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Shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 1, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] ART RODERICK, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, U.S. MARSHALLS DEPARTMENT (voice-over): They are doing a search by search building. I'm sure they have canine units there. The huge benefit is they have that individual in custody. Obviously, they are interrogating him now to figure out exactly what his motivation is and if there was anybody else helping him.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

Art Roderick, former assistant director, U.S. Marshalls Office, stay with me as we continue our breaking coverage of this school shooting at this community college in Roseburg, Oregon.

Also in the area we have Colonel Francona, who is joining us.

And Deborah Feyerick, our correspondent, I'm going to glance over to you now. Do you know anything more?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're learning the scene is still not secured. Police put out an APB for anybody in the area. Not just the police officers from that region, but federal agents who might be available, FBI, whoever might be on the ground who can respond. One of the critical things to do is get in there and secure it and make sure anybody who is sheltering in place is OK. That's usually what happens in these situations. It's not clear what this individual's status is, whether he's alive or not. All that right now being looked at very closely. So we're getting pieces of information as this is developing.

BALDWIN: Trying to also get a little more information as far as the community college. How many people would have been in attendance there? It's more of a rural area, which, as Art Roderick was pointing out, can play out as an advantage. When we cover school shootings, there are a lot of local businesses around to see if anyone fled.

FEYERICK: That's another situation. You're absolutely right. Right now, it appears the situation is contained. But again, we don't know whether this person locked any of the buildings down. We don't know whether he was targeting a specific area. The cafeteria is an area with a lot of kids. Whether that's where the people would be who were killed. Right now they have to piece together the details. We do know that protocols changed to make sure that officers responding go in immediately. Their job is to save lives. Their job is to make sure that they are there protecting the people who might be hiding, and monitoring social media carefully to make sure there's nobody else out there. Those are the eyes and ears of the people there on that campus right now. So they play a very valuable role in all of this.

BALDWIN: I was just handed this bit of information here. This is according to the Douglas County commissioner telling CNN this is no longer an active shooting at the community college. The shooter is in custody, is in custody, but was not sure if the shooter was injured. Of the 20 wounded, at least one female was shot in the chest. So reports are 10 people have been killed, more than 20 wounded, including one female who was shot in the chest.

FEYERICK: I'm getting some information, and we'll check on this. We know there are about 3,300 full-time students --

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: -- 16,000 part-time students. There are reports right now that perhaps the shooter is down. He's definitely been detained we're being told by a source. Now they have to figure out what his status is. This area now, I'm being told, has been secured. This is technically a gun-free zone. So that's something else they'll have to look into just to figure out who this person is and how he got those weapons.

BALDWIN: How he -- say it again? OK.

Art Roderick and Lieutenant Francona, who is in the area.

Art, now that we're hearing from this county commissioner that the shooter is in custody and has been detained, not quite sure if the shooter was injured, what's happening right now with law enforcement and the shooter?

RODERICK: I mean, obviously, they are probably still clearing a lot of the buildings because there's probably people still sheltering in place. But that's great news that they say they have the situation contained. Obviously, it sounds to me like it's a solo shooter. Now it's just going to be a matter of sorting out what kind of weapons did he use. Obviously, with that many people injured, if he's using a semiautomatic handgun, more than likely would have to reload so you're talking about multiple rounds of ammunition. We don't know if he had an assault rifle, but this will all be sorted out as we move through the next couple hours.

BALDWIN: As in situations like these, we start to get reactions from witnesses on the ground. We're monitoring our local affiliate interviews happening around the community college area to understand where this could have happened, why this would have happened, but some of the key questions, who the shooter is, what is the motivation. This was a gun-free zone, so what kind of gun was used, how did this individual get the gun, and ultimately, how did this person get the gun in this community college.

I think it's important to go back over the numbers. According to preliminary reports, 10 dead, more than 20 wounded. Perspective you were saying 3,300 students.

[14:35:38] FEYERICK: Yes. It looks like 3,300 students. So that's another thing. You look at the numbers. It would appear that they were caught off guard. It would appear that this person --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: This is lunchtime in Oregon.

FEYERICK: It's about 10:45 in the morning. You would have had people in class or going to class. He had more than one weapon or had one weapon he was able to reload because there are 20 others injuries. So you have to go in very carefully because what we have learned, especially with the incident at the movie theater, he may have booby trapped -- the suspect may have additional things in place. This wasn't just a one layer assault, but there are many layers as to what is going on. So when investigators go in, they are going to have to look very carefully and go in very carefully. My guess is you'll have bomb technicians going to look at this individual's home once they identify him.

BALDWIN: Right.

FEYERICK: We believe he's been detained in custody, not clear whether he's alive or dead or injured. Or she, I apologize.

BALDWIN: Don't apologize.

Pamela Brown, I'll go to you now, our correspondent working your sources in Washington.

This is happening in Oregon, but we know ATF is en route. What more can you tell us?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Officers are in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, and agents are, as we speak, en route to the scene. It's a bit of a drive because the community college is three hours south of Portland. It may take awhile to get there and that's why all the focus is with the local law enforcement there as well as the state police in Oregon. They are actively investigating going room to room making sure there aren't any bombs. You can bet they have bomb-sniffing dogs if the resources are available there to ensure it's a safe perimeter. Even though the suspect is in custody, as we have learned, that does not mean that this is over. That's why we're hearing that the perimeter there is on lockdown. The ATF on the way presumably the FBI is on the way too. We have not heard back from their office in Portland, Oregon. Waiting to hear back from them. Presumably, they will be there as well. Response teams will likely be a part of this investigation. ATF will be running ballistics on the weapon used in this mass shooting that killed 10 people, according to preliminary report reports.

BALDWIN: Listening to you and also just turning to you, Deborah, when we say gun-free zone, what do you mean?

FEYERICK: Usually, that means there are certain areas you're simply not supposed to have guns. It's like a drug-free zone.

BALDWIN: Like a school. FEYERICK: Like a school, exactly. So the fact that somebody did get

weapons, it doesn't mean they are not going to get weapons in the area, but technically if somebody were caught carrying a weapon, clearly, charges would be greater than if they are not. So in this kind of case, sadly, it's irrelevant because he had a gun.

BALDWIN: Lieutenant Colonel Francona, who you normally see speaking about military operations, he's in the area, familiar with the area.

Let me bring your voice back into all of this. Reiterate what this particular area of Oregon is like, Roseburg.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST (voice-over): Roseburg.

(CROSSTALK)

FRANCONA: It's a big logging community. They still do a lot of timber there. It's fairly rural, but it's on Interstate 5. So all the resources that need to move to the area can get there fairly quickly. That's a good thing. There is an FBI satellite office in Roseburg, so I'm sure they are already assessing the type of things they are going to need. There's a Veterans Administration Hospital there. There are a lot of people that go there for medical care. So there are a lot of people going to and from. It's a fairly large campus. As we talked about the campus itself, Art made some good points. This is a relatively isolated campus. It's up on a hill. It would be fairly easily to isolate. And it's really near the interstate. And it's only about 10 minutes from that Mercy hospital. So if --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:40:17] BALDWIN: Colonel, I need to cut you off. Forgive me. Let me come back to you.

As I mentioned, we are monitoring our local affiliate reports out of Oregon. Let's dip in.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Anybody go up there. We have seen quite a few ambulances and police cars as well as fire trucks come in and out of that road. I have seen concerned parents trying to get more information. And I'll come back in here where I can tell you they will be having a press conference here shortly to give us more information. They are not confirming any injuries at this time. We'll continue to cover this developing story and bring you the latest at 5:00 and 6:00 -- Sean (ph)?

BALDWIN: A bit of information there. They'll be holding a news conference shortly. Obviously, we'll take that live and we should get some more information as far as who or where. I'm sure they're far away from the why.

If you are just joining us, we have been monitoring this breaking story out of Roseburg, Oregon. There's been a school shooting and here's what we know. We know, according to preliminary reports, 10 people have been killed, at least 20 wounded. We have just heard here from the Douglas County commissioner saying that, at least of the 20 wounded, at least one female was shot in her chest.

As far as the shooter is concerned, because initially it was an active shooting situation, according to this county commissioner, the shooter is in custody, but we don't know if the shooter, him or herself, was wounded.

Also a note from the hospital because hospitals in this region will be taking in a number of these shooting victims so we're hearing from the spokesperson from Mercy Medical Center. This is the primary hospital in Roseburg. Says they are expecting an unknown number of patients from the Umpqua Community College shooting. That's what we know right now.

We have correspondents who are on this. We have been talking to Art Roderick, the former assistant director of the U.S. Marshalls Office. We've been talking to Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, who is in the area there in Oregon.

Art, let me go back to you.

The shooter -- and again you can never assume there's just one -- but in this case they are reporting the shooter is in custody. Walk us through what's happening right now at that community college.

RODERICK: Right now, they have him in custody. There's a major interrogation going on here. They are trying to figure out motivation, number one. I think based on the reports they put out initially that the situation is under control that this individual probably has told them that, you know, I'm by myself, I'm a lone shooter, nobody else is involved. They may know what the motivation behind this was.

BALDWIN: Art, thank you so much.

Turning to you, Deborah Feyerick, who has also been getting some information on this.

Again, your sources saying, yes, the shooter was detained. We don't know yet if he or she was wounded.

FEYERICK: That's right. Traditionally, unfortunately, active shooters are usually male. But we don't know the gender, whether this was male or female. We don't know whether this was a student, whether there was a grievance this person had, whether it was a teacher or somebody angry and lived nearby by the senior high school. Officers are going through the buildings. They are making sure that there isn't somebody else. They are making sure that other students are OK. They are questioning students as they go to make sure they get all the information they possibly can. What ends up happening is people disperse, and want to make sure they get as much firsthand witnesses as they can, so that's being done as well. We are being told they are going building to building and also that they are setting up sites on campus just to help these students as well while they sort out specifically who this individual is. We believe that the number of dead may go up is what we're now hearing. We know at least 20 were critically wounded and the numbers that we are being given is 10 dead, though those numbers could possibly go higher.

BALDWIN: Knowing they could go higher leads to questions about what kind of weapon could have been used, how this person got the weapon in the first place.

Standby with me, Deborah.

Pam Brown, let me bring you in, our justice correspondent, on the fed's reaction. ATF en route. We just heard there's a FBI satellite office in Roseburg. What are you hearing?

BROWN: What we have learned from official is there are ATF agents on the scene and ATF agents en route with a canine team. These are dogs trained to smell for explosives for firearms, casings, ammunition, so these dogs once they arrive on the scene will be very busy searching that area, searching every room looking to see if there are booby traps, explosives, casings, ammunition to help with the investigation, so these teams are an important part of this investigation before they say the coast is clear for everyone there in that area. We're still waiting to learn more about the FBI's involvement with this investigation, but I can tell you now ATF is already on the scene and already a part of this -- Brooke?

[14:45:38] BALDWIN: Pamela, thank you so much.

Colonel Francona, you're there in Oregon -- and I'm curious -- Jonathan Gilliam -- you're with me now, former Navy SEAL, former FBI special agent. You're a fresh voice in the conversation. When you hear at least 10, the number could go up, but at least 10 have been killed and more than 20 wounded, including a female with a chest wound, what can you glean from that number?

Jonathan Gilliam, can you hear me? You're live on CNN.

OK, let's move on.

Colonel Francona, can you hear me?

FRANCONA: I can hear you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: To you, with a military background and familiarity with firearms, we don't know what kind of gun, but when you hear at least ten killed, what does that tell you?

FRANCONA: It tells me that either take time to reload a weapon or he would have to carry more than one weapon. So I'm assuming that one of these is going to be semiautomatic to put that many rounds out in that short period of time. We don't know if it was a long weapon or a handgun.

BALDWIN: And you also as a voice in all of this in Oregon, know this area of Roseburg. You pointed out before that this community college there's a V.A. center nearby. What else could be around the community college for people to flee toward or people who are sheltering in place who could be in the area, what else is around this community college? FRANCONA: Fortunately, it is kind of an isolated campus. It's up on

a hill. It's outside the city limits. And it was built to be away so they could expand when they need to. It puts it in a fairly remote area. It would be easy for law enforcement to see a lot in that area. So when they do their search of the area, it's a limited area. The campus itself is a bit expansive, but it is not mixed up with the local population. There are no residential areas right there. So that's a plus.

BALDWIN: All right. That is a plus. That's definitely a plus.

Again, we are learning the ATF is on the scene. As Pamela Brown reported, you have these canine units en route to search for explosives, because, you know, law enforcement there as they are interrogating this individual, this shooter looking into a vehicle this person could have arrived in, this person's home, looking for explosives there on the scene within the campus, looking at firearms, casings, ammunition and all of that. That's according to the ATF. Again, we have confirmed at least 10 dead. More than 20 wounded.

Art Roderick, you're listening to all of this here. This hospital in the area just expecting an unknown number of shooting victims. What more can you add to the conversation?

RODERICK: I think the key at this point is what is the motivation? I agree with everybody that it sounds like he had a semiautomatic handgun. A handgun is a lot easier to conceal in this type of scenario. He probably knew that the facility was a gun-free facility. An easy target for these types of coward individuals. They know they are not going to get a response unless they run into security or campus police officer. So the key here is going to be what they are getting from him right now as far as what his motivation is and number two, how did he get the weapons he used in this particular case. I'm sure law enforcement are out there figuring out what vehicle he used, where does he live, who are his friends, social media, they are putting all this stuff together right now to try to figure out why this individual committed this heinous act.

BALDWIN: I have been trying to get on to this community college website and it's flashing this unable to connect. You can imagine the traffic is tremendous not just from people like us trying to get information and emergency warning from folks at the school, but also for loved ones trying to get information with regard to students who could have been in class this morning as this happened around 10:45 pacific time there in Oregon.

Jonathan Gilliam, let's try you again, former Navy Seal and former FBI special agent. Are you with me, sir?

[14:50:19] JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR & FORMER NAVY SEAL AND FBI SPECIAL AGENT (voice-over): I sure am.

BALDWIN: With all of your law enforcement experience, background, you know how this works. You know how they are responding to the scene. You know how the interrogation could go. What's happening there right you? GILLIAM: A good example of how all the first responders are reacting

is you had that accident about a week or so again where you had a duck boat in Seattle, so you saw that massive response. You could see that response. A lot of that is very standardized way of responding, how the paramedics and the fire department communicate with the hospitals, how law enforcement communicates with each other to get in there and really kind of triage a situation. You have that kind of situation going on there now. You have a tactical element that's added into that. Still clearing buildings, because just because they have this one individual doesn't mean that the area is clear. That's what people need to realize if you're there. Just because you hear reports that one person is in custody doesn't mean that the area is clear. So now they are clearing that area. At the same time, you're going to have this individual isolated and investigators are instantly going to start questioning this person to try to figure out if he's alone or if they are part of a bigger conspiracy basically.

BALDWIN: How long, Jonathan, would a school, given the scenario, would they be on lockdown?

GILLIAM: Well, that's really determining how large of a facility this is. It's a college --

BALDWIN: A couple of thousand people, I understand, under grand.

GILLIAM: Right. So the size of the facility -- rather than the number of people, it's the size of the facility. Where was this person at when they did this incident?

BALDWIN: I'm looking at Deborah Feyerick. You want to jump in?

FEYERICK: There are a couple things we're now learning according to our CNN people also working the story very aggressively. We do know that the campus is about 58 percent female. The average age of the student is higher. That's about 38. So this is a place where people go to get reeducated or go on to other careers it appears. The top majors are nursing, computer, human services and paralegal. I'm also being told they are setting up triage centers and they are treating people there on scene. While they are transporting the most severely wounded to the local area hospitals, they are also trying to administer care to anybody who is also there on the scene. So that's what we're learning now.

You have state police, county police, detectives who are interviewing anybody who was in and around the area of the shooting. But that's what we are learning so far that it's not sort of your traditional institution, but it caters to students who are a little older, about 13,000 altogether. Some of them, the majority of them part-time. So that's what we know so far.

BALDWIN: OK, some facts and figures on the community college itself.

I know have Douglas County fire official, Ray Schoufler. He's on the phone with me.

Ray, tell me where you are and what you know. RAY SCHOUFLER, DOUGLAS COUNTY FIRE MARSHAL (voice-over): I'm actually

at the scene. We were obviously dispatched to an active shooter. We arrived to find multiple patients in multiple classrooms. Law enforcement was on scene and had the shooter neutralized. I don't have a tally on total number we have transported. Just given a report that two of those 11 has died at the hospital. One has been flown to a higher level trauma hospital.

BALDWIN: So 11 transported, two of those have died. Can you tell me since you are there on the scene, describe what we cannot yet see. How many ambulances, how many first responders, did this happen inside a community college or outside?

SCHOUFLER: It happened inside one of the classrooms. The campus is fairly spread out. There are probably 18 buildings on campus. Probably 15 of those buildings have six to eight classrooms, but the campus itself is fairly spread out. The shooter stayed in one of those immediate classroom areas. We do have multiple people deceased that are on scene. I don't have a number yet. Douglas County Major Crimes is on scene. They have secured the campus. The campus is very spread out, like I said. It took them awhile to secure each classroom and evacuate each classroom based on the size of the actual campus. They also did a mile and a half radius evacuation of residential homes and businesses. Tremendous amount of law enforcement on scene. Douglas County sheriff, multiple agencies on scene. We are the fire departments but also have our own ambulance service as well. Our fire crews work hand in hand with ambulance crews on a scene like this.

[14:56:16] BALDWIN: Ray, just again to recap, and I'm hanging on your every word. You don't have a hard number on those deceased. We're hearing 10 but now of the 11 taken to hospitals, two of them have died so you don't know if that's 10 plus the two or that two is within the 10, but this is your community. This is your local community college there in Roseburg. I understand this is a very rural area and an area where people know one another. We're looking at pictures for the first time. As we're doing this together, tell me, did you walk in any of those classrooms? Can you describe what you saw?

SCHOUFLER: Yes, we were in the classrooms. I'd rather wait to describe the scene until we get more information from Major Crimes.

Yes, small community, a lot of locals have taken classes here, got degrees here. Most of us have kids, cousins, aunts that are taking classes here. Pretty much "everybody knows everybody" type scenario. So something like this affects many, many, many people.

BALDWIN: Ray, are you OK?

SCHOUFLER: Yes.

BALDWIN: OK.

SCHOUFLER: I'm just getting multiple people and there's a lot going on. BALDWIN: I understand. I don't want to hold much more of your time.

I want you to do your job. Thank you for taking a moment and jumping on the phone with me. It's so important to underscore.

Ray, thank you so much.

SCHOUFLER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Douglas County's Ray Schoufler, who is there on scene.

Thank you so much, sir.

The fact that this is a very close-knit community, this is Roseburg, Oregon. This is right around where the local V.A. is, where the community college is. As he pointed out, aunts, uncles, kids, a lot of people have come through this particular college. So this is obviously affecting every single person in the area. What's tough to grasp right now in the early hours after something like this happened is how many people it's affected. We have heard the numbers as far as in total about 13,000 overall at this particular college, but in terms of the numbers dead and wounded, we don't entirely know. He just told me that they did transport 11 of the shooting victims to hospitals and two of those did die. Other preliminary reports that 10 people have been killed. And in any case like this, that number, obviously, could go up. In terms of those wounded, we're hearing at least 20 people have been wounded. Those numbers could go up. Hearing from the local medical center, they are anticipating unknown numbers of patients in the wake of this.

What is really key, though, we're hearing this from different people in Oregon, this shooter has been detained. You heard Ray there with the Douglas County Fire describing how they really had had to cordon off the entire, went classroom by classroom by classroom and most significantly he pointed out that the shooting happened in one of the classrooms. This is a pretty decent size campus, about 18 different buildings, but just about six to eight classrooms. It was within one of those classrooms that the shooting, he just told us, happened.

The major questions remain, who did it, how did this individual get the gun, and why?

David Jacques, a reporter for "The beacon," he's on the scene with me.

David, can you hear me?

DAVID JACQUES, REPORTER, THE BEACON (voice-over): I can hear you fine.

BALDWIN: You, please, sir, just describe what you're seeing.

JACQUES: Well, what I'm seeing, we're at the front of the access road at the college near the Interstate 5 junction. It's completely cordoned off. No one is allowed in or out. They are -- there's been a second school bus that has just left. They're evacuating students from the --