planet. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we're learning much more about the shooter and the victims in the sikh temple slaughter in wisconsin. i'll speak wit oak creek police chief coming up live. we'll hear exclusively from two men who lost their mother in the killings. first, we're getting new details on the weapon. our own brian todd is joining us now live. he's in oak creek, wisconsin. brian, you've been tracing the gun. what are you finding out? >> reporter: spoke to the gun store manager, wolf. new details on that weapon that authorities believe was used in this shooting. that information comes from the gun store manager who is still shaken by the experience. >> subject down! officers down! i need ambulance. >> we have one officer shot. >> 7512 subject with a gun, balding, white t-shirt. officer down. >> reporter: it was less than a week before this carnage that suspect wade michael page stopped here and picked up the .9-meter pistol. according to the manager of shooter shop just outside milwaukee. when you heard about this, what was going through your mind? >> my first reaction was i was hoping we didn't sell him the firearm. >> reporter: he can't say if he was working in the store when page bought the weapon on july 28th or when he picked it up two days later after a background check. he says page likely paid about $700 for a model known as the xdm similar to this one. according to grabowski and officials, it was all on board. as for the occasions when page was in this store, did anything about him strike out at you or the employees here who might have dealt with him? >> he was unremember able. there are two types of people. we remember long standing customers as well as people who rub us the wrong way and then they don't buy a gun here. >> so you do refuse service to people who give you a bad vibe. >> yes, we do. >> and he didn't? >> no. he wouldn't have purchased a firearm if he did. >> employees tell us that gun is mainly used for target practice and self-defense. a law enforcement official tells us page also bought ammunition at the shooter shop and came down here to use the shop's firing range. he use thd day on july 30th, the same day he picked up the weapon. the assistant manager, eric's brother, demonstrates the fire power of a simila similar .9-millimeter. brian says each magazine holds at least 17 bullets. in the store i asked eric how he feels looking back on this. >> it hurts i mean, it's not something that i would want, obviously. you know, that community is just -- is in pain. you know, us here at shooter shop -- loss for words, i'm sorry. you know, i know a year ago this month i lost my daughter. so i understand what it's like to lose a family member. i don't want -- i don't like knowing that that's what happened and something i had sold. >> reporter: eric and the gun shop's owner tell us there is surveillance footage of wade michael page buying that pistol and footage of him using it in their firing range. they say they have turned that over to law enforcement, wolf. >> so they don't have a copy. they're not going to release the footage of him actually walking in that store, purchasing that weapon. but generally, brian, how would officials in wisconsin or the federal law enforcement authorities have checked this guy's background? what would they look for? >> reporter: well, according to the gun shop owners and federal officials and state officials who we talked to, he would have filled out two separate forms for the background check, which they showed us at the store. then those are sent to the wisconsin department of justice. that agency checks out anything in his background as far as any felony convictions, any possible insanity pleas or any instances of maybe mental illness and whether the courts have ever told the person in question that they can't buy a firearm. we're also told by state officials that the federal law enforcement agencies get involved in the background check as well. so it would have run through all of those checks, wolf. apparently it did and it came back saying that this man could purchase this weapon. >> weapon was purchased legally as the law enforcement authorities there said. thanks very much, brian, for that report. of the six people killed over at the sikh temple, just one was a woman gunned down just as she offered a last prayer. she left behind two sons. and they spoke exclusively with cnn's poppy harlow. >> reporter: wolf, for every person killed in this tragedy there are countless loved ones grieving. two sons of one of the victims of the shooting opened up to us earlier today about the anguish that this has caused. it didn't take long for kamal sani to learn what happened to his mother. >> told there was a shooting going on outside. we need to get up and leave. rather than just getting up and leaving, she wanted to just bow down and pray for the last time and then get up and leave. and she was just getting up, she was shot in the back. >> reporter: murdered in her sacred place. >> she collapsed there. she didn't have a chance. they said she was dead on the spot. >> reporter: 41 years old. >> i called her a few times and she didn't answer her phone. and i went to the scene and they had every roadblocked off and wouldn't let us through. >> reporter: you tried to find your mom. >> yeah. told the police officer that my mom's in there. you have to let me through. >> reporter: 20-year-old kamal left his younger brother at home trying to protect him. as survivors emerged, kamal searched among them. >> i went downstairs in the basement and looked for my mom and she wasn't one of them. >> reporter: reality sinking in. >> i had an idea that she didn't make it. but just didn't want to believe it. >> reporter: she went there every thursday and sunday often arriving early to help prepare food. >> she was a good woman. she was a great mom. >> she lived for us. she worked for us. anything she did, it was for us. >> reporter: what was she like when she walked into a room? what was she like? >> always had a smile. she always had a smile. >> reporter: she saved every penny for the past eight years to take her family to india last month to celebrate her son's birthday. it was their first time back since immigrating to the u.s. >> just experience we had going together. going to the temple. she always want today go there. >> reporter: what were your mother's dreams for you? >> she just wanted us to be educated. >> reporter: both sons want to go into law enforcement. >> land of opportunity they told me when i first came here. >> reporter: do you still believe this is your land of opportunity? >> it took my world away. all it takes is one ignorant person to take somebody's world away. >> reporter: now the brothers want answers. >> why would you do it? why did you do that? >> reporter: for what? >> for what reason? >> i just want to know where she was laying. i want to go back and look. >> reporter: why? [ inaudible ] >> reporter: the only comfort they have is that their mother's last moments were in the place she loved. and kamal, the older son, is currently studying criminal justice. both the sons told me that this situation has just strengthened their resolve to go into law enforcement, to become police officers and to make their mother proud. and they also wanted me to relay this, wolf, they said they are immensely grateful to all the first responders, the police officers who responded to this horrific tragedy. wolf. >> what a heartbreaking story, poppy harlow, thanks for bringing it to our viewers. were there warning signs before the sikh temple massacre? i'm going to speak live with the police chief, john edwards, the oak creek, wisconsin, police department. that's coming up here in "the situation room" at the half hour. let's go to jack cafferty right now. he's got the cafferty file. jack. it is election time, as you're probably aware, and the politicians as they want to do will do or say anything to get your vote. starting with president obama and mitt romney and all the way down the line, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want you to believe that they feel your pain. it's an open question though if any of them really do. ron paul was a rare candidate who actually connected with voters these last two election cycles. he attracted a ground swell of support from people looking for real answers. but it was never enough support to propel him on to the next level. as for most of us the two major plolitical parties, democrat an republican, often seem interchangeable. and the vast majority of locals are staying loyal to the party they were four years ago. there's just a little switching going on. the gallup poll says 5% of mccain supporters switched to supporting president obama. the group's most likely to change presidential preferences or be undecided include hispanics, asians, independents, political moderates, eastern residents, those with a high school education or less and unmarried men. pollsters say because loyalty to the president is slightly less than loyalty to the republican candidate is the reason that this race appears to be tighter now than the one in 2008. the deepening mystery in all of this is why after continually being disappointed by both parties so many people continue to support them? what's wrong with us? the list of problems the country is mired in suggests the two major parties are the problem, not the solution. and that's our question. how much do the two major political parties really care about you? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on the "the situation room" facebook page. >> jack, thank you. so what are authorities in wisconsin learning about the sikh temple shooter's apparent links to white supremacist? i'll ask the oak creek, wisconsin police chief, john edwards. he's standing by live:. syria's blod di war has sent thousands fleeing in fear and horror. we'll introduce you to the family in tent number 257 at a jordan refugee camp. and extraordinary images from mars coming into "the situation room." why scientists are so excited. brave knights! as you can clearly see from this attractive graph that our sales have increased by... sorry, my liege. honestly. our sales have increased by 20%. what is this mystical device i see before me? it's an ultrabook. he signed the purchase order. with an ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. introducing the ultra sleek, ultra responsive ultrabook. a whole new class of computers powered by intel. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the cookie-cutter retirement advice ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know what? ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you can't create a retirement plan based on ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a predetermined script. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 to understand you and your goals... ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...so together we can find real-life answers for your ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 real-life retirement. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 and let's write a script based on your life story. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ooo no. the hotel lost our reservation. nonsense! you book at travelocity, your reservation's guaranteed. well, i did not book with travelocity, okay?!? [ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee any way you book, including our new app. you'll never roam alone. in politics today, mitt romney launched a new attack on president obama accusing him of trying to gut welfare reform. our national political correspondent, jim acosta, is traveling with the romney campaign. he's in iowa right now. jim, what exactly is mitt romney saying on this issue? >> reporter: wolf, mitt romney is out to pit one democratic president against another. earlier today he accused president obama of trying to gut one of bill clinton's signature legislative achievements, namely welfare reform. he unleashed this line of attack in mr. obama's home turf of illinois earlier this morning. here's what he had to say. >> i hope you understand that president obama in just the last few days has tried to reverse that accomplishment by taking the work requirement out of welfare. that is wrong. if i'm president, i'll put work back in welfare. >> reporter: now, all of this got started earlier this morning when the romney campaign released a new tv ad that seized on a memo that was issued by the department of health and human services last month. that memo basically was designed to provide waivers to states in implementing the welfare program. all of this drew a harsh response from the white house, which says the memo itself points out that the goal at the department of health and human services is to get more people back to work. and here's the take from white house press secretary jay carney. >> let me say that this advertisement is categorically false and it is blatantly dishonest. >> reporter: now, the obama campaign is also hard at work responding to this latest line of attack from the romney campaign. they put out this letter. we'll put it up on screen for you, wolf. it shows that back in 2005 mitt romney when he was governor of massachusetts along with other republican governors across the country sent a letter to congress seeking waivers of their own in implementing the welfare program in their individual states. the goal in that letter it states is to help move people from welfare to work and the obama campaign is also pointing out that when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, he supported a program that provided car insurance and aaa automobile coverage to welfare recipients who received donated cars. the romney campaign said that that program actually saved money when he was governor of massachusetts. but really, wolf, this is part of a larger theme from the romney campaign. and romney's been hitting it several times over the last few weeks. he is trying to accuse the president of increasing government dependency. something the white house vehemently denies. >> last night the president launched a new line of attack against mitt romney saying he was robin hood in reverse. he called him romney hood, he got a good laugh at that. today i understand mitt romney is responding with a line of his own. >> reporter: that's right. he's calling all that obamalony, which i think if you were to extrapolate that out, i think it means obama balony. both candidates have fun with each other's names. gives you a sense of where this campaign is and how low it's gotten. and we're still three months out from election time, wolf. >> yeah. little name-calling by both sides. we'll have more on this part of the story later this hour. jim acosta traveling with mitt romney in iowa right now. meanwhile, other important news we're following around the world. the united nations pulled its monitors out of syria's largest city citing the deteriorating security situation. that means the all-out civil war that's raging in aleppo as the city is pounded and pounded by artillery and aircraft, syria is torn apart, its people are fleeing to neighboring countries by the tens of thousands. our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, is joining us now from neighboring ahman, jordan. what's going on over there, barbara? what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, wolf, as you say tens of thousands of syrians now making the run for safety across the border here into jordan. they are now, however, in a crisis situation on this side of the border. this family of nine is now living in two plastic tents after escaping from syria. 13-year-old has a broken heart. she tells us. [ speaking in a foreign language ] my mother was murdered. she was outside. we were inside. and there was a bomb. she was hit by shrapnel. she was everything to me. she would take us wherever we want today go. i was the one most attached to her. what else can i tell you? jordan does not allow the refugees to leave this desert camp. it worries that agents of the assad regime are coming in disguised as refugees and could cause trouble. jordan is preparing for hundreds of thousands more as the fighting grows worse. the chief spokesman says the world has to step up. telling us -- [ speaking in a foreign language ] we tell the whole world and not only president obama to move closer to the details of the syrian crisis. this 31-year-old worked in a restaurant. he and his family escaped with hundreds of others coming under fire as they approached the jordan border. the free syrian army helped us. we crawled until we got out of that area, but there were some who were wounded. some came out with us. others died. every day at camp now a long walk for food and supplies. already a worry of disease outbreak. water comes out of a tap. young girls do the family laundry in a bucket. the united nations is the first to say things must get better and fast. >> it's a terrible situation. the question is, would you want to put your family in a place like this? no. but we're in emergency operation. >> reporter: you know, wolf, the united nations, the jordanian relief agencies are doing everything they can as fast as they can to make the camp better. everyone will tell you it's desperate circumstances up there. and indeed they are expecting tens of thousands of possibly additional syrian refugees in the coming days and weeks as the fighting grows worse. wolf. >> related question, barbara, while i have you. are you learning anything else about the defection of the syrian prime minister and some other syrian cabinet ministers? >> reporter: wolf, that's one of the big mysteries around ahman tonight. he has not surfaced. none of these defectors have publicly surfaced. what we have learned is that the former syrian prime minister had been planning this escape really for months. but about two months ago when he was offered the premiership of syria, he felt he had to take it or he would be killed. that is what opposition groups are saying. and he began to plan his escape trying to get secretly across the border. the hope, the plan is, the word is that he may surface publicly somewhere in this region in the next couple of days, wolf. >> barbara starr in jordan for us watching the situation unfold. at the top of the next hour we'll go live to syria. our own ben wedeman is on the ground for us near aleppo. we're also following important new developments in a tucson, arizona, courtroom. the man accused of trying to assassinate the arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, has just changed his plea. stand by. new information coming in. also, a volcano erupts for the first time in more than a century. my cut hurt! mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. consider the journey of today's athletes. their training depends on technology. and when it takes a battery, there are athletes everywhere who trust duracell. they rely on copper to go for the gold. duracell. trusted everywhere. and soon...even more reason to trust duracell. duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed. duralock. coming soon to every duracell battery. lisa sylvester's monitoring some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. lisa, what's going on? >> hi, wolf. this afternoon jared lee loughner pleated guilty in a deal that's expected to avoid the death penalty. his january 2011 shootings killed six people and wounded 13 others including then-congresswoman giffords. loughner's change of pleas came just after a judge ruled him competent to stand trial. what's worse depends on how you look at it? the international monetary fund says in terms of economic