre asking. Wire tryi were trying to find out if he left beginning behind written down. So far ive heard nothing about that. Back to you, candy. Thanks. Following the investigation of this horrific crime for us at cnn, i spoke a short while ago with connecticuts governor about the investigation. Governor, thank you for joining us here. Let me just first ask you about the state of the investigation. What do we now know and where are we in the investigation . First and foremost, thats the state Police Handling that investigation. I think we know everything that is most important. We know that there was a single shooter. That that shooter is dead. We know that he was a troubled individual and that he went to the school with a number of weapons, which he used on his victims and ultimately used on himself. You know, some of this other stuff will play out over a period of time. Im sure well come to know more p him, his problems and his family. You know, these things move on. This investigation will tell us those things, but, you know, i dont have a whole lot more than that. So tell me, let me go back to a couple things you just said. The first is the weaponry. So far as you know, were these weapons legally obtained by the mother, which were led to believe they were her weapons . The mother purchased them. They have the patina of legal purchases. Theres always a question was she purchasing them for herself, which in that case it was legal. If she was purchasing them for another individual, her son, then theres a question about that purchase. Do we know anything that indicates that . The other thing is this assault weapon. Connecticut has a pretty aggr s aggressive law probably of the 50 states, were ranked fourth most aggressive in trying to limit access to these kinds of weapons. What happens in the absence of a brady bill, in the absence of federal legislation, people use descriptive terms to try to get around the limitations that are built into our statutes here in connecticut or might otherwise not happen if we had federal legislation on this issue. These are assault weapons. You dont hunt deer with these things. I think thats the question that a lot of people are going to have to resolve their own minds. Where should this line get drawn . So as i understand what youre saying, there was a semi assault weapon but not necessarily one banned by connecticut, which has a state law banning certain kinds of assault weapons . That begs the question, was this a weapon that should have been banned, and because of how the manufacturer decided to describe it got around that law . Let me go back to a couple things you said. The first is, is there anything that leads you to believe she might have purchased them for her son, or is that just here are the possibilities . Here are the possibilities. Theyre living together. Theyre in the home. He ends up with the guns, so there may be an explanation. Theyre looking into that. The other issue described his as troubled, which we know from what he did. Is there other evidence as theyve gone in about troubled how . You know, clearly, he was troubled. You have to be deranged to carry out this kind of crime. You know, im not in a position that i should be talking about someone elses family. That information will come out in due course, but this was clearly a troubled person. Is there evidence that he was mentally disabled in some way . Theres evidence that he was mentally disabled by the acts that he committed. One doesnt shoot their mother nothing behind that that you find in the investigation thus far . There are as has been attested to already by family members and others in the newspapers, this was a troubled individual. Okay. As far as the guns are concerned, do they come out of the home . Is that where they were they secured in the home . Yes, thats our belief. Let me move you on to your role now. There always comes this point where the investigation is ongoing. This incredible grief these families must be and are suffering is going on. What do you do now . You know, candy, i was with the vast majority of the families friday morning, and ultimately i had to break it to all of the folks who were assembled at the firehouse that their children or loved one in the case of the adults were not coming home. And thats an exercise that i will live with for the rest of my life. Its not something youre prepared for, and you go on. But, you know, listen, im the governor of the state of connecticut. We have a job to do. We have to picture people and help people recover and move on and get children back to school as quickly as possible in the broader system and hopefully these children at this school back to school a school as quickly as possible. To make sure i understood you correctly. Youre the one that initially had to tell the families gathered in that room what many feared or since some of them might have already known at a gut level, you were the one that finalized it for them . Yes. Tell me p about that moment. Its a very difficult thing to do. These parents had been gathered for a number of hours clinging to hope. News reports were swirling around them outside the building. Someone had to decide how to handle that situation. Ultimately it fell upon me to do that. You know, you can never be prepared for that, to tell 18 or 20 folks or actually families that their loved one would not be returning to them that day or in the future it is a tough assignment. Let me ask you about the school itself. We know that there was a buzzin system. As you look at that as a governor, knowing the times we live in, the sorts of things that happen, as far as i know, correct me if im wrong, weve yet to turn up a history of Mental Health problems in terms of going to a psychiatrist or showing any signs of, you know, im going to go do a horrible thing. Weve had a couple of these where theres no kind of history to it. So we know that if someone is determined and its a firsttime thing that these kinds of things can up happen. Do you look at schools in connecticut now and think, we have to do better in security, or we need a security personnel at these schools . Where do the times take us in terms of protecting what we always assumed were sacred ground, which is schools . What we know is he shot his way into the building, so he penetrated the building. He wasnt buzzed in. He penetrated the building by literally shooting an entrance into the building. Thats what an assault weapon can do for you. You know, we are unfortunately a violent society. 32,000plus deaths as a result of guns being used, 18,000 of those were selfinflicted. This is a violent world. We are a particularly violent country within that world, and if someone wants to do an act like this, theyre going to find a way to do it if its not in a building, it could be outside a building. Sure. Then do you look at security in that building and say, then we have to have whatever it costs, security guards or something, at the doors of schools . I read a quote the other day. Schools are not vaults. Theyre not banks. People have to come and go. You build the best system that you can understanding what the challenges are. Some buildings because of the size of the student body are even more difficult to lockdown. All of that will be taken a look at, just as we did in the wakeful columbine. Ive been in Public Service for a long time. I was a mayor through the aattack on the World Trade Center in a nearby city where we lost a number of our citizens and have been in office through a number of these types of events. You attempt to learn every lesson you can from each one of these, and its a little early to say what we can take away from this. This is a little bit different in the sense that to the best of my knowledge in School Shootings we havent had people shoot their way into a building. Right. Governor, let me ask you just extrapolating for what youre saying, you want stricter federal gun laws because no matter how strict your state law is, you feel you need an overlay of a federal law, is that right . When we talk about the assault weapons ban that was in place in the united states, to have allowed that to go away or dissipate, its the states ability to enforce that because guns move across state lines. In fact, a lot of guns used in crimes in connecticut were purchased at we know because we can track them. They were purchased at gun shows in other states particularly down in the southern portion of the united states. They work up coast and get here. That was not the case in this situation. The brady bill was a piece of legislation that made a lot of sense and still does, and one can only hope that well find a way to limit these weapons that really only have one purpose. Governor, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you. With we return, will the gun debate lead anywhere this time . Ill talk to the governor of colorado. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. [ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. Powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. Fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uhoh fast with kaopectate. Its not just a feeling but a fact. It has gotten worse. Five of the 12 deadliest Mass Shootings in u. S. History have happened in the last four years. As a nation we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years. An Elementary School in newtown, a Shopping Mall in oregon, a house of worship in wisconsin, a Movie Theater in colorado, countless street corners in places like chicago and philadelphia. Any of these neighborhoods could be our own. We have to come together, and were going to have to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this from happening regardless of politics. In that aurora theater last july a gunman wielding a semiautomatic rifle with a 100barrel magazine, a shotgun and pistol went on a rampage killing 12 and wounding 58. Shortly afterwards colorados governor said stricter gun laws would not have helped. If there were no assault weapons available, if there were no this or that, this guy is going to find something and know how to create a bomb. He seemed different in an interview last wednesday, two full days before the events here in connecticut. When you look at what happened in aurora, the governor said, a great deal of that damage was from the large magazine on the ar15 rifle. I think we need to have that discussion and say, where is this appropriate . Joining any now is the governor of colorado, john hickenlooper. Thank you for joining us today. I think that things are so fresh here in connecticut, but you have been dealing for several months with the aftermath of what happened in aurora. I wonder if you have if i am misinterpreting you or interpreting you correctly that maybe you have some slight evolution on what ought to be done in terms of laws involving guns or ammunitions. First, let me just say that, the heart of every person in colorado goes out to every person in connecticut. Watching governor malloy navigate, and i think done a remarkable job, but we would you know, our hearts are breaking there for them. We know exactly how they feel. Weve been collecting and even as they struggle to process this weve had that distance since the shooting in aurora. Ive really tried to look at what are the things that could make a difference, and how should we begin this conversation . Things like high capacity magazin magazines certainly have that comes up again and again and again. The expanding background checks to make sure that guns dont end up in the wrong peoples hands. We had planned a press conference for tuesday where we have a whole list of efforts, almost 20 million in new programs around trying to put more support for people with Mental Illness, to make sure we have a 24hour hot line tt someone can call in if they think someone appears unstable, a danger to themselves and others. Make sure we expand capacity in neighborhoods and communities across the state. That we have a place to stabilize people if they appear like theyre a threat to themselves or to others. I mean, that whole program was all in place, and thats something we can do immediately without getting into some of the battles of gun legalization or gun restricting access to guns in some way. That discussion of gun safety is going to continue. I think also, governor, that we talked about the fact that someone that isnt in a Mental Health system and a number of folks yours was the exception in the beginning. A number of the people, i think, particularly in tucson, had not sought out any kind of Mental Health help. So they wouldnt have been caught up in a system that necessarily would have looked at that in the purchase of guns. We also know that guns are readily available even if you dont purchase them legally. I think we talked that time about the culture of guns and kind of the culture that we live in now and that theres very little you can do to stop a determined person. Do you still feel that way . Well, unfortunately, i think thats true. I mean, you cant really argue those facts. What you can do is expand the capacity, your framework within a state or within the country to have more people paying attention and trying to detect folks that are unstable on the verge of real trouble, trying to catch them at a sooner level. Certainly the culture of violence look at the level of violence in our media, video games, the depiction of these assault weapons again and again, there might well be some direct connection between people who have mental instability, and when they go over the edge they trans themselves and become parts of the video games and perhaps thats why all these assault weapons are used. Governor, let me ask you. Have you first of all, i understood that you have spoken or communicated with the governor of connecticut. What does this town, this state, if you will, go through now . Your incident happened in july. It was horrific. Youve sort of seen the evolution of the months. Whats next, and what kind of advice do you have for the Connecticut Governor . Well, im not sure he needs advice from me. What i remember youve been there. Yeah, i know. I remember the how surreal it was. It seemed like this couldnt be happening. As you talked to one family after another, theyre all dealing with something beyond anything they could have imagined. You know, its the worst thing they will see in their lives, one person after another after another. It does i think governor malloy is, again, the right person at the right time for connecticut. You can already see he has that courage, because he has to go out to families again and again and try to be there with them and help them get through this and process it. It is. Its just unspeakably hard. You cant there arent words. Dont know how to put it in words. You know, as a governor these are constituents but not necessarily families you knew, and yet, youre kind of playing this key role. So in the months since the aa r aurora theater shooting, does your office continue to speak and try to help those families and what are those needs in there . Well, in varying degrees certainly there was a fund set up to try and provide support and resources to the families of the victims and to the wounded victims. That process was challenging itself. Money cant replace especially with young people. Its so insufficient, and yet, it becomes this symbol. We were challenged at every step along that way. Really, a lot of the families just need someone they can talk to, that they can relate to in those days immediately after the tragedy, in a number of cases i felt like i was part of the family. Youre brought in in a very intimate level, and again having these discussions that people are revealing themselves and their resilience. Their ability to take this awful thing and find a way to make their life he better. You know, some of the most challenging times that ive ever been through. Have you found, governor, as a final question, that those families or the people in aurora or the people of colorado pressure you now more f