Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With John Berman And Poppy Harlow 20180215

Behind me today a high school filled with fbi agents and police officers. It should be filled with students and teachers, nearly 3,000 of them. They were inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a former student pulled a fire alarm, killing 17 people, injuring more than a dozen others t. Breaking news this morning, the shooting suspect is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. A new report from buzzfeed says the fbi was warned about a School Shooting threat made online by a user with the same name as the suspect months ago. Were also learning the identity of one of the victims. Assistant football coach aaron feis, acted as a human shield, threw himself in front of students when the suspect started shooting. In just a moment, im going to speak with a student who spent the morning with him before this coach lost his life. Next hour we expect an update from Broward County officials. At 11 00 a. M. , the president will break his silence and speak to the nation about this horror. I want to start with cnns rosa flores today. Shes here in parkland, florida, to walk us through the latest. What are you learning . Reporter john, at this hour at least five people are still fighting for their lives. Thats the latest that weve heard on the victims still in the hospital, five with lifethreatening injuries. Seven fatalities so far. The suspect charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. If the dealt count rises, were expecting those charges also to pile up. Whats happening behind me is investigators are scouring through the scene searching for evidence. That evidence would prove premeditated murder. Were hearing of heroic efforts who tried to save lives. As you mentioned, assistant football coach aaron feis using his body as a shield to protect students. We heard from students who say they took refuge under their desks, under their teachers desks, and from investigators, that theres a trail of evidence, cell phones, bags, some of the cell phones with Text Messages from parents frantically trying to find out if their love pd ones were okay. Were also learning more about the suspect and what his family attorney is saying. Were learning more about some of the signs that these family members were seeing. Here is what that family attorney had to say. Did he semen taem mentally i them . They didnt see that. They wouldnt have let him live in their home. These folks helped him out, he had no place else to go. They didnt see any danger, any predilection that this is going to happen. Theyre horrified. Their son was here at the school during the shooting, didnt know he was a student here, a current student here and he was thereali at the time of the shoeing. Right. And didnt know anything about it. There are texts between the two of them earlier in the day. Theres nothing ominous. Reporter here is the background on that family. Were told the suspects family died, passed away. His adoptive father passed away 13 years ago, his mother in november. John, this family literally took him in to help him out. Here they are now dealing with this and cooperating with authorities. John . There are many questions that authorities have this morning about all of that. Rosa flores, thanks so much. This morning buzzfeed is reporting a youtube user spotted a threatening comment to a video he had posted back in september and alerted the fbi who got back to him immediately. The commentator had the same name as the Florida Shooting suspect. The key to all of this is that this message on youtube, buzzfeed is reporting, from the person with the same name as the alleged shooter here, said he wanted to be a School Shooter. Cnns Jessica Schneider joins me with the latest on that. This seems to be an extraordinary clue, jessica. Reporter it does, john. The fbi was alerted to this. This youtube user, our cnn team has just gotten in touch with. He tells our team that it was in september he noticed this disturbing comment that was on a video he posted on youtube. It came from a user with the same name as the gunman. You can see the comment this is the alert he sent to the fbi. The comment was im going to be a professional School Shooter. You can see it there, the name matching the School Shooter in this case. Now, this youtube poster, this user who alerted the fbi, his name is ben benite. He said he immediately emailed it to the fbi tips account. Agents got back to him immediately, interviewed him in person the next day. That, of course, was back on september 25th. But he also tells us that agents were back in touch again yesterday. They even visited him in person. But ben benite said i knew nothing about this poster, nothing about the gunman. I saw the comment and i alerted the fbi and i alerted youtube. We have reached out to the fbi. We have not heard back. Weve reached out to the National Office here in d. C. As well as the field office in mississippi. Really this just adds to the disturbing social media profile of this gunman. We know he also posted photos on instagram of him brandishing firearms and knives. Were told that he has been talking with investigators since his arrest yesterday. And we also know that that ar15 he used to carry out this attack, it was purchased legally. He passed a background check despite the fact that he had been expelled from school at least a year ago, and we know that he used this, he carried multiple rounds of ammunition in this shooting that killed 17 people. But john, a lot of disturbing details unfolding here, mostly from his social media profile and the fact that we now know, our cnn team has talked to this youtube account holder who did, in fact, alert the fbi back in september about this disturbing comment that was posted from an account with the gunmans same name, and we know the fbi agents according to this youtube account holder contacted him again yesterday looking for more information. John . Jessica, i should note, again, were going to hear from President Trump. He will speak to the nation at 11 00 a. M. This morning. We have not heard from him directly since the School Shooting, though he has been on twitter. In one of the messages he did put out on twitter this morning dealt with this issue of missed signals. Reporter thats right. The president alluded to the gunmans disturbing social media profile. In fact, first thing this morning the president tweeted this, so many signs that the Florida Shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad or erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again. What we need to know about the president s tweet here is the signs, they seem apparent now, now that were seeing some of these social media posts, nou that this youtube user is talking again, that he noticed this i want to be a School Shooter comment. We heard from the lawyer earlier today for this family who took this 19yearold into their home. They said on new day this morning, they said they didnt notice any violent tendencies. They did notice depression, seeing that the gown mans mother died in november, but no signs of violence. Now that were picking apart the social media profile, its maybe easy to see. Its not so sure those signs were readily apparent before the shooting yesterday. Jessica schneider for us in washington. Joining me is colton habb, a 17yearold junior, a student who lived through this massacre. Colton, thanks so much for being with us. First, i need to say this, were so sorry, so sorry you had to go through this yesterday, but were proud of what you managed to do, not just for your selfbut for others. So explain to me what happened a little bit after 2 00 this morning. What did you hear . Around 2 20 i heard a fire alarm go off. That morning around 9 30ish, we had a fire alarm. That was a scheduled fire alarm. I could tell all my administrators were in their correct place for a fire alarm. Around 2 19, 2 20 when the fire alarm went off that started the whole scenario, i didnt realize what was going on. I thought possibly it was a culinary fire, only because my administrator came on the loud speaker and said evacuate the building. So we grabbed the paperwork for the fire drill and we started walking out. As i shut the door to go out the back door for the fire alarm, i heard seven gunshots. You heard gunshots . I heard seven of them. What goes through your head when you hear gunshots in your school . The first thing, is this a drill or an actual scenario. We had been training all these different scenarios for a tornado drill, fire drill, code red which is our active shooter. I thought this would be the active Shooter Drill until i heard more gunshots and over the radio three victims down. When you heard three victims down, you knew it was code red. My first thought is i picked up my brother who is a sophomore. My first thought is where is my brother, where is my family. Youre a good brother. As soon as i called him and confirmed he was okay. I called my dad. I said turn on the news, i need to know whats going on, youve got to keep me up to date so i can keep as many people safe as possible. I have a friend that retired out of the Coral Springs police department. I got on the phone with her and she was able to give me updates on where the shooter was. Youre in the hallway . The other rotc rooms. We have two jrotc rooms. The second room is where we had the people we sheltered. You went out, after you made the phone calls, you decided you were going to help other students. Correct. What did you do . I opened the door to the second rotc room, we let as many people into the classroom to make sure they were in the safe and out of harms way. How many kids. 60 to 70 kids. Colton, junior rotc, you want to be either a marine or serve in the coast guard. You had equipment with you. What did you do . In jrotc we have a program called marksman ship. We took kevlar sheets and put them in front of everybody so they werent seen because they were behind a solid object and the kevlar would slow the bullet down. I didnt think it would stop it, but definitely slow it down to make it from a catastrophic to a lifesaving thing. Youre speaking about this almost clinically here. Whats that moment like . Youre 17 years old with 70 kids from your school, youre High School Students and sheltered behind kevlar sheets here, what were you thinking . Im thinking about how im going to make sure everybody goes home to their parents safely. Were you scared . I was a little scared. I was more worried about making sure everybody got home safe. God forbid if he came into the classroom, if it did, i would try to stop him with another frechbt. Were you 100 sure you were going to get home safe . Yes, sir. I was destined to get home. In the hallway you say you also saw assistant football coach aaron feis. Yes, sir, i saw him running towards the gunshots. You can tell by looking at you, you were a football player. Yes, sir. I did the Summer Program and we were lifting weights. I couldnt do it with job and rotc. I had a close relationship with coach feis. Very selfless man. Made sure everyone elses needs were met before his own. He worked after school on the weekends, mowing lawns, helping as many people as possible. Very selfless. When you saw him running down that wahallway to help, you thought this is just what he does. Thats coach feis. What did you hear happen to him . I heard he used himself to shield three others, used his body to shield them. You said you spent yesterday morning with him. Yes, we walked in the office and talked for 20 minutes, talking about normal stuff, how is work, what are you doing after school today, how is football going, that kind of this inning. Whats it feel like knowing coach feis is gone today . Hes definitely in a better place now. Im glad he didnt suffer that much. Its not going to be the same without him at school anymore. Thats for sure. Football definitely wont be the same. Were definitely going to have to band back together as brothers and mourn his loss and pick up the pieces to try to rebuild our football team. When the school opens back up again, do you feel safe coming back here . Probably going to be safe. Probably. It will be safe. Im worried its not going to be the exact same how it was before. Its never going to be the same. It will never go back to the way it usually was. Colton, i wanted to ask you, finally, whats your message to the rest of the country right now . Youve been through this right now. Youre the member of the most unfortunate tragic club in america, a club thats growing. People who have been through a mass shooting. What do you want people to do and care about . I want everyone to pray for the victims, their families, somebody who lost one of their loved ones, make sure theyre in their prayers. I want to thank the First Responders who got here so quickly. I think Everyone Wants to help you in what you do. Thank you so much for being with us right now. Thank you for helping us remember coach feis who lost his life trying to help people. Thank you. Stay strong. Thank you. You are looking right now i think we have a picture of coach aaron feis, assistant football coach. A guy who used to mow lawns on the weekend for extra money. People said all he wanted to do was help people. Thats how he died, helping people. Well be right back for your heart. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Intrtechnology withnema. Incredible color, sound and streaming. Just as the creators intended. Up to 40 off at dell. Com listerine® cleansaches 25virtually 100 . Helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. Never settle for 25 . Always go for 100. Bring out the bold™. Stunning new details coming in this morning about the fbi being warned months ago possibly about the florida School Shooter. At least someone with the exact same name. According to buzzfeed news, a youtube user with the same name as the alleged shooter left a comment saying, quote, im going to be a professional School Shooter. The videos creator took a screen shot of the comment, alerted the fbi and youtube. Fbi agents came to his office the next morning, asked if he knew the commenter and took a copy of the screen shot. He didnt hear from the fbi again until yesterday after the shooting. Joining me james galiano. The fbi had someone with the same name as the shooter months ago saying he wanted to be a professional School Shooter. That has got to be just a blinking red warning sign. Thats a fair concern. Lets break this down along free speech per ram terse and what we have to focus on when bringing charges against somebody on the federal side. First of all, courts have determined when a lot of these facebook, social media posts have come up where people have made threatening comments. They said the tirs thing you have to do, you have to be able to prove that a reasonable person in this situation would feel threatened. We have free speech protections. Eric clap ton and bob marley sang about i shot the sheriff. Nobody anticipated that was going to go sideways for a Law Enforcement professional. In this instance youve got to be able to prove it wasnt just a hasty, im pullive or easily misinterpreted statement. What it should have led to is what we call in the fbi a knock and talk, which means agents should have been dispatched, gone to this persons house, knocked on the door and questioned him at a minimum, that provides some level of deterrence and the fbi would have been able to ascertain whether or not this was somebody that just said something in the heat of the moment or had really bad intentions planned. A knock and talk. We dont know if that happened with the shooter. We know it happened with the person who posted the video and alerted the fbi. We do not know if that happened with the shooter. Tom very aney, had it happened,e fbi and Law Enforcement might have found out this is a kid that had been expelled from the high school behind me because of some kind of concerns about threatening activity. Good morning, john. My condolences to all the families involved in this horrific tragedy. This is why youve been hearing people in different scenarios talk about, if you see something, say something. We cant rely on washington to do the right thing apparently. In 20 years with multiple, multiple Mass Shootings, especially after 20 kids were slaughtered in sandy hook and there was no action taken whatsoever, either to address gun loopholes or address the Mental Illness issue in this country, washington has been inactive. I find it hard to believe theyre going to be there for us because they havent been. So we have to be there for ourselv ourselves, what they see on social media, what they hear in the classrooms or locker rooms. If they hear a student who may be going off the rails, they have to tell. So Law Enforcement authorities or School Authorities can take action before something happens. Instead of being reactionary and responding when theres chaos. Tom, they did. This youtube user told the fbi, told you toub they were alerted to something, someone with the same name saying they wanted to be a professional School Shooter. The school itself expelled the student. They said something, they did something. It shouldnt be left to colton haab, the hero i spoke to, to put kevlar sheets on students at the end of the day when there are this many signals. Everyone has to act. As you say, washington has got to be part of that. There was clearly a disconnect. There were one or two people that saw something and wanted to do something about it and it never connected. Thats why there has to be a toll l followthrough to make sure there isnt a disconnect and this is addressed when the red flags pop up. Thats the best we can do, try to prevent if we can the schools, working with every School District in america at this point, if this not another wakeup call that they should be working with local Law Enforcement to have a plan in place. This is more than the best we can do. Its incumbent upon all of us to do something here. Again, i met with a mother a short time ago saying imagine getting a text from her daughter saying she had just seen her teacher shot. That is what this community is facing. Thats what this country is facing this morning. James galiano, tom verni, thanks very much. Well be joined by another student who lived through the massac massacre, she was in the school where the bullets shattered the glass of her classroom. Stay with me. Lets get started. Show of hands. Who wants customizable options chains . Ones that make it fast and easy to analyze and take action . How about some of the lowest options fees . Are you raising your hand . Good then its time for power e trade the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. Alright one quick game of rock, paper, scissors. 1, 2, 3, go. E trade. The original place to invest online. And sometimes, i dont eat the way i should. So, i drink boost. Boost high protein nutritional drink has 15 grams of protein to help maintain muscle and 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. Boost high protein be up for it yea, s stuffynoset this cold nosleep i got it. Mouthbreather yep, weve got a mouth breather. Well just put on a breathe right strip and. Pow it instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone so you can breathe. And sleep. Go to breatheright. Com today to request a free sample. John berman in parkland, florida. Behind me theyre setting up for a press conference. In a few minutes we will hear from the county sheriff, potentially also floridas governor rick scott and officials from the hospital to get an update on the investigation here, to get an update on the people who were wounded and still being treated at this high school behind me. 17 people were killed, more than a dozen were injured. Were continuing to learn more from the hospitals where the victims are being treated this morning. We want to get straight to cnns Dianne Gallagher for the latest on that and more. Diane. Reporter yeah, john, at this time what weve been told is there are still 15 people who remain in the hospital. Five of those are in what the hospital is calling lifethreatening condition. That press conference youre talking about we should be getting an update on those conditions at that press conference with some of the doctors and medical team who attended to these patients and who were here when they were brought in. The hospital im standing at here, Broward Health north, that is where two of the patients who were brought in did pass away from those injuries, one of those was coach aaron feis. He has been one of the only who have been positively identified of those 17 victims. He was an assistant football coach for the varsity and jv team. According to the football program, their communications director, coach feis died by acting as a human shield, that when the shooter began shooting at the kids in the classrooms, he threw himself on them to protect them. Of course, again, he did die from his injuries here. Weve seen this outpouring of love for the coach from students and players and parents online and on our air talking about what a selfless person he was. John, he attended that high school, graduated from there. He went to work there and has worked there his entire career. Again, this is somebody who also acted as Security Guard for them and is being called a hero this morning, john. Deservedly a hero. Dianne gallagher, thanks so much for that. Again, were waiting for the press conference to begin behind me with new details on the investigation. Joining me now by phone is rebecca bogart, 17 yoers old, a student here at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who went through what i have to believe is the worst day of her life. Rebecca, thanks so much nor being with us. I know how difficult this is to discuss. Tell me how are you doing this morning. Im just in complete shock. I still dont believe this happened. Its something that i would never, ever think would happen here. I dont think anyone wants to believe it happened, but the sad reality is that it did. Now were all trying to find a way to cope with it right alongside you. Yesterday after 2 20, when did you know it was real, rebecca . I was in the freshman building where i heard the gunshots, and no one really knew what that was. But we all automatically knew to hide. We all hid i hid underneath the teachers desk with a bunch of students and the teacher. And when were hiding, i knew it was real when i saw the gunshots break through the window and saw a bullet through the blinds. Then i knew this was not just a drill. Youre underneath the teachers desk. How many people were under there with you . We have 30 students in our class. Half of them went underneath the cabinets. They went underneath the teachers desk, and the other like ten kids went behind the computer cart, and unfortunately four of them got injured in my class. Very traumatizing to watch and listen to. We tried to stay as calm as possible. You were under the desk. Sorry to interrupt you, rebecca. You couldnt see much from underneath the desk, but you were hearing things. What did you hear . You heard your classmates get injured . Someone said that theres someone bleeding in the class but i couldnt tell because i was hiding and i didnt want to go out and look. They were screaming. We tried to keep everyone calm and as silent as possible so we knew what was going on. When you were underneath the desk, rebecca, what was going through your mind . I was just in fear. I didnt know what was happening. I was shaking. We all were. We were praying that everything would be okay. My teacher was on the phone with the police, trying to get everything figured out. We didnt know what was happening and tried to stay as calm as possible. You were in the classroom for well over an hour. When you were finally let out, the s. W. A. T. Teams came in. When you were finally let out, what did you see . The s. W. A. T. Team came in and asked us to have our hands up and how many kids were injured. The ones injured left first and then we had to follow out. As i was leaving through the hallway, i saw students on the ground and blood everywhere. It was so traumatizing to watch. We just had to we were directed to go across the street, as far from the school as you can. Me and a bunch of kids walked to pine trails from stone man douglas. Rebecca, what do you want people to know this morning about this about what youve been through. The country is struggling to make sense of this, not just what happened, but how to keep it from happening in the future. And now youre part of this. What do people need to know . Just dont take anything for granted. You never know i would never no one would ever expect for this to happen. You hear about this all the time on the news. You would never think here. Be aware of your surroundings and know what to do under anything just have a plan for anythi anything. Be aware of your surroundings, have a plan yes. Rebecca, im so sorry, again for cutting you off. I was having trouble hearing you. Know were all with you right now. Were so sorry that you had to go through this. Were so sorry that this training is necessary, but youre absolutely right. Pay attention to these drills. Be aware of your surroundings because at this point you never know when you might need that. Rebecca bogart, thank you very much for your courage and for being with us. Thank you. Just a short time from now we will also hear from the president of the united states. This is the first time he will speak since this deadly School Shootings. Three of the ten deadliest Mass Shootings have happened in just the last several months. How will the president address this tragedy . Stay with us. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. In just over an hour, were expecting to hear from President Trump. He is said to address the nation following the School Massacre in florida. This will be the first time weve heard the president speak publicly on that tragedy. Lets get straight to abby phillip at the white house now. Reporter the president will speak in a few hours here from the white house offering some kind of guidance or condolences and the tragedy. He also according to white house officials who have spoken to my colleagues at cnn considered putting out a Statement Last night but ultimately did not, waiting to hear more about the details of this tragedy. The white house this morning also put out a paper statement offering condolences to the families and also ordering flags here at the white house and other federal buildings put down to half mast. Thats something that happens in these tragedies that have become all too familiar. Cnn learned the white house had more than 100 staffers working without full security clearance until november. That, of course, nearly a year into mr. Trumps presidency. Rob porter was among them. Reporter thats right. One year after the president was elected, several of his top staffers did not have full clearances, a sign of some deep troubles with that process here at the white house. Among the people who lacked clearances are the president s daughter, ivanka trump, his soninlaw, jared kushner. But also surprising, don mcgahn, the white house counsel, the person who ultimately is the sort of legal voice for this white house, also lacked the top full security clearance and also Sarah Huckabee sanders, the White House Press secretary. There were a few other officials including people like gary cohn, the top economic adviser at the white house who came from a complex financial background who were able to get clearances. There are questions here about what is going on with the clearance process here at the white house. It seems very much a lot of top aides to the president still had not gotten the clearance that they needed to see top secret information here at the white house, erica. Abby phillip with the latest, thank you. At this hour va secretary david shill kin is facing tough questions about his taxpayer funded travel. This comes after a blistering report from the Inspector General who said his chief of staff altered an email that led to the va paying more than 4,000 for his wife to fly to europe with him last year. Our cnn senior politics writer wanna summers joining us from washington. Secretary shulkin on capitol hill speaking with the House Veterans Affairs committee. He tells lawmakers the optics of the situation are not great, he regrets decisions made that take away from his focus of serving american veterans. That didnt seem to satisfy at least one lawmaker. Congressm congressman called on him to resign. He said its not the optics of the shigs that are bad. Its the facts that are bad here. We should point out, too, this is not the only issue were following. Epa cheech scott pruitt defending his travel. Whats the latest there . Scott pruitt telling a number of New Hampshire Media Outlets he had a number of incidents involving his safety that happened since he became the epa administrator. He said he personally has no involvement with where hes seated on planes, whether he flies first class. He says those decisions are left up to his staff and squuecurity detail. Juana summers, thank you. An immigration deal reached which offers 2 million dreamers a path to citizenship. Its still unclear, however, whether that effort has moenoug votes to pass. Suzanne malveaux is on capitol hill. Reporter i spoke with senator bill nelson who was on the phone with senator chuck schumer. Hes optimistic that the bipartisan plan will pass. It went from allowing dreamers parents to stay in the country to three years, eliminating that, prohibiting them from sponsoring their parents path to citizenship. The process, of course, they need 60 votes to move an amendment or a plan for warped. There will be four different plans or amendments put forward. One is a bipartisan effort that is not likely to pass, too favorable to the dreamers. The second from senator toomey is also an amendment that would punish sanctuary cities, not expected to get the 60. What is expected is the third one, the bipartisan plan that includes a ten to 12year path to citizenship for Daca Recipients including the dreamers, 25 billion in a Border Security trust. What it does is it also, though, leaves in the diversity visa lottery program. That is a big one that the president wants to eliminate, and that would be the fourth plan, expected not to pass. Well wait and see what happens in the senate, which of these plans gets that critical 60 and what the president and how the president reacts to it today. Erica . Suzanne, thank you. Still to come, a community in morning. President trump as we mentioned will be addressing the nation shortly. First john berman speaks with a state representative who says hell is waiting for this shooter. Were live in florida next. John berman in parkland, florida. Were following the breaking news here this morning, the tragic breaking news here this morning. I should say, President Trump will address the nation in just a little bit. The first time he will address the School Shooting here directly, though he has put messages out on twitter. I want to make note of one thing, cnn has put out requests to these three republican lawmakers to join us on cnn. They declined our invitation. But they did appear on fox news. There are important questions to address for them this morning. Why is it that the fbi was warned in september that someone with the same name as the School Shooter was bragging he wanted to be a professional School Shooter, how could that happen and how did this individual still buy a gun. How could this individual be expelled from this school because of fear of violence . And then still buy a gun. How could there be concerns about the Mental Health of this individual and he still be allowed to buy a gun. These are important questions. Frankly people should be willing to answer. The questions the answers may not be easy, but the questions are important. Want to bring in Democratic State representative jared moskowitz, he represents this part of florida. Representative, i should say. This is personal for you. You have kids in preschool here who went into lockdown during this shooting. Yeah, the way i found out is my wife called me at 2 30 while i was on the floor of the house that she couldnt pick up other kids because the school was on lockdown. I made a couple of phone ducall to Law Enforcement, and they let me know there was a shooter and the news broke on tv and i told the speaker i had to leave session and i hopped a plane and came here and met the governor and attorney general and the news was still fresh. We didnt know how many victims there was, but as we have seen with all of the shootings, the numbers started at two and then went higher and now we know it is 17. And were broken. One victim is too many. One victim is too many. There are a number of questions now, questions that need to be asked. Im not suggesting the answers are easy. Many republican lawmakers will not join us now to face these questions. Rex tillerson, the secretary of state, said now is not the time to discuss guns right now. What is your response to that . Well, they poll tested that, right . Now is not the time. There is never a time. There is never a time. But we should just be honest. Lets just look the American People in the face, lets go look the families in the face that i sat there for six hours until they found out their kid wasnt missing, their kid was lying dead in the school, lets look them in the face and lets be honest and tell them, were going to do nothing. Were going to talk, were going to spout off all sorts of different talking points from both sides of the aisle, were going to do nothing because we cant look at this just as parents, we have to look at this through a political lens for some reason. Democrats or republicans. But we have created this. We can pray to god. God didnt do this. This is a man made issue. It is only going to be solved by man. And were not going to solve it because the system is rigged. Nowadays there is no really general elections anymore. It is primaries. You say were going to do nothing. You mean the system will do nothing. Correct. Florida state house may decide to do nothing. The u. S. House may decide to do nothing. What will you do . People may try to stop you. People may argue youre wrong. But how can you get past that personally . They will stop me. Just two years ago i put amendments on the floor to ban people who were on the no fly list from being able to buy guns in the state of florida. And they stopped me. They wouldnt hear the amendment because they didnt want their members to have to go on the board on that issue. They said, oh, the no fly list is not dependable. So, meanwhile, they want to talk about building a wall and what can we agree on, though . What areas do you think there might be room for agreement right here . Handguns you cant buy until youre 21. Why not assault weapons you cant buy until youre 21. How about that . They wont agree on anything. How about the fact that on facebook youre telling everybody youre a nazi and want to kill a thousand people, how about we take that into account when you want to go buy an ar15, but we dont. We dont take it into account. Neither side will give an inch. They will do nothing. And so we have seen this show before. We know how this movie is going to end. Im going to do everything i can, next week a bill potentially on the floor to decrease background checks. The department of agriculture is trying to bring a bill that if you want to get a concealed weapons permit in the state of florida, they want to decrease the background check. I will fight against that. I will file 100 amendments and hold the floor hostage for 15 hours. I will say this, i will say maybe there are laws that can make this better, maybe not, maybe there is a societal fix or way to address it, maybe not. But we all need to keep trying. Dont stop trying to keep this from happening again because it is never acceptable. Representative, thanks so much for being with us. Were sorry for you and your community, were glad you were able to make it back to be with your constituents. Thank you. Well never be the same. Thank you, representative. Sorry. Moments away from a Police Briefing that will happen right here behind me. You could get new information on the investigation, we will bring this to you live. Our special coverage continues after this. Yea, so, moms got this cold stuffynose nosleep i got it. Mouthbreather yep, weve got a mouth breather. Well just put on a breathe right strip and. Pow it instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone so you can breathe. And sleep. Go to breatheright. Com today to request a free sample. Theres only one catch. Car of your choice. This is the last car youre ever going to get in your life. You would baby that car. Well, you dont just get one car in your life. You get one mind and one body. And, its what you do today that determines how your mind and body operates, years from now. This is cnn breaking news. All right, john berman here in parkland, florida. Behind me, of course, the high school where 17 people were killed yesterday, also behind me now, you can see the beginning of a setup here, were expecting to hear from the county sheriff very shortly for an update on the investigation. There are so many new questions right now arising in this investigation. So many questions about signs that might have existed over the last year, signs that if the