HOURS AWAY AND WILL COVER THAT
WHEN IT BEGINS.
BACK TO JULIE NOW.
>> Julie: LET’S BRING IN FORMER
D.C. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE TED
WILLIAMS.
THANK YOU FOR COMING ON THIS
MORNING TO TALK ABOUT THIS
TRAGEDY.
I WANT TO PUT UP ON THE SCREEN
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SUSPECT
AND YOU FILL IN THE BLANKS AS
TO WHAT FOLLOWS IN THIS
INVESTIGATION.
WE KNOW THE SUSPECT WHO WAS
SHOT AND KILLED BY BORDER
PATROL AGENT WAS A STUDENT AT
UVALDE HIGH SCHOOL AND LEGALLY
PURCHASED TWO RIFLES SHORTLY
AFTER TURNING 18 YEARS OLD.
HIS BIRTHDAY WAS NINE DAYS AGO.
HE SHOT AND CRITICALLY INJURED
HIS GRANDMOTHER AND AT THIS
POINT WE DON’T KNOW A MOTIVE.
I WAS JUST ASKING BILL MELUGIN
HOW THE POLICE WERE ALERTED TO
THE SHOOTING OF THE GRANDMOTHER
SINCE THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF
HIS CRIME SPREE.
WHERE DO YOU START AS AN
INVESTIGATOR AND HOMICIDE
DETECTIVE IN ALL OF THIS?
>> WELL, SADLY YOU HAVE TO WORK
BACKWARDS.
YOU HAVE TO TRY TO FIND OUT AS
MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT THIS
SHOOTER AND WHAT I MEAN BY THAT
IS YOU HAVE TO TALK TO PEOPLE
WHO MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN
HIM.
HE HAD TO HAVE BEEN ON
SOMEBODY’S RADAR SCREEN.
WHEN I SAY SOMEBODY, I MEAN
CITIZENS OUT THERE, JULIE AND
BILL.
WHAT HAPPENS NORMALLY WHEN
SOMEBODY ACTS OUT LIKE THIS,
SOMEBODY IN THE COMMUNITY KNOWS
SOMETHING.
THIS IS THE REASON WE SAY WHEN
YOU SEE SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO
SAY SOMETHING.
IN THIS INSTANCE, THEY ARE
SCRUBBING HIS SOCIAL MEDIA
SITES AND CHECKING AND HOPING
THAT THE GRANDMOTHER WILL
SURVIVE HER SHOOTING SO SHE CAN
PROVIDE SOME INFORMATION.
THERE IS SOME INFORMATION THAT
HIS MOTHER MAY LIVE IN THE
NORTH DAKOTA AREA SO I’M SURE
THEY ARE TRYING TO CONTACT
THOSE FAMILY MEMBERS ALSO,
JULIE.
>> Julie: WE ALSO WANT TO
COMMEND THE POLICE WORK ON THE
GROUND.
A BORDER PATROL AGENT STORMED
THE BUILDING AND WENT INTO THAT
CLASSROOM WHERE THE STUDENT HAD
BARRICADED HIMSELF, BACKUP
HADN’T ARRIVED.
THEY ARRIVED MINUTES LATER.
EVERYONE ON THE GROUND
INCREDIBLE POLICE WORK.
>> INCREDIBLE.
AND JULIE, THIS IS WHAT WE NEED
TO UNDERSTAND.
WE HEAR ABOUT POLICE OFFICERS,
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS BEING
DEMONIZED DAILY.
AND WE SEE HERE THE BEST OF LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.
THESE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
RAN TOWARD THE DANGER.
THEY RAN INTO THAT CLASSROOM.
THEY TRIED TO SAVE AS MANY
STUDENTS AS THEY POSSIBLY COULD.
THEY SHOT THIS GUY.
BUT THIS IS THE PROBLEM, JULIE,
THESE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
ARE HUMAN AND THEY WILL BE
SCARRED BY THIS.
I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE 17 THAT
ARE IN THE HOSPITAL.
THOSE INDIVIDUALS ARE ALSO
GOING TO BE SCARRED BY WHAT
THEY OBSERVED YESTERDAY IN
UVALDE, TEXAS THERE AT THAT
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
>> Bill: TED, YOU’VE BEEN
LISTENING TO A LOT OF OUR
COVERAGE NOT JUST TODAY BUT
YESTERDAY AND LATE INTO THE
EVENING HOURS LAST NIGHT.
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO PIECE
TOGETHER THE LEVEL OF SECURITY
THAT WAS USED, THE PHYSICAL
STRUCTURE OF THIS BUILDING?
>> YOU KNOW, REALLY HAVE NOT.
I WAS ON WITH NEIL CAVUTO WHEN
THIS MATTER BROKE FOR US ON FOX
AND WE WERE TALKING ABOUT IT AT
THE TIME THAT IT WAS ONLY TWO
AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN TWO
TOO MANY.
THEN IT WAS 14 AND THEN INTO
THE NIGHT WE LEARNED THAT 19
INDIVIDUALS OR YOUNG KIDS HAD
BEEN SHOT AND TWO ADULT
TEACHERS.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS WE’RE
TRYING TO FIGURE OUT AND LAW
ENFORCEMENT BY THE WAY IS ALSO
TRYING TO FIGURE OUT, WAS THAT
SCHOOL ACTUALLY TARGETED?
WE KNOW ONCE HE SHOT HIS
GRANDMOTHER, HE TOOK OFF IN HIS
TRUCK.
AT SOME STAGE HE WOUND UP
DITCHING THE TRUCK IN A DITCH.
HE GOT OUT AND HE HAD THIS FULL
BODY ARMOR TO SOME DEGREE AND
HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARD THIS
SCHOOL AND GOT INTO THE FOURTH
GRADE CLASSROOM AND STARTED
SHOOTING.
CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE WHAT THESE
CHILDREN, THE CHILDREN THAT
DIED AND THE CHILDREN THAT ARE
LIVING, WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH?
IT WAS A LIVING HELL IN THAT
CLASSROOM.
>> Bill: THE REASON I ASKED
THAT QUESTION, THERE WAS A
REPORT EARLIER A LOT OF THESE
SCHOOLS HAVE GONE TO LOCKDOWN
SYSTEMS AND THERE IS ONE WAY TO
GET IN AND ONE WAY TO GET OUT.
APPARENTLY BASED ON ONE REPORT
THAT THERE WAS ONE DOOR THAT
WAS OPEN AND HE CHOSE THAT DOOR.
IF THAT’S TRUE, HE KNEW THE
BUILDING HE WAS GOING INTO.
THAT’S THE POINT.
>> HE MAY VERY WELL, BILL, HAVE
KNOWN THIS BUILDING.
I THINK THIS CLEARLY IS ALL A
PART OF THE INVESTIGATION.
I HEARD YOU ON EARLIER, BILL,
WHAT YOU SAID YOU COVERED SANDY
HOOK.
I CAN TELL YOU, IN 2007 I WAS
UP AT VIRGINIA TECH WHEN 32
INDIVIDUALS WERE SHOT.
I WAS AT THE NIGHTCLUB THERE IN
FLORIDA WHEN INDIVIDUALS IN A
MASS SHOOTING.
AND THE ONE THING WE ALL WANT
TO KNOW IS, WHAT WAS THE MOTIVE?
WHY WOULD ANOTHER HUMAN BEING
GO IN AND JUST MASSACRE YOUNG
CHILDREN?
THAT’S ALL A PART OF THIS
INVESTIGATION ALSO, BILL AND
JULIE.
>> Bill: TED, THANK YOU.
WITHOUT WORDS FOR NOW.