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Two Journalists Shot and Killed by Former Coworker in Virginia; Interview with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to do something about crazy people getting guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, August 27th, 8:00 in the east. Alisyn is in New York and I'm live in Roanoke, Virginia. Outside CNN affiliate WDBJ where locals are coming to honor and pay respects to two young journalists executed on live TV by a former coworker. The station's morning show which brought Alison Parker and Adam Ward together every day, paying tribute to their colleagues with a moment of silence on air this morning.

This community is obviously stunned and steeped in loss after a reporter and her cameraman were killed in a simple act of vengeance. Families and friends of the victims sharing their memories as they try to comfort each other and this community in the wake of this tragedy.

Now, as far as the deceased gunman, a rambling letter provides insight into why, in his own mind, this is somehow what he needed to do. Here's what we know now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): As this sun rises in Roanoke, two faces that said good morning to Virginians are gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alison Parker and Adam Ward were part of our family here at this station, and many of you have told us they were part of your morning each day as well.

CUOMO: And 24-year-old reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward executed by a former employee who was fired from their news station two years ago. Vester Flanagan, known by his TV name Bryce Williams, killed the journalists while they were live on air, recording video of himself carrying out the executions.

While on the run, posting those videos online, going on a Twitter rant, saying, quote, "Alison made racist comments, and Adam went to HR on me after working with me one times." By the afternoon the murderer had shot and killed himself. But before confirmation of his death WDBJ's general manager sharing his anguish on air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to step out of my role as a formal journalist and say I'm not really sure whether I want him to live or die. If he dies, then he took the coward's way out.

CUOMO: The shooter would fax rambling suicide note, 23 pages long, to ABC News. He complained that years of bullying at former workplaces, including WDBJ, drove him to violence. He also wrote, quote, "What sent me over the top was the Charleston church shooting, and my hollow point bullet versus the victim's names on them." A picture of the murderer's anger emerging in the video captured just last month, showing him in a bout of road rage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, are you finished?

BRANDON FOSTER: I've been finished. You followed me here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going through your mind when you get into the parking lot and you see him get out?

FOSTER: Just a lot of things. I parked in a way that I wouldn't get blocked in, and I got out of my vehicle quickly so I wouldn't be in a cage with somebody that's aggressively following me. And I was pretty much making a beeline to the store to have some other people around, because he was obviously not in the right mind.

CUOMO: In an interview with FOX News, Alison's father says this is a problem he's now dedicating his life to solving.

ANDY PARKER, FATHER OF ALISON PARKER: We've got to do something about crazy people getting guns. This is something that is Alison's legacy that I want to make happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Alison's father there obviously heartbroken. He wanted to see something come out of her death. Early this morning I spoke with the young man standing next to him, Chris Hurst. He's Alison Parker's boyfriend and also an anchor at WDBJ. They had been dating about nine months when Alison was killed. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I know last night had to be very tough. How are you doing? How's the family?

CHRIS HURST, BOYFRIEND AND COWORKER OF ALISON PARKER: Her family remains strong. I am trying to find the strength that she always said that I had inside of me. It doesn't feel like I have it right now, but she told me all the time that she loved me to the ends of the earth and that she felt safe with me. And I just -- I am so saddened that there was nothing, Chris, that could have been done to keep her safe yesterday. I truly believe that.

CUOMO: What are you taking solace in right now? You know you had a special love in your life. You know you had time with her. I know you're clutching what now is a part of your heart, the memories you had together.

HURST: I know. It's something that was supposed to be for us. But now that she was taken from this world, I think it's for everyone. Some of the pictures we had together, we made it for our sixth month anniversary, she made it for me and wrote love notes for me, saying that for the next six months it was my turn to fill in all of the picrues in here.

And it's a love story that I think it's something that I was privileged and honored to have had for only nine months. It was not a long relationship, but we were betrothed, we wanted to get married. She was set celebrating her birthday with me and a special friend and her parents in North Carolina, her favorite place on earth.

[08:05:06] And there is a place on the river where we were whitewater rafting where she said that's where she wanted to get married to me.

The manner in which he took Alison and Adam's life should not be the focus on this story. The focus of the story should be two amazing lived that were extinguished yesterday for no good reason. And I now join so many thousands of other Americans who cannot explain why their loved ones were taken from them. And when you ask me how I'm doing, I can't explain either. I have no idea how I'm going.

CUOMO: Does it help that you had something that many long for and never have in their life?

HURST: It's the only thing that's keeping me going. It is surreal to talk to you here because this is an environment that I am familiar with, having satellite trucks here and having this chaos descend upon us. This is something that I've been in the trenches for as a journalist and Alison has had exposure to it as well, and Adam too. And so this seems surreal and it seems eerie and I think that's given me some sort of strength to carry on and share her story as much of as I can.

But you're right, the love that we had was so rare. And I want everyone out there to know that it is possible to get that love, even if it only lasts for nine months. And that has given me some strength to carry on today.

CUOMO: What was inside Alison that we don't get to see on television that you knew?

HURST: She was fierce. She was tenacious.

CUOMO: You told me it was only a matter of time before she was eating my lunch at this level.

HURST: I know. She would have run circles around the news outlets that are here to cover this tragedy.

CUOMO: What made her special?

HURST: She had unflinching confidence in what she wanted to do, maybe not always in herself, but she wanted to do in her goals. She knew what her goals were, and that was to be in television news, to do journalism, to be a visual storyteller, and to eventually become an anchor. And she was anchoring a lot. And I'm sure that that was going to be a promotion for her in the very near future. And then she wanted to eventually wanted to become a news director. How many 24- year-old's do you know in the business say that's my career goal, not to be on TV, not to get all of the accolades and attention. She wanted to be a news director. She was a journalist.

CUOMO: The goals for a lot of us are usually a lot more shallow than that.

HURST: Yes.

CUOMO: That's part of the reason that the love was so fast --

HURST: One of many reasons. I saw her, and I told my mother when I met her and we first started dating that, mom, I've finally found my teammate and my partner, that we were going to be a great TV news couple.

CUOMO: People say that about both of you, by the way. They say the personalities were a perfect mesh, that the energy that you have, the way you are with people, that you were a perfect set for each other.

HURST: I think we were. I think that it proves that you can find a perfect match out there even when I never thought that would happen. The inscription she wrote at the top, says "The cutest, newsiest, prettiest couple ever."

CUOMO: You are a pretty couple.

HURST: And, dammit, Chris, I think that we were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Chris Hurst so eloquent in talking about the heartbreak that he feels in losing the love of his life, 24-year-old Alison parker. Her father struggling with it as well on television and trying to find some way that something good can come out of this, that something will change.

Now, the man who is charged with balancing this heartbreak and these demands to do better, of course, the governor. And we have Governor McAuliffe joining us now. Thank you very much for being with us, Terry McAuliffe, appreciate it. This is a very difficult time. What is your message to the people here in Roanoke and across your state about how things are going to be OK?

GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE, (D) VIRGINIA: First of all, we're all heartbroken. I spoke to the families yesterday. Words can't describe. You know, it's always a tough call when you have to make to talk to somebody who lost a loved one. Yesterday was a tragic day for Virginia, for our families. But the families were strong yesterday. Virginia is strong. We will work through this together. Our hearts go out to the entire community, the families, everybody in the community.

Chris, where you are right now, my whole family just spent our vacation down there. We just got back a week ago. It is such a beautiful community. It is a strong community. We will get through this. But it's tough. It was needless. It never should have happened.

But I also, Chris, want to thank also all the law enforcement yesterday that were involved. The Franklin County sheriffs, the Virginia state police who were able to stop this suspect before anyone else was hurt. So I do want to thank all of our law enforcement.

[08:10:02] And I do want the families to know, the Ward family and the Parker family that we are all there. As I said to the parents yesterday, we are all there for you. If there's anything the commonwealth of Virginia can do, we will be there for you, today, tomorrow, and forever.

CUOMO: Alison's father, I know you spoke to him. And he is very heavy on the topic of what can be done. We just spoke to Donald Trump about gun control, about whether that's relevant. That's the fix, about mental illness, the questions that keep coming up. He said there are very difficult problems, but he didn't really seem to know what could be done about it other than committing addressing these problems. The same falls on your shoulders, sir. Is it about guns, and if so, how? What do we do about mental illness? Is there a fix? If so, what?

MCAULIFFE: Clearly we need to do more. We've had, as you know, Chris, you are 40 miles from the single worst single shooter massacre in the history of our nation at Virginia Tech -- 32 innocent lives were lost at Virginia tech, 40 miles from where you are right now.

We had a horrible tragedy several years ago. Senator Creigh Deeds lost his son. It was an issue about mental illness. And we have worked hard here in Virginia. We have put more money in our budget. I just pushed the governor's access plan last year to allow 22,000 more individuals with severe mental illness to be able to get the treatment and care that they need. So this is a very serious issue.

I've long advocated -- this is not political, Chris. I have long advocated -- when I ran for governor, I was probably the most aggressive candidate ever in Virginia history talking about safe, commonsense gun restrictions. I have always supported universal background checks. I am a gun owner. I own three guns. I hunt. I take my kids hunting. But you know what, Chris, I went through a background check, and this is where I disagree with Mr. Trump. He said we shouldn't make it harder. A background check takes on average two to three minutes. I just really believe that everybody who purchases a firearm in our nation should go through a background check. I submitted legislation to the general assembly this year that anyone, domestic abusers or stalkers, or those who that had violent crimes in their past, the needed to go through a background check and they should not be able to buy firearms. Unfortunately, I was not successful. We have a gun show loophole --

CUOMO: That's point, though, governor. My question is, governor, that you say it's not political, but there are a few things that are more political than this. Every time we have a shooting the question comes up. The two sides stand as strong as ever and say it's all about the politics, it's all about whether or not the gun lobby versus those who want to change these rules, who wins. And there seems to be nothing, even in your own state, you went to the assembly with it. It went nowhere. Is there a way to do it or do you have to surrender to the reality of the status quo?

MCAULIFFE: I would never surrender. I don't believe the status quo. I ran on this issue. I think it's important. But why I say it shouldn't be political, Chris, is that my job as governor is to keep the community safe. It's an important part of being a governor of a state.

But secondly, I spent all my time in economic development. I inherited a huge budget deficit. I just announced last month the largest surplus is Virginia history. You can bring businesses to your state when your communities are safe. So this shouldn't be political. And a gun show loophole, why does a certain booth have a sign that says we don't do background checks. Who do you think is going to go to that booth? We should eliminate that.

All I'm saying is that background checks, Chris, is it's a simple procedure. It takes two to three minutes. I personally have done it myself. And you talk to responsible gun owners, they all believe in that. I had to veto two bills this year in the general assembly that came to my desk, one that would allow Virginians to buy machine guns, a second bill that would allow you to carry a loaded gun in your car. I vetoed both of those pieces legislation. They could not override my veto.

My only point, it shouldn't be political, what is it that keeps our communities safe. And that's the message we have going further. And I talked to Andy Parker last night. And I didn't raise the issue. My call was as governor to call the family and say I am heartbroken. We are heartbroken as a community. And Andy raised the issue with me and said, governor, please don't ever stop what you're doing to bring common sense safe gun restrictions. He said Alison would want me as the father to do that.

So let's get the politics out of it. Let's do what's right for our communities. And I will never stop. I will continue to push this because I think it's the right thing to do. Background checks is a simple procedure. It does not affect anyone's absolutely. And I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. But you should have nothing to worry about if you give your license and they do a background check. Why would you be worried that you can't purchase that firearm? You shouldn't be.

[08:15:00] Those folks with mental illness who have a history of violence, domestic abusers, stalkers, Chris, should not own firearms. And clearly this gentleman yesterday should not have been able to own a handgun.

CUOMO: Well, Governor, we'll wait to see what happens on this. The questions are always obvious, the solutions proved ever more evasive.

Thank you for taking the time, in this difficult time in your state to discuss these issues and the situation. MCAULIFFE: Thanks to all the viewers and everybody around the

country. Thank you. Thank you.

CUOMO: Appreciate it, sir.

Coming up, we're going to talk to the man we were just discussing with the governor, Alison Parker's father. How is the family dealing with this loss?

What made his daughter special, Alisyn, and yes, he does see a cause coming out of this now. And we'll ask him why.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We look forward to hearing that conversation, Chris, and all of your conversations.

Back here in the studio we've been so struck by the poise of everyone involved in this tragedy. Alison's fiance is a remarkable person. The general manager at the station is a remarkable person. And from what little we've heard of her father so far last night, he seems remarkable. So, we look forward to hearing from him.

And, Chris, we will get back to you shortly. We'll have much more on the deaths of those two young journalists.

But, first, we do have other news to tell you about. There's a new nationwide poll. It shows Donald Trump dominating the Republican pack. How will these numbers impact the next GOP debate? That's on September 16th, of course. We're talking with our political experts about all the latest news this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:16] CAMEROTA: OK, to campaign news now. There's new nationwide polls out just this morning and they show Donald Trump way out front. That's the highest mark at 28 percent that he's gotten thus far.

The next debate is just about three weeks away, September 16th. So, what do all these numbers mean for the GOP field?

Joining me now to discuss it is CNN political commentator and former White House director for Ronald Reagan, Jeffrey Lord. And CNN political commentator and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show", Ben Ferguson.

Gentlemen, it's great to have you here.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Before we get to the polls, let's talk about that interview that Chris Cuomo just did with Donald Trump. They covered a lot of interesting topic and in particularly, they started with the tragedy that's happening in Roanoke, Virginia. And you know, so many people throw their hands up after something like this and say something has to be done, the whole country feels something has to be done about gun violence, about separating guns and getting them out of the hands of people who seem unhinged.

Chris put that question to Donald Trump. Here was his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think I would, because this is really a sick person. This isn't a gun problem. This is a mental problem. You're not going to get rid of all guns. So, I know one thing, if you tried to do it, the bad guys would have them, to use an expression, and the good folks would abide by the law, that'd be hopeless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, is that a good enough answer? I mean, we, obviously, we all know that bad guys can always get guns. But in terms of somehow curbing gun violence, is that a good enough answer what Trump said?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, I think it is, Alisyn. And I have to say, you know, two things that are not being discussed here at all when you read this guy's manifesto, one is race and the other is value of life. And what do we have here? We have this whole Planned Parenthood issue going on in which basically they're selling baby parts, devaluing life.

CAMEROTA: How is that connected to a man who feels slighted and decides that killing other people is the answer?

LORD: Right. Well, he -- in other words, he's not valuing life. He didn't value the lives of the people he killed.

And aside from that, he was into a race war. A reaction, which he mentioned, of the Charleston shooting, and that guy was motivated by race.

I'm suggesting here instead of dividing the country by race, which is what we seem to do, which is what, for instance, Jorge Ramos was all about in that press conference, it's all about the race of people. We shouldn't be going that path. This is a color blind country. That was Dr. King's goal, that's where we should be headed and I think that is something that we should be discussing as well as mental illness and guns.

CAMEROTA: Ben, how do you see it? I mean, here's more of what Donald Trump said about trying to curb massacres like this. He said, it's a tough problem, there's no real solution. And it's been around for thousands of years.

All of those are true. But, again, in a leader, is that what you want to hear a leader say in a crisis?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, look, I think anyone that acts like a law could have been passed as a silver bullet to stop this guy is living in la la land. I have been a victim of a gun crime where not one but two of the

people with guns were both convicted felons. Every law in the book did not stop them from getting a gun illegally, and using it to commit another crime. And they went to jail for it, and they're back out and I'm sure they've gotten their hands on another illegal weapon at this point because they've done it two times before when they went to prison and got out.

So, when Donald Trump says and anyone else says we have a mental health issue, that's pretty obvious. But the big issue here is politicians think that somehow a gun control law can fix this. I am open to talking about mental health and saying if you are committed against your will, there should be some sort of period where you cannot purchase a weapon. But even Hillary Clinton yesterday when she came out and called for more gun control, she said, well, we should at least have a waiting period after someone is a disgruntled employee and been fired.

This guy was fired in February of 2013. So, I would say to Hillary Clinton, do you want a three-year waiting period for everyone who gets fired that may be upset during that moment?

And I also will say, when you're a psychopath and you wear a GoPro camera and you uploaded to the Internet, and you're on this obsessive- compulsive, you know, I'm going to kill these people and it's because of a race war, there is not a law that is going to stop you from doing that, especially if your end game is you dying yourself the same day.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

FERGUSON: So, you can act like it would make us feel better, but the reality is there's nothing that could have stopped that individual yesterday. And here's one other thing, from what we understand he was not a convicted felon. He could go out and buy a gun legally. Yet they're saying we need more gun control.

We don't even know if they passed if it wouldn't even apply to this individual.

[08:25:02] CAMEROTA: Yes, look, everything you're both saying is factually true or much of it. But the point is that in times of crisis, we do look to our leaders to make us feel better. And so, the tone is maybe he's giving us a dose of reality. But it's nice to have somebody to say, we will solve this, we will fix this, I have confidence in other --

FERGUSON: But, coming out with a pause, you know, let's give everybody a hug and we're going to pass a law and make everybody feel better. Remember, more than 20 laws were broken at Columbine. Do you think that those two individuals that we were willing to die for their cause, if we would have passed two random other laws or five would have somehow stopped that?

I think what we have to focus on is where there's common ground. I think conservatives and liberals both agree on this. We can do something on mental health. But to say it's guns, we got -- (CROSSTALK)

But it's the nexus of guns and mental health. It's the nexus of guns and mental health, and somehow keeps the guns out of those hands. And Donald Trump today at least didn't have an answer for that. Very quickly, Jeffrey.

LORD: Well, one of the problems we have in this country is we're always thinking we can find utopia in a lot of situations, like this one but others that have nothing to do with guns or murder or whatever. Utopia doesn't exist. Human beings are imperfect. And we're always going to have problems.

So, to think if we just do this or we just do that, this will never happen again, that just is factually and, you know, historically not so. It's sad, but it's the truth.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey Lord, Ben Ferguson, thanks so much for having the conversation this morning.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

LORD: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Well, he says his grief is unbearable, but he could not be more proud of his daughter. We speak with the father of Alison Parker next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)