Return to Transcripts main page

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

High School Shooting Near Seattle Leaves Two Dead, Including Gunman

Aired October 24, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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


JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We have been following this breaking story, school shooting north of Seattle at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. It's about a 45-minute drive north of Seattle. Two students are dead, we have been told, including the gunman, who we have been told is a lone gunman. Also, a student is dead. Four others are injured. Three of those were injured critically with head wounds.

Local police confirmed this last hour that the trigger man took his own life. The three critically wounded are now in surgery at Providence Medical Center in Everett, Washington. A team of about 25 doctors, trauma, heart, vascular, neurosurgeons, all working to make sure no one else dies.

Let's go straight to our justice correspondent, Evan Perez, who's in studio here with me.

Evan, federal law enforcement sources tell you they believe up to six people were shot, including the shooter. What else are you hearing?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Including the shooter.

Jake, at this point, they're fearful that we might have some more bad news on this, because the injuries to these other kids was severe. So obviously that's what the doctors are working at that hospital to try to event. But we know that two are dead from the scene.

It doesn't look like from what we're hearing from inside the school, from the students that there was much of any warning here, because it seemed to be a kid that everyone seemed to like. And he suddenly stood up and started shooting. We don't know what exactly might have triggered this. The ATF and the FBI are on the scene to try to help local authorities try to piece together what happened here exactly.

TAPPER: We heard from a student earlier in the previous hour who said that the alleged shooter was perhaps a victim of bullying.

Is that anything that your law enforcement sources are telling you, anything more we know about the alleged shooter?

PEREZ: That's what they're digging into right now. They're looking at his social media accounts, trying to see what exactly he might have been talking about in recent days. We know that they have a name that they're working on. We know that

they're looking at those accounts to try to see whether or not he displayed or said anything publicly about what he was intending to do.

TAPPER: All right, Evan Perez, thank you so much. Stay with us, if you would, and share your reporting.

Let's go now to Jordan Luton. He's on the phone. He's an eyewitness to the shooting.

We should note, for anybody who is concerned, we did seek permission of his parents before he joined us.

Jordan, tell us what you saw.

JORDAN LUTON, EYEWITNESS: I saw Jaylen Fryberg (ph), the shooter.

He walked into lunch probably about five minutes after everyone had already eaten, and the table he went up to, he came up from behind, and had a gun in his hand, and fired about six bullets into the backs of them. And they were his friends.

So it wasn't just random. But I'm not sure which -- like, why he would do it. But I was sitting down two tables away. And I heard one loud bang, and I was wondering what it was. And then I heard about four or five more. And people started screaming.

And people started getting to the ground and going for the nearest exit. And so, I hit the ground. But after he'd already put some bullets into the back of students, he turned and looked at me and my girlfriend, Harley (ph), and kind of gave us a smirk, and turned around -- that was as he was turning and then shot more bullets outside, and then went outside and shot more.

By that time, I'm out of the school on my way to getting off the campus. And he shot more bullets outside, and then shot himself. But through the day, he was carrying the gun through -- in his backpack and nobody knew about it.

And he's just someone no one would have expected it to happen.

TAPPER: Jordan, that sounds just absolutely horrific. We're all so glad that you're OK. No child, no young man should have to go through what you and Harley went through.

Jordan, stay with us.

There's a press conference right now with the police. We're going to listen to that. And then we're going to come back to you, if you would stay with us.

LUTON: All right.

ROBB LAMOUREUX, MARYSVILLE, WASHINGTON, POLICE COMMANDER: It is not known -- I do not know where the deceased were located.

QUESTION: Commander, do you happen to know whether the deceased took his own life or was he shot by police?

LAMOUREUX: I don't know that at this point.

QUESTION: Do you happen to know if the shooter killed the second person that was...

LAMOUREUX: I don't know that at this point.

QUESTION: Do you have any information (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Do you have any information (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: Not at this point.

I will be -- just so you know, I will be going to a command center briefing at 1:30. And I will get further information at that time and I will be able to come back at the 2:30 briefing and have more substantial information here.

QUESTION: There's been a tremendous amount of reporting on Twitter. I don't know if I can call it reporting, but chatter on Twitter about who the shooter was, what the motive was, how many people have been injured, where people have been taken. Can you just recap what...

(CROSSTALK)

LAMOUREUX: I don't have -- yes, at this point, we're confirming that there are two deceased, that our officers have swept the building and -- buildings -- and that we are doing a second check through those, more thorough.

And that's basically what I have. I will learn more additional information at the command briefing here at 1:30.

QUESTION: Are there any students, as far as you know, who still haven't been able to contact their families?

LAMOUREUX: I don't know what precisely is happening at the scene at this time. Yes, we are still in the process of bussing students to the reunification location.

QUESTION: Commander, can you tell us if the second deceased person is still at the school or...

LAMOUREUX: I do not know if they have been transported or not. I do know that there were no airlift transports. All transports were ground.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: I do not know if they're still at scene.

QUESTION: Do you know anything about the motive?

LAMOUREUX: I have no idea.

QUESTION: Were any staff members injured or killed in this?

LAMOUREUX: I don't know. We're not confirming anything else other than there are two deceased at this time.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: That's a good question.

It is a large campus. And there are multiple buildings. And so it will take some time. We're going to take our time and make sure that everything is completely safe and clear. But I don't have a timeline of how long that will take.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... threats to the school or anything like? Were there any threats to the school in days prior?

(CROSSTALK)

LAMOUREUX: Not that I have been made aware of, no.

QUESTION: Do you have any information about the weapon (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: No, I don't.

QUESTION: Commander, what can you tell us about how long it took a police response to get to the school and what happened when they got there?

LAMOUREUX: I will have more of that information for you at 2:30. I will go to the command center at 1:30. We're having a briefing. I will have more information at the 2:30 reefing.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: Well, it's just to make sure that what -- when we do an initial sweep, it's very quick and it's to locate students or any other shooters. So, this one is, we slow it down. We do it by grid. And we make sure all buildings are in fact clear.

QUESTION: Can you confirm that (OFF-MIKE)

LAMOUREUX: I don't know that. I don't know that they are all out.

QUESTION: Are you getting help from any other law enforcement agencies?

LAMOUREUX: We are. We are getting help from the Snohomish CountySheriff's Office and Arlington police. And here at the media center, we have multi-agencies here. The Snohomish County Multi- Agency Response Team, our smart team, is on scene.

They will be assisting Marysville P.D. with the investigation. QUESTION: We're hearing the FBI is also involved.

LAMOUREUX: I have not heard that.

QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about any kind of planing or drills that you had at this high school, shed some light into how you prepare for a horrible day like this to potentially happen?

LAMOUREUX: Yes, we have done training at the school. It's with our SWAT team. I cannot say when exactly that took place or when the last time that took place.

So I'm going to go to the 1:30 command briefing. I will be back at 2:30 with some more information. Thank you.

TAPPER: That was -- Marysville Police Commander Robert Lamoureux Marysville Police Commander Robert Lamoureux giving a briefing there at Marysville-Pilchuck high school.

I want to go back now to our eyewitness, Jordan Luton.

Jordan, two things, Jordan, before we start talking again. One, any time that you want to get off the phone, don't worry about politeness. Just say, I'm going to go now and that's fine. We understand you have been through a horrific, horrific experience. So, please feel free to do that.

The second thing is, we're not currently going to name the shooter on air. If you could refer to him as the shooter, that would be great, just because we're not sure yet that his parents have been notified or anything like that.

So, that being said, Jordan, if you're still with us, do you have any idea what motive might have been? You said that the shooter killed at least one of the people he shot was -- were his friends?

LUTON: I know a few of them were his friends.

I have no idea what his motive was, because, yesterday, at football practice, he was all fine. We were talking, having a good time, and then today, just -- just horrible. I don't know what went through his head or what caused him to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: And you said that he -- this initially took place in the cafeteria. He took a gun out from his backpack?

LUTON: Yes.

TAPPER: And then he fired. And then you said he went outside and shot other people. Outside where? Outside the school building?

LUTON: Outside the cafeteria building.

TAPPER: Outside the cafeteria building. So, just in the general area. I know that's a big campus on the Marysville-Pilchuck High School. So just outside, he shot other people outside or at least he fired his gun outside?

LUTON: He fired his gun outside. I'm not sure who was hit outside or anything. I just know he fired his gun more out there.

TAPPER: Were -- we know that one person has been killed, other than the shooter turning the gun on himself and killing himself, and that four others has been taken to hospitals, three of them with critical head wounds and they are currently in surgery at Providence Medical Center in Everett. The fourth, the wounds were apparently not as serious. That person is at Harborview Hospital in Seattle.

Are all the victims, as far as you know, are all of them students? Were all of them sitting at that table? Were there five people that he shot at that table?

LUTON: There was probably 10 people or so at the table. I'm pretty sure he shot at specific people, because they were pretty good friends with him. And then after he shot them, he went outside.

TAPPER: But you think all the victims that have been either killed or taken to hospitals were at that table?

LUTON: There might be some people that were shot outside that went to the hospital. But I know that the ones -- there were some at that table.

TAPPER: Jordan -- if you're just tuning in, we're talking to Jordan Luton, who is a student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, where there was a horrific shooting earlier today.

Jordan, what year are you? Are you a sophomore?

LUTON: I'm a freshman.

TAPPER: You're a freshman. Is -- was the shooter again, without naming, if you would, was the shooter also a freshman?

LUTON: He was.

TAPPER: We have heard that he was on the football team and the wrestling team; is that right?

LUTON: He was on the football team. Wrestling hasn't started yet.

TAPPER: Right.

Is -- another student told us that he was -- obviously, this doesn't excuse anything, but another student told us, told CNN that he was -- he had been bullied recently. Do you know anything about that?

LUTON: I'm not sure if he -- I know maybe two weeks ago, someone said something racist to him, and then he ended up getting in a fight with him and gave him a pretty good pounding.

TAPPER: Somebody said something racist to -- so the shooter is not white?

LUTON: He is not. He is a Native American.

TAPPER: He's a Native American.

OK. How is your girlfriend? You said that you and your girlfriend were hiding under the table, and then he looked at you. That must have been terrifying. Are you guys holding up OK?

LUTON: Yes. It was really like just shocking then. And like the gun bullets almost like (INAUDIBLE) throughout my body.

And we were just trying to get out of there and then just for probably 20 minutes, just in constant tears and everything, and just because he was a well-known kid. He won homecoming prince and -- at our school, and pretty popular kid. No one would have expected it from him. And then people who were shot were also pretty well-known and everything. It just took us all by surprise.

TAPPER: Jordan, we have heard from other parents and students that your school has run drills to prepare for a possible incident like this. Is that right?

LUTON: Not that I know of. This year, we haven't. We have ran fire drills. But we ain't had, like, a shooting drill or a lockdown or anything.

TAPPER: Jordan, I'm going to let you go because I think you need to take some time. This has obviously been a horrific experience for you. We are so glad that you are OK. We are so glad that Harley, your girlfriend, is OK, and what a horrible, horrible thing for any young person to have to experience.

Thank you for talking to us. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to hug your mom and dad extra close tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.

LUTON: Thanks.

TAPPER: We're going to take a quick break. We're going to be back with more information about this horrific school shooting in Washington state.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to our viewers around the country and around the world. I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

We are following fast-breaking developments in Washington state. Two are dead, four injured after a school shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. We just spoke with an eyewitness, freshman Jordan Luton, who saw the horrific events inside the cafeteria unfold.

We're learning new details about the shooter. He was popular, he was a freshman. He was homecoming prince. He played on the football team. He was Native American.

Let's bring in CNN's Alexandra Field.

We are not going to release the name of the shooter. But, Alexandra, what more can you tell us about this horrific incident?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, this is a high school where 2,500 kids go to school, a fairly large school, north of Seattle. At 10:30 this morning, their lives all changed. They're all going to be marked by this.

We're hearing from students who say that they thought that it was a fire drill when the alarms went off because naturally, Friday morning in high school, 10:30, you hear the alarms and you think that it is a fire drill. Certainly, they heard the gunshots after that. They knew this was not a drill.

One student tells CNN that he is the one who actually called police first. He says he was in that cafeteria where this began to unfold. He says he dialed 911 and then he was able to hand the phone over to a teacher who was nearby. But he said there was blood on his shoes, that there was blood everywhere.

We know that six people were shot. That includes the gunman who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But once the shots rang out, the entire school went into lockdown. This school like so many others across the country prepares for a scenario like this. They train the teachers, and the staff and the students to react in this kind of event.

And this case, we understand that these procedures had to be followed, everyone in lockdown. We're hearing from students who are inside their classrooms huddled together with teachers, trying to understand what was going on.

These events unfold over the course of a few hours. This is a campus that includes several buildings. We're hearing from law enforcement officers who say they have to do a thorough sweep, not just one sweep, but a second sweep of every building on that campus. That means it takes time to go from room to room, classroom to classroom. Hallway to hallway, stairway to stairway and release these students. And you saw, some of them came out running, some of them walking from the building with their hands up in the air.

What we've been hearing from law enforcement throughout the course of the afternoon is they're telling parents who are obviously terrified and alarmed to go to a nearby church. They're trying to evacuate all the students from that school, bring them to the church. From the church, they can take buses home, or they can meet their parents at the church where they'll be signed out law enforcement officers.

TAPPER: All right. Thank you, Alexandra. We're going to check back to you in a little bit.

But right now, I want to go to Gerald Holston. He's on the phone. One of his students is -- I'm sorry, one of his children -- he has two children in the student who are students. One is still physically in the school.

Mr. Holston, can you still hear me?

JERY HOLSTON, PARENT (via telephone): Yes, I hear you. It's Jery, by the way.

TAPPER: OK, I'm sorry, Jery.

So, most importantly, both of your children are OK?

HOLSTON: Yes, they are.

TAPPER: OK, that's --

HOLSTON: My son is at -- has been transported over to the local church they're taking them. And as far as I know, I haven't heard anything about my daughter being released out of the high school yesterday yet. I'm just hanging by.

I know my son's safe. My daughter is still in the school. And it's really got me on edge here.

TAPPER: Your son is at the church. That's where students who have been cleared to leave the school, the police are going throughout the entire campus and checking room by room and making sure that there are no other shooters, making sure there are no other victims.

You're son's been cleared. He's at the church. That's the gathering place, is that right?

HOLSTON: Yes, apparently.

TAPPER: And your daughter, you have had contact with her, though, right?

HOLSTON: Yes, I have. I've talked to both of them. My son right as it was happening, he was frantic. He called me, "Dad, please, please, come get me, there's someone shooting." He was outside hiding by the football field.

Yes, you know, as a father, it's the worst call you could ever hear.

TAPPER: How old are your children?

HOLSTON: My son's 14. My daughter is 17 1/2.

TAPPER: It's something that I think all parents have nightmares about, hearing about an incident like this taking place at their school. Was the first time you heard about it from your son?

HOLSTON: Yes, yes, yes, yes. My son called me. Then my daughter called me. She's pretty shook up.

TAPPER: And your son was outside -- we heard a few minutes ago from a student who was a witness, said at one point the shooter went outside and was shooting outside, hopefully nowhere near your son. Did he hear gunshots in the distance or was it --

HOLSTON: You know, I haven't had a chance to totally talk to him a lot. I'll probably know more once I actually talk to him.

TAPPER: For people who are not familiar with Marysville-Pilchuck High School or the town of Marysville, it is 45 minutes north of Seattle. Is it a suburb of Seattle? Is it a separate town -- tell us a little bit about the community.

HOLSTON: Yes, we're a good 45 minutes north of Seattle. I wouldn't say it's a suburb. We're in our own town. And I would say probably two hours -- an hour and a half south of Canada. So --

TAPPER: All right. Jery Holston, we're so glad your daughter and your son are all right.

We're going to go now to Providence Medical Center in Everett, Washington, where we're hearing about the three, we think, students -- they have all survived and they're in critical condition. Let's listen in.

JOANNE ROBERTS, PROVIDENCE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: One young man seems to have gotten through surgery and is on his way to the intensive care unit. We're working with families to try to establish identities.

So, that's the update on the young people. I'll tell you a little bit about the circumstances of their arrival here. We had four trauma teams activated. And they were all ready when the young people arrived. They were all brought by land. We had about 25 providers, as I said, two neurosurgeons, two heart surgeons, a chest surgeon, a vascular surgeon, two trauma surgeons. About 15 emergency department doctors.

Trauma teams were ready. They really performed very, very well in a very difficult circumstance. They'd drilled for this before. Unfortunately, we've seen these shootings across the country. We have dreaded this day in this community. But we were prepared to handle these kids when they came here.

Right now, our focus is on establishing the identities of the young people and on supporting the families who are coming to our center. Many of these families don't know if their children were among the injured. So, there's a lot of uncertainty. We have chaplains mobilized and are working with them right now.

REPORTER: Could you detail more of the patients here, their genders, their ages?

ROBERTS: I can tell you their genders. There were two young women and one young man who remain here. One young man was transferred to Harborview.

REPORTER: What do you suggest the families at home who are watching this who attend Marysville Pilchuck High School, what do you want these families to do? Who should they be calling? ROBERTS: I think if I were a family member and I couldn't establish

contact with my child or one of their friends, I would probably come here.

REPORTER: I'm sorry, I'm a little confused here. You have three here that are still in critical condition. Marysville Police Department are reporting there are two confirmed deaths. None of those deaths involve people here at the hospital?

ROBERTS: No, my understanding is those deaths were declared at the scene.

REPORTER: The families who are here already, how are they doing? What's being done to assist them?

ROBERTS: Well, I think we can all imagine their fear and their horror right now, each and every one of them is suffering tremendously. The uncertainty can be worse than just about anything.

REPORTER: Can you give an update on the other two victims? Are they in surgery right now?

ROBERTS: Two are in surgery -- all are either in the operating room or are on their way up to the ICU. One in their way up to the ICU. All received surgery.

REPORTER: Who was the condition of the fourth who arrived and you sent to Harborview?

ROBERTS: I really can't say. I was told by the emergency department medical director, Dr. Ryan Keay. She looked at the patient and felt his wounds were not immediately life-threatening.

REPORTER: Do you have any baseline prognosis, based on what you've seen of the wounds, I mean, how they're doing -- you said one seemed to do all right getting through and is in ICU --

ROBERTS: I don't know.

REPORTER: Could you talk about the types of wounds? All upper body?

ROBERTS: All three had primary head wounds.

REPORTER: Were they all gunshot wounds?

ROBERTS: I believe so.

REPORTER: Just to be clear: all three have head wounds?

ROBERTS: Primary head wounds. There are some secondary wounds. But primarily head wounds.

REPORTER: The one that's been moved to the ICU, is that the other -- is that the male that remains here?

ROBERTS: Correct. REPORTER: And all four of these people are believed to have been

students?

ROBERTS: I don't know. I know they were all young people.

REPORTER: They were all young people. Younger than you would expect --

ROBERTS: Yes.

REPORTER: The first responders, they've been cleared (INAUDIBLE)

ROBERTS: I'm not sure what the first respondents' protocols are. Our protocols for our staff are a lot of support for our staff.