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CNN NEWSROOM

Alison Parker And Adam Ward Remembered; Details Emerge Of Flanagan's Conflicts At Work; Obama: Guns Kill Far More Americans Than Terrorism; Hillary Clinton Calls For Gun Control Legislation; European Markets Up In Early Trading; Two U.S. Journalists Shot To Death On Live TV; German Chancellor Heckled Over Migrants. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 27, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:17] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Tributes are pouring in for two television journalists who were murdered in the middle of a live report.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: We're learning details about the gunman's troubling history.

CHURCH: Later, global markets look to rebound following what has been a rocky few days for investors.

BARNETT: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world for our second hour. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN NEWSROOM. Another deadly shooting in the U.S. but one that was especially shocking, as it happened on live television.

BARNETT: A reporter and her cameraman were killed as they were doing a live interview. Outside the Roanoke, Virginia television station where the pair worked people are leaving flowers and balloons in a makeshift memorial.

CHURCH: Stunned friends and co-workers are mourning Alison Parker and Adam Ward. The woman they were interviewing was also gunned down. She is in stable condition after surgery.

BARNETT: Now the gunman was a former reporter who had worked there at the Roanoke station, but was fired two years ago. Vester Flanagan later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

CHURCH: Alison Parker started working full time at WDBJ a year ago after a summer internship.

BARNETT: She was teamed with Adam Ward on the morning show. Randy kaya has more on what brought both of them to journalism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON PARKER: I wanted to become a doctor or a pharmacist, but as a journalist I get to cover those types of fields. RANDY KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how viewers got to know Alison Parker, a video produced by the station showing her smiling, full of life.

PARKER: I absolutely love Mexican food, very, very spicy food. Enchiladas, tacos, you name it, I will eat it, and the spicier the better.

KAYE: The 24-year-old Virginia native signed on with television station, WDBJ, last year as a morning reporter. Alison covered everything from zoo animals to weather even appearing on CNN last November.

Alison graduated from Virginia's James Madison University in 2012 and was the news editor for the school paper. She loved white water rafting and kayaking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She took any assignment and ran with it. Her personality came through. She was smart and gave her all to the job.

KAYE: Alison was dating the station's evening anchor, Chris Hurst, though the couple had kept their relationship quiet. On Twitter, Hurst said he was numb. Writing they were very much in love. They just moved in together after dating nine months, the best nine months of our lives, he wrote. We wanted to get married. She was the most radiant woman I ever met and for some reason she loved me back.

WDBJ journalist, Adam Ward, was also killed at the scene. After a stint on air, he became a photographer and was Alison's morning partner for the last year. They first met at the station as interns. They were a good team and it showed.

PARKER: Adam come from out in front of the camera. How do you feel right now?

ADAM WARD: I rolled an ankle, but we're good since then. It's respect. It's very form fitting. We'll say.

KAYE: Adam an ex-athlete was a hard worker, who was always smiling and respectful. He joined the station in 2011 after graduating from Virginia Tech. He enrolled the same year a gunman killed 32 people in a deadly rampage at the school.

Those who knew him said he had a heart of gold. Adam was 27 and engaged to the station's morning producer, Melissa Ott, who was at work in the control room watching the broadcast when the shooting happened live on air.

It was her last day at the station. She had taken a new job and Adam may not have been far behind. He told her recently I'm going to get out of news. I think I'm going to do something else. Randy Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Nice to see both Alison and Adam share lighter moments and jokes. Alison Parker's boyfriend, Chris Hurst, shared his memories with reporters a few hours ago.

CHURCH: And showed the photo album she gave him for their six-month anniversary. They just moved in together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS HURST, ALISON PARKER'S BOYFRIEND: You go into work every day and you do it for love of the job. You do it because we get to do something that nobody else on the planet gets to do. We go to where the action is and tell the story every day. She got to do that.

[03:05:07] Today was not one of those days for her. It was a harmless story on the anniversary of this beautiful lake behind me that we had shared some wonderful memories on ourselves.

And there is no reason why anyone should not have an expectation of security coming out here in the field doing her job when she was gunned down along with her photographer, Adam Ward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Alison Parker's family released a statement a few hours ago, her father calling her a bright and shining light.

CHURCH: Andy Parker said although her life was brief she was so happy with it. He appeared on Fox News earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY PARKER, ALISON PARKER'S FATHER: She lived a great life. She excelled at everything she did and she loved what she did. She loved the people that she worked with. She was happy with her place in life. We can only take some solace in the fact that she had a wonderful life. She was extremely happy.

And she loved this guy with all her heart. And that's the toughest thing for me that -- she -- everybody that she touched loved her and she loved everybody back. And you know, I'm not going to let this issue drop. This is, you know, we've got to do something about crazy people getting guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now, a spokeswoman for the gunman's family read a statement to reporters in the hours after the shooting.

CHURCH: The statement was short and expressed grief for the victims. It did not mention the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER BOWMAN, FLANAGAN FAMILY FRIEND: It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. We are also praying for the recovery of Vicky Gardner. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims' families and with WDBJ television station family. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now Vester Flanagan had a long history of complaints against the various stations where he worked.

CHURCH: He accused co-workers of racism and harassment, but as Drew Griffin report no one thought it would take a deadly turn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day he was fired from WDBJ TV February 1st, 2013 the shooter told his bosses I'm not leaving you're going to have to call the f'ing police. Colleagues say he threw a tantrum. The sales staff took shelter in a locked office and police did escort him out of the newsroom.

Internal memos obtained by CNN show his brief one-year employment was wracked with complaints of aggressive behavior, poor journalistic performance, and warnings from management that he was making his co-workers feel threatened and uncomfortable.

At one point the station referred him to mandatory counseling. After his firing, former colleagues tell CNN they were concerned for days he would come back. Jeff Marks is the station's general manager.

JEFF MARKS, WDBJ GENERAL MANAGER: It was bothersome that he was still in town and would be seen by our employees but again, what do you do?

GRIFFIN: The shooter sued WDBJ TV claiming discrimination. The suit dismissed last summer. The station was the last stop in what appears to be a spotty career in local television. Records show he worked in stations in Greenville, North Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Midland, Texas and San Francisco, not far from his hometown.

In 2000, he was fired from a station in Tallahassee, Florida for what the news director described as odd behavior. After his firing a lawsuit file alleging racial discrimination, the suit dismissed.

This morning, allegations of racism emerge again this time in a disturbing string of tweets. On the shooter's own Twitter page, hours after the shooting he writes, "Alison made racist comments," meaning Alison Parker, the reporter he killed but never worked with. It's unclear if they ever even met.

A minute later he writes, "EEOC complaint," meaning a claim of racism with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Another tweet, "Adam went to the HR on me after working with me on one time."

He meant the station's Human Resources Department. Adam was Adam Ward, the photographer killed. The station manager says no one saw this coming.

MARKS: He did make some accusations against people some time ago. You could never imagine that somebody's going to come back and act on those issues that were so old.

[03:10:03] GRIFFIN: About a week ago, the shooter started posting pictures, an apparent life history highlights from his childhood through high school and beyond and in the rambling 23-page fax to ABC news he says his plan to kill was set in motion after the killings in Charleston, South Carolina this summer.

Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15. He writes admiration for the South Korean national mass killer responsible for the shootings at Virginia Tech and the Columbine High School killers. His final tweet, "I filmed the shooting, see Facebook." Drew Griffin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The man who both hired and fired Flanagan for that reporting job in Roanoke is speaking out.

BARNETT: The former WDBJ news director posted these messages on his Facebook page, quote, "Please send all of your thoughts and prayers to the victims' families and the WDBJ 7 team."

CHURCH: He calls the act a senseless act and one that puts our entire country in mourning.

With very few restrictions the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes the right of Americans to bear arms.

BARNETT: President Barack Obama says he doesn't want to deny basic gun access to law-abiding citizens. But with so many shootings and violence involving firearms he is asking for gun control legislation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarves any deaths that happen through terrorism. We're willing to spend trillions of dollars to prevent terrorist activities, but we haven't been willing so far at least to impose common sense gun safety measures that could save some lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we are also getting reaction from the 2016 presidential candidates, Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, says she will protect second amendment rights even while fighting for new gun control measures. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have had so many terrible instances of it in the last two years. But it happens every day, intentional, unintentional, murder, suicide. It happens every day and there is so much evidence that if guns were not so readily available, if we had universal background checks. If we could just put some time-out between the person who's

upset because he got fired or the domestic abuse or whatever other motivation may be working on someone who does this that maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, told a crowd of supporters that making new laws won't stop criminals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's the problem. It's not just crazy people but violent people. It's not the guns but the people that are doing this. Here's the problem that I have. First of all, the second amendment's in the constitution.

I didn't write the constitution, but I support it and I think the second amendment is an important pars part of the constitution. The second point is that the only people who follow gun laws are law- abiding citizens, criminals by definition ignore the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: And this discussion as changing gun access legislation, the shooter, Vester Flanagan purchased his guns legally according to U.S. and Virginia State law.

CHURCH: We will have much more on this story just ahead this hour. Including what one psychologist says were some of the warning signs of the shooter's downfall.

BARNETT: We'll go live to London and Hong Kong to see how the stocks are doing following a rally on Wall Street. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:15:39]

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day. I'm CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam with a quick look at your weather watch. If you're located across the United States, this is a look at your national forecast, the big apple topping 28 with mostly sunny skies. There will be a few thunderstorms for Miami.

We do have a possibility of thunderstorms across the Central United States, but more importantly our ongoing threat of fires continues for the eastern sections of Washington and portions of Montana.

Our red flag warnings expected across that area through the early parts of the weekend, but there is a large shift in the weather pattern that will not only bring cooler weather.

But also the possibility of rain to the Pacific Northwest and that could help the firefighters battle the ongoing blaze that's taking place across that region. Good news certainly.

Showers and thunderstorms across Central America and throughout the Caribbean, but more importantly we have our eyes shut on Tropical Storm Erika currently moving westward across the Leeward Islands. You can the sustained winds with the wind gusts just shy of 100 kilometers per hour.

Now as we take this forward over the next day, you can see it moving across Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Thursday and that code of uncertainty does bring that into the contiguous United States perhaps into the Southern Florida area.

It's something we will monitor very closely, but nonetheless the storm is expected to bring a significant -- to this region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Welcome back, everyone. Thanks for staying with us. China's state-run news agency says 11 government and port officials are being investigated in connection with those deadly explosions this month in Tianjin. One of them is a senior official with the Ministry of Transport is also being investigated for suspected abuse of power.

CHURCH: State media also reports that 12 senior executives are being detained. They are with the company that stored the chemicals inside the warehouse that blew up. The blast killed 139 people.

BARNETT: Financial markets across Europe have just opened in the past few minutes. Folks were hoping for a rebound and there you go. They are getting their wish all of the indices up roughly 2 percent. The FTSE there in London is up 1.9 percent. The Paris CAC Quarante up more than 2 percent, 2.2. The Xetra DAX and the Zurich SMI is also up roughly 2.5 percent each.

CHURCH: All right, let's turn to the Asia-Pacific region. Trading has just ended in Shanghai. Look at that, Shanghai Composite up 4.3 percent. Incredible because we were talking with Andrew Stevens a very short time ago and it had dropped 0.5 percent. That is critical there.

We see the Nikkei in Japan up more than 1 percent. In Australia, the ASX 200 added more than 1 percent, and the Hang Seng up 3.3 percent there so all in positive territory. This is incredible news.

BARNETT: Let's bring in our team. Andrew Stevens following the markets in the Asian region and we'll join us just a moment live from Hong Kong.

CHURCH: But let's start with Isa Soares in London who is watching the situation in Europe. As we saw on the board, Wall Street's rally was the trick, wasn't it?

[03:20:07] ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It did indeed. I like waking up to a market full of green arrows. But what we have seen from the past week not just in Europe, but pretty much across Asia as well and the U.S., it's really a game of snakes and ladders. We move a couple steps forward and come down again.

The European markets green arrows across the board. The Xetra DAX, we have seen markets there, shares there really under pressure. I'm talking mostly about luxury brands, talking about auto makers. They were down yesterday because they are huge exporters to China.

Germany creates about 300,000 jobs that are dependent on China for key exports hence why I think that confidence slowly coming to the market. But as we've seen, this is a market of extremes. We don't know whether we should be celebrating just yet.

It's great to have seen the Shanghai close up so much after a pretty topsy-turvy session, but European markets starting the day on a positive keel here. A lot of people optimistic from the U.S. close, the strongest since 2011.

And also on the back of comments from New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley, who is now basically saying that a rate hike in September is less likely now.

All on top of that, we have the idea that this eerie of cheap money coming from the U.S. will continue as well as that money being injected into the Chinese economy.

We have had very strong GDP data out of Spain, all lifting European markets. Nevertheless, we have to be slightly cautious. I have been hearing in the last couple of days from European CEOs who said this is time to be cautious.

They are making cuts and they are also seeing sales being reduced as much as by half because of a China slowdown. So for the time, celebrating, let's see how the day pans out -- Rosie.

CHURCH: Cautiously optimistic. Isa Soares reporting live from London, many thanks to you.

BARNETT: So there you have it. Isa likes what she is seeing in the European markets. Andrew, in Hong Kong, surely you do as well. All of the indices in the Asian region up, I'm wondering do we also credit this with the bounce in the U.S. or is it somewhat informed by China's actions this week? Who do we credit for this?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: I think it's a combination. I think Wall Street does have a big impact globally. It does here in Asia. But it's helped by the fact that Shanghai was positive most of the day and spiked right at the end of the day.

It's interesting. You do see a lot of volatility in Shanghai at the end of the day, Errol. This big buy at the end of the day could indicate this is institutional buying. These are companying state-operated funds coming in and buying at the end of the day to show the Shanghai finishing on a strong note.

It's always a bit of a black box in China as to what is going on there, but certainly, the action taken by the government in the last couple of days, cutting interest rates, pumping money into the system allowing banks to claw money back from the central bank, all helping sentiment, particularly.

That's what the Chinese government does want to do. It wants to make sure that people are feeling good about the markets. Good about the economy because as they transition away from this export investment model into consumer spending, it's very important the consumers are in the right frame of mind the buy.

It's interesting hearing the comments about cutting the sales targets in China. I was talking to the CEO of IWC and he was saying that sales were holding up in China strongly. You get a lot of mixed signals coming out of China at the moment.

I think the consensus is that the economy is weaker, significantly weaker than the official numbers would have you believe, but certainly, at this stage, not heading for a hard landing, a big economic slump.

BARNETT: Interesting stuff. Hopefully the optimism continues through the end of the week. We appreciate Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong, Isa Soares in London and all of those green numbers from the global markets. Thanks to you all for joining us.

CHURCH: All right, let's take a very short break, but still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, protesters give Germany's chancellor a noisy greeting in a town that is angry with its growing refugee population.

BARNETT: Plus we'll bring you more on the deadly shooting of a U.S. news crew. We'll hear from a psychologist about the impact the gunman's rocky job history may have had on Wednesday's attack. Stay tuned for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:28:25]

BARNETT: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. It's time to check the headlines this hour. The former reporter who shot and killed a TV news crew on live television in the U.S. left a long message detailing his anger. Vester Flanagan had a history of workplace grievances after shooting reporter, Alison Parker, and photographer, Adam Ward, Flanagan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

BARNETT: In China, 11 government and port officials are being investigated in connection with this deadly blast that killed 139 people in Tianjin. China's state-run news agency reports that 12 senior executives have been detained with the firm that stored the chemicals inside the warehouse that blew up.

CHURCH: The European financial markets are moving higher in early trading. Look at this all positive territory. The FTSE 100 up more than 2 percent, 2.5 percent stronger for Paris and Zurich, and nearly 3 percent up for DAX in Germany.

And let's take a look at Shanghai, the composite there up 5.3 percent. That is extraordinary. It was down 0.5 percent not so long ago. We see Japan closed over 1 percent, similar story for Australia, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng will close in about 30 minutes or so, but 3.5 percent stronger.

BARNETT: All right, we return to the shooting death of a TV crew as they were doing a live interview. Now friends and family are grieving the loss of reporter Alison Parker and cameraman, Adam Ward.

[03:30:07] CHURCH: Details are emerging about their killer, a former reporter who had repeated conflicts at work. Hala Gorani take us through the events as they unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A regular breakfast television scene, local reporter, Alison Parker interviews a guest live from a shopping center in Virginia.

Moments later, horror as she and her cameraman, Adam Ward, are shot dead while on air. As Adam falls, his camera catches a glimpse of the shooter, his weapon still raised. The gunman is Vester L. Flanagan, a former reporter at WDBJ, who went by the screen name, Bryce Williams.

Chillingly hours after the attack, Williams posted a video of the shooting from his perspective on social media proving he was there. Williams' tweets hint at a motive, apparent gripes with his former colleagues.

According to an ex-employee, Williams was fired from WDBJ, the station has been left reeling after first announcing the deaths of their colleagues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my very, very sad duty to report that we have determined that Alison and Adam died this morning shortly after 6:45 when the shots rang out.

GORANI: Alison Parker was just 24 years old. Her boyfriend, an anchor at the same network, tweeted shortly afterwards. We didn't share this publicly, but Alison Parker and I were very much in love. We just moved in together. I am numb."

Alison's colleague, Adam Ward, was engaged to marry one of the morning producers at WDBJ. In a cruel twist of faith, his fiancee was in the control room watching when this played out live on air.

Speaking to CNN shortly afterward, the WDBJ president said his staff was in shock.

JEFF MARKS, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, WDBJ: We have people walking around here in tears, a lot of hugs. We have a friend of the -- of our newsroom who is a pastor in here consoling people.

GORANI: The woman being interviewed when the shooting took place was also hit. She has been undergoing surgery in hospital. A routine interview that turned into inexplicable tragedy. Hala Gorani, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Dr. Erik Fisher is a licensed psychologist and joins us here at CNN Center to try and process what we've all witnessed and it appears that the gunman carried many grievances, was let go a number of times from various jobs and put real planning and effort into this shooting. What was that and what is in his manifesto tell you about his mental state?

DR. ERIK FISHER, PSYCHOLOGIST: Here's somebody who for a long period of time felt they had been persecuted, bullied, embarrassed, shamed and all these emotions, the effect of those emotions is feeling weak and our power taken away. What he was seeking to do was get his power back.

His role in the media had him knowing how the get attention and his use of social media he knew he would get some attention, whether infamy or not but it's the outcome is simply tragic. We have to look at this as a society and not just focus on the individual.

BARNETT: You are saying this is a larger issue. This is the first time we have seen it on live television and he posted it on Facebook as well. I want you to hear what WDBJ Station Manager Jeff Marks had to say about what it was like working with the shooter. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKS: His personal relationships sometimes he was a little aggressive and people were shy to work with him. He was just not a pleasant person, as it turned out. He seemed to have some anger and distress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: So he seemed to blame others for his own shortcomings. We have people in the newsroom who have worked with him at previous stations. Is that a common trait in disturbed people to blame others and not take on responsibility? What changes a regular person from being someone who takes on a violent act like this?

FISHER: Well, again, this is somebody who externalizes, if he was more narcissistic, at the core of every narcissist, somebody who looks at the world like they are the greatest thing. At the core of every narcissist is a shattered ego. They can't deal with more blame or shame or guilt so they project it outwards.

If this is somebody with more persecutory delusions who might have been potentially borderline psychotic and we won't necessarily know that, then he feels the world is against him and that overlap with the narcissistic traits. So he saw the world as it was him against the world.

[03:35:00] What he then did with the South Carolina shooting is he found his cause to attach to that to in his mind I believe he was trying to say I'm going to represent the African-American societal culture and I'm going to fight that battle for them.

And then he was able to focus that on his targets of he felt two people who affected his employment at that last news station, and he held a grudge for so long, it wasn't just about them. It was about all the people that wronged him and he just projected all of that rage and anger and hatred on those individuals.

BARNETT: I guess as a way of trying to justify it in his own mind you were saying earlier you don't necessarily see his act as evil? What do you mean by that?

FISHER: We want to call the person evil and move on. This is not somebody who was evil. He saw himself as a justified -- someone who was persecuted first and a martyr, someone who was trying to fight for a cause. He said when I go if I die at least I'll die at peace. We have to see this is something in the culture we have to look at.

Something around the world in multiple cultures we have to see how we feel like other people take our power and diminish us rather than finding our power within us. That has to do with mental health issues and family issues. It has to do with community issues and international politics. We can project these issues of power over people versus having power with people.

BARNETT: So many issues and even though he had this bizarre behavior there was no mental health record history. It's unclear whether a change in gun laws would have made a difference.

FISHER: Right. If he is narcissistic he doesn't think he needs treatment. They think the world needs to change, not them.

BARNETT: Incredible insight. Dr. Erik Fisher, great to get you in here. Thanks a lot.

FISHER: Thank you.

CHURCH: And you can find much more on this story on our website including a closer look at the two young journalists who were gunned down on Wednesday, just ahead to CNN.com.

BARNETT: A U.S. judge has sentenced Colorado movie theater gunman, James Holmes, to multiple lifetimes in prison.

CHURCH: The 27-year-old received 12 life sentences without parole one for each of his victims who were killed in the massacre three years ago. Holmes also received more than 3,000 years in prison for attempted murder charges and for booby-trapping his apartment with explosives.

BARNETT: Retailer Walmart says it will stop selling military style semiautomatic weapons including the AR-15. Those guns have been used in several mass shootings in the states including the Newtown, Connecticut massacre and the Colorado movie theater shooting.

CHURCH: Gun control advocates have been fighting to restrict the sale of these weapons. Walmart says its decision was due to a decrease in demand.

BARNETT: Still to come here on CNN, Germany's chancellor got an earful from some of her fellow citizens. We'll tell you how she reacted in the town with bitter anti-migrant sentiment after the short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:41:37]

BARNETT: A nearly two-decade hunt for the man the FBI calls one of its most-wanted terrorists is now over. An Arab intelligence source tells CNN that Ahmad Ibrahim al-Mughassil has been captured in Lebanon.

CHURCH: A U.S. court indicted him in 2001 for his alleged role in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia. Nineteen American servicemen were killed. The source says that the man was nabbed up in a Saudi-led operation in Beirut, quote, "bundled into a plane" and taken to Saudi Arabia to be interrogated.

BARNETT: An American man who helped stop a gunman on a Paris-bound train is back home in the U.S. and being hailed as a hero.

CHURCH: Anthony Sadler was one of five passengers who disarmed the gunman last week potentially saving many lives. Sadler was honored in his hometown of Sacramento, California on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SADLER, THWARTED FRENCH TRAIN ATTACK: After such a crazy few days it feels good to be back on American soil but especially in Sacramento. This is my home and I'm just glad to be back here to see everybody. It's kind of overwhelming for me. I didn't expect all this to happen. But I just appreciate all you for coming and I'm just good to be back home. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: CNN has also learned the Moroccan suspect in the foiled train attack spent several days at his sister's home in Belgium before the incident. The European Counterterrorism official says the woman's home was raided by police this week, but she is not suspected of having a role in the attack.

CHURCH: Meanwhile, the official says investigators believe a group of French ISIS fighters may have supported Ayoub El-Khazzani, but they are not in a position to confirm that just yet.

BARNETT: Now the Italian Coast Guard says about 50 migrants were found dead in a boat off the coast of Libya. Swedish European Union crews found the bodies while answering a distress call on Wednesday. About 430 people on the boat were found alive. Italian media reports the victims probably asphyxiated. CHURCH: The victims are among some 2,300 migrants who died trying to reach Italy by sea this year. They are from war torn and poverty stricken countries in the Middle East and Africa seeking asylum in Europe.

BARNETT: German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed for tolerance. She visited a migrant camp in her country, but a violent anti-immigrant protest had raged. But from the moment she arrived on Wednesday, some angry citizens let her know clearly that they reject her position.

CHURCH: And CNN's Ian Lee has been closely monitoring this developing story and joins us with more from London. Ian, as we saw, the heckling, the booing for Chancellor Angela Merkel, how did she react to that?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She was stoic as usual and we've seen this very vocal anti-migrant sentiment in this part of Eastern Germany. This is an area where there is unemployment and these people believe these migrants are coming and stealing their jobs.

And as we've seen migrants come to Europe and hundreds of thousands that we have seen a rise in this anti-migrant sentiment and at times that has turned to violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[03:45:07] LEE (voice-over): German police clash with anti-migrant protesters in the eastern city of (inaudible), xenophobia front and center as Chancellor Angela Merkel under pressure to react visited the city on Wednesday greeted by hecklers.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We must put all our efforts into making clear there is no tolerance for people who question the dignity of others. There is no tolerance for those who are not willing to help where legal and human help is required.

LEE: Xenophobic attacks on the rise in Germany. One of the latest, investigators suspect arsonists torched this shelter for asylum seekers. As Europe's most populous country buckles under the massive influx of refugees, Berlin expects as many as 800,000 of them will apply for asylum by the end of the year, four times as many as 2014.

Overall, the United Nations predicts more than a million fleeing war, oppression and instability will arrive on the continent in 2015, causing some nations to take drastic measures, erecting walls with razor wire and dog patrols to try to keep the desperate refugees out.

Hungarian police tear gassed hundreds at an overcrowded registration center on Wednesday.

GEOFFREY ROBERTSON, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, LONDON: There's plenty of evidence that democracies turn ripe, they turn rabidly nationalist where there are immigrants on the horizon.

LEE: But even as Europe tries to fortify its borders, many countries on the E.U.'s fringe are finding it impossible to stem the flood of migrants seeking a better life.

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LEE: Rosemary and Errol, E.U. leaders of the Western Balkan countries will be meeting in Vienna today discussing a wide range of topics. One of the primary routes we have seen going from Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary into the EU is where a lot of the people are coming.

They're going to be talking about that and anti-extremism measures and how to improve the economies of the Balkan states so a lot to talk about today.

CHURCH: We will be monitoring this to see what is said and decided. Ian Lee reporting live from London monitoring that story, many thanks.

A 9/11 survivor immortalized by an iconic image has died. Martha Borders was known as the dust lady in this haunting photo.

BARNETT: Photographer Stan Honda took it as she escaped the north tower of the World Trade Center in a cloud of dust. She had been battling stomach cancer since last year. She was 42 years old and is survived by a daughter and son.

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BARNETT: A 5-year-old boy witnesses the unthinkable, the murder of his mother.

CHURCH: But now a police officer has stepped forward to make a difference in that little boy's life. Steve Savard from our affiliate, KMOV, in St. Louis, Missouri has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A bullet hole and one at the top and one in the side. He was down in the back of the seat.

STEVE SAVARD, KMOV REPORTER (voice-over): The 5-year-old survived when someone fired into his mother's car two weeks ago. The 24-year- old Whitney Brown was shot and killed. Erica Jones tells me seeing her daughter's car parked in the driveway every day is a painful reminder of that tragic night. Now she is taking care of Jakim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jakim had an angel that pretty much wanted to bless him.

SAVARD: A St. Louis County police officer and his wife, who want to remain anonymous, stepped forward to take Jakim shopping for back to school supplies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From jackets to school supplies to food to sneakers to a blaze truck that's going to drive me crazy.

SAVARD: Black and green sneakers, green shirts and jackets. Green was his mother's favorite color.

(on camera): The officer just reached out, took it upon himself to reach out and do something nice for your grandson?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you don't find many people willing to help people going through tragedy.

SAVARD (voice-over): Jones hopes that people see this and don't think that all police officers are bad. The vast majority are good people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the gesture of kindness he showed. They made a great bond. They got shirts alike, everything. So he's a good guy.

SAVARD (on camera): How much of an impression do you think that the officer's gesture has made on your grandson?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He cried when he left.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: She wants her grandson to stay in contact with that officer because he has been a positive influence during a tough time.

CHURCH: Friends and co-workers are remembering Alison Parker and Adam Ward today.

BARNETT: They were gunned down during a live TV interview near Roanoke, Virginia. Hours passed before police closed in on the shooter who then killed himself. Colleagues are remembering what it was like to work with Parker and Ward.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just had this personality. He could pick you up if you were having a bad day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had an explosive personality. She always smiled. She was full of ideas, full of ideas and full of questions with a willingness to learn and strive to do the best.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Adam said one time we have to follow these bad stories, fires and murders and all dark and evil things on the air.

[03:55:05] And he said, you know, Melissa, sometimes I hate being that guy that's got to put a camera in their face. That shows you what kind of guy Adam was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was full of life and full of energy. And no one should be snuffed out like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were like a part of the family. Sit down at dinner. There they were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: It's so tough for people to comprehend what happened there and TV news crews across the U.S. are showing solidarity with Parker and Ward. BARNETT: That's right. You may have seen this online today. One journalist in Texas began the #westandwithwdbj. And people started posting messages with messages like proud and not afraid to be a journalist today.

And seeing the video today made people who have been in this industry and as reporters you are vulnerable and there to serve the public and it was a brazen attack, senseless.

CHURCH: Yes, and we stand with them as well. And it's incredible to look at the station there. They are clearly a family and work very well tonight. It's very similar to what we experience here at CNN and it's very important to stay united in a situation like this.

BARNETT: And they all did really a commendable job.

CHURCH: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Please do stay with CNN. "EARLY START" is next for those of you in the U.S.

CHURCH: And for the rest of you, another edition of CNN NEWSROOM begins after this short break. Stay with us.

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