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Oklahoma Aftermath; London Terror; Mom & 5 Kids Prayed in Cellar During Tornado; Witness to Attack Speaks Out; U.S. Releases Number of Americans Killed by Drones; How Tornado Turns Debris Into Missiles; Kids Could Have Survived, Witness Says

Aired May 22, 2013 - 18:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And happening now, we go inside the small shelter where a dozen people, a dozen people spent the most terrifying minutes of their lives, and lived to tell us all about it. My interview also with the father of a baby born in the medical center right here in Moore just before it took a direct hit from the tornado.

Plus, a bloodied killer delivers a chilling video message moments after stabbing and hacking a British soldier to death on the streets of London. Officials are calling it terror.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We're live here in Moore, Oklahoma. Survivors here are literally picking up the pieces of their lives, while mourning the lives lost in Monday's massive tornado. The destruction is colossal, 2,400 homes damaged or completely destroyed. But the focus is now recovery, and everyone acknowledges it will take a long time.

Here are some of the latest developments from the disaster zone that we're watching. Just a short time ago, the mayor of Moore, Oklahoma, told CNN, six adults who were still missing have been located, five of them alive. The sixth is deceased. President Obama will see the devastation for himself this weekend. The White House says he will visit Oklahoma on Sunday.

And we're getting a better look today at one of the deadliest scenes from the tornado disaster.

Our John King was allowed inside the ruins of the Plaza Towers Elementary School, where seven children were killed.

There's new urgency here in Moore, Oklahoma at the same time to try to make sure that people have access to storm shelters. The mayor says he's going to push for a law requiring shelters or safe rooms for new homes. Many people in this town believe their shelters certainly saved their lives.

Brian Todd is joining us now.

Brian, you had a chance to speak to one man who was crowded in one of those shelters, and had a pretty amazing story. BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He has quite a story to tell, Wolf. Even some structures that appeared to be solid just got obliterated by this storm.

One man we found, as Wolf mentioned, got himself, his daughter and 10 children inside a small concrete shelter underground, and that made all the difference.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): The tornado was coming, and Jim Garner and his family knew there was only one place for them to go, the backyard storm shelter. He took us inside.

(on camera): This is about what?

JIM GARNER, SURVIVOR: I'm going to say six by six.

TODD: Six-by-six.

GARNER: Six foot tall. It's probably eight-foot long, but 6' tall, 6' wide.

TODD: And how many people did you have in here during this?

GARNER: Twelve people.

TODD: Twelve?

GARNER: Ten kids and me and my daughter.

TODD:(voice-over): The small hole in the ground was stocked with bottled water, diapers and milk for the youngest grandchildren, a flashlight and a battery-operated TV. There was barely room to breathe.

(on camera): Show us where people were standing.

GARNER: We had kids sitting all along the floor, kids sitting on the bench right there. And my daughter was right here. I was actually sitting on the steps holding the door down.

TODD: This is a heavy steel door. Jim Garner says it's got three locks on it, and yet he still during the height of the tornado had to hold this door down with all his might as the storm pulled it. He said it was all he could do to hold the door in place.

GARNER: You could feel the tornado sucking on the door, trying to pull the door up.

TODD: How hard was it to hold the door?

GARNER: It was hard.

TODD (voice-over): The twister was getting closer. The entire family was terrified, in the darkness. Garner showed us just how dark it got when the shelter door was closed.

GARNER: It was pitch black.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD (on camera): Yes.

GARNER: And the only thing we had was the flashlight. The debris hitting the shelter, you could hear the roar of the tornado. That scared the kids real bad, you know. I mean, it scared me. So, you can imagine what it done to those kids.

TODD (voice-over): They hunkered down for 20 to 30 minutes. Finally, the storm was gone and they went outside to see the damage.

GARNER: I told my daughter. She said, we lost our home. And I said, well, that's OK. We're safe. The kids are safe.

TODD: It could have ended differently. Some of Garner's grandchildren went to Plaza Towers Elementary, the school that was flattened in the storm. His daughter took them out of class before the storm hit.

GARNER: I don't know if she knew they didn't have a shelter or not, but she knew we did. And she didn't want them there. She wanted them here with her.

TODD: Backyard storm shelters can cost between $2,500 and $5,000. This one came with the house. But Garner says for his family, the shelter was priceless.

GARNER: This is Tornado Alley. If you're going to live in this area, you need to have something like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Jim Garner says he doesn't think many of his neighbors have shelters like that, but he sure hopes that's going to change before another tornado comes this way -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yesterday, when I spoke to the mayor here in Moore, he said all the new structures, the new schools, they have those shelters. The old ones, they don't.

TODD: They don't. And Jim Garner has grandchildren who go to Plaza Towers Elementary School. He's pretty upset that they didn't have a shelter there. He says all of this has got to change now.

BLITZER: We're in Tornado Alley. I don't know what's taking so long.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: They have got to do this.

All right, Brian, thanks very, very much. Good reporting. Imagine this. You're living through a nightmare with a newborn baby in your arms. And it happened to one family whose child was born at the Moore Medical Center just before it was destroyed by the tornado.

The father of that child, Aundrea Hogan, is joining us now.

Aundrea, come over here. First of all, congratulations on the birth of your child, Amira?

AUNDREA HOGAN, SURVIVOR: Amari (ph).

BLITZER: Amari.

HOGAN: Amari Kyler (ph) Hogan, yes, sir.

BLITZER: That's the hospital.

HOGAN: Yes, sir.

BLITZER: That's Moore Medical Center, where your child was born. And so pick up the story. Tell us what was going on, on Monday. Your wife is in labor. She's inside there.

HOGAN: Yes, sir.

OK. Well, first off, we knew the weather was coming in. It was going to be a little bad, is what we were told. We decided to go ahead and push through and have the baby the same day.

BLITZER: Right over here.

HOGAN: Over here at the center, yes, sir.

Well, once the baby -- once our child was born, you know, they brung him back to the room, so he could kind of warm up, normal baby procedure stuff. Wife was resting. They came in later with a code -- what they called a code black warning, which required all residents of the medical center to go down -- actually go downstairs and kind of take shelter in the cafeteria. So everybody was pushing -- was kind of herded off in that area.

BLITZER: So you, your wife and child, a little baby...

HOGAN: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: ... you go into the cafeteria.

HOGAN: We go into the cafeteria. There was also another nurse who was pregnant, by the way, who helped pushed my wife down there as well. And she's a hero to me. Her name is Erin (ph) that also works here.

BLITZER: They had your wife in a wheelchair.

HOGAN: Yes, had your wife in a wheelchair. They helped push her down.

BLITZER: And 90 minutes earlier, she was delivering a baby.

HOGAN: Pretty much. It was 90 minutes to about an hour -- I'm sorry, about three, four hours right before. This right before. This is when everything took place.

BLITZER: Yes.

HOGAN: Well, as we get down there, you know, the lights start flickering on and off.

And they were -- they kept telling us, just kind of keep calm. We're on backup generators. So with that being said, you know, the lights eventually went out. My wife was still under medication from delivering the baby. And so she wasn't really into a lot of the -- she didn't really a lot what was going on.

BLITZER: She had a C-section, right?

HOGAN: Yes, she did. She had a C-section. And she was a little loopy and whatnot. What they asked everybody to do, after the lights went out, is to drop on the floor. Get on the floor and just kind of curl up. And that's kind of what everybody did.

And we hugged. We huddled with each other. She was still sitting in the wheelchair and I was in a chair. She leaned on me. I had my son in my arms and I leaned on her shoulder.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Is she still in the wheelchair or...

(CROSSTALK)

HOGAN: She's still in the wheelchair. She's still in the wheelchair.

BLITZER: Did she get on the ground too?

HOGAN: No, she was not able to, no.

BLITZER: She's holding the baby?

HOGAN: I'm holding the baby. I'm holding the baby in my left arm.

BLITZER: You're holding it.

HOGAN: She's sitting right here, right to my right-hand side. And she's leaning on my right shoulder here. And again, I'm leaning on her right shoulder. And I have my son in my arms right behind...

BLITZER: You're hearing sirens going off, a warning?

HOGAN: Not -- it wasn't sirens. It was off inside the hospital. It's a loud siren that they have for the warning.

And like I said, everything just -- you could feel pressure building up in the air and up in your ears, where your ears were about to pop, like you're about to take off in an airplane. And right after that, all you saw was just pure -- the door flew open and you saw wind, debris, everything flowing in, smoke, grass.

I mean, it was a lot of things that were just flying off into -- flying into the cafeteria. And many -- a lot of the people were screaming and crying and...

BLITZER: But that was, in effect, the safe room, the cafeteria.

(CROSSTALK)

HOGAN: Correct.

BLITZER: And everybody in this hospital -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke to a lot of the -- everybody was fine afterwards.

HOGAN: Everybody was fine.

Well, I think there were a little -- some slight injuries, because when we came out, once they gave the green light for everything to leave out, they let the newborn and kind of elderly go ahead in front of everybody. I did see a lady on a stretcher. She was kind of crying and whatnot. So, I hope she's OK as well.

BLITZER: I hope so, too.

So, how is the baby doing?

HOGAN: Amari is doing great. That's my heartbeat right there. That's my new heartbeat right there. He's doing great.

BLITZER: And Trikina (ph), your wife?

HOGAN: Yes, Trikina is my wife. She's doing good as well. She's still a little out of still as of right now, a little tired. But we pulled through. And we made it out.

BLITZER: Hey, I'm glad you did.

HOGAN: Thanks.

BLITZER: Thanks very much.

You know what I want to do?

Skip, if you could get a tight shot of that hospital over there, pan over and see the wreckage. I mean, it's hard to believe. You're this close. Look at what was going on outside. You can see the damage on cars that were just thrown around, as if they were little rocks.

HOGAN: That's correct, Wolf. Actually, also, once we were leaving out of the cafeteria, I decided to stay. The nurse, Erin, she helped push my wife on over here to the Warren Theatre.

BLITZER: Yes.

HOGAN: And I stayed back and we were kind of clearing past for everybody to come through.

We decided, me and another gentleman, I was kind of volunteering with him. I just jumped in with him. We actually cleared off that top wing right off in there on that wing. We went through the hallways, and we cleared every door room by room. And we actually stood on top of the roof up there. When we came out of the side, we didn't know. It was blown off right here.

BLITZER: Yes. I look at that destruction. It's amazing anyone could survive that.

(CROSSTALK)

HOGAN: We did and it was crazy.

BLITZER: They knew what they were doing.

HOGAN: Yes, they did.

BLITZER: Aundrea, hey, you served in the military, too, right?

HOGAN: I'm still in, sir.

BLITZER: Oh, you're still in.

HOGAN: Yes, sir.

BLITZER: Active duty?

HOGAN: Yes, sir, active duty.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Well, thanks for your service.

HOGAN: Hey, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

BLITZER: I appreciate it very much everything you're doing.

HOGAN: Yes, sir. Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, run or hid from a tornado, it's a choice that could mean life or death. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's here. He will take a closer look at what's going on.

Plus, a heartbroken mother whose child died in an elementary school asked why there wasn't better protection.

And we're following also this. We're remembering some of those killed in this disaster, as our special coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: One controversy that is emerging from the devastating tragedy here in Oklahoma, and it is a devastating tragedy, part of tornado country, as they call it, the lack of shelters in public schools.

CNN's Kyung Lah spoke with the mother of a child who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School.

Kyung is joining us now.

Kyung, you have got a CNN exclusive. Tell us what you have seen, what you have heard.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we met, Wolf, with the mother of Kyle Davis, an 8-year-old boy. He is one of the seven children who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School. She is understandably in shock.

She feels an overwhelming sadness at her loss, but also some anger. Here's a portion of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKKI DIXON DAVIS, MOTHER OF TORNADO VICTIM: Monday night was the hardest night of my life. I mean, people are telling you go home, get some rest and sleep. You know, how can you sleep when you don't even know where your baby's at? You don't know if he's safe, if he's still stuck under all that rubble. Is he -- you know, where is he?

You don't -- being a mother, you know you have to know where your babies are. And I finally maybe dozed off maybe an hour-and-a-half, maybe, if that. I kept on turning on the news, because they were talking about more storms coming in, and then got up, got ready, went back into the city. And then I got confirmation that they had him, that he didn't make it.

And, you know, you cry and cry and cry. And then you feel like you're crying, and there's no tears going, but you feel like they're going. And I just -- it's just something I never, ever thought in my life that we would have to go through.

LAH: Are you angry at all at anything? Or is it just the overwhelming sadness that you feel?

DAVIS: I am angry to an extent. I know the schools did what they thought they could do.

But with us living in Oklahoma, tornado shelters should be in every school. It should be -- you know, there should be a place that if this ever happened again during school, that kids can get to a safe place, that we don't have to sit there and go through rubble, and rubble, and rubble, and may not ever find what we're looking for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Now, Davis had another child who was also at Plaza Towers. That child, a daughter, an 11-year-old girl, did survive. So she is grateful for that.

Wolf, one thing I would like to add is that she now is absolutely terrified of tornadoes. If there's another, she says the first thing she will do is go get her child out of school -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I know you have learned a lot about Kyle. Tell us what you have learned.

LAH: I'm sorry, Wolf, what was that?

BLITZER: Tell us about Kyle.

LAH: About Kyle.

Well, Kyle, he's actually -- you almost felt like he was there. His mom wanted to meet at a soccer field, where she could show us how much he loved the sport. She's the ultimate soccer mom. She took him there all the time. He loved to play soccer. His nickname was "The Wall" because he was such a big kid.

And the other thing she mentioned is that he loved his sister. He also loved monster trucks. He loved going there with his grandfather whenever he could. And she says that her son, with these bright blue, baby blue eyes, she just simply cannot imagine what it's going to be like to not see him grow up.

BLITZER: What a truly heartbreaking story, indeed. What a sweet, sweet boy. All right, Kyung Lah reporting for us.

So many of these stories, they go on and on and on.

Up next, the best options if a tornado is coming your way. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's here with me. He will explain if you should run, and if so, where should you run to? Should you hide?

And a mother's emotional account of surviving a storm in a cellar with five of her kids. She says her daughters are her heroes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Run or hide, thousands of people here in Oklahoma had just minutes to make that life-or-death decision when the tornado sirens sounded off on Monday. So what would you do if you heard those sounds?

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is here with us a closer look.

It's a tough choice to make. You hear the sirens going off. What do you do?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, we're trained for this ever since we're children. But obviously when it actually happens, it becomes a very quick sort of thinking for a lot of different people out there.

There are some pretty common misconceptions I think about how to protect yourself during a tornado. So, we sort of wanted to go through those and give people an idea of what to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jump in when you guys are ready.

GUPTA (voice-over): Thirteen minutes, that's the average lead time you would have if a tornado was headed your way.

(on camera): There's obviously no completely safe option during a tornado. Your best bet is to get into the basement, somewhere below ground level. But keep in mind that, if you are there, you want to see what's on the floor above you as well. A refrigerator or a piece of heavy furniture could come crashing through the floor. So, you want to be wary of that.

Also, here in Moore, Oklahoma, there aren't a lot of basements. Studies have actually shown that there is another very good option. Take a look over here. An interior room or closet like that can be the best place to be as well. The house is gone here, but the closet preserved, even the clothes inside of that.

Remember, just got 13 minutes. So find that safe place. Maybe grab a helmet or a bike helmet, even throw mattresses or a blanket over you to try and protect your head.

(voice-over): One place you can't hide from a tornado is in your car. Tornado-strength winds can pick up a one- to two-ton vehicle like this one and toss it around like you or I would a basketball.

(on camera): Now, you obviously don't want to be driving toward a tornado. But it's also a bad idea to be driving away from a tornado. It's hard to gauge the distance. If you must be driving and the weather is clear, try driving at right angles to the tornado, perpendicular, to get out of the path of the storm.

There's another misconception as well, which is that you should get out of your car and run underneath an overpass. What happens in a situation like this is the wind is actually funneled. It's even more powerful than the storm, and there's also a lot of debris. And that debris can injure you.

(voice-over): Now, if you are stuck outside as a tornado approaches, find a ditch or anyplace far away from potentially dangerous objects and vehicles, and stay low.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: There are a lot of tornadoes here, obviously, in this part of the country, Wolf. And I think as a result of lot of this training and probably just over the years, since childhood, people understanding some of these things, the death toll was as low as it was.

BLITZER: Yes.

GUPTA: They're trying figure out, given the devastation behind us, how so many people survived, and I think it was some of these just basic things.

BLITZER: Lessons learned tornado after tornado after tornado. Eventually -- there are still some lessons they have got to learn, but I'm sure they will.

GUPTA: Yes. And with regard to the buildings and the hospitals, I think for sure, but it's still pretty remarkable.

BLITZER: Sanjay, thanks very much.

GUPTA: You got it.

BLITZER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting.

She gathered her children, ran to the cellar in her home and began to pray. An emotional survivor tells me what they found when they came out.

And we remember some of the victims here in Moore, Oklahoma, as our special coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Happening now: my emotional interview with a woman who rode out the tornado here in Oklahoma, the tornado nightmare, with five of her six chirp. She tells me how they all survived and what they found afterward.

Also, an up-close look at how debris becomes deadly missiles. We go inside a tornado simulator.

And the Obama administration reveals how many Americans have really been killed by drones.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Many people in this devastated town are getting a better picture right now of what happened when they lost so much, as that tornado hit on Monday. Let's check some of the latest developments.

Moore -- Moore, Oklahoma, residents, where I am right now, they were allowed back into their neighborhoods within the past couple of hours. They had been kept out for their own safety.

There are more injuries from the tornado than we thought. The governor now puts the total at 325. And the scope of this disaster continues to grow, as well. State insurance officials say 4,000 claims already have been filed. And damage will likely top $2 billion. The damage is catastrophic, but so many people I've been speaking with around town here tell me they are thankful simply to be alive. Jodi Osentowski-Pickle told me how she rode out the storm in a cellar with five of her six children, including her 8-week-old baby.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JODI OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I just got phone calls. My mom, everybody was just like, "You need to go home and get in the cellar."

I got the kids. And we've had tornado precautions before with the kids. And we got in the storm cellar, and it was so hot in there. And we were trying to have phone service to see what was going on. I didn't know that the tornado had even touched down, hit, anything. I didn't have any services. The sirens would go off and go on and this and that.

And then, all of a sudden, the -- it got really quiet. And I heard my neighbor talking. And then it got -- the hail. And then it got so loud. And we just held onto each other. And I could see daylight through my cellar where it wasn't sealed. And I didn't even know if I had it latched. I was just was praying to God I had it latched all the way. And the kids...

BLITZER: It was latched?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: It was latched, definitely.

The girls held onto the little ones, and I held onto the baby. And the tornado just -- when it came through, it was so loud. And we were just -- all of our heads were down. And we were hunkered together and just praying.

And then all of a sudden a loud bang hit the cellar. And later I found that it was our deck. Our deck flipped over on top of our cellar. And I believe that is what kept the door from opening. Because the whole thing was shaking.

And then she started -- I told my daughter to start screaming through the vents, because we couldn't hear anything. We smelled gas. And I heard my neighbor, "She's got five babies. She's here with her five babies. I know she's here; I know she's here." And he's like, "Help, help, I know they're here." He said that he saw a woman laying [SIC] on the ground over where my driveway was, and he thought it was me. I saw him yesterday, and he just hugged me. He thought it was me and our babies.

He said, "I just started digging and digging through rubble. I saw the cellar door, and I heard your daughter." And he said, "I heard your daughter screaming 'help'."

And he called for DENOS (ph) and the medical staff that was down on the medical building, down south of my house. He called them, "Help, help," screaming "help." And five men, the door opened, and there's my neighbor. And men in scrubs. And they just pulled my kids, one by one, out of the cellar and handed me the baby. And...

BLITZER: This little baby right here.

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: Yes. Handed me the baby. And they're just like, "Give us the baby, give us the kids. And we're going to get you to safety." And they took us down. There was just mud and water and gas everywhere.

BLITZER: Just a few blocks from here.

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: Yes, we were actually over off of Southeast Sixth Street right where Harlan East Junior High School is. And we took a direct hit.

BLITZER: So your house right now -- you say it's gone?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: Just rubble. We just...

BLITZER: The whole neighborhood?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: Not the whole neighborhood. Our street. Our street is just -- the neighbors across, they had their roofs and things. And it's just amazing to me, the damage.

But our house was just destroyed. My minivan is in my kitchen, on top of my kitchen. It just mangled it. And it looked like it crushed it right on top of my kitchen. My Tahoe is over two houses over, behind the neighbor's pool. It's just devastating.

BLITZER: But the kids are OK?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: But all the kids are alive. My 14-year-old was at -- on lockdown in his junior high school.

BLITZER: But he's OK?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: He's OK. We had to get through power lines and get across. And it took us about 45 minutes. It just felt like a lifetime to get to him. And I just waited in the parking lot for somebody and my dad.

BLITZER: So where are you staying now?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: We're with my mom in Tuttle. And just the overflow of people who have just been trying to help us. Kingfisher set up a -- "Kingfisher Times" ran an ad for us this morning. You know, it's just so -- it's unbelievable.

My daughters, they are just my heroes. They helped me with these little babies. And my neighbor, Paul, I just -- I saw him yesterday, and he just hugged me. And he just started crying. And he just said, "I just -- I didn't even care about anything else but you and your babies." And it was just overwhelming.

BLITZER: It is. OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: Just overwhelming. I'm exhausted. I went yesterday, just trying to find pictures. And I was trying to get ahold of my fiance. He was out of town.

BLITZER: Did they let you get back to your house?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: We got back in. I don't know if they let us, but we got back in.

BLITZER: And did you find anything?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: Pictures...

BLITZER: You found albums?

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: We found some albums, pictures. These ladies just showed up. And I don't know where. And was just helping me dig look through pictures in the pouring rain yesterday morning. I was freezing. We were muddy. I just wanted to find my babies' pictures. You know, I have boxes, and -- but none of that matters. I mean, my kids are alive. I don't know.

We wouldn't have survived, had we not gotten in that cellar. And it was a split-second decision. I almost didn't.

BLITZER: Hold on a second. This is one of the rare houses that has a cellar.

OSENTOWSKI-PICKLE: We're the only one on our street. My neighbor, that survived and actually got us out of the rubble, he had a safe room. And his safe room was still -- he said, it tried to blow him out of the safe room. But nobody else down our street had a cellar.

Thank God they weren't home. But the lady who was, she didn't make it, a couple houses down. It's just devastating.

But they -- we thought we rescued our dog yesterday. The dog is Driver. She was in the kennel. I put her in the kennel in the room. And I was just like, I'm so sorry. And then we pulled her out of the rubble yesterday. And she was just perfect. It's just amazing, the house is just mangled, and there she is in the kennel. She didn't even use the restroom. She got out. And I just fell into the mud with her. It was just amazing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Amazing story indeed. I want to thank Jodi for sharing that with us, with all of our viewers.

Remember, there are so many ways you can help these tornado victims, from giving blood, to donating food, to giving money. To get details, here's what you do: Go to CNN.com/impact. CNN.com/impact. You can impact your world.

Still ahead, a bloody act of terror, and a man with a meat cleaver goes on a frenzied attack and talks to a man with a camera. Now we're hearing for the first time from the man shooting that video. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right. This is just coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. An interview with a witness to an attack the British government is now calling sickening and barbaric. I'll have more on that in a second.

But first, some background. A man thought to be a British soldier was hit by a car on a London street today. Then, two attackers brutally hacked him to death. The two armed suspects were shot and wounded by police. But before that, one of them had plenty of time to speak to a camera, leaving behind a very chilling video. We should caution you, this is quite graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We swear by it, we never stop fighting you. Until you leave us alone. We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. We apologize to the women (ph) witnessing today. But in our land, our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. The English government, they don't care about you. He's going to get caught in the street. When we start busting our guns, do you think the politicians are going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Now, ITN's Paul Davies spoke with the man who shot that video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL DAVIES, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): The man with the bloodied hands is not talking to a professional cameraman. He has deliberately sought out a passerby who is filming with a phone camera.

The man who filmed those dreadful scenes prefers not to be identified. But he told me about that unreal conversation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he seen me filming that, he came straight to me. He say, "No, no, no, it's cool. It's cool. I just wanted to talk to you."

DAVIES: The amateur cameraman says what struck him most was that the bloodied man and a second man seemed to be waiting by the body for the police to arrive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't he can run? He can run! Because at the time the police was taking to come, that was 30 minutes. And in 30 minutes, the guy comes running, to get a train, and going away.

DAVIES: Instead, the two men talked to women, allegedly apologizing. Then according to this witness, charged towards the first police officers to arrive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they brought their guns, straight, they run to the police. They're running straight to the police. And the guns go bang, bang, bang. You know.

DAVIES (on camera): They didn't try and run away at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no, no, they didn't try. They didn't try.

DAVIES (voice-over): With the two men injured and restrained on the ground, the police moved the amateur cameraman away.

He asks them why they've taken so long to respond.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please move back. If you expect to remain here, please move back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy is dead now. You take a long time to come. This soldier is dead. You take a long time to come.

DAVIES: The witness says he'd been on his way for a job interview when the world seemed to go mad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's very sad for me, seeing someone die like that. You know. Because he didn't do nothing to die today, you know? And for me, it's very sad, and strained for me. Very sad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Paul Davies of ITN reporting. London's Metropolitan Police is aware of the reports that say it took them 30 minutes to arrive at the scene. They are investigating what happened.

The Obama administration is opening up today about a politically sensitive issue. The use of drones to target terror suspects, including some Americans. Let's bring in our crime and justice correspondent, Joe Johns. He's got the latest.

What happened, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it comes just one day before the president is expected to give his big speech on national security. The government is admitting for the first time that since 2009, it has killed four Americans in counterterrorism strikes overseas.

The letter comes from the attorney general to Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Holder says in the letter that the president ordered him to make this disclosure. It seems only one of these four was specifically targeted. That would be Anwar al-Awlaki. The three others killed, Samir Khan, who was killed in the Awlaki strike, Awlaki's 16-year-old son killed in another Yemen strike in June 10. And Jude Kenan Mohammed, who was killed in Pakistan. The letter does not spell out how the men died. But all were believed to be killed in drone strikes. It also says this week, the president approved a new standard for capturing or killing terrorists overseas. Lethal force considerations include, one, that the individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States, capture is not feasible, and the operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with law of war principles.

The only death here that we didn't know much about was Mohammed, who was part of a North Carolina group charged in a terror conspiracy. Mohammed was believed to be in Pakistan. There had been local news reports in North Carolina suggesting he might have been killed. But it wasn't until today that it was confirmed by the U.S. government -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And the president will be speaking about national security, presumably his drone policy, tomorrow. That major address he's delivering at the National Defense University in Washington.

Joe, thanks very much.

A man who knew the Boston bombing suspects was shot and killed early today by an FBI agent in Orlando, Florida. A law-enforcement source tells CNN the 27-year-old man confessed to a direct role in a 2011 triple homicide in Massachusetts. He was being investigated because of his ties to the Tsarnaev brothers. We're told he became violent during the questioning, and the FBI agent shot him in self- defense.

A graphic look at the deadly power of a tornado. And its killer debris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence, in Lubbock, Texas. And coming up, we're going to give you an idea of what it's like inside a tornado and show you damage just one piece of wood can do to your home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Two-by-fours turned into missiles. Much of the tornado's deadly force comes from the tons and tons of debris it hurls at tremendous speed. We're about to get an up-close look with CNN's Chris Lawrence.

LAWRENCE: Wolf, the vortex created in this room is about as close as you can get to standing in an actual tornado. But this is just smoke, dust, and dirt. Imagine when this twister actually starts ripping pieces of wood right out of a home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): It turns a neighborhood into a minefield. A minor piece of wood becomes a missile.

(on camera): How much damage can these two-by-fours do?

LARRY TANNER, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY: I've seen these two-by- fours go through two and three walls in a house.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Larry Tanner helps run Texas Tech's National Wind Institute, the premier testing ground for tornado shelters.

TANNER: Three, two, one.

LAWRENCE: Tanner launches the most common type of debris, a 15- pound piece of wood, to see if a shelter can withstand the impact at 100 miles per hour.

The wood splinters in the blink of an eye. But by slowing it down, you can see the incredible force and destructive power.

We saw the projectile punch right through plywood, which is stronger than the thin siding that most homes have.

Well-built safe rooms can withstand flying two-by-fours and larger debris, which is often heavier but slower. And those shelters don't have to be buried in the backyard.

(on camera): Some of the experts say the only way to survive that tornado was to get underground.

TANNER: That's absolutely false.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Tanner says if the doors don't hold, it doesn't matter where the shelter is. And flying debris hurts or kills a lot of people as they're running outside to get to an underground shelter. So the National Wind Institute and FEMA advise installing a safe room inside the home.

TANNER: Maybe it's your laundry room. Maybe it's your master bedroom closet.

LAWRENCE: Tanner says you get to use the room every day, which minimizes the cost. And his tests have proven it can be just as safe above ground.

(on camera): So bottom line, when the winds start to whip around like this, you need get to the closest safe spot, and that may not always be underground -- Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Chris Lawrence, good advice. Thanks very much.

Coming up, a man who rushed -- rushed -- to the Plaza Towers Elementary School here in Moore, Oklahoma, right after the tornado and will be haunted forever by what he saw.

And we remember some of those killed in this disaster as our special coverage from Oklahoma continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HILL, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I've lost everything before and I'm not going to recover from that easily. I mean, when you're sitting in the bathtub holding mom and she screams for you to hold her tighter because she thinks she's going to fly away. And then you taste the dirt -- you taste the dirt in your mouth. You see the debris in the sky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That's one of the survivors here in Moore, Oklahoma, who spoke to CNN's Pamela Brown. What an emotional moment.

Pam also spoke with a man who was among the first to arrive at the school where seven children died. And he says they didn't have to.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I interviewed a resident here in Moore, Oklahoma, who says he just wanted to help after the tornado hit. He rushed over to Plaza Towers Elementary School, where his nephew went to school, in hopes of pulling survivors out of the rubble. Instead, he experienced something that still haunts him: four deceased children under a pile of debris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM BAKER, MOORE, OKLAHOMA, RESIDENT: Never get used to it. I'll probably never be all right with it again. But, I mean, there's nothing that I can do at the time. I don't have the medical training or experience to know how to do all that. So I did the best I could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That resident, Adam Baker, said he found the kids in a shallow area. He said he thought it might have been a classroom, but there was so much debris it was hard to tell. When I asked him, had those kids been in a basement or an underground shelter of some sort, if they would have survived, he was very adamant in his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAKER: Most definitely. I mean, underground shelters are some of the best things to have in a tornado, especially if they're a concrete one. Because, I mean, two-by-fours can go straight through houses, solid concrete, cinder blocks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We learned today from the medical examiner's office that those kids died from mechanical asphyxiation. According to experts, that means you're unable to breathe deep due to some sort of force or blockage, likely because of all the debris piled on top of them -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela Brown here in Oklahoma with us.

The newspapers here in Oklahoma have some powerful, powerful photos on their front pages today. We'll share some of them with you.

"The Oklahoman" shows an obliterated neighborhood, saying everyone in the state feels the loss.

The Norman, Oklahoma, "Transcript" has a dramatic photo of the devastated Plaza Towers Elementary School with the headline "Force of Nature."

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be reporting tomorrow from here in Oklahoma once again. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.