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finish what he started right now," you know, i just laid there and i thought, "this is it, this is it." >> he says he felt a curtain of darkness falling and just as quickly it was as if the sun came out. tonight, he'll tell you about how dark turned to day. and in barely a heartbeat, he knew he would make it out of the theater alive. we begin with another report. an update on an important story we've been following for months now. try to get answers keeping them honest. we told you about a number of supposed charities which have raised many of millions of dollars but when we examined their tax filings we haven't been able to find much of any of of that money going directly to the people or groups they claim be helping. people like disabled veterans. one charity called the disabled veterans national foundation we found has sent a shelter for homeless veterans thousands of bags of these. coconut m&ms. as absurd as it sounds, as insulting it is to common sense and most importantly to america's wounded warriors, there's an organization out there claiming that coconut m&ms and other useless knickknacks are what disabled veterans nee according to the tax returns, the disabled veterans nation foundation, the dvnf has taken in, get this, $85 million in donations over the last four years. $85 million. and while we can't find much of any of that money being given directly to disabled veterans, the dvnf says they do give away what the group claims are millions of dollars in useful stuff to small veterans charities around the country. drew griffin has been following the money right from the start and he's been getting a lot of doors slammed in his face. >> hi, how are you? >> we're not going to be doing any on camera. so the bottom line is you're not going to give me an interview. >> where is the money going? i'm trying to reach mr. shoeoff. oh, he's not in? so here is the question, raised over three years, and none of the money has gone to any veterans. ma'am? >> as you can see, it hasn't been easy. you would think any charity who would want to be transparent would answer questions. if they weren't doing anything wrong. not this one. he did manage to visit one of those small charities where he found some items that could help vets. he also found a lot useless so-called gifts in kind, including those coconut candy m&ms that apparently don't melt in your hand but sure leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. >> candy's one of the most requested -- >> reporter: roy runs charity services international. a for-profit warehouse and distribution center in fort mill, south carolina. >> we send out to hundreds of organizations. we send on behalf of our charities out to these organizations. we just handle the shipping. >> among his 50 clients are the spca international and the disabled veterans national foundation. one supposedly helping pets. the other vets. and both as we previously reported taking in millions in donations. while giving out almost nothing in cash. what they do give away is stuff. like this stuff j.d. simpson showed us. the disabled veterans national foundation sent his homeless veterans shelter in alabama. he got hundreds of pairs of shiny navy dress shoes. some emergency blankets. some broken furniture. and lots and lots of coconut m&ms. >> didn't have a lot of use for 11,000 bags. >> reporter: u.s. vets, a charity in prescott, arizona got an even stranger shipment. chefs coats. and football pants. >> makes a real -- >> reporter: roy tidwell says he arranged the shipments and insists both of these charities knew what he was sending and they wanted it. the group that got the chefs coat has no idea why they got chefs coat. zero idea. and football pants? you think there's a homeless veterans football team out there? >> absolutely. >> reporter: you do? >> absolutely. there's 300-bed -- >> reporter: in prescott, arizona, minor league of homeless veterans playing football? >> i don't doubt that homeless vets play football, basketball >> reporter: i'm sure you don't doubt it. i've talked to those people. they said they didn't need this stuff. >> they didn't need it. they shouldn't have approved the inventory when they got it. it doesn't just show up. >> reporter: actually, according to u.s. vets, the vets group out in arizona, those football pants and everything else did just show up. we did not request chefs coats, hats, football pants or anything from charity services international. the group tells cnn. and u.s. vets says, officially requested dvnf and charity services international not to ship us any more gifts in kind. as for the coconut m&ms, j.d. simpson says he did get an e-mail that candy was on the way. he didn't think much of it. till 11,000 bags. one-half ton of coconut m&ms, arrived. chef coats and football pants and coconut m&ms may be just about worthless to a bunch of homeless vets. but to the charities that sent them, they have real value. a value that seems incredibly inflated when they are written down on charity tax returns. take the spca international. a group that's raised $27 million to supposedly help soldiers and their pets. group's manager wouldn't tell us anything about the money. >> no, i'm not going to reveal that, none of it, i can't answer any of your questions right now. believe me, i would love to. >> reporter: but on its tax returns, we did learn about a certain shipment of animal medicines the spca international donated to an animal welfare group in nepal. cnn was provided with the invoice. it shows an itemized list of drugs that the charity values at $816,000. a huge gift in kind. but when the gift arrived in nepal, the charity receiving the drugs valued them for customs purposes at a mere $2,500. tidwell arranged the shipment. how can it be $816,000 here and $2,500 there? >> the value that's placed on something according to law is placed accord to the exit market. it would be what you would have to pay for it in the place that it's exiting. the fact they might be able to purchase similar medicines made in a back room in nepal for a far lower price doesn't change the value of the medicines that are u.s. produced. >> reporter: but $816,000 versus $2,500? that seems -- >> yeah, that's outrageous. >> reporter: that didn't sound right. so we cross-checked the bill of lading against the international drug pricing guide. which values drugs for nonprofit donation. according to our calculation, the charity in nepal had it just about right. $2,600. each pill worth less than 2 cents. >> how can i explain that? i can't. but i could dig into it and try to explain it. >> reporter: he never got back to us. but in an e-mail spca international told us it follows industry standards in accounting regulations. in placing values on donated goods. lou kingston, who runs a charity based in pittsburgh called brother's brother says he's seen many charities inflate values of gifts in kind. why? to trick donors. >> that means they can declare a lower overhead cost. they can claim that they're more effective to the public than the real dollars might indicate. >> reporter: and here are the numbers. in its 2011 tax return, dvnf reported $29 million in cash donations, but also said it received, and then donated, nearly $9 million of gifts in kind. spca international received $14 million in cash donations. and received and then shipped $5 million of gifts in kind. the only actual cash money involved in the gifts was the half million dollars roy tidwell was paid to arrange the shipment. >> it's a very simplistic answer to say, why don't they give away money? >> reporter: when they're collecting tens of millions of dollars of it. >> my portion of it is getting goods to help people who are suffering. goods that i can deliver for pennies on the dollar. and most places that get them are very appreciative. >> reporter: even if it is 11,000 bags of coconut m&ms. >> drew, with each report you do on this, i just find it more and more stunning. i find it amazing that he can go on the air and say he's providing a valuable service. when we've shown they're shipping stuff like m&ms. even the medicines have a value on paper that doesn't make any sense. >> it doesn't make any sense to the state of south carolina either. that's where tidwell's based. the secretary of state's office is now investigating the business specifically asking him to provide the contracts that he has with these charities. >> what about the charities themselves? >> there's been a potentially huge development there. it's focusing on the for-profit fund-raising connected with so many of these charities. quadriga art. we've told you about them before. the company that actually is making tens of millions of dollars in this charity business. the senate finance committee, which began looking into these charities after our reporting, is expanding that investigation. it is going to begin looking at quadriga art. that company's refused to talk to us. we've learned they will be called on to answer questions from senate investigators who want to know what we want to know. how can so much money be donated and hardly any of it go to the veterans or the animals or the people that it was intended for? >> it's just stunning. drew, appreciate the reporting as always. i do find it stunning an organization can raise tens of millions of dollars for disabled veterans allegedly and the money isn't going to disabled veterans. going to some fund raising organization. and again, i come back to, if they had nothing to hide, why won't they answer our questions? i mean, people donating $58 million to them, you think they'd want to open up their books. you'd think they want to show exactly where that money has gone. let us know what you think. we're on facebook. twitter, @andersoncooper. i'll be tweeting about this tonight. this man, shot three times in theater number nine. he thought his life was over. instead, thankfully, it's just beginning again. also, a father's last message to his children and their enduring message to him. you'll hear from his kids. e fire to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream solutionism. the new optimism.™ well hello, welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? 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[ announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ we continue to remember the victims and survivors of the aurora shooting. friends and family remembered micayla medek today. the funeral the second of the 12. she was the youngest of three children. working her way through college at a local subway. saving money to travel india where some of her co-workers were from. she was just 23 years old. he is 28 but could have just as easily died along with micayla. peers did -- telling his story tonight to randi kaye. >> reporter: for the first time since the shooting, piers owe ferrell didn't wake up this morning in a hospital bed. pierce never thought he would live to tell his story about what happened inside theater nine. he was sitting in the third row, just one seat from the aisle, right near the exit door where the shooter entered. >> when i saw him literally almost stopped. everything was in slow motion. i couldn't even hear the movie anymore. i couldn't hear anything. like, literally, i could feel like i could hear his foot steps walking into the theater. i mean, it was just -- i was just locked in on him. >> reporter: pierce immediately noticed the suspect's shooter's body armor and gas mask. >> it was just a presence, you know, literally i could feel like just a cloud of evil just walking into the theater. >> reporter: he was so close pierce saw the gunman throw the tear gas, then open fire. pierce was hit three times. twice in his left foot by both the shotgun and assault rifle. and then again with the glock pistol in his upper arm. the bullet shattered his bone. >> my whole left side of my body was just radiating pain. so i didn't know if it was in the arm. i didn't know if it was in the back. but, really, i mean that bullet just hit me and -- i mean, it >> reporter: pierce dove to the ground and covered his head. he could taste blood in his mouth and noticed it started to pool around his head on the floor. when the shooting stopped for a moment, he tried to make it to the exit with his friend who had been shot in the leg. pierce collapsed. his friend, thinking he was dead, escaped. pierce's head was just inches from the gunman's boot. >> and i could just feel his presence in the theater. i mean, i could feel him walking around me. i'm fairly -- >> reporter: like a shadow? >> yeah, a shadow. i could just feel it over me. >> reporter: pierce, who is deeply spiritual, thought the gunman was going to kill him, so he started praying and made peace with dying. then he started thinking about his brother and father and realized he didn't want them to blame god for his death. at that very moment he says the gunman simply walked away. >> i could feel the evil just running out of that theater. and then all of a sudden, he just calmly walked to his car. >> reporter: you think god was in the theater that night? >> absolutely. >> reporter: you think he saved you? >> yes. there's no doubt in my mind that god saved me. >> reporter: why, why you? >> i've prayed so hard for the last year for the lord to just give me a chance to show the world who he is, to show the world. >> reporter: and you think this was his way? >> -- how wonderful he is. i do, i believe that he saved me out of that theater so i can just show the world that there is light. >> reporter: to those who say this wouldn't have happened if god was in the theater, pierce says he believes god's hand created two miracles. the shooter's rifle jammed. and the bombs at his apartment never went off. preventing the loss of even more people. pierce has already found it in his heart to forgive the man who nearly killed him. and hopes one day to meet him and pray with him. what would you say to him? >> i would say "i forgive you." and i would ask him if i could pray for him. and because the truth is every person in this world deserves forgiveness and every one of us we've committed. but i pray he gets life in prison. and i pray in those 40, 50 years that somehow, some way, god can find his way into his heart and forgive. >> did pierce say anything about how he got out of the theater, who saved him? >> he actually remembers laying on the floor of the movie theater. he said two police officers tried to carry him out but his arm was hurting him so much they ended up walking him out. when he got outside, he laid down on the concrete just outside the back door of theater nine and he remembers, anderson, seeing the shooter's guns laying on the concrete next to him. he also remembers them working on the little girl, veronica, the 6-year-old girl who died. but it was in the end police officers who actually brought him to the hospital. when he got out last night, the first thing he did was visit his friend who was at another hospital, and he's recovering as well. >> good to hear that, randi, thanks. not far from the theater, there's a makeshift memorial site bearing 12 white crosses. this is brook and weston cowden, along with other family members, at the cross for their father, gordon. brook and her sister sierra were with him in the theater. on the cross it says, i love you both. underneath, their father's name. a second inscription, i love you, dad, and forever will. brook and weston cowden join us now. i'm so sorry for your loss. i can't imagine what this has been like foyou. brook, how are you holding up? >> it's a lot of off and on. i think our dad raised us and continues with the strength of us that we have strength but at moments you'll just break down and lose it. >> weston, i read your dad described in a lot of great ways. somebody described him as a true texas gentleman. what do you want people to know about him? what was he like? >> my dad taught me what it meant to be a man. he was -- he was a father first and last. and always. that was -- that was just what he was all about. we were trying to go through and figure out for the sake of the eulogy and such what he was and what he was into. but, really, it was just, well, he had -- he had us four kids. and that was just the life that he lived. and what he was all about. >> you guys were the focus of his life. >> yes. that was just -- he was a dad. >> brook, your last days with your dad included some really special memories i understand. >> yes, sir. actually, hours before we went to the premiere, he and i had recently declared ourselves running buddies. we went to a local park where there was a concert going on and we actually danced at that concert and, i mean, i'll remember that dance for a very long time so -- >> you know, weston, we've been trying to just give family members the opportunity just to talk about who they lost and what those people mean to them. is there anything else you want people to know about your dad, about the life he lived? >> just -- he was -- the world's a worse place without him. that's -- not to sound as grim as it came out. but he was -- he just brought so much life. he lived so passionately. lived life like it was supposed to be lived i guess would be the biggest thing. he was a father. just -- that's honestly the biggest thing about him, was he was living for the four of us. he was passionate in his faith. like you had mentioned, a southern gentleman. he was living his life for all the right reasons. >> i understand your family set up a special fund in your dad's memory. >> yes. he did. it's under our name. >> it's -- i guess the -- you would go to chase bank and it's the gordon cowden memorial fund. >> we'll put that on our website. they can go to basically any chase bank to make that donation. brook and weston, again, my heart goes out to you, and i wish you peace and strength to you and your family in the days ahead. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> there's other news to report on tonight. we want to take you inside syria. several thousand residents of this bombed out city are try to survive. living in cellars or wherever they can to find shelter from the missiles and mortars. a documentary filmmaker has just returned from a c