and did your personal views play into this? he would not answer whether he is a gun owner or not. he said this is not about me. this is about the company, so we don't really get a view into that lens. this is a ceo what has come out in front on major issues like gay marriage and supporting it and he is coming out in another controversial issue right now, jake. >> thanks so much. that's it. i now turn you over to the able hands of wolf blitzer. he is in "the situation room." >> jake, thanks very much. happening now we have new information and there are new questions about the response to the navy yard massacre and the lead tactical unit close to the scene when the alert sounded and the officers were immediately recalled. we'll tell you what happened. in the wake of the slaughter there are new stories of heroism and survival and a man who refused to leave his blind colleague behind during the panic. and a woman that huddled under a desk as shots rang out.

>> first it sounded like a gren nad and then we hear the pou pow, pow, pow and the gun firing. >> and barack obama getting into a standoff with republicans. i am wolf blitzer. are you in "the situation room." as the washington d.c. region reels from the staggering death toll we're learning stunning new details about an attempt to stop the shooting that was called off. an elite tactical team of the u.s. capitol police that handles threats against congress was close to the scene and attempted to help right after word of the shooting went out. the officers were told to return to their positions at the capitol. that was about a mile away. the capitol police have opened an investigation into that decision. meantime, tough new questions are being asked about security

lapses that may have allowed the shooter to carry out his rampage. let's begin our coverage this hour with brian todd. he is over at the navy yard. brian, what are you learning? >> wolf, before those security lapses we're going to talk about we have new information tonight from our justice reporter evan perez. he says that a federal law enforcement official is telling cnn the navy yard shooter aaron alexis made unexplained etchings into the shotgun he used in his attack. the etchings read, quote, better off this way and, quote, my elf weapon. that information is just coming in from our justice reporter evan perez and meanwhile questions about security focus on police man power here at the navy yard ahead of the shootings as well as continuing fallout about the warning signs kpin r exhibited by the shooter before the rampage. one of america's top military officials sites obvious red

flags that came up before aaron alexis went on his rampage at washington's navy yard. >> why they didn't get picked up, why they didn't get incorporated into the clearance process, what he was doing, those are all legitimate questions we'll be dealing with. >> questions over y alexis got and kept a secret security clearance after he had run ins with the law. last month he told police someone he was in an argument with sent three people to follow him and keep him away by sending vibrations into his body. that is from the police report that relays alexis taking people were talking to him through the wall and when he went no another hotel he heard the same voices talking to him through the walls, floor and ceiling. i asked tom fuentes what should have been done after police noefd navy police of that incident. >> i think they should immediately follow up with police officers and with him and determine what degree of mental

problem does he have and if necessary spend or revoc his clearance. >> a senior naval officer tells cnn it was clearance he received even after navy officials found out about the 2004 arrest in seattle for shooting the tires of a car in what police said he described as a blackout fueled by anger. new questions about security at the navy yard before the shootings. an officer with the navy yard police and official with the police union told me his force was badly under manned before the attack. >> what was your man power that morning before the shootings? >> 5 was assigned to the morning shift. one of those five was brought from navy research lab, a military individual, and over time person made the sixth person that worked midnight shift that night and the chief of police made the seventh. >> only 7 responding officers, some without vehicles he says that had to run from one side of the base to the other and he says they needed about twice that many officers and used to have dozens more on the force. he believes if they had enough

officers they could have prevented some loss of life. he also has an issue with the way the weapons are issued to police officers here at the navy yard. he says that the navy yard police are not given take home weapons so the police officers off duty that day and ride to rush back to help first had to run to the armory to gather their weapons and then to respond. he said that caused even more of a delay. in response to all of this, a navy official that we contacted said, quote, the secretary of the navy has ordered a review of physical security and we will fully support it. wolf. >> all right, brian, thank you. disturbing new developments. the mother of the navy yard gunman aaron alexis is speaking out for the first time. she issued an emotional audio only statement expressing deep regret over the mass killings. debra feyerick was there for the statement and heard the mother speak. tell the viewers how that went. >> we were allowed upstairs to

the third floor apartment just in the building behind me. it was very difficult for kathleen alexis to express herself. she was choked with emotion. this is very hard for her. like everyone else she will never know why her son did what he did and there is so many questions but she really seemed just emotionally drained. she had pastors, one on each side of her and at one point she leaned into one of them for support. she said her message was for the victims. >> our son aaron alexis has murdered 12 people and wounded several others. his actions have had a profound and everlasting effect on the families of the victims. i don't know why he did what he did. i will never be able to ask him why. aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone and for that i am glads. to the families of the victims, i am so, so very sorry that this has happened. my heart is broken.

>> now, she did not want to sit during the statement that she had printed out on a single page of white paper. she stood throughout the entire thing. her sadness was really palpable. you could hear it in her voice and see the strain in her face. she returned home monday afternoon when she heard initially about the shooting she says she hasn't left since and is concerned about going back to work. she says she doesn't know how she will be received. she does want her privacy back. she wants to be able to process this and grieve as a mother does. wolf. >> what a terribly sad story. thanks very much for that. as witnesses relive the shock and the terror of the mass shooting, thor tos of heroism and survival are emerging. let's go to our correspondent chris lawrence. what are you picking up, chris? >> wolf, imagine being blind in the middle of all of that chaos in a part of the building you are not familiar with and without the escort who normally

guides you around. that's what happened to one man until one of his co-workers decided not to run. guns firing and glass shattering and people screaming. one blind worker left exposed in the atrium of building 197. >> in the cafeteria we heard three more shots. really people running then and getting basically getting out of there. i looked around and we were the only two there. >> instead of running he went back for his blind colleague. >> i took him by the arm and told him every step of the way what we were doing. >> another eyewitness told abc he was close enough to see the face as aaron alexis shot a woman he worked with. >> when he looked at her, he looked straight at her and clenched the jaw and boom. >> barbara was in the atrium as she saw bullets breaking glass around her. >> first it sounded like a grenade and then we hear the

gunfiring. >> i could see the second floor people running down to the first floor. two girlfriends of mine threw me into a woman's office. we hear running. one girl started crying. i said be quiet. >> that was the kind of chaos omar grant guided his colleague through. >> i had to explain every single step of the way and which hand to reach out and railing on your left or on your right and how many steps there are, and how close we are to the exit. >> omar refused to leave his friend behind. >> the chairman of the joint chiefs himself publicly praised omar by name. >> the urge to run towards danger to help someone in need is a testament to an american's character. >> why did you stop and go back to try to help him? >> i was the only other person there and i said i am not going to leave this person behind. >> amazingly omar did not even know the man's name until that morning when they were trapped in the middle of all of that. he said he had seen him around

constantly and that's how he knew that he did not have his escort with him and, wolf, certainly someone who could have run away chose not to. >> thank goodness for that. thank you very much for that, chris lawrence reporting. up next seems like mass killings may be on the rise. the numbers may tell a different story. we'll update you on that. a game of chicken between house republicans and president obama, a government shut down could not result. we're going to hear from a senior adviser to the president standing by live at the white house. also, the cross fire co-host newt gingrich. [ male announcer ] campbell's angus beef & dumplings.

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tucson, aurora, newtown, now the washington navy yard. in the wake of so many horrible shootings, may seem like gun violence is on the rise. the numbers paint a more complicated picture. tom foreman is joining us now with a closer look. tom, we have seen so many of these mass shootings in the past few years, i am sure a lot of people think it has never been this bad before. what can you tell us about this? >> it is horrifying and makes people feel terrible and you can't help but feel less safe when you see the horrible events. what with we have done is pulled together a graph that shows all of the mass shootings in which more than eight people were killed since back in the 1960s. more than eight people were event is completely arbitrary. some people say use four or five or six. we broke it down by eight to make it comprehensible and things undeniably a lot of people being killed. way over here, the shootings at

the university of texas that happened way back in the 1960s. remember those well. if we move to the others you can see the years we had big spikes here, for example, in 1984, this was the california mcdonald's shooting which a whole bunch of people were killed and move onto the other big landmark ones many of us remember, columbine high school, 1999, and if ymove down have you this big black at the end where you have virginia tech as part of this. we'll be on virginia tech and talk about what happened at sandy hook school and what we just had at the navy yard. there is a tremendous number of murders that happened in this period of time including the aurora theater shootings out there. look. if you just look at these pictures right here, you can see, yes, indeed, there has been a clustering of a lot of these big shootings in a very short period of time here, wolf. there is no question about that. if you look at it, and if you use that parameter of eight or more.

>> what about -- what does this mean for folks watching us right now? does it mean we're likely to be caught up in such an event? is it more likely or less likely than in earlier years? >> that's really where it is tricky, wolf. technically by a tiny fraction i guess it is more likely but you have to consider how rare the events are. if you look over the past ten years by this criteria that we have here, there were 167 deaths as part of these mass murder events. look although this as a percentage. if you break that down, and you say let's look at all murders that happened just last year alone, there were about 14,000 of them. are you talking about a tiny fraction all of the deaths for the past ten years versus one single year here, so the odds of this actually happening to you if you are out there, it is serious importance and something we should be concerned but but

they're not particularly any worse despite what we have seen here and look at the big picture. if you change it and you look at the overall murder rate in this country, for the past 20 years, it has been steadily moving down. your chances of being involved in violent crime or being murdered despite all of these terrible, terrible headlines and events are actually much less today than they were 20 years ago. >> interesting numbers indeed. all right, tom, thank you. good perspective. coming up, president obama under serious pressure right now as the government shutdown looms potentially within days. we'll talk about it with the senior adviser dan pfeiffer standing by live at the white house and caught on tape, a burglary suspect tries to escape from a moving police car. we'll show you what happened. you make a great team.

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like to take a closer look at the other top stories in "the situation room" right now at least six people are dead and 30 injured after a passenger train slammed into a double-decker bus early this morning in ottawa, canada. several of the injured are in critical condition. ottawa's fire department says all the casualties were on the bus including the bus driver. a health investigation found at least one case of hepatitis c linked to a tulsa, oklahoma, dentist office. this he shut down the practice in march and asked 7,000 patients to be tested for hepatitis and hiv. 89 tested positive for hepatitis c. four for hiv, and although at this point only one case of hepatitis can definitively be linked to his office.

the federal reserve says it will keep purchasing bonds at the current pace. the surprise announcement that led to a banner day on wall street, the dow and s&p 500 hit record highs and all three major indices closed up more than 1%. many investors inspected the fed to announce it was finally ready to begin cutting back or taper off the stimulus measures. didn't happen today. and check out this. this video from dayton, ohio, a burglary suspect tries to escape from a moving police car by unlocking the door through an open window and only instead of breaking free he slams on the pavement and is detained within seconds. the assistant police chief will investigate why the suspect wasn't wearing cuffs and why the window was open which are both, quote, clear violations. up next, president obama under serious pressure right now a showdown with the republicans on spending and lots of troubles

with fellow democrats. is the second term at least right now in some sort of trouble? the unicef ambassador and actress lucy lou saw firsthand what life is like for refugee children in this impact your world. >> hi, i am lucy liu, and we can make an impact for syrian children. there is civil war going on that is creating absolutely pandemonium and people are fleeing into lebanon, jordan, iraq. they're suffering. they have loois. there are skab ease. they are lost family. they can't go to school. they're not getting the medical attention they need. they're not getting the nutrition they need. there will be a lost generation of children if this continues. the children deserve to have a childhood. what happens on the other side of the world isn't just their business. it is our business. we share the same water. we share the same environment. if we understand that, we are

actually one community and then it makes the world so much smaller and much more tangible for people to understand. unicef is currently desperate for donations for syria. it is our duty as human beings to give back. join the movement. impact your world. cnn.com/impact. ♪

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happening now, a show dounl with the republicans over obama care and a looming government shutdown and they're putting the president right now under lots of pressure. a senior adviser, dan pfeiffer standing by live. we'll talk about that and more. also, advice on a government shut down for the house speaker john boehner from someone who has been there, the cross fire co-host, newt gingrich, speaker during two earlier government shutdowns. starbucks takes a stand on guns some customers love and others are sure to hate. we have an exclusive television interview with the starbucks ceo. i am wolf blitzer. you're are in "the situation

room." >> right now house republicans are playing a game of chicken with themselves and with president obama. the end result could be a government shut down. while both sides could pay a price it is president obama who increasingly is taking serious heat right now. just ahead i will speak with his senior adviser dan pfeiffer standing by live at the white house and let's turn first to athena jones also at the white house with background. what's going on? >> the president has been taking a lot of heat on a whole range of issues. today the white house budget office ordered federal agencies to get ready for a potential government shutdown. congress and the white house need to reach a deal on a new spending bill by september 30th to avoid a shutdown. the chances of that happening began to look worse today. president obama spoke to business leaders wednesday about

the battles ahead. >> what we now have is ideological fight that's been mounted in the house of representatives that says we're not going to pass a budget and will threaten a government shutdown unless we repeal the affordable care act. >> house republicans announced plans to vote to block the signature domestic achievement, obama care. >> the law is a train wreck. >> as part of abill to keep the government running past the end of the month. the latest impasse leaves the president facing growing concerns about his ability to get things done on capitol hill. nine months into the second term, his agenda appears to be in trouble. even if diplomacy prevails in syria, the abbreviated effort to win congressional approve for strikes saw resistance from republicans and fellow democrats and it was democrats who helped squash obama's top choice to head the federal reserve, larry

summers who pulled himself out of contention. >> many have troubles in second terms but he has had support until now and now the democrats are showing they are more shaky. >> the push for new gun control measures and a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system also stalled. >> let's stop the threats. >> bashing republicans over the budget as the navy yard shooting unfolded miles away tone deaf. "new york times" columnist maureen dowd writing the man that connected so electronically in 2008 cannot seem to connect anymore. what does this mean for the president? >> the president needs to change the discussion and i think he is trying to after syria much more to the republicans are extreme and cooperative and change the focus back to the republican party.

he has a lot more to prove now. >> if the shut down is ai had roed congress still has to vote to raise the debt ceiling to keep paying their bills and promising a fight over obama care will be part of that effort. wolf. >> lots on the agenda now. thanks very much. the president clearly taking a lot of heat is he really feeling that? >> dan is joining us from the white house. thanks very much for coming in. >> what are you saying to the criticism he received a lot of criticism that the speech he gave shortly after the massacre at the navy yard was politically tone deaf because after saying a few words about what happened to the navy yard he went on to start bashing republicans on the economy. >> wolf, what happened at the navy yard is a tragedy. the president addressed at the top of the remarks and followed

it throughout the day and being briefed and will be speaking at the memorial service on sunday. this is a tragedy. what is also true as pointed out in the previous story, very important looming deadlines that congress has to meet to pass a pudge and pay our bills. if they don't do that, there will be serious economic consequences and the clock is ticking. that's an important message. >> is the president ready to negotiate republicans on the spending and as well as on raising the debt ceiling? >> the president has been very clear on that. here is where we are on the debt ceiling. for the first time ever in 2011 the republicans decided they were going to threaten if they don't get 100% their way they will get into default for the first time causing tremendous consequences. we can't allow that to be the norm here where one party doesn't get what they want and they don't win elections and can't pass thing and hold the full faith and credit of the united states hostage. they have to do their job which

is paid the bills they already incurred it is paying for spending this congress authorized. >> hold the thought for a moment. i want to continue this conversation. take a quick break. more with dan pfeiffer including this, should the president put obama care on the back burner at least for a year to make peace with congressional republicans? we'll ask dan pfeiffer about that, and two former defense secretaries who both worked for president obama get this, they are now voicing some strong doubts about the president's deal with russia's president putin. dan pfeiffer on that. that's coming up. t is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!!

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select your ideal temperature. so you can both sleep exactly the way you like-at your own perfect temperature. and there's only one place in the world you'll find an entire collection of temperature-balancing solutions-including the revolutionary sleep number dual temp layer-designed to give you the soundest sleep of your life: a sleep number store near you. sleep number. comfort individualized. visit sleepnumber.com to find one of our 425 sleep number stores nationwide. push comes to shove between president obama and house republicans and the center of it an effort to derail health care reform, the new law that is about to go into effect. we're back with dan pfeiffer, the senior adviser to the president. some republicans are reaching out and saying, you know, the

president has already delayed implementation of some parts of obama care. why not delay implementation of the whole thing at least for a year to get through the current economic rises. >> we're not paying ransom for congress doing their job of paying bills. the second point, the affordable care act is passed by both houses of congress, signed by the president and upheld by the supreme court and validated in an election. if congress wants to change it, get the votes and repeal it. they don't have that. the job should be to implement the law and help americans get access. it is not something -- we did not spend all of this time refighting political battles. >> if this is the condition put forward by the republicans in order to keep the government funded and keep the debt ceiling going up, to at least delay, forget about repealing, delay full implementation of obama carrefour a year, that's a

non-starter as far as the president is concerned. >> it is a non-starter with the president. it is a non-starter with the senate, and you don't need to hear that from me. the republicans know that. the house republicans are saying just a few weeks ago before they were browbeat into this theater by the tea party, senator ted cruz, they know how this ends. they know what is possible. they know they do not have the votes to repeal obama care. they will not negotiate over raising the debt ceiling and other presidents have negotiated with the opposition on raising the debt ceiling including president obama and when he was a senator he recommended that there be some changes. he voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2007. >> wolf, something fundamentally changed in 2011. the house in particular allowed the far right extreme party to

declare if they don't get what they want, 100% of what they want, they will allow the u.s. government to default for the first time. that would have tremendous consequences for the economy and potentially put us back, set us back many years in economic recovery and so things are different. in the past they haven't negotiated over the debt ceiling. they were adding it into other deals they were doing. it is important to understand the difference here. >> let's move onto syria. surprised to hear two former defense secretaries, both of whom work for president obama, a forum in southern methodist university in dallas and they were pretty blunt, critical of the president, and on syria, and gates saying among other things given the timelines that were involved, i would have advised him against going to congress. gates also, my bottom line is i believe that a blow, that to a blow of punch to ploe a bunch of

stuff up over a couple days to underscore a point or principle is not a strategy. panetta adding this, when the president of the united states draws a red line, the credibility of this country is dependent on him backing up his words. i don't know about you. i was pretty surprised to here both of these former defense secretaries raise questions about the way the president is handling syria. >> it is a very complicated issue going on for a long time. let's see where we were three weeks ago and what the ultimate policy goal was. with the president declared assad can never use chemical weapons again. our goal was to prevent him from doing so. where are we now? three weeks later we're at a situation we're not just preventing assad from using chemical weapons again, it is about actually being involved in a process of removing those chemical weapons from his possession. that is a policy outcome, much better than anyone thought was possible just a few weeks ago. that happened directly because of the pressure the president put on syria by having a

credible military threat on the table. the goal is not to blow something up for the sake of blowing it up, it is to ensure the chemical weapons are never used again and that's the process now. more work to do and we made great progress. >> let me wrap it up. a lot of us concerned when we heard you were at george washington university hospital with what were described as stroke like symptoms. you seem to be okay at least in this interview. tell us what happened. how are you feeling? what's going on. >> i had a couple of incidents about two weeks ago, very good doctors that looked after me and i feel great. i have been back at work since right after i left the hospital, and everything is good and i am being smart listening to the doctors and i think everything should be good from here on out. >> have you changed anything as far as your lifestyle is concerned? are you eating better, exercising more, drinking more fluids, not working as hard? >> have you been talking to my

mom? i have been listening to the doctors and i am being smart and whenever i get overly stressed out i turn on cnn just so i can listen to the tones of wolf blitzer at 5:00 every day. >> that could probably send you back. all right. good luck, dan pfeiffer. >> thank you, wolf. >> we're hoping you will be okay. i know you had a scare and a lot of us had a scare when we heard about it and i am sure your mom did as well. fortunately are you back and sound good and look good and we hope you are fully mended from whatever it was. >> thank you so much, wolf. >> the president's senior adviser. here is what else is coming up later tonight on cnn. >> cnn tonight, at 7 "erin burnett outfront." controversy and the crown, the new miss america responds to racist comments over her win and then at 8:00 on anderson cooper 360, remembering the victims who lost their lives in the navy yard shooting, and at the:00 on piers morgan live, a deadly combination, guns and mental illness. >> there is no way a gun should ever get in the hands of a

mentally ill person. >> from the suicide of pastor rick warren's son to the shooting at washington navy yard, piers asks the experts, can anything be done? it is all cnn tonight starting with "erin burnett outfront" at 7, anderson cooper 360 at 8, and piers morgan live at 9, tonight on cnn. coming up on "the situation room," advice on a government shutdown from someone who has been there not once but twice, the cross fire co-host newt gingrich joins us next. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing.

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a government shut down is suddenly looking more likely. republican leaders say the house will pass a bill this week that would only keep the government running if president obama's health care reform law is fully defunded, a bill that is certain to die in the democratically controlled senate. dana bash asked the house speaker john boehner about all of that today. >> it is no secret that you did not want to attach obama care to defining obama care to the spending bill. i know it is not easy to be the speaker over at this caucus. have you lost control over the caucus? >> listen, we have a lot of divergent opinions in the caucus and the key is to any leadership jop is to listen. i was here during the gingrich

era, and he had a little plaque if his office, and it was a management model, listen, learn, help, and lead. we listen to our colleagues over the course of the last week. we have a plan that they're happy with. we're going forward. >> newt gingrich, the co-host of the cross fire is joining us now. he was the speaker of the house during two earlier government shutdowns in the 1990s. mr. speaker, thanks very much. tell me what advice have you for the current speaker. >> i think to do what he is doing. he is speaker because he leads his conference and he has to i think pay attention to the desire of the conference. he can't lead very far beyond them or frankly he won't be speaker. the conference clearly wants to have a very serious collision with president obama about a whole series of key issues. and i think the conference believes that this is not a

and the job of the speaker now, i think, is to set up the fight in the best possible way, recognizing that he's going to have substantial elements against him. but emphasizing that he wants to keep the government open, that he wants to help the economy create jobs but that there are significant things that the president simply has to negotiate over. >> but a lot of republicans, especially those who lived during the two earlier government shutdowns don't want to see another government shutdown. listen to republican congressman peter king of new york. >> we can't let the government shut down. we can't be kamikazes and general custers. >> that's the problem. if there is a government shutdown, the polls show the majority of the american public will blame the republicans.

>> wolf, let me mention something that seems to shock a lot of people in the news business. the next election is november of 2014. my advice to the speaker of the house is ignore the polls, do what you think is right. emphasize that you want to keep the government open. they're going to pass the continuing resolution. they're going to be in a position to keep the government open. and i think also emphasize to the country that the president of the united states has an obligation to negotiate. this idea that barack obama somehow can sit in the white house, refuse to negotiate, demand what he wants and that the congress has an obligation to obey him goes against everything we know about american history. i think the president has as big an obligation to sit down and talk with the house as the house does to sit down and talk with the president. >> he says he's willing to talk about the budget and avoiding a government shutdown. what he isn't willing to discuss right now with anyone is whether or not the country should raise

the nation's debt ceiling, the creditworthiness of the united states is at stake and you have to raise that debt ceiling. >> look, this is historically nonsense. this is like the other night when i was with you and we listened to the president's speech on syria and he totally misquoted a speech of franklin d. roosevelt. george h.w. bush signed debt ceilings that had things added to them. william jefferson clinton did the same thing. who is barack obama to dictate to the nation that he is not going to follow the precedent and negotiate -- presidents are supposed to negotiate with the congress. they don't dictate to the congress. they can't just swagger around and he doesn't get to set the terms of the debate. both sides have to come to the table. both sides have to find a common ground. but the president, in my judgment, makes it very hard to

do so given his attitude. >> he says he did that the last time the debt ceiling came up and he's not doing it gep. that ceiling is about to come u by mid october, if you believe the department of the treasury. newt gingrich, see you on "crossfire," 6:30 p.m. eastern. still ahead here in "the situation room," we have new details about the health of the navy yard shooter, aaron alexis and a recent visit to a v.a. hospital. plus, cnn's jeanne moos when we come back. [ crashing ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond.

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miley cyrus and even pre-miley. inspired university administrators to put the ball into storage. >> just from a safety standpoint. >> that ball better be back soon. >> reporter: keep your shirt on or at least your underwear. the students are having protests. they're leaving memorials. the wrecking ball even has its own twitter account tweeting out, just put the ball back and no one gets worse. meanwhile, online parodies have been wreaking havoc with miley's wrecking ball, reimagining how the song should have gone, adding "twerk that" and replacing miley -- with nicholas cage. most people have to improvise.

nailing it with tires, with tires shaped like a horse, substituting a light for a ball, a playground swing. parodies featuring everything from homemade balls to exercise balls. ♪ to suspended exercise balls that require one to exercise patience. >> have you mounted a horse before? >> yes, but one that i know is not going to fall from a tree. >> reporter: university officials say they hope to eventually relocate it. other solutions? electrify the ball? >> they grease it down. >> reporter: but for now, the wrecking ball remains moth-balled, no more miley cyrus meets tarzan. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. happening now, the mother of

the navy yard gunman says she's glad he can't hurt anyone else. >> to the families of the victims, i am so, so very sorry that this has happened. my heart is broken. >> two days after aaron alexis opened fire, the pentagon chief now acknowledging that red flags were, in fact, missed. starbucks serves up a new message for gun owners. the ceo explains to cnn why he's changing his policy on weapons in stores. and so much for the handshakes and working together. is russia putting a deal on syria's chemical weapons at risk? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we could get the autopsy results of the navy yard gunman at any moment. a spokesman says the d.c.

medical examiner will finish work on aaron alexis' body by the end of the day. we're also learning about bizarre markings on the gun he used in his shooting rampage. a law enforcement official telling cnn, the phrase is "better off this way" and "my elf" etched into the gun. investigators don't know what it means. they're trying to figure it out. twol days after the massacre in building 197, the evidence and the grief still very, very fresh. let's bring in joe johns. he's been looking into all of this. what are you finding out, joe? >> reporter: wolf, today, law enforcement authorities said they were still processing the multiple crime scenes inside the navy yard as the issue of who gets legitimate access to defense department installations like this one became an issue at the highest levels. almost back to business, so-called essential workers were allowed to return today to the

navy yard, 48 hours after the shooting. nonessential employees were allowed to pick up their cars, even as the back and forth was just getting started, over how a guy like aaron alexis with so many red flags about his mental stability and even run-ins with the law could get a clearance to walk onto a secure place by the navy yard. secretary of defense chuck hagel launched a worldwide review of procedures at military installations. >> where there are gaps, we will close them. where there are inadequacies, we will address them. and where there are failures, we will correct them. we owe the victims, their families and all our people nothing else. >> reporter: meanwhile there were new details about the health of the shooter. aaron alexis visited a veterans administration hospital last month and was given medication for insomnia.

authorities also say he was given disability pay for t tinnitus. >> to the families of the victims, i'm so very sorry this happened. >> reporter: investigators are reaching out to as many as 700 potential witnesses at the navy yard alone as a so-called computer assistance response team-team with the fbi got its first looks at the computer of aaron alexis. one now question emerged about the emergency response. capitol hill police said on the morning of the shootings, their armed response team was ready to enter the navy yard but was turned away. two law enforcement sources said they would have been told to stand down if other teams were already on site and attempting to secure the scene.

the president of the united states is expected to attend a memorial service for the victims of the navy yard shooting on sunday. wolf? >> joe johns over at the navy yard, thank you. let's get to the syria crisis right now. russia is slamming a new united nations report confirming the use of sarin gas in syria, calling it, quote, distorted. the united states says the report bolsters its claim that the syrian regime was behind a deadly chemical weapons attack last month. russia is promising to present new evidence suggesting the rebels in syria were to blame. all of this raising more questions about the fate of that u.s./russian deal for syria to give up its poison gas stockpiles. jim sciutto was in geneva with the secretary of state john kerry when the deal was reached. he's back in washington right now. jim, what is the latest? what's going on on this back and forth? >> reporter: what we're seeing now is what were private

disagreements between the u.s. and russia in geneva are now airing out in public. one of those disagreements on who was actually behind the attack, the other on the use of force if syria fails to comply with the agreement. but on the assad regime's responsibility, the state department's position here is that not only does the u.n. report bolster washington's daysst case, but syria's and russia's agreement to remove all of syria's chemical weapons is in effect, wolf, admission enough of responsibility. on force, however, the disagreement is potentially more problematic because russia's made clear it will never support the use of force which means if syria refuses to comply, the u.s. has to go back to the u.n. for a vote or be willing to take military action largely on its own. >> the u.s. would lose that at the security council if russia would use its veto. the first deadline on the syria deal is coming up.

syria given one week to release complete accounts of all of its chemical weapons stockpiles, where they are, how much they have. here's the question, jim, will they meet that deadline? >> it's a good question. there's been some question, first of all, when that deadline actually is -- the agreement was announced last friday. i'm told by the state department, their understanding is that the deadline would be this coming saturday. that said, they're not calling it a deadline but a time line. that's on purpose. the officials here don't want to be put in a position where if syria is a day late they would have to start to talk about repercussions or consequences for the syrian regime. i don't think you'll see anybody in the state department panicking if that deal -- if all this information, as you say, is not released on saturday. but they'll be looking for it. if by early next week, you still don't have all that information, then you're going to start to hear some anger from foggy bottom at the state department.

>> whether you call them time lines or deadlines, there are more coming up in november as well. >> reporter: no question. that gives more opportunities for the syrians to gain the system. we've seen it going back 20 years in iraq when a similar plan was pursued. that's a real worry and something you're going to have multiple times where you have to be watching the syrians for compliance here and where delays could be possible. and then where questions will arise about what are the consequences for those delays? >> lots of questions. jim sciutto, thank you. russia's rocky relationship with the obama administration making an impression here in the united states. a new gallup shows 50% of americans view russia has either unfriendly or as an enemy of the united states. compared to 44% who see moscow as an ally or a friendly nation. this is the first time in 15 years that more americans consider russia to be unfriendly, a huge downturn from 2006 when 73% of americans saw russia as an ally of the united states.

coming up here in "the situation room," some republicans fear their party is reporting to kamikaze tactics. a look at the struggle within the gop as a showdown nears that could potentially shut down the federal government within days. starbucks says it got dragged into a political debate over guns. now it has a new policy to try to pull itself out. with angie's list, i save time, money, and i avoid frustration. you'll find reviews on home repair to healthcare, written by people just like you. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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republican leaders are setting the stage for a possible shutdown of the federal government in a couple of weeks, even though they claim that's the last thing they want. it's a provocative and risky new tactic that could drag washington into another self-imposed crisis. dana bash joins us. what is going on here? >> reporter: remember, wolf, republicans rode into power in the house on a wave of anti-obama care sentiment. that's definitely what's been going on here for the past 2 1/2 years. they voted to repeal or dismantle obama care about 40 times. but now they're taking it to a whole new level, one which is risky and without a clear end game. the way the house speaker tells it, this is not about shutting down the government. >> our goal here is to cut spending and to protect the american people from obama care. it's as simple as that.

>> reporter: except there is nothing simple about it. the government is set to run out of money in less than two weeks, september 30th. a house gop bill to keep the government funded would also defund obama care. >> even one penny of obama care. >> reporter: it's a strat gop grassroots group spent all summer pounding rank-and-file republicans to support. >> heard from our conservative groups over the break about defunding obama care. >> reporter: the pressure was there, you felt it? >> oh, the pressure was absolutely there. but none of us like obama care. >> reporter: but the senate is run by democrats who do like obama care. that's why gop leaders privately resists defunding it, risking a government shutdown. but thanks to conservative pressure, boehner could not find votes to keep the government running without also stripping out health care money. i know it's not been easy to be speaker over this caucus. but at this point, have you kind of lost control over the caucus? >> listen, we've got a lot of

divergent opinions in the caucus. and the key to any leadership job is to listen. we listen to our colleagues over the course of the last week. we have a plan that they're happy with. >> reporter: not all republicans seem happy. do you think it's a good idea? >> we can't let the government shut down. we can't be kamikazes and we can't be general custers. >> reporter: senate democrats say if there's a shutdown, republicans will get the blame. >> if they think we're going to back off, they're wrong. they're on a different planet. >> reporter: they may have unlikely allies, some conservative senators. >> the only effective way to truly stop obama care, and i think we ought to do it, to stop it, would be to totally reverse it. we don't have the votes to do that. >> reporter: now, the house plans to vote this week, even as soon as tomorrow. then it's on to the senate where, wolf, even the republican

sponsors of this idea in the senate, people like ted cruz and marco rubio released this statement today admitting they don't have the votes. the question then is, what will the senate do? they will try to pass something that was just funded to the government. the question is what happens in the house? this is going to be down to the wire again probably right down to the september 30th deadline for the government to shut down. >> government runs out of money, september 30th. stand by for a moment, dana. i want to bring in jessica yellin to this conversation as well. some are suggesting the president is losing his agenda for his second term. what are you hearing on that, jessica? >> reporter: that question assumes the president has clearly laid out his agenda. other than immigration reform, what has he really proposed for his second term? he's been pushing a continuation of the jobs measures that he was already proposing in his first term.

he is pressing implementation of obama care, the signature measure of his first term. and he's pushing climate change and education measure that is he didn't get to in his first term. right now, gun control measures and a strike on syria have risen out of events that he didn't foresee previously. so the president right now is being buffeted by events out of his control. i don't really think we've seen much of him driving an agenda to begin with. so he really needs to start laying one out for him to be buffeted off of it, wolf. >> he's got to get over these hurdles in the short term the next few weeks. it could be a disaster if the government runs out of money or if the nation's debt ceiling is not increased. dana, how much of this is ideological, this whole battle between republicans and the president, these substantive issues? how much is it, i guess, personal in the sense they don't really like this president very much? >> reporter: well, i definitely think a lot of it is personal and that they don't necessarily

dislike him on a personal level but they certainly dislike his policies, namely this main policy, which is by far going to be his number one legacy. obviously, it's named obama care. as i mentioned before, so many republicans walking the halls here are only here, wolf, because they beat democrats, saying to their constituent, i'm going to get to washington and i'm going to get rid of this awful law that is out there. many of them do feel compelled because they made the promise to their constituents to keep fighting. of course, the split -- and there is a very real split among republicans here -- is over how far to go. and it really was surprising that the house republican leadership took this step that they did today and made the decision earlier this week. but they just did not have a choice because there was so much pressure coming from these grassroots conservative groups like heritage action organization saying, you've got to keep on this and this is our

last big fight -- our last big chance to at least make the point we're trying to get rid of this law that they simply think is the wrong way to go. >> the clock is ticking for both sides right now, the stakes enormous. dana, jessica, thanks very much. coming up, starbucks is known for taking stands on controversial issues, supporting, for example, same-sex marriage, banning smoking outside its stores. now it's changing its policy on the hot issue of guns. we'll update you on what's going on. also, we have an update on horrific new flooding that's going on. dozens of people are dead. hing sfx: birds chirping. sfx: birds chirping. everybody has different ideas, goals, appetite for risk. you can't say 'one size fits all'. it doesn't. that's crazy. we're all totally different.

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the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. police say a 14-year-old georgia girl is in, quote, good health after being kidnapped from her atlanta area home tuesday morning. two men are in custody for allegedly breaking into ayvani perez's house demanding money and jewelry and then kidnapping her. she was found in nearby conyers, georgia. she's okay. at least 80 people are dead and over 1 million affected after storms ravaged parts of mexico. multiple storm systems hit the country from the east, west and south. damaged roads have stranded an estimated 40,000 tourists in acapulco alone. we'll be monitoring the situation in mexico very closely. check out these pictures released by the united states air force. it shows a 20,000-pound bomb just moments before striking a small moving unmanned boat. then the aftermath as the boat

explodes into pieces. it shows how accurate this laser-guided bomb can be built. and a surprise discovery in oklahoma, deputies found two cars at the bottom of a lake using sonar equipment. investigators say one car may have belonged to a teenager who disappeared with two friends back in 1970. the other to a man who vanished in the early 1960s. a state medical team will examine the remains once they are removed. starbucks is sending a message to americans that weapons aren't welcome in its stores. cnn's poppy harlow spoke with starbucks ceo -- >> we're not an anti-gun company. we're not a policymaker.

>> reporter: he's smack in the middle of a heated gun control debate. >> we have been mischaracterized as either being pro or anti gun. we're neither. >> reporter: 43 states have open carry laws, meaning you can visibly carry a licensed gun in public. many businesses like target, walmart and starbucks say you can carry guns in their stores. >> we've seen advocates on both sides of this debate use starbucks as a staging ground for their own motivations. >> reporter: across the country, gun rights advocates have gathered at the coffee chain displaying photos on facebook. >> customers have felt uncomfortable. >> reporter: in an open letter, schultz says guns are not welcome at starbucks and asks customers not to bring them. but he stopped short of a ban.

>> we made that decision so that we would not put our people in the uncomfortable position of having to confront a customer who's carrying a gun. >> reporter: ryan and bill both carry their guns in public but generally concealed. >> i intend to respect their wishes. i just won't be taking my business to starbucks. >> in a free society like america where we're supposed to honor equality, tolerance and each other's rights, here we have a company saying, we don't want that right in our store. i think that's unfortunate. >> reporter: the brady campaign and others have petitioned starbucks to ban guns. last month, a group of newtown residents sent schultz this letter asking him to ban guns. >> i think it's a significant step in the right direction. we would have referred an outright ban. but i think it sends a clear message that we need to have safe places for our kids. >> reporter: how do you make these decisions, howard, of what social issues starbucks should engage in, put your name in

front of and starbucks' name in front of? >> there are times when i feel like america has lost its conscience. i think the role and responsibility for companies is not only to make a profit but to serve their communities as best we can. >> reporter: and i can tell you, wolf, as for schultz himself, he did not say whether he owns a gun or not. when we asked him, he said, this is not a personal decision, this is a decision about his company and about the customers. but as you can imagine, this is playing out in heated debate all across social media. wolf? >> certainly is. poppy, good report, thanks very much, poppy harlow reporting for us. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "crossfire" starts right now. tonight on "crossfire," the battle over jobs, the economy and obama care. from threats to shut down the

federal government to a red state governor's raid on a blue state's jobs. on the left, santa claus. on the left, stephanie cutter, on the right, newt gingrich. the political debate -- from now to 2006, tonight on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire." i'm stsephanie cutter on the left. >> i'm newt gingrich on the right. tonight, we're looking at two very different strategies to grow jobs. texas governor rick perry has a nationwide strategy. maryland senator o'malley has a state-focused strategy. >> texas is said to be home of 7

out of the top ten cities in america to do business. >> the governors of both states are in the crossfire tonight. martin o'malley of maryland and governor rick perry of texas. the first question to you, governor perry. in your ads, you say, think texas. i want to think about a couple of statistics from your states. you have the highest number of uninsured, one of the highest poverty rates and none of that appears in your ads. i'm curious why. those are things that i think businesses would want to know. >> i think it's interesting you want to cherry-pick numbers out there. we never thought in texas that you judge success by the number of people on public assistance. we made the decision that we don't want to force people to have to buy insurance. they have access to some of the finest health care in the world with the texas medical center there, one of the largest medical establishments in the country.