astronomers. did you feel that? it happened. i hear that s super dangerous. good morning and welcome to early start. as 5:00 a.m. in the east. up first, it was an afternoon of horror for holiday shoppers in suburban portland. police say 10,000 people were inside the clackamas town center when a gunman opened fire. mass chaos followed. three were dead, including the gunman, and a young woman left critically wounded. the mall is supposed to be a place that we can all take our families, feel comfortable that this is a great place, especially the hole diday seaso like this. these things aren t supposed to happen. let s get right to the scene. dan, what can you tell us? reporter: well, the main question this morning, and it s really the question anytime you have one of these shootings, is who was the shooter, what was the motive, and were any of the victims targeted or was it simply random. at this point we don t know any of that. when we do know is it started about
holiday shoppers scrambling for cover at a crowded mall after a gunman opened fire. 10,000 people inside the clackamas town center mall when a man wearing a mask suddenly started firing. chaos erupted. when it was over, three people dead, including the shooter himself. a young woman left wounded, fighting for her life right now. the mall is supposed to be a place we can all take our families, feel comfortable that this is a great place, especially at the holiday season like this. and these things aren t supposed to happen. i want to begin with dan simon live in portland. we know that the police have identified the shooter, but is there any indication of a motive at this point? not yet, soledad. any time there is a shooting like this, that s always the first question. what was the shooter? what was the motive? was this a random shooting? we don t know the answers to any of the questions. we know that the shooting happened about 3:30 in the afternoon. a mall full of peopl
that this was a heart breaking tragedy, by any standard. and many, many people will be affected by this terrible act of violence every day for the rest of their lives. and we should keep them in our thoughts and prayers. on the other hand, i think we all need to be very thankful that this incident wasn t much worse. we will take you live to portland for more on the shooter in just a moment here. but first, the victims. and this is where this briefing got emotional. i want you to listen here to the sheriff spokesman describe the victims and the requests on behalf of the families. this first statement comes from the family of cindy rule, age 54, from portland. cindy was everybody s friend, she was a wonderful person who was very caring and put others first. the family has advised us they want time and space to grieve their loss and will not be giving interviews at this time. the family will make a statement at an unspecified later date through the sheriff s office. this is
starting to change in the wake of the connecticut school massacre. signs of this is not just another tragedy that we talk about for a week and move on, but has changed the sensibility of the news business. that has some commentators rethinking their long-standing opposition to gun control. i knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that i want. that i demand for my children. friday changed everything. it must change everything. it is time for congress to put children before deadly darkness. time for politicians to start focusing more on protecting our school yards than putting together their next fund-raiser. a very different message for the media in a rather unusual tellvised speech by the nra chief executive wayne lapierre. the media demonized gun owners. what role should the media play in this emotional debate? a new movie about the hunt for osama bin laden revives a passionate debate about torture. no birth cert
crowley begins right now. the nra steps into the gun debate and house speaker boehner gets tripped up on the fiscal cliff by his own party. today in the aftermath of newtown, the national rifle association offers a safe school plan. the only think that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun. our conversation with nra point man asa hutchinson. connecticut senator joe lieberman on the culture of violence. then the gop s civil war. not the outcome that i wanted, but that was the will of the house. republican versus republican on the fiscal cliff with congressman steven la tourest and mick mulvaney. weighing in, usa today s bureau chief susan page, ron brownstein and michael duffy, washington bureau chief for time magazine. i m candy crowley. this is state of the union. nine days after the mass shooting deaths in newtown, the president of the national rifle association joined the gun debate. i call on congress today to act immediately to appropriat