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NEW DAY

New Mexico Middle School Shooting; Chaos After The Crash; Charges In Florida Theater Shooting; Unemployment Extension Setback; More Deadly Bombings In Iraq; "Duck Dynasty" Back After Anti-Gay Comments; Cold Weather, Snow on the Way for Some Regions; Christie Addresses 'Bridgegate,' Other Issues in State of the State Address

Aired January 15, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have one student or female subject possibly shot.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Middle school shooter. A student opens fire, two hit and hospitalized, one fighting for his life. Even more shocking, the shooter's age, only 12 years old. We're live at the scene.

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight. New video from the chaotic moments just after the Asianic crash in San Francisco. Firefighters trying to put out the flames. What it tells us about how the young woman died on the runway.

CUOMO: New details inside the movie theater shooting that left one dead. The shooter, an ex-cop, now says the shooting was justified. Wait until you hear why. We'll hear from those who know the gunman well.

Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Hump Day, Wednesday, January 15th, six o'clock in the east. New this morning, the shooting at a middle school in Roswell, New Mexico has brought us a disturbing low. The age of the shooter just 12 years old. More than a thousand people attended a vigil last night for the two students wounded after coming face-to-face with an armed classmate.

One of them, an 11-year-old boy is now fighting for his life. And once again, a teacher was forced into a potentially deadly confrontation and was somehow able to get through to the shooter. CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in Roswell -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. It's another American school devastated by a shooting here on the campus, but what's most shocking is the age of the shooter, just 12 years old.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): A nightmare striking this Roswell, New Mexico, middle school Tuesday morning.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: We have one student or female subject possibly shot.

ELAM: Police say around 7:30, a 7th grader, just 12 years old, pulled a 20-gauge shotgun out of a bag inside the gym opening fire and striking two students. The two students injured in the shooting airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, an 11-year-old boy in critical condition after suffering injuries to his face and neck. And 13-year-old Kendal Sanders now in stable condition after being shot in her right shoulder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just breaks your heart, you know, to see these kids have to witness and be a part of such a tragedy.

ELAM: The 10 seconds of terror as heroes like 8th grade social studies teacher, John Masterson, bravely stair down the barrel of the shooter's gun.

GOVERNOR SUSANA MARTINEZ (R), NEW MEXICO: He begins to talk to him to put it down. The young man put the gun down and raised his hands. At that time, he put the young man up against the wall.

ELAM: Another middle school staffer sustained injuries but refused care so he could stay with the students in the gym.

CHIEF PETE KASSETAS, NEW MEXICO STATE POLICE: I commend the principal and the people who work at this school for saving many more lives.

ELAM: Residents in Roswell now trying to heal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that we need to pray for two children.

ELAM: After becoming the latest American town rocked by a school shooting.

MARTINEZ: Please keep these two children in your prayers who were shot while simply sitting in their gym waiting to go to class. God bless those kids.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And police now have that 12-year-old shooter in custody and they continue to search all of his belongings and also looking at social media for anything that he may have said that could give a motive for why he may have done this. They're also looking into reports that he may have warned some students to not come to school yesterday morning to avoid catastrophes. They have not been able to corroborate that plan at this point yet -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Stephanie, thank you. Now I said a disturbing low, not a new low in terms of age because the 12-year-old perpetrator simply isn't the youngest school shooter. The youngest on record is a 6-year-old, Dedrick Owens who shot and killed a 6-year-old class mate. That was in 2000. He was so young he couldn't be charged with murder even in juvenile law.

Now in the last 20 years, one 11-year-old and three additional 12- year-olds have shot children at their schools and that's excluding yesterday's shooting. Just last year in Nevada, a 12-year-old injured students and killed a teacher before taking his own life. Now it is a mystery what makes a child violent. Each case is different.

However in many of these cases, here's something for you to think about. Improper gun storage is often a neglected aspect of the gun debate and it was a factor in almost all of these cases, again, something to think about.

Now, coming up in the next hour, we're going to talk with a student who knows the shooter well and see if there was some sign that could have helped save him and his victims from this fate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop, stop. There's a body right -- there's a body right there right in front of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Also breaking overnight, that heart pounding new video just released capturing the chaos of last summer's deadly crash of Asiana Flight 214. The shocking footage comes from a Go-Pro camera mounted on one of the first responders helmets recorded just minutes after the crash.

It reveals firefighters were warned more than once about a 16-year-old girl lying on the ground near the wreckage, they believe alive at the time. Despite those warnings, the teen was run over by fire trucks and was killed. CNN's Dan Simon is live from San Francisco Airport with much more on this, this morning. Good morning, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. It was a heart breaking revelation that a 16-year-old girl from China survived the crash only to die after getting hit by a fire truck. Now this video raises serious questions about how firefighters conducted themselves at the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a body right -- there's a body right there, right in front of you.

SIMON (voice-over): Chilling new video obtained by CBS News giving us a rare up close look from a firefighter's helmet cam. The chaotic moments first responders encountered after Asiana Flight 214 crash landed in San Francisco last July. This 16-year-old (inaudible) was accidentally run over twice by fire trucks. Her family has since filed a wrongful death claim against the city. In particularly blunt language, it accuses first responders of deliberately and knowingly abandoning the teen where they knew she would be in harm's way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop. There's a body right -- there's a body right there, right in front of you.

SIMON: Does the new video prove the tragic accident could have been avoided? There's also this. Another camera appears to show a firefighter directing the truck around the victim.

JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE CHIEF: We're heart broken. We're in the business of saving lives and many lives were saved that day.

SIMON: This video may be crucial to understanding what happened to her who the coroner says survived the crash, but died from injuries she suffered after being run over. At the time officials said her body was obscured by foam and couldn't be seen by the trucks. That combined with the chaos of putting out the fire and rescuing victims.

MAYOR EDWIN LEE, SAN FRANCISCO: I will say this, it was very, very hectic, very emergency mode at the crash site minutes after the airplane came to rest and there was smoke inhalation and people were coming out of the fuselage as fast as they could.

SIMON: The spectacular crash of Asiana Flight 214 was captured on amateur video and on surveillance cameras, the Boeing 777 descending too low on landing crashing into the sea wall and cart wheeling across the runway tragically claiming the lives of three passengers and ejecting two flight attendants from the aircraft on impact. A court may eventually have to decide whether fire crews in this video were negligent and should be held accountable for the teenager's death.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: We reached out to the San Francisco Fire Department for an official response. At this point, they have not gotten back to us. Chris, it's important to note that there were many heroic firefighters that day who acted in such a noble and honorable fashion. But clearly, this is something that they're going to need to address in a clear and transparent fashion. Of course, at this point, they just haven't done that -- Chris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ESCOBAR, ATTORNEY FOR CURTIS REEVES: All the evidence, let's listen to the witnesses and then y'all can make your decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, that's an attorney for a retired Florida cop. He says he had good reason to gun down a man in a movie theater after a dispute about texting. Curtis Reeves will be held without bond while he awaits trial on murder charges. This morning, we are learning he may have threatened someone else before, but his attorney says again, there could be a valid defense to the shooting.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Tampa this morning. Martin, what do we understand?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Well, the movie theater where the shooting took place on Monday is expected to reopen today. Meanwhile, a woman has come forward to authorities and authorities say that she is telling them that a couple weeks ago she was in the movie theater. She was using her cell phone and the suspect in this case accosted her about texting. We're also learning more about the victim and the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Friends say 43-year-old Chad Oulson served in the Navy, loved riding dirt bikes and was crazy about his young daughter. Friends say 71-year-old Curtis Reeves served in the Navy, loves motorcycles, and is a stand-up guy. Somehow texting in this movie theater left Oulson dead and Reeves in life prison, and a community a nation dumb founded. Reeves is charged with second degree murder, something his friends find unimaginable for this former SWAT team leader.

JIM DIAMOND, FORMER CO-WORKER: When they identified the person involved in this incident as Curtis Reeves, I couldn't believe it.

SAVIDGE: Jim Diamond spent 15 years serving with Reeves on the Tampa PD.

DIAMOND: We literally have risked our lives together on more than one occasion.

SAVIDGE: Documents obtained by CNN from the Tampa Police Department when Reeves was there support that claim with one troubling exception. According to this evaluation covering 1978 through 79 which says, quote, "his demeanor is generally very professional. He has however occasionally allowed his temper to detrimentally affect his manner of dealing with his supervisors."

This is not the first time that Reeves has been upset about texting in a movie theater. This woman recalls a similar run-in with Reeves when he confronted her for texting in a theater about two weeks ago and then approached another movie-goer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you do me a favor, can you please just stop texting.

SAVIDGE: Defense attorneys say Reeves shot Oulson after he struck the former policeman in the face with an unknown object. Witnesses say was it popcorn Oulson threw. As for the texting, investigators say Oulson was simply talking to the baby-sitter to check on his daughter. Like reeves' friends, Oulson's friends are also in disbelief. In this case that something so trivial like texting would take a dad from a child and a husband from a wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a good all-around guy, father of a beautiful little girl. Just a tragic loss.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SAVIDGE: The sheriff of the Pasco County told me that it's been recounted to them and to investigators that Reeves at one point apparently was so upset he left the theater and went to complain to management. But he never actually spoke to anybody with management in the theater because the manager was tied up with another customer. He stormed off and went back inside the theater. That's when the confrontation escalated and the shot was fired -- Chris.

BOLDUAN: I'll take it, Martin, sure doesn't seem to make a sense at this point. A lot of questions to be answered. Thanks, Martin Savidge.

So jobless benefits for the long term unemployed, we are talking about 1.3 million people now in limbo. Two Senate proposals to reinstate those benefits were defeated Tuesday. Why, partisan finger pointing. Check out how the votes stacked up. The first failed 52-48 and would have extended benefits through November.

The second failed 55-45 and would have extended the aid for just three months. Both needed that 60-vote threshold to advance to the Senate. Chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash is joining us from Washington to explain how it all went down. We watched this, Dana, play out. There were breakthroughs then setbacks and here we are today.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And here we are today and unfortunately, I have some bad news to report for those 1.3 million Americans whose emergency benefits have run out and that is they should not expect government help any time soon. A senior Democratic source tells me that they are now in a cooling off period, translation, extending those long term benefits is all but dead for now.

Now what happened? Well, the long term unemployed are seems the latest victims of dysfunction of the Senate, Kate. Despite having eight Republican senators buck their leaders and worked with Democrats on compromise, talks really broke down yesterday when Democrats decided not to give a counter offer.

Now the two sides couldn't or maybe wouldn't bridge political differences over policy and process. The Republicans wanted a three- month extension paid for with other budget cuts. Democrats, they didn't like what they proposed. They said they would only consider offsetting the cost benefiting long term extension, maybe up to a year, and then that really stalled the whole process and it broke down in a way that makes it very, very difficult to seeing this brought back to life.

BOLDUAN: We will wait and see if there is a silver lining, eight Republican senators seemed to be ready to work with Democrats. Democrats will see if they are ready to work with those eight Republican senators. I'm going to let your voice take a break. We'll talk to you later in the show. Thank you so much, Dana.

CUOMO: All along as John and I were just saying, sure they can fight, but there are families who are now without any way to support themselves because of this delay.

BOLDUAN: There are real policy differences. It's just why do they start getting discussed when something is already expired.

CUOMO: And your priority, again, this is unemployment benefits people need them to survive.

Anyway, a lot of other news this morning, good thing we have John Berman here in for Michaela. What do you have, my friend?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good to see you, guys. We begin with breaking news this morning. Dozens are dead after a series of bombs went off in Iraq, six of them in Baghdad alone. CNN's Michael Holmes is in Baghdad this morning. Michael, you know a lot of Americans have put Iraq out of their minds, but these bombings every day now seem to be getting worse and the chaos more dire.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's not a good path right now, John, it's got to be said. This is really a daily thing at the moment every day. In the space of a couple hours this morning, six car bombs in Baghdad alone. There was also an IED at a funeral tent. That was a little bit knot of here. The total so far, 26 killed, 87 wounded. That will probably grow.

You know, it's still not the open armed conflict that everyone has been fearing here yet, but everyone here is worried that it is heading that way. I was talking to the former prime minister yesterday and he says time is running at for the Al-Maliki government to get Sunnis on side after years of excluding them. This is a dire situation here in Iraq at the moment -- John.

BERMAN: Trouble and the tension seem to be rising every day. Michael Holmes, great to have you in Baghdad for us this morning. Thanks so much.

New this morning, still more revelations about NSA spying, the "New York Times" reporting this morning that the agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers worldwide giving it access to the machines even if they're not connected to the internet. The NSA calls the radio frequency technology an active defense against foreign cyber attacks, not an offensive tool. On Friday, President Obama is expected to announce changes to NSA spying programs.

New developments in West Virginia, where water is slowly coming back to nine counties after last week's chemical spill. More than 180,000 people remain with tap water, even after almost 120,000 did get service back. Many schools and businesses in the region do remain closed because of this issue. West Virginia's attorney general says his office has launched an investigation. There's also the federal probe.

Big budget news, the House is expected to pass a $1 trillion spending bill that funds the federal government into October. This eases the across the board spending cuts and preserves President Obama's healthcare overhaul, as well as stricter regulation of the financial market. The Senate still needs to vote on it as well. And, they are back, indeed. "The Duck Dynasty" crew kicking off season five tonight on A&E. A lot about how the recent anti-gay comments by family patriarch Phil Robertson might impact the ratings. I think everyone's expecting the ratings to be sky high.

Robertson has returned from a brief suspension. And this is a little note for "Duck Dynasty" fans out there, there will be a new family member as part of the show this season. Rebecca, who was an exchange student from overseas and has been taken in by the family, she will now be playing a part in the show.

BOLDUAN: Well, we'll see. I think they average 14 million viewers a week.

BERMAN: A week.

CUOMO: Do we know where Rebecca is from?

BERMAN: Overseas -- Thailand? Taiwan.

CUOMO: I'm just trying to figure out like how much culture shock this young woman is in for when she --

BERMAN: She's been -- she's already been taken in by the family. She's lived with them for years.

CUOMO: Oh, so they know her. We just don't know her.

BERMAN: Yes. Yes.

BOLDUAN: Here we go! We'll watch. Thanks, John.

CUOMO: Talking about change. How about changes in the weather? Always good. Indra Petersons, meteorologist extraordinaire, has warmed it up for us. Thank you very much. Will it continue?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Warmed it up, then cooling it down, warming it up. This is going to be the trend, it's going to be this flip-flop kind of roller coaster over the next several days as a couple cold fronts continue to go on through.

Yesterday, on the east coast, we saw rain. You can see where that system is now, if at all. It's completely offshore. We get a breather for like a day or so until the next system. I mean, you can tell. Look at the map. It is so light. You know this guy is going to dry out as it continues to make its way over land, so really just be looking for clouds from the system.

Another way to look at it. Here's where we go forward in time. You can actually see another low kind of build. But again, it takes all of that rain and leads it offshore. See the ocean? See the land? Notice rain not on the land? There you go. Mostly cloudy conditions for this system.

It's the one behind it that everyone is focusing on. Still very dry, but the big thing is coming from farther north from Canada. Why do I always talk about Canada? Because the farther north it is, the colder it will be. So, when this system makes its way farther south, looks like overnight tonight and into tomorrow, the upper Midwest going to be dealing with some strong winds thanks to that temperature difference. A lot of blowing snow will mean some blizzard conditions even though it won't be producing the actual heavy amounts of snow itself, just that low visibility as the system kicks on through.

Amounts itself, not going to be too high. As far as rain, by the time it makes its way to the northeast on the weekend, but the temperature is, yes, we know if it came from Canada they go down, so we're back down to the 30s.

As far as how much now, I mean there are some places that are going to get good amounts here, 4-6 inches in towards the Ohio valley. Also another 6 to 8 inches for the upper Midwest out of these absolute last two systems, but there go the temperatures. We'll see them starting to back off to a good 12 to 15 degrees below normal. Here, it feels good until Saturday. It's always Saturday. I jinx the weekends every time.

BOLDUAN: We - that's been the rotation. The weekends.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, Chris Christie facing the fire storm telling New Jersey voters he is ultimately responsible for two career- threatening scandals. But it ain't over yet and we'll tell you why.

BOLDUAN: Also ahead, we're finding out a third person was inside the cockpit of a Southwest Airlines flight that landed at the wrong Missouri airport. Is it possible this mystery witness distracted the pilots?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, NEW JERSEY: Mistakes were clearly made, and as a result, we let down the people we're entrusted to serve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That was a contrite Chris Christie telling New Jersey voters they deserve better in an emotional state of the state address on Tuesday. The embattled New Jersey governor promised full cooperation with all appropriate investigations surrounding the political payback scandal and that pledge could be put to test very soon. CNN's Erin McPike is tracking the latest developments live from Trenton for us this morning. Good morning Erin.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. A very foggy Trenton this morning, actually. Well the new special committee investigating the controversial lane closures to the George Washington Bridge may issue a new round of subpoenas as early as tomorrow. Meanwhile the governor spent most of the state of the state address on Tuesday focused the future, both on New Jersey's and his. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCPIKE: Chris Christie tackled the George Washington Bridge controversy dogging him as soon as he took the podium before the New Jersey state legislature, but speaking to a national audience.

CHRISTIE: The last week has certainly tested this administration. Mistakes were clearly made.

MCPIKE: He acknowledged a failure by his administration, but promised --

CHRISTIE: Without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again.

MCPIKE: That may start Thursday when the New Jersey assembly votes to authorize the special committee leading the investigation to issue subpoenas, likely to fired deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and dismissed top political staffer Bill Stepien, whose role in the closures is still unknown.

The investigation is likely to include the scope of Christi's interactions with David Wildstein, the port authority official who resigned in December after his involvement in the lane closures became too much of distraction. This new photo published by "The Wall Street Journal," shows Christie and Wildstein together during the closures, although it's unknown what, if anything, the two discussed that day.

Christie also lauded the Super Storm Sandy recovery efforts by his administration in his remarks, but the other controversy over whether Christie's appearance with his family in the tourism ad, paid for my relief funds, was done for political purposes, also has a new wrinkle.

CHRISTIE: We're sweating because we're stronger than the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You bet we are.

MCPIKE: Late Tuesday, CNN learned the committee members tasked with choosing the firm that created the ad all worked for the Christie administration. Despite the controversies, he made sure to note what may be a selling point if he runs in a general presidential election in 2016.

CHRISTIE: No state in this country has shown more bipartisan cooperation in governance over the last four years than in New Jersey, and our people are proud of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCPIKE: Now, we did hear some of that trademark tough talk from Christie when he made the case for education reforms, like a longer school day and a longer school year. We may not see Christie again until Tuesday when he delivers his second inaugural address. Chris and Kate?

CUOMO: All right, Erin, thanks a lot. We're also talking this morning about the federal judge overseeing the NFL concussion settlement because he has denied its approval, fearing it may not be enough to cover all of the league's retires players. Andy Scholes is joining us. More with this morning's Bleacher Report. What do we see here?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN BLEACHER REPORT: Well, this deal is not completely dead. Judge Anita Brody, she didn't flat out reject it. She said the court just needs more analysis to prove that the money won't run out. Now, the original settlement between the NFL and the former players was for $765 million, and would run for 65 years, but Judge Brody says she fears it's not enough to cover the league's more than 20,000 retired players. Attorneys for both sides say they're still confident the deal will be approved once they supply the court with more information.

All right, number one in the lineup section on Bleacherreport.com, right now the amazing finish in the Kentucky-Arkansas game last night. Game was ties in overtime, Razorbacks going for the win, the shot's missed, but Michael Qualls comes flying in with the footback (ph) slam. That gave Arkansas the win. Easily the play of the year so far in college basketball.

For the second straight year, President Obama honoring the Miami Heat at the White House. This time around, the president says he sees a lot of himself in the team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This group has now won twice, but it's gone to the finals three times. Sometimes it feels like they're still fighting for a little respect. I can relate to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: President Obama had a lot of jokes yesterday evening. He even joked the Heat had a great season last year, winning 27 games in a row, another title, but they still aren't as good as his Chicago Bulls from the 1990s with Michael Jordan. Of course, President Obama, a huge Bulls fan.

BOLDUAN: You knew that was coming. Can we go back to that dunk? Wow. That is amazing.

SCHOLES: To win the game! What great timing on that play.

BOLDUAN: One of my dream of dreams is to be able to dunk a basketball one day. Do you think it's going to happen?

CUOMO: Ah, no.

SCHOLES: Me too.

CUOMO: But, I'll tell you what -

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: J.P. and I were musing that -- how reminiscent was it of the play of Lorenzo Charles for N.C. State. Remember that?

SCHOLES: Yes.

CUOMO: Another one ended the game on a dunk.

SCHOLES: I'm from Houston. I still have nightmares.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: He just started twitching. It was odd. Thanks, Andy.

CUOMO: Also makes us old. Another reason to be uncomfortable, which is why you don't remember it.

BOLDUAN: Exactly! I don't recall.

CUOMO: Moving on.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, how could two pilots mistakenly land a Southwest Airlines jet at the wrong airport? Did a third person in the cockpit distract the pilot.

CUOMO: And it's been called the car of the future, but now the manufacturer coming under fire following a high profile recall. We're going to talk about troubles at Tesla, with one of the leading innovators of our time, CEO Elon Musk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)