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Breaking News
Shooting Victim Has Died
Aired October 22, 2002 - 10:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to the scene of this morning's shooting and our Bob Franken is standing by in an area known Aspen Hill.
Bob, I don't know if you received the word, but we're just getting word that the victim of the shooting has, indeed, died from his injuries.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course, as you know, police are working feverishly to determine if this is once again the work of the sniper who has taken so many lives. What is interesting is that he has returned to the general area where he began his killing spree nearly three weeks ago.
Now, let me tell you about the scene here. You can see over my shoulder the buses. There are two buses. There's the one in front is the one where the victim was standing on the steps. There is a strong indication that this is a gathering place, a staging area for buses. You'll see right by the buses, a wooded area. It is part of North Gate Park. It is across the street from an apartment complex.
Now, in that park, there is a basketball court, a basketball court, which has been sort of the focus of the investigation. We've had observers who have been able to watch from the apartment overhead and have been able to glean information in other ways. We've watched, they set up evidence markers from the basketball court, where it goes back into the woods a little bit. One observer spotted the investigators putting down a plaster of pair of cast, the kind of thing you do when where you might have found a footprint or tire mark or something like that. That has been the focus. There have been bloodhounds back there, we are told.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been here. They always are. They're so key to the investigation, because ATF is the one that will do the ballistics test, which will determine if, in fact, it is the same gun that the sniper has been using.
And there's the usual complement of Montgomery County authorities and local authorities and FBI agents, just a large contingent of police. As you know, this morning, they shut down the area. This happened shortly after 6:00. It was still dark. The killer was able to escape under cover of darkness.
Once again, this was a spot where there were just any number of complicated escape routes -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Bob Franken, I do have a lot of questions for you on the scene there. I think we're just going to come back to you, because our Bill Delaney is standing by for you at Suburban Hospital where this man was taken, and we've just received word that the shooting victim today has died, has passed away, making him, if he is a victim of the sniper, the 10th fatality in the shooting spree. Let's bring in our Bill Delaney -- Bill.
We're working on getting Bill Delaney up. Apparently -- all right, we're going to go to the hospital. Here's Suburban Hospital.
Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here to ask you to please honor leaving him alone. Thank you. That was a misstatement. Misstatement. No. Misstatement on my part.
QUESTION: It's already on the air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a misstatement on my part. So no.
Correct. Do not. It's a misstatement. Do not use it on the air. It's a misstatement.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Has the family been here all along? Or they just got here now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many are still coming.
QUESTION: Can you tell us how many are here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably about 30.
QUESTION: About 30 family members?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. So thank you. I just want no one to be...
QUESTION: Wife and children included among the family?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a lot of family members. I just want to ask you to please not approach anybody at this time.
We will.
QUESTION: They will be accompanied?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
We will. But it's too early for that right now.
QUESTION: What's your position?.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I run the...
KAGAN: Bill Delaney is standing by at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. Bill, can you give us the correct -- all right, we're having trouble talking with our Bill Delaney.
Leon, we'll bring you in here. I couldn't -- we went to that a little bit late, and I couldn't tell if she was saying that was a misstatement, saying that the patient, indeed, had not died? Did you catch that.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I wish I could help you out with that and help the audience out. By the time we got into the press conference, it was hard to tell whether or not what she was talking about here was either the report that we'd gotten from the hospital that the patient had died or whether it was some other fact or some other bit of information.
We were hoping that the spokeswoman would hold on and give us more information on that. If our Bill Delaney is still there, I believe he was able to -- he was within earshot of that, and if possible, we should be checking in with him to see if he can give us information on that. I'm as unable -- I heard the same exact thing you heard. Do we have Bill Delaney available? Bill?
KAGAN: Is bill there?
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Can you hear me?
KAGAN: Apparently, we do have Bill Delaney available. Bill, go ahead, please.
DELANEY: Yes, we have a very fluid situation here. We just had, within the past half hour, a hospital spokesperson come out and say that there would be no more briefings here today at all, and that it had all been turned over to the police.
Now, many of us at that point believed that that would mean, from past experience, that the man had died. That has now been confirmed by CNN. Then just moments ago, another police spokesperson came out, and she pleaded with us to be sensitive to the family members who are now coming to suburban hospital here in Bethesda, Maryland in great numbers. At least 30 family members described, not surprisingly, as very distraught, are here, now that this 40-year-old bus driver who began an ordinary day this morning and then was cut down at 6:00 in the morning, has died. He was brought here at 6:40 in the morning, airlifted, medevaced to Suburban Hospital here, operated on for hours, but he has passed away.
Back to you.
KAGAN: So that sad news we're able to confirm, then. With that spokeswoman coming out, when she was saying she was making a misstatement, it wasn't about the status of this man? He has, in fact, passed away?
DELANEY: It was very confusing. She came out, and she did not -- she was not the one who wanted to convey that information that CNN is now confirming through other sources.
KAGAN: All right. Our Bill Delaney. Thank you so much, at the hospital there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 22, 2002 - 10:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to the scene of this morning's shooting and our Bob Franken is standing by in an area known Aspen Hill.
Bob, I don't know if you received the word, but we're just getting word that the victim of the shooting has, indeed, died from his injuries.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course, as you know, police are working feverishly to determine if this is once again the work of the sniper who has taken so many lives. What is interesting is that he has returned to the general area where he began his killing spree nearly three weeks ago.
Now, let me tell you about the scene here. You can see over my shoulder the buses. There are two buses. There's the one in front is the one where the victim was standing on the steps. There is a strong indication that this is a gathering place, a staging area for buses. You'll see right by the buses, a wooded area. It is part of North Gate Park. It is across the street from an apartment complex.
Now, in that park, there is a basketball court, a basketball court, which has been sort of the focus of the investigation. We've had observers who have been able to watch from the apartment overhead and have been able to glean information in other ways. We've watched, they set up evidence markers from the basketball court, where it goes back into the woods a little bit. One observer spotted the investigators putting down a plaster of pair of cast, the kind of thing you do when where you might have found a footprint or tire mark or something like that. That has been the focus. There have been bloodhounds back there, we are told.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been here. They always are. They're so key to the investigation, because ATF is the one that will do the ballistics test, which will determine if, in fact, it is the same gun that the sniper has been using.
And there's the usual complement of Montgomery County authorities and local authorities and FBI agents, just a large contingent of police. As you know, this morning, they shut down the area. This happened shortly after 6:00. It was still dark. The killer was able to escape under cover of darkness.
Once again, this was a spot where there were just any number of complicated escape routes -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Bob Franken, I do have a lot of questions for you on the scene there. I think we're just going to come back to you, because our Bill Delaney is standing by for you at Suburban Hospital where this man was taken, and we've just received word that the shooting victim today has died, has passed away, making him, if he is a victim of the sniper, the 10th fatality in the shooting spree. Let's bring in our Bill Delaney -- Bill.
We're working on getting Bill Delaney up. Apparently -- all right, we're going to go to the hospital. Here's Suburban Hospital.
Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here to ask you to please honor leaving him alone. Thank you. That was a misstatement. Misstatement. No. Misstatement on my part.
QUESTION: It's already on the air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a misstatement on my part. So no.
Correct. Do not. It's a misstatement. Do not use it on the air. It's a misstatement.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Has the family been here all along? Or they just got here now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many are still coming.
QUESTION: Can you tell us how many are here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably about 30.
QUESTION: About 30 family members?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. So thank you. I just want no one to be...
QUESTION: Wife and children included among the family?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a lot of family members. I just want to ask you to please not approach anybody at this time.
We will.
QUESTION: They will be accompanied?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
We will. But it's too early for that right now.
QUESTION: What's your position?.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I run the...
KAGAN: Bill Delaney is standing by at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. Bill, can you give us the correct -- all right, we're having trouble talking with our Bill Delaney.
Leon, we'll bring you in here. I couldn't -- we went to that a little bit late, and I couldn't tell if she was saying that was a misstatement, saying that the patient, indeed, had not died? Did you catch that.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I wish I could help you out with that and help the audience out. By the time we got into the press conference, it was hard to tell whether or not what she was talking about here was either the report that we'd gotten from the hospital that the patient had died or whether it was some other fact or some other bit of information.
We were hoping that the spokeswoman would hold on and give us more information on that. If our Bill Delaney is still there, I believe he was able to -- he was within earshot of that, and if possible, we should be checking in with him to see if he can give us information on that. I'm as unable -- I heard the same exact thing you heard. Do we have Bill Delaney available? Bill?
KAGAN: Is bill there?
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Can you hear me?
KAGAN: Apparently, we do have Bill Delaney available. Bill, go ahead, please.
DELANEY: Yes, we have a very fluid situation here. We just had, within the past half hour, a hospital spokesperson come out and say that there would be no more briefings here today at all, and that it had all been turned over to the police.
Now, many of us at that point believed that that would mean, from past experience, that the man had died. That has now been confirmed by CNN. Then just moments ago, another police spokesperson came out, and she pleaded with us to be sensitive to the family members who are now coming to suburban hospital here in Bethesda, Maryland in great numbers. At least 30 family members described, not surprisingly, as very distraught, are here, now that this 40-year-old bus driver who began an ordinary day this morning and then was cut down at 6:00 in the morning, has died. He was brought here at 6:40 in the morning, airlifted, medevaced to Suburban Hospital here, operated on for hours, but he has passed away.
Back to you.
KAGAN: So that sad news we're able to confirm, then. With that spokeswoman coming out, when she was saying she was making a misstatement, it wasn't about the status of this man? He has, in fact, passed away?
DELANEY: It was very confusing. She came out, and she did not -- she was not the one who wanted to convey that information that CNN is now confirming through other sources.
KAGAN: All right. Our Bill Delaney. Thank you so much, at the hospital there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
