this is cnn breaking news. good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". chris is in new york this morning. i'm in parkland, florida. this of course is the scene of a massacre. this is a city that is now the site of the deadliest school shooting in the u.s. since sandy hook, which we all remember which was about five years ago in newtown, connecticut. so folks are dealing with the same sense of devastation. police say this heavily armed man, young man, 19 years old, stormed into his former high school for when he was expelled and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon. he turned his school into a war zone. here's the latest. here's where things stand at this hour. police say 17 people were killed in and around this school. most of them students.

this is managrjory stoneman douglas. so many students don't have i.d. on them. so that makes it much tougher for authorities. at least 15 others are hospitalized as we speak. five of them with life threatening injuries. this 19-year-old suspect will make his first court appearance in just the next hour. prosecutors have now charged him this morning with 17 counts of premeditated murder. obviously that means he knew what he was doing when he went into this school with an ar-15. earlier this morning authorities transferred the suspect to the broward county jail. this is the video, chris, that we're watching right now of this perp walk, as we call it. he's in custody, handcuffed and shackled probably. you and i have talked about this a lot. we don't say the names, you and i chosen not to, because it

could increase notoriety. there are copy cat fears. what's the point? it's unusual, though, i must say, because he survived this massacre. so often they don't. they shoot themselves or go down from police bullets. but this young man is going to obviously already be answering questions of police as if there is ever an answer as to why someone does this. >> yeah. i think we're probably better off saying the names of the lawmakers who don't do anything. you're in florida there. one of the senators on. senator marco rubio said this is a day you pray will never come. in explicable tragedy. this is one of the most easily explained tragedies that we deal with. and the perfunctory, we're

praying for the victims. they will comb through social media posts of this suspected killer. we respect the process. but we know who did this and why. the suspected killer was getting treatment a lot a mental health clinic. in florida, doctors can be penalized if they even ask whether or not you own a firearm. it is a fight the governor there is actively in favor of. a federal court knocked down that rule. governor scott, who of course is expressing sympathy for the victims, is fighting to keep it so doctors shouldn't even ask in most circumstances. the purchase of the ar-15 style rifle was completely legal. you know that name now, and that is one of the sick parts of this. you know that gun from these massacres. you will hear the gun control debate on the news. but you will not hear lawmakers even begin the first step.

what are we going to do to stop school shootings? they won't even get-together and ask the questions. the president is yet toll speak publicly about the shooting. advisers were recommended that the president say something about this. mr. trump opted not to say anything. we have cnn's rosa flores in parkland, florida. rosa? >> reporter: good morning, chris. we've learned that the suspect has been transported to the broward county jail, which is actually attached to the broward county courthouse where he is scheduled to face a judge this morning. and his booking photo. take a look at your screen. this is him in that booking photo taken at the county jail. now, behind me what's happening is investigators are processing this extensive scene. they are gathering evidence. as we mentioned, he has been

charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. investigators behind me trying to gather the evidence to prove that. we have to warn you the images you are about to see are very graphic. terrifying moments unfolding inside this florida high school. a gunman brandishing an ar-15 style semiautomatic weapon, opening fire, killing at least 17. >> there were tears. there was crying. some of my classmates did not know if they were leaving the school alive. >> reporter: the chaos erupting minutes before the end of the school day when the fire alarm sounded. >> the shooter wore a gas mask and he had smoke grenades. especially went and set off the fire alarm so the kids would come pouring out of the

classrooms into the hall. there the carnage began. >> reporter: students and teachers confused. only hours earlier they had done a fire drill. >> everyone thought it was a joke. then the gunshots came out. >> i heard screaming. i heard five or six gunshots. we thought they were firecrackers. >> reporter: some students running for their lives. others hiding under desks, sending frantic text messages to their loved ones. >> she said at 2:38, tell them someone is hurt on the third floor of the 1200 building. we can hear him crying and praying. >> reporter: one teacher hiding with 19 students inside a closet for nearly an hour. >> i really was praying, praying, praying. it was the most scariest experience of my life. >> reporter: police desperately attempting to locate the shooter. >> does he know where the shooter is? >> we don't know. >> reporter: this shows students huddling on the floor when the s.w.a.t. teams arrive.

>> put your hands in the air. police, police. >> reporter: outside, first responders helping to rush the injured while anxious parents waited to be reunited with their children. >> he was happy. he said, mom, it was real. it was really real. >> reporter: over an hour of the shooting began, police arrested a suspect in a neighboring city after he fled by trying to blend in with the crowd. the 19-year-old former student had been expelled for disciplinary reasons. >> he told me how he got kicked out of two private schools. he was held back twice. he had aspirations of the military. he enjoyed hunting. he always seemed very quiet and strange. >> reporter: investigators now looking for answers in the suspect's online posts. police uncovering these disturbing images on instagram, showing him brandishing a knife and holding a b.b. gun. another photo, a target riddled with bullet holes. and the florida attorney general announcing that the state will be paying for the funerals of

the victims and the florida governor announcing he is asking for flags to be flown at half-staff. alisyn, again, the latest news we're getting into the cnn "newsroom", the suspect is expected to be charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. alisyn? >> okay, rosa, thank you very much. let's talk more about how investigators are trying to piece together clues. they're combing through social media accounts. we know the suspect was expelled fromy stoneman douglas high school. jessica schneider has the latest on all of that. jessica. >> reporter: we saw moments ago the suspect being taken into county jail there. he was taken into custody outside the school yesterday. we're told he has been talking to investigators. besides what they're learning directly from the gunman, she

have searched gun records and social media as well for clues. a u.s. official tells us that the shooter purchased that ar-15 himself sometime in the past year. he did pass the background check to wfp that weapon. but the warning signs were there on a variety of social media posts. instagram he posted a photo of a shotgun. he brandishes a b.b. gun, long knives. and these online posts threatening posting, i think i whana shoot people with my ar-15. i wanna die fighting killing expletive ton of people. i am going to kill law enforcement one day. they kill good people. we know the shooter's adopted family are also cooperating. the shooter's mother died last november from the flu. that turned into pneumonia. his father died about 14 years

ago. so now the adopted family talking to investigators. we know that the gunman has as well talked to investigators ever since he was taken into custody outside the school. but, alisyn, this investigation still continues going on. and we are pouring through the social media accounts as well. alisyn. >> okay, jessica, thank you very much. obviously we are getting information in here every minute. we just have an update to share with you now. we have our first confirmed identity of one of the victims. it is the assistant football coach. his name aaron feis. he died at the hospital from his injuries. we believe he was helping to shield students who were under attack from this massacre. again, this is assistant football coach aaron feis who has been killed. there are 16 other victims. and authorities are not naming those yet because they haven't been able to identify them and tell their families because

teenagers don't always walk around with identification on them. that makes it more complicated obviously for police. so we will bring you all of these developments as soon as we get them. joining us now is parkland mayor. thank you very much for being here. so sorry for your community. >> thank you. >> i mean, losing 17 people in a small community. this will forever change parkland. >> it will. parkland is a very small city here in northwest broward county full of families. we're a close-knit community. at times when we had hurricane irma, families were out helping their neighbors, helping complete strangers. it is very devastating for something like this to happen in our community. >> of course the twisted irony is parkland was voted the safest community in florida last year. >> yes. we have always been taught one of the safest cities in america. >> how do you explain a massacre like this in america?

>> it shows something like this can happen anywhere. and i think that's something that people need to realize. and hopefully going forward, when people see things on social media that might seem a little suspect, that they will say something to the police. >> is that what you think the front line is here? obviously people realize, i think at this point, it can happen anywhere. we have been to a sickening number of these. it can happen anywhere. it can happen in newtown, connecticut. it can happen in parkland, florida. do you think authorities missed the social media clues? >> i think in hindsight, it is always easy to say we could have seen this, we could have seen that. but i think any time something like this happens, it is everyone's responsibility to learn something for it. not just as police but us as residents. >> what happened when you heard there was an active shooter at a shaol? >> we heard there was an active shooter call. i heard all the sirens going. and i realized this probably wasn't just a call, this was

probably something serious. and i immediately came on the scene. parents here hadn't heard from their children yet. >> what did you do for them? i can't imagine the hell of being here waiting to hear some word for your child who is not answering their phone phone and they are trapped in a closet. >> all i can say is i'm here for you and talk you through it. thank goodness for technology and that the students and the children could text their parents. and then the police were going through at one point through the school piece by piece. as areas became safe, they allowed children to come out and see the parents, able to embrace their children and know they were okay. it was unbelievable. >> i mean, of course 17 families can't. >> yes. >> i mean, i don't know how a community like this is going to move forward with that loss of life. >> i think it's very difficult. again, we're a close-knit community. people -- many people knew these

families, kids, grew up with these kids. we're also a strong community. any time there has been disaster in other areas, our community has always stepped up. and i know we will step up for this as well. >> you're not only the mayor, you're on the school board, right? >> no, i'm not on the school board. in florida the county controls the school board. so we have a broward county school system. >> my question was about the school. this is obviously a beautiful school. it has this outdoor/indoor quality. it has open hallways. so when they change classes they are outside in the beautiful weather. how are you going to make schools safe senator. >> we have single points of entry at stoneman douglas. during school hours, you have to come in through the office and show i.d. >> if you're a guest, a visitor,

you have to show your i.d. >> once school is in session to be able to come in, we have a single point of entry. >> is that good enough? after something like this, does anything need to change at this grassroots level? >> that's something i'm sure the police and the broward county schools will be working on once they do their investigative work here and find out what happened. >> mayor, stand by. we are getting a new statement from the president so i want to read that to everybody. this is what president trump just tweeted. so many signs that the florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. but must always such instances to authorities, again and again. i mean, the president there seems to -- i'm just reading this for the first time and hearing it along with you. but the president seems to suggest that it is going to be up to neighbors and friends to stop these things. >> if a solution were simple for these things, we would have

found one already. and i don't think there's one solution. i think it takes many people and many different avenues to come to a solution. and hopefully we never see one of these tragedies happen again in our country can. >> unfortunately we are going to see another one. if history is in guide, we will see this. there have been already -- this isn't the first school shooting of this year. there has been a spate of school shootings this year. it's hard to know where to start. if you had one wish so this never happened in parkland again? >> i would wish that it never happens anywhere again. i'm going to be more vigilant. i'm going to talk to our residents, neighbors, friends to be more vigilant. and ask our kids, when they see something on social media, go to your parents. we're a safe place to talk about it and to discuss it. >> mayor, thank you very much for being here with us. we're very sorry for your community. >> appreciate it. so you heard it here.

i mean, look, everybody is casting a ballot for different ideas what they think would solve it. but just hoping it doesn't happen and praying it doesn't happen doesn't seem to be working. we want to bring in law especially forcement charlenfor. the president just put out a statement saying this is going to require vigilance. that people knew this suspect had mental health history, he was mentally disturbed, he was expelled from school. and it will be up to neighbors and friends to call these people out. >> he ya. but what happens? how do you seize his gun? what do you expect to happen after that? that is all in hindsight. the question is what do you do? now what do you do? >> we heard from other students here. they said they did know he was a problem, that he had disciplinary areas. the they knew he had personality issues. then what? >> what do you think if police

just came and just seized that weapon? >> i don't know. >> based on that. >> what would have happened? >> they would have been in a lot of trouble and you would have a lot of politicians saying they're violating this person's second amendment rights. we're looking at this through hindsight. who should have known what, who should have done what and that sort of things. but they need to have the tools to take action if you have someone in a mental state where they are a danger on others potentially. >> what is that action? what's the solution? >> there will have to be some legislation in order for that to happen. it starts with people paying attention and bringing matters to attention. >> but legislation meaning -- what's your dream legislation? >> it's not just about mental illness. there are all forms of mental illness. but if you are a person who is a danger. just the mere fact that a psychiatrist or psychologist can't even ask you whether or not you own a gun.

this is the person talking to you and they know whether or not you're a potential danger. and you can't even ask the question. you're asking the question because you think this person could potentially could be a problem or at least pose a threat to someone. to me that doesn't make any sense. we have to take a look at this realistically. we're not trying to disarm every american. but you have to have something that's reasonable and sensible in place so once you become aware you can actually take action. becoming aware is only part of on it. you have to be able to act. >> yeah. i would say we're pretty aware at the moment. i understand that the suspect has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. is that surprising? >> no. 17 counts of murder. more if other people die. we still have people with life threatening conditions right now. but think about it, alisyn, we're here because we have had a tragic school shooting. young kids lose their lives on the streets of our cities every single day to gun violence. one here, two there.

and we don't hear anything about it. maybe a short blurb in a news somewhere. it affects our entire country, every neighborhood in your country. >> charles ramsey, thank you for your experience in this and being with us. chris, we will bring you all the developments from down here in parkland, florida. they seem to be coming out moment by moment. >> perfectly laid out by you and ramsey. the president just tweeted about the shooting. he doesn't even contemplate doing something to stop the shootings. he said all of us have to be more aware, let people know when there is a bad person in our mid midst. the florida school massacre reviving the debate over gun violence. will congress finally take action on guns? we ask a senator where the answer is no. whoooo. looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino!

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who are interested in fitness... namaste. whichever audience you're looking for, we'll find them we're the finders. we work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. anywhere, any way your audience watches. consider them found. 17. that's the number lost to school shooting. senator chris murphy blasting

congress for not doing anything to stop these horrific acts. >> this happens nowhere else other than the united states of america. this epidemic of mass slaughter. the scourge of school shooting over school shooting. it only happens here not because of convince against. coincidence, bad luck, but because of our inaction. >> the other is democrat senator richard blumenthal. we remember newtown all too well. there were 20 kids, six adults killed there at the sandy hook elementary school some five years ago. senator, what are we going to do to stop the school shootings? >> chris, first, let me thank

you and alisyn for the work you're doing on the ground in florida because it is part of the answer that we educate america and make america aware of the awful toll of these mass atrocities. not just in schools, although there have been 400 people injured in 200 schools since sandy hook, many of them killed. but also day to day on our streets. 90 every day on average. it can happen everywhere, and it is happening everywhere. what can we do? connecticut provides part of the answer. we passed common sense measures that have actually reduced violence. things like background checks, ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, other common sense steps. a number of pending before congress right now. i sponsored them with republican

colleagues. if we can break the glacier of complicity in congress, we can get measures done. >> you can't do it state by state. if you don't have one rule, you wind up having all kinds of, you know, all of this variability. you look at florida, laws are so different than they are in connecticut. but overall, you have 39 states in this country don't make it legally required to even say if someone is selling a weapon. what makes republicans want to deal with this? dave jolley talked about this last night. >> let's be brutally honest about what we do know. republicans will never do anything on gun control. consider last summer you had

republican members nearly shot and killed during softball practice and they did nothing. after pulse nut club, republicans did nothing. after vegas, hundreds injured, over 50 killed. republicans did nothing. flip the house. republicans are not going to do a single thing after this shooting we saw today. >> is that true? >> i think republicans will act if faced with the prospect of mass losses. in answer to your question, what can be done? in a word, elections. advocates like myself and other groups and organizations around the country, they are springing up and growing in power, they need to make this issue front and center, a priority in the upcoming electrics. here's some glimmers of hope, chris. first of all, in the last

election where states had measures on their ballots, three out of four succeeded in referendum. and many candidates with this succeeded. even this in congress, one of my colleagues, senator cornyn, joined me in a measure that would tighten the information that is submitted to the background check system is. we need to expand those. he has not yet, nor has the republican party, joined in efforts to expand the background check. >> right. >> but there are glimmers of hope. we need a ground swell, grassroots issue that really moves america. >> you have all the information you could use, senator. we are on pace for a record year this year in terms of school shootings. we're way ahead of the pace from last year. and the president, who promised

we would be talking about gun laws as time goes on after las vegas hasn't said a word and he just tweeted now in a way that completely explains the problem. he said so many signs that the florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavi behavior. neighbors and classmates knew he was such a big problem. must always report such instances to authorities, again and again. write it off to ignorance. he has to know, one, citizenry is not the first line of damn defense against this kind of situation. even if all of those things had been reported in florida, you couldn't have even stopped him from getting a weapon in florida. so what is the president talking about? >> the president has blamed it in a sense on mental health. all the responsibility should be on people looking for troubled

young men, alienated and potentially dangerous. well, there are a lot of those young men in our society and a lot around the world. why does the united states of america have such a high rate of mass gun violence? >> right. >> the answer is very simply that consistent with the second amendment we can tighten the rules that apply to gun purchases so there are background checks and restraining orders, for example, on men who have threatened women and who are convicted of that kind of domestic violence are prevented from gaining weapons. these kinds of measures are common sense and actually work. the state's experience reflects it. you are absolutely right. you made a key point that our state boundaries are poorest. no way guns can be prevented from coming into connecticut from a state like south carolina

where the rules have so much less responsible. and we are at the mercy of the weakest states even when we have the strong of gun laws >> it has to start with the fundamental question, senator. you have to have politicians on both sides of the aisle asking how do we stop these school shootings? before that happens, no or can follow logically. thank you for being on the show as always. >> thank you. >> president trump just tweeted about the deadly shooting. here it is again. i think it's important that you hear it because it expresses so much about how stupid the situation is. so many signs that the florida shooter was mentally disturbed. even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. that's all true. neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. that is also true. must always report such instances to authorities, again and again. the president so far hasn't spoken publicly about the tragedy. i think the tweet is enough to

show where his head on this and what he fundamentally doesn't get. let's bring in maggie haberman. you reported his aides have been asking him to do more. that's a dumb thing he just put out. while all of those things are true, none of them, you can call the police all you want. your not taking this young man's gun away from him. >> that's right. >> he either doesn't understand how the law works or he is being glib and trying to cast blame somewhere else. >> or a combination of both. we may still hear from him. yesterday he was reluctant to do so. that is not, to your point, this is not his strong point, being the comforter in chief, sending a moral message. we have very infrequently seen him do that. 17 school kids were killed

versus what president obama did after sandy hook. but these are all schoolchildren. to your point, talking about there were warning signs. there are always warning signs and what could have been done differently at various points. as you know, none of those would have prevented this unless it would have been putting him in a facility. >> right. if you could have trigger aid 24-hour hold. very high bar. >> and you don't know. >> right. the president i think inadvertently outlined the problem be with the system. >> i don't think it was intentional. >> he's kicked out of school. he's not allowed on campus. he's crazy online. he's being treated for mental health. and he's still able to buy a

gun. that's the part the president left out. he was still able to get a gun. >> right. >> obviously he doesn't have the resolve to do anything about this. after vegas he said we'll be talking about gun laws as time goes on. he hasn't said a word. >> he hasn't said a word. yesterday they had a daily press briefing which one has to assume they were facing another round of really uncomfortable questions for themselves about the rob porter situation. and this provided a reason to not do it. usually this kind of a situation you don't need to hype up with harden policy solutions right then but you say something. >> right. >> they have said extremely little. there is now a national conversation among parents about what you tell your own children about this kind of thing. we have had these conversations now since 1999, since columbine. this was going to be the new norm and not sort of an isolated incident every now and then.

part of the presidency is that you provide leadership in moments like this. this has not been what he does. look, you have a congress that is reluck. this is obviously a very difficult issue. it is not solely the president who can do something. there are a lot of obstacles, to be clear. he is not stepping out and voicing momentum. every time the white house is faced with questions about gun laws, they punt. >> we have to figure out how. a little bit of it falls on us. the republicans hide in these situations. marco rubio said things that sound right politically, but they're wrong. this is an in ex phreubgx plex explicable tragedy.

>> where are they? that you are on fox. they think it is a safe haven. ask them the questions that matter. because that's why they're there. they're hiding. don't let them hide. now, on the president, he's got more on his plate, as you indicated. the porter debacle is not going away for several reasons. one, it was handled lousy and lied about. two, it matters because of the intelligence and classified information and who can see it and who can't. third, about domestic violence. he didn't say anything about porter's ex-wives because he needs to because he disrespected them initially. what's going on there? >> i think it is everything you just described is what's going on. with this particular issue encapsulates all the negative aspects of this white house. the abuse. a bullying.

not telling the truth either to each other in the west wing or to reporters about what happened, not taking the role of service particularly seriously. and initial instinct to hunker down and say we're under attack, we need to defend ourselves, which is what they did tuesday night. the president was aware last tuesday night there had been this issue with rob porter. sit not clear how many details he was aware of. but you are correct. again, the same issue as with a shooting. there is a leadership point to this job that is the major one. >> pence is even saying in reaction to porter, the reaction could have been better by the white house. >> but he is saying it as if it's not the building he works in. the white house could have handled it better. there are people who acknowledged they could have

been better. it is striking. but you are not seeing much more beyond that yet. i understand we are on a major national incident right now. and i think that the focus is appropriately going to be there for a while. but i think the questions about porter are going to remain unresolved. you now have representatives in congress starting to ask questions about it. that is where you are seeing a major shift. republicans in congress have not shown a huge appetite to investigate certain things that happened in this white house. >> that's true. >> this appears to be a bridge too far for some of them. >> even paul ryan said we should all be talking about it. he couldn't call out the president for what he did, as obvious as he used to be, ryan, when talking about obama. you had 100 on executive clearance for a long time. it's a real issue. but to your point, porter keeps them shy about coming out. stormy daniels keeps them shy about coming out. what is the reaction to trump's

personal lawyer saying i paid the money out of my account. the president didn't even know. or mr. trump didn't even know. >> among west wing aides -- it's not clear the president's reaction. among west wing aide, they would like the entire issue to go away. they have done everything they can to pretend it doesn't exist. that is another one not going away. while michael cohen said i used personally funds to do this, i was facilitating a payment, there are still a lot of questions whether he was reimbursed, whether trump knew, whether there was any a rapingment of the repayment. this is not going away either. >> maggie, thank you for understanding what's going on inside the white house. >> thank you. >> alisyn, please, back to you in florida. >> okay, chris, we are learning so much every minute here in parkland about what happened,

what the signs were and about this suspect's past. this suspect had just lost his mother. he moved in with a friend's family. we have the attorney for that family who took him in. he's going to join us next to tell what that family saw as early as yesterday morning. ltim' on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. does your bed do that? save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed. plus 24-month financing ends monday visit sleepnumber.com for a store near you. imagine if the things you bought every day... earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag. two united club passes. priority boarding. and earn fifty thousand bonus miles after you spend three thousand dollars on purchases in the first three months from account opening plus, zero-dollar intro annual fee for the first year, then ninety-five dollars.

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i'm here in parkland, florida, the scene of this high school massacre. this is where investigators are asking anyone who knows the school shooting suspect to speak with them. the fbi is also asking for anyone with video of the massacre to get it to them. they are still looking for clues. one family cooperated with investigators is the family that took in the suspect. he was living with them. he moved in with them around thanksgiving. they gave this suspect a home after his mother died this past november. so joining us now is jim lewis, the attorney representing that family. jim, thank you very much for being here. this family, i know they feel sickened and devastated today. tell us about why they took him in three months ago. >> well, he really didn't have a lot of choices. his mom died. he wasn't doing well where he was staying. after a week around

thanksgiving, they knew the son and offered him a home. they had a room. he really had no other options. they brought him in. >> did they say troubling signs? >> they saw some depression. obviously he lost his mom. but they helped him get a job at a dollar tree store. they got him going to adult education to get a ged. and he seemed to be doing better. >> because he was expelled from this high school. the high school that he went into and brought his, you know, ar-15 style weapon into. he was expelled. what was that about? >> that was a year ago. there were disciplinary issues and fights. he was a smaller kid. there was indication there may have been some bullying going on. he had been away from the school over a year. he had never shared any contempt for the school or anybody here. no anger. just a lot of depression and stuff going on around the loss of his mother. >> beyond the depression, did he seem mentally ill to him?

>> they didn't see that or they wouldn't have let them live in their home. they wanted to help him out. he didn't have any other place to go. they didn't see any danger. they are horrified just like everybody else. they are part of this community. their son was here at this school during the shooting. >> he was a student here. he is a current student here. he was there at the time of the shooting. >> right. and didn't know anything about it. and there are texts between the two of them earlier in the day. there is nothing only on tpho . ominous. >> what did they say? >> how are you doing? are you coming over later? >> is it possible their son was a target? >> we don't think so. we don't know nothing in the motive. they are out of the clue as anybody else as to what the motive for the shooting was. >> did this family knew he had a gun? >> he brought it into their residence. it was locked in a gun safe. that was their rules as to how

he ended up with the gun on this particular day. >> it was his gun. that's how he ended up with it. he had a key to that lock box, right? >> yes. it was his lock box, his gun, in his room. these folks are horrified. they did not see this coming from this young man. >> did it worry them a 19-year-old had an ar-15 while he was depressed? >> i really can't speak to that right now. obviously people are going to try to find fault -- >> listen, i'm not trying to cast fault on them. the fault lies with the shooter. okay. but should a depressed 19-year-old young man have an ar-15? >> that's something congress and everybody else has been debating for years. this family did what they thought was right, which was take in a troubled kid and tried to help him. that doesn't mean he can't bring his stuff into their house. they had it locked up and believed that would be sufficient, that there wasn't going to be a problem.

nobody saw this aggression or motive in this kid that he would do anything like this. >> all i'm asking you for are clues. investigators are talking to this family looking for clues. did the family think there was anything going on with him? did they think he was violent? >> no. nothing, no hint of any violence. this day seemed very normal. looking back the only thing they see is he did not get up and go with the father to school that day. >> to work? >> no, to school. he was going to an adult education place to try to get his ged. the father would normally take him on the way to work in the morning. >> why didn't he go? >> he tried to wake him up. he said it's valentine's day. i don't go to school on valentine's day. >> they blew it off to this is something 19-year-old kid that didn't want to get up and go to school that day and left it at that. >> did he have a relationship? was there a girlfriend involved? >> there's none we really hear about. he was a little bit of a loner.

i've heard him described as a little quirky. nothing that he was aggressive or threatening towards anyone. >> you know, he had a big digital toot fingerprint? >> they're not social media people, the parents. they're just not that kind of folks. and he's an adult. they tried to help him. did they check up on him and follow him every minute of every day, they didn't. they didn't see any signs to indicate there was anything amis that he was capable of something violent. >> what about his friend, their son, did he have any social media postings? >> these folks are in shock. you have to understand they don't know which way is up right now. their home is turned inside-out. we were down late talking with them, >> this is just trying to piece together the clues to see if there are any red flags. listen, depression is a red flag with young men. access to a weapon is a red flag

with young men. we all have to be vigilant about this. what is the family saying today? what are they doing with their son? >> they're keeping close, holding close to their son. they're happy that law enforcement doesn't consider their son had anything to do with this. they're happy to be vindicated in that way, but they're so bereaved like everyone else at the loss of these young lives for so good reason. they care about this kid. they took him into the home. the mother said if they had any inkling he was capable of something like this, they never would have brought him into their home. you don't see somebody that comes into your home is capable of something like this. it's beyond the pale that something like this could happen. >> jim lewis, thank you. this family thought they were helping out a 19-year-old kid who was in trouble. his mom had just died, the only person he had supporting him. he was living alone, and this is

what has happened today. now obviously their house is being turned upside down and police are trying to figure out what they should have seen. >> i don't envy their position. thank you for the information. police say the shooting suspect was armed with an ar-15 style rifle. you hear this term all the time. it is very popular in mass shootings. why is it so common? why is it so apparently easy to get? get? "facts first" next. sites to fi. ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor.

we wanted to get facts ability the weapon involved. florida senator marco rubio. governor scott are fundamental of the conversation that we need to have but aren't having. what are we going to do to stop the shootings. senator rubio says this is an inexplicable tragedy. they won't come on this morning. it's not about just condemning or having a fight. they need to be out there and answering the questions that matter right now. governor scott is fighting penalize doctors to even ask questions if their patients have firearms. they need to come on. they can't be on fox. you can't hide in a situation like this. please come on and make the case to the american people. facts first about the weapon. law enforcement says we've seen the 223 caliber ar-15 style

caliber. ar is an arm light rifle. many people think ar stands for automatic rifle. it doesn't. for gun enthusiasts to get more upset about how people pronounce the name of the weapon than how easy it is to get is shameful. the gun fires a bullet each time the trigger is pulled and automatically reloads. in 2016 ar-15 style guns made up an estimated of 61% of all u.s. civilian rifle sales. it's a style. it's modular, meaning you can add features to personalize it including you can play with different parts of it with kits and make it repeat in three-shot bursts or even more. it's considered lightweight, easy to maintain. one of the reasons it's so popular, the patent expired, so any company can manufacture a gun like it. that's the ar-15. the shootings that we've seen with this, it just keeps being

used for these massacres because of all of these features i told you about, being easy to use and all this fire and the caliber bullet and the damage it can do. last october's las vegas shooting, june 26 orlando nightclub shooting, death toll of 107 there. mass school shootings. 2012 the shooter at sandy hook elementary was armed with two handguns, he had an ar-15 style weapon, killed 26. of course yesterday the shooter used one, killed 17 more people. this type of weapon first rose to national attention in 1989. a 24-year-old used an ak-47 -- you probably heard that term as well, imported competitor to the ar-15 and shot up a grade school playground, killed five kids and then himself. at the time colt industries manufactured the ar-15. they voluntarily suspended civilian sales for a year while the first bush administration decided whether or not to ban

the weapon. in the end the administration banned most imports, but allowed continued production an sales of ar-type guns in the u.s. now that takes us to 1994. this is an important part of the history. president bill clinton shepherded the federal assault weapons ban through congress. the ten-year ban didn't do much to deter the production of the ar-15. why? there was a loophole. the guns were banned but only by name or if they had certain features. it allowed manufacturers to strip down the features mentioned in the law, change the names and keep selling the same damn thing. that ban expired in 2004 and obviously has not been renewed. all right. so those are the facts about the weapon, white's so popular and, frankly, one of the reasons it's so easy to get before you even get to gun laws.

now, certain states and localities do have bans on some of these types of guns. most do not. two states put extra regulations on ar-15 style gun ownership. most places except d.c. allow grandfathered weapons to be registered. it's complicated. you have to understand the complexity of it because it explains the frustrating situation we're in. we have dave cullen with us, the author of "columbine," a school where two students killed 12 students and one teacher nearly 20 years ago. david is here. i was there at the time, as you remember. we believed they were part of this nefarious trench coat mafia and this was some discrete aspect of society and that's what was going on and didn't mean anything for anybody anywhere else. boy, were we wrong. the only lesson we learned was a tactical one. you have to go in, you can't wait and ring outside the way the police used to. the police aren't the answer here. what are the answers?

the question. what do we do to stop the school shootings? is there an answer? >> there's a couple things we can do. first of all, i agree with everything you said there. i was in the infantry. seeing that rifle, it looks just like the m-16 we used. an m-16 is to kill people. we were trained to kill people with it. they're assault weapons. they're military weapons. they should be limited to the military. >> would it matter? >> it would totally matter. i've been doing a lot of tv the last couple weeks -- russian tv. it's not reported much here. they've had a string of school stabbings across russia. the country is in a panic about it because they're pretty horrific. the last two, there were 12 to 15 people seriously injured in each one. i think there's been five of them over the last couple months. totality fatalities, zero. nobody dies. it's almost impossible to get a

weapon there. this is not a theoretical discussion. we've had this in other countries, too. we have a situation where the same thing is going on, but they don't have access to guns and nobody dies. >> what can you do without touching the gun issue? is there any way to reduce the risk without touching what our politicians seem to feel will kill them if they touch it? >> yes. there are a couple things we can do. i hate to say i'm glad in these situations, but i'm glad this person is identified as extremely depressed right away, so we can have that conversation. most people don't realize that's the main cohort we're talking about. the secret service reports 78% of the school shooters were either -- had either attempted suicide or talked about doing it. nearly all of them were extremely suicidally depressed. that is the main factor, the main commonality. we should be screening for depression. thisperson had been identified, but most have not. most teen depression, it