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At Least 4 Killed In Mass Shooting At Georgia High School; High School Received Phone Threat This Morning Before Mass Shooting; Source: GA High School Shooter Believed To Be 14-Year-Old Male; Harris: Mass Shooting At GA High School A "Senseless Tragedy"; Harris Gives Remarks On Economic Plan In New Hampshire. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 04, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Welcome to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Brianna Keilar alongside Boris Sanchez, and we are following breaking news.

At least four people are dead, nine others have been taken to hospitals after a school shooting in Winder, Georgia. This is about 45 minutes or an hour northeast of Atlanta. And authorities say the suspect is in custody, is alive. Sources telling us he is a 14-year- old boy, but it's unclear if he attended Apalachee High School.

The shooting happened around 9.30 AM this morning. That's when the 911 calls started coming in there from the high school in Barrow County. And aerial footage of the campus showing students actually forming right here in the end zone of the football field a prayer circle.

Right now, authorities are working to reunite students with their families, many describing a terrifying moment that they started hearing gunshots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard screaming and everything. At first, I thought it was like someone just like playing around in the hallways or something. I thought it was like someone just yelling or something. So I didn't think much of it. But then like it got harder. The noise kept getting louder and louder. And I was like, no, no, guys, like I told everybody to get down, get down, because this like - you don't joke around with that, you know.

So then like the - like we got in a corner, some girls started crying. And then like - I was, like, calm down. And then the teacher, she was shaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We are following a number of angles here. One of them is that Vice President Kamala Harris is set to speak in New Hampshire in just moments. This was an event in which she was going to unveil a new phase of her economic plan for her potential administration. But obviously, we think that she is going to address what happened in Georgia.

We also are getting some breaking news from CNN's John Miller and Mark Morales. Apparently, the high school at the center of today's mass shooting had received an earlier phone threat. That's according to multiple law enforcement officials.

Let's go ahead and go to John Miller right now.

Because, John, as you're getting these details, this is very significant. Apparently, law enforcement got word that there was a warning about shootings at five schools and this would be the first.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: That is what we're told. Investigators are probing reports that a phone call was made to Apalachee High School this morning saying that there would be shootings at five schools, that it would be the first. If we go back through some of our reporting and we talk about how police deployed to all the schools in Barrow County, all the high schools, even though there were no reports of shots fired there, that could have been an abundance of caution and a good response tactic or it could have been in relation to that threat.

So what they are investigating now is, is it possible that that threat came from the student who is in custody as the alleged shooter? Is it possible that that threat came from someone that he asked to make that phone call at or about the time that he opened fire?

The timing here is obviously going to be important as to when that threat came in, whether it was reported to police, how it was handled and so on. But we now have from multiple sources that that is an avenue of investigation, that there was this phone threat that came in this morning purportedly about a shooting that was going to take place at five schools, including this one.

KEILAR: And John, what questions is that going to raise about law enforcement response ahead of time, knowing at this point in time there are some details, obviously, that we do not know, of course, about the timing? You know, school started, I believe, at 8:15 there this morning. The first 911 call is coming in at about 9:30.

MILLER: Well, it's going to raise questions that are going to have to be gone through. But we also have to remember that these threats come in quite often to schools, sometimes in large spates, and they are almost always unfounded. And they are largely generated to cause disruption in the school system.

If you look at this particular Board of Education's website for Barrow County, they acknowledge that there are unsubstantiated threats. They acknowledge that they're mostly to cause disruption, and they acknowledge that they treat threats that mention one of their schools with specificity differently.

[15:05:00] So the questions are going to be, who at the school took the threat? What did they do with that report? Was it reported to local police? Was there a response from local police? And what was the timing between that threat being received, police arriving on the scene if in fact they responded to the threat, and the actual shooting, which, of course, brought a larger police response?

We need to be very careful about making any prejudgments there, because this is just a lead, we are told, that's being investigated. But as you point out, all of those questions will have to be gone through.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a significant detail, especially this early in the investigation.

John, please stand by.

We want to take you now live to the scene with CNN's Isabel Rosales, who arrived there while parents were arriving as well, trying to pick up their loved ones. What are you seeing now, Isabel? Is there still kind of a flurry of activity with parents trying to reconnect with their kids?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, undoubtedly, this is still active and ongoing. And in fact, I keep seeing a trickle of parents. They must have been allowed in at some point to go up there, because they're escorting their children down. So I'm not sure if they're releasing kids, maybe by the classroom. But it's very clear when looking at the faces of the parents, the relief or shell shock. These are the two things that I'm seeing on their face. Hugging their children, knowing that they're safe or just shell shocked at the situation, at the fact that this happened in their backyard at the school.

But an incredibly emotional - understandably emotional moment for so many kids, piecing for me in their tales what it is that happened, telling me that they got a hard alert on the monitors there of the screen and red letters telling them that they were on lockdown, letting them know this was the real deal. This is not a drill.

Shouts, cries, screams from the students as they took cover in the classrooms, as teachers were helping to barricade the doors. I've also been told time and time again, students on their cell phones, right? Internet culture immediately reaching out to their parents, letting them know, hey, I'm okay, or mom, dad, I'm scared. I don't know what's going on. Just in case anything happens, I love you.

Here's one of the students and what she witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then I hear the gunshots, and then everyone ducks behind the desk, and the teacher is like flipping the tables and stuff and barricading the door. So I was just scared out of my mind. I was like, what is happening? Because I was like, whoa. And then another police officer came - barged in, told us to put our hands up and exit class, get outside. And then we all - we walked past two girls, I think one of them was a girl, I don't know. One was laying down, covering her eyes with her arm. The other one was holding her shoulder and crying.

ROSALES: Was she injured?

KAYLIE: Yes, on her shoulder. I think she got shot with her shoulder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And that is a teenager. Her name is Kaylee (ph), witnessing a classmate who she thinks was shot, something no child should ever witness, something that the sheriff called here an evil thing that has happened. We're waiting for his update here happening - supposed to be happening here in the next hour. Boris?

KEILAR: Yes, he said that was the hope that they ...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: ... he would be able to give an update at 4 PM.

SANCHEZ: Isabel Rosales live from Winder, outside the high school. Thank you so much.

We want to take you straight now to New Hampshire, where Vice President Kamala Harris is giving a speech on the economy. She's expected to address the shooting in Georgia. Let's listen in.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thank you for the outstanding congressional delegation, senators Shaheen, Hassan, Representatives Pappas and Kuster, and all the leaders who are here today. Thank you all. Thank you all for taking the time to be here this afternoon. Thank you, everyone. Thank you.

So, before I begin, I do want to say a few words about this tragic shooting that took place this morning in Winder, Georgia. We're still gathering information about what happened, but we know that there were multiple fatalities and injuries.

And, you know, our hearts are with all the students, the teachers and their families, of course, and we are grateful to the first responders and the law enforcement that were on the scene. But this is just a senseless tragedy, on top of so many senseless tragedies. And it's just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive. It's senseless. It is - we've got to stop it.

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And we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know, it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. So we will continue, of course, to send our prayers and our thoughts to the families and all those who were affected, including, you know, I'm going off script right now. But listen. I mean, you know, at the last year, I started a college tour, and I traveled our country meeting with our young leaders, right? And so it was college- age young leaders. So I did trade schools, colleges, universities, community colleges.

By the way, I love Gen Z. I just love Gen Z, right? But I'll tell you, one of the things that I asked every time I went to the auditorium, and it would be filled with these young leaders, students, and I'd ask them, raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure an active shooter drill. And the - for the young leaders who are here who are raising their hand, I'm telling you, every time the auditorium was packed and almost every hand went up.

You know, a lot of us - I'll talk - speak about myself, you know, we had - well, I grew up in California, earthquake drills. We had fire drills. But our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and some part of their big, beautiful brain is concerned about a shooter busting through the door of the classroom. It does not have to be this way. It does not have to be this way. And, you know, this is one of the many issues that's at stake in this election.

So New Hampshire, look, we have 62 days to go - 62 days to go. And I'm going to tell you what you already know. This race is going to be tight until the very end. So please, let's not pay too much attention to the polls, because we are running as the underdog. We know what they're capable of on the other side. The only thing we can take for granted is the love that we as Americans have for each other, knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us.

And we've got some hard work ahead. But we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work can be joyful work. And so we are up for the task, and with your help, we will win in November. We will win in November. And that, in large part, is because we know what we stand for, and when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.

We love our country, and we believe in the promise of America. That's so much of what I think brings us all together this afternoon. We believe in the promise of America, and that includes a topic we're going to discuss today, which is what I call an opportunity economy, building an opportunity economy.

And my vision of an opportunity economy is one where everyone can compete and have a real chance to succeed, where everyone, regardless of who they are, where they start, can build wealth, including intergenerational wealth, where workers are treated with dignity and everyone has the freedom to join a union if they choose. Where we remove barriers to opportunity so anyone who wants to start a business can have access to the tools and the resources they need to do that.

I believe, and I said it before to Nicole, I believe America's small businesses are an essential foundation to our entire economy. Think about it. Think about it. Small businesses in our country employ half of all private sector workers. Half of all private sector workers own or run a small business or work for a small business.

They do trillions of dollars of business every year. They generate revenue that helps repair our roads and pay our teachers. And you know, for all of those who are or know of small business owners, the thing I love about you is that you're not only leaders in business, you are civic leaders.

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You are community leaders. You are mentors. You hire locally. You believe in the community and you're part of the glue of the fabric that holds communities together. You provide the local meeting space. You are the types of folks where you know who your regulars are and when someone's walking in the door and you can tell they've had a bad day, you know exactly what they need. Isn't that the best of who we are? Isn't that the best of who we are?

And I've met so many entrepreneurs across the country who take the incredible leap of faith that is required to start a small business. Folks who put their life savings on the line and work through the weekends and holidays because they aren't just building a business, they're pursuing a dream. They're building a better future for their employees and for the people they love and their communities.

And by extension, they're building a stronger middle class and a stronger America for us all. And so all of this is why, as president, one of my highest priorities will be to strengthen America's small businesses. And here I am in New Hampshire to announce a few elements of my plan to do that.

So first, we're going to help more small businesses and innovators get off the ground, okay? Now, I'm setting what some, I'm sure, are going to call a very ambitious goal. But you know what I think we should admire ambition in each other?

So I want to see 25 million new small business applications by the end of my first term. And to help achieve this, we will lower the cost of starting a new business.

So here's the thing: On average, it costs about $40,000 to start a new business in America. That is a great financial barrier for a lot of folks, and it can hold entrepreneurs back. And the current tax deduction for a startup is just $5,000, okay?

So then you got to make up the delta there. Got to figure out how you're going to do that. Not everyone has access to that kind of wealth and capital. So part of my plan is we will expand the tax deduction for startups to $50,000. It's essentially a tax cut for starting a small business.

Second, my plan will help existing small businesses grow. We will provide low and no interest loans to small businesses that want to expand. And we will - and this is very important - cut the red tape that can make starting and growing a small business more difficult than it needs to be - more difficult than it needs to be.

For example, we will make it cheaper and easier for small businesses to file their taxes. Similar to how individuals can take a standard deduction. You know, I said to my team, kind of like - now I'm going to date myself again, because they no longer do it - but kind of like, you remember the 1040EZ? Like, that kind of idea, right? Like, let's just take away some of the bureaucracy in the process to make it easier for people to actually do something that's going to benefit our entire economy.

Third, my plan will invest in small businesses and innovators throughout America. And here's why, we know that talent exists everywhere in our country, from rural towns to city centers. But, not everyone has access to the financing to venture capital or expert advice. It's not that they don't have the skills, it's not that they don't have the work ethic. It's access to these resources.

So, under my plan, we will expand access to venture capital. We will support innovation hubs and business incubators. And we will increase federal contracts with small businesses. And we will have a particular focus on small businesses in rural communities, like right here in New Hampshire.

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Finally, my plan will make our tax code more fair while also prioritizing investment and innovation. So, let us be clear, billionaires and big corporations must pay their fair share in tax, because here's the thing, here's the thing, it's just not right that those who can most afford it are often paying a lower tax rate than our teachers and our nurses and our firefighters. It's just not right. It's just not right.

So, that's why I support a billionaire minimum tax and corporations paying their fair share. And while we ensure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, we will tax capital gains at a rate that rewards investment in America's innovators, founders and small businesses.

So, here's the detail, if you earn a million dollars a year or more, the tax rate on your long-term capital gains will be 28 percent under my plan. Because we know when the government encourages investment, it leads to broad-based economic growth, and it creates jobs, which makes our economy stronger.

Now, compare that to what Donald Trump plans. He intends to cut off federal programs that give loans to small businesses. He plans to give billionaires massive tax cuts and to cut corporate taxes by over a trillion dollars, even as they pull in record profits. His plans will add more than five trillion dollars to the national debt, and that is on top of the two trillion dollar tax cut he gave them when he was president and when he exploded the deficit.

We know how to count. We know how to count. And now, he also wants to impose what, in effect, is a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities, which will skyrocket the cost for families and small businesses. And, New Hampshire, on top of all of this, if Donald Trump were to win in November, he intends to end the Affordable Care Act, which would significantly increase costs on small businesses, as we know.

And, well, you know what? The courts are going to handle that, and we will handle November. How about that? How about that? That's how we'll handle that. How about that?

But think about it. He wants to end the Affordable Care Act, taking us back to a time when insurance companies could deny people with pre- existing conditions. Do you remember what that was? Children with asthma, breast cancer survivors, grandparents with diabetes?

So, yes, look, we are here to tell him and them we are not going back. We're not going back.

CROWD: We are not going back. We're not going back. We are not going back. We're not going back. We are not going back. We're not going back. We are not going back. We're not going back.

HARRIS: No, we are not and we will move forward, because ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom. And it is a fight for freedom. Now, I don't have to tell the folks of New Hampshire, the live-free-or-die state, you know the importance of individual freedoms - fundamental freedoms.

KEILAR: All right, so we're hearing from Vice President Harris here. She did touch, of course, on the breaking news we've been following, which is the shooting in Georgia, but she's unveiling here some more of her economic plan, just appealing to small business owners with an increase in a tax deduction for starting a business, going up from $5,000 all the way up to $50,000, low and no interest loans for expanding small businesses.

And then significantly, she broke with President Biden on proposed capital gains tax increase. She's talking about a 28 percent number.

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That would be up from the current rate of 23.8 percent, but a far cry from what Biden has proposed at 39.6 percent.

SANCHEZ: The context for this emphasis from the Vice President on the economy is significant polling, including some new polling from CNN that indicates that likely voters simply trust Donald Trump more when it comes to handling the economy. In fact, if you break down battleground state polling across six states that CNN looked at, among - even among voters that don't have the economy as their top concern, there is still evidence that Donald Trump is more appealing on this issue to a significant swath of the electorate. So that's why you see Harris opening up this new avenue with promises to small businesses and an added emphasis, again, on handling economic issues.

To the breaking news that we were tracking earlier, her comments about this shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, the Vice President saying that her heart is with that community. It is a senseless tragedy on top of so many other senseless tragedies.

She said it's outrageous that parents in the United States have to worry about whether their kids will come back home from school alive. She repeated the refrain. It doesn't have to be this way to applause. She said it's one of many issues that will define this election. One of many things that's at stake in which she differentiates herself from former President Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. We are going to take a quick break. We are continuing to follow this breaking news. A school shooting in Georgia, about 45 minutes to an hour outside of Atlanta, four people confirmed dead, according to a law - or this is actually according to Georgia Bureau - the GBI and they are saying that nine people have been transported to hospitals.

We know that some of them have some very serious injuries and are undergoing surgery. The shooter believed to be a 14-year-old male, but still a lot of questions about who it is and how this transpired. We'll be back with more.

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