i'm anderson cooper in parkland, florida. i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and watching around the world. a stunned and grieving community and possible warning signals that were missed. we're following up-to-the-minute developments in the florida school massacre that left 17 people dead, at least 14 others wounded. here's what we know right now.

the shooting suspect is due in court an hour from now. police say he's a former student at the school. a law enforcement official tells cnn the fbi received at least two alleged threat reports about the shooter, including a youtube post. in both cases the fbi did not share the information with local law enforcement. and president trump steps into the role of comforter-in-chief. the president addressed the nation, pledging to make schools safer. >> it is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. we must actually make that difference. in times of tragedy, the bonds that sustain us are those of family, faith, community and country. these bonds are stronger than the forces of hatred and evil, and these bonds grow even stronger in the hours of our greatest need.

and so always, but especially today, let us hold our loved ones close, let us pray for healing and for peace, and let us come together as one nation to wipe away the tears and strive for a much better tomorrow. >> we're learning new information by the hour. i want to bring in cnn correspondent brian todd and cnn justice correspondent evan perez. he have arn evan, what more have you learned about what the fbi received about this shooter? >> it was a report that was sent in to the fbi in 2017. this was a comment that was left on a youtube video and it said something to the effect of, "i'm going to be a professional school shooter." the fbi says they did look into it. they spoke to the person who called in the report, who reported the threat, and they said that they looked -- they

went through databases that the fbi has access to, but it appears they never were able to identify this person. now, there is a lot of questions that are still outstanding for the fbi, because obviously the statement, the comment that was left on the youtube channel was left in the name of this shooter, nikolas cruz. so the question that the fbi still has to figure out how to answer is why, if this person is still using his name, why is it that they weren't able to track him down? and also there apparently was another incidence in which there was another threat that was told to the fbi that went back to this shooter, and in that case as well it appears the fbi was not able to really get to the point of launching a full investigation. and there is a lot of perplexed people down there in south florida who say the fbi should have passed this perhaps to the law enforcement in the local jurisdiction, which has a lot of resource and might be able to

spend more time tracking this down. >> what do we know, evan, about the accused shooter, how he got the weapon? >> he purchased the ar-15 style rifle legally, anderson. he purchased it just under a year ago from a gun store in a town right here parkland where this shooting took place. everything appears to have done normally. he passed the background check. at his age, 19 years old, he is perfectly legally able to buy an ar-15 style rifle. he's not old enough to buy a handgun under federal law, but he is perfectly legally able to buy this ar-15 style rifle. according to the people we've talked to, sources we've talked to, he passed a background check. because even though there appears to be a lot of trouble in this young man's life and perhaps even mental health issues, none of that showed up in the background check because

he was not yet adjudicated as mentally defective which is the standard the federal law requires for you to be denied a gun sale. >> brian, you're outside the courthouse where the suspect is due to appear next hour. can you just walk us through what's going to happen at that hearing, what we expect? >> right, anderson. we're told by the court officer that his first appearance in court will be less than an hour, at approximately 2:00 p.m. eastern time. it may take only about three minutes. the judge is expected to possibly appoint him a public defender, or at least an interim attorney to represent him at least on a temporary basis. i spoke not long ago to a prominent local attorney, mark o'meara, a defense attorney who has represented a lot of high-profile cases. i asked him what would happen here and he said, look, the judge will probably tell the defendant, nikolas cruz, he has probable cause to hold him over for charges. that may be several weeks away, anderson, but he will hold him

over for charges. he probably will not give him any bond and he will tell him there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed here. he may ask him how he pleads but he may not ask him that. o'meara said the judge may try to limit the amount that nikolas cruz actually speaks in court. this will be a first appearance. he will probably be told he has probable cause to hold him over for charges, that he probably will not get bond, and he may or may not ask him how he pleads in this case, anderson. we know he was charged by police with 17 counts of premeditated murder. >> what do we know about the suspect's family history, his mental state? >> we are told by friends who knew this suspect that his adoptive mother died in november of pneumonia, his father died several years ago. the family that took cruz in did speak to reporters last night outside that family's residence and said the family is very

distraught over this, that they had not expected anything like this. they knew he had weapons but they kept them under lock and key. they thought that would take care of it. they had no indications that they saw from him that he could commit a crime like this and that they are very distraught. now, the mayor of broward county said he underwent treatment for mental issues, but the mayor would not go into specifics about those. we did hear a lot of references in the news conference this afternoon, anderson, from the sheriff and from others about the need to treat people with mental health issues. so there are indications that we're getting that he might have had some mental health issues, but officials haven't really drilled down on that yet. >> all right. brian todd, i appreciate it. evan perez as well. more than a dozen people were injured in the shooting and taken to hospitals. seven of those remain. they're still there, many in critical condition, fighting for their lives. here with me now is dr. christopher roberts with broward north medical center. thank you for being with us. you've had a horrific 24 hours

or so. can you just take us through the condition of those who are still in the hospital? >> we still have a couple critically injured at our north hospital, sister hospital, broward health north. one has been downgraded so that's good news. and everyone is fairly stable at our hospital, broward health medical center. >> were you involved in the triage last night? >> i was. i was there -- i'm the chief of neurosurgery, so i take care of brain and spinal cord injuries, and fortunately we did not see any at our hospital. >> you had also been involved in the past shooting, i believe, at the ft. lauderdale airport. >> yes. >> so you've seen these kinds of wounds before? >> correct. penetrating trauma. it's something that we train for day in and day out. >> when you get a call like this, how does the team kick into place? how does it actually mobilize? >> it is certainly controlled chaos, but it's something that we plan for. we deal with trauma letters

almost on a nightly basis. in a mass casualty situation, you don't really have time to weigh the gravity of the situation at the time because it will affect patient care. >> in a sense, you have to put the gravity of it out of your minds as a human being? >> absolutely. >> i assume that comes later. >> it does. it does when you go home and maybe think about things, maybe watch the news and find out the gravity of the situation. but when you have patients that are critically injured that need your help, you can't be focused on what happened at that time. you need to focus on treating that injury. >> and the kind of wounds that you saw yesterday, i assume most of them gunshot or fragments. >> right. >> do you have any sense of how long the others are going to be in the hospital for? >> it's hard to tell. you know, it's a very individualized basis on how they progress with physical therapy, et cetera. >> dr. roberts, i appreciate all the efforts of you and all the

doctors and nurses. thank you. the city of parkland, florida is obviously a small, tight-knit community. today those bonds are being tested after the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school. here's what president trump said a short time ago. >> our entire nation with one heavy heart is praying for the victims and their families. to every parent, teacher and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do to ease your pain. >> i'm joined by the mayor of parkland, christine lachovsky. thank you for being with us in this incredibly difficult time. you never imagined you would be

standing here on this day in this kind of a situation. >> never. parkland is a small city in northwest broward county. a little over 31,000 residents. very close-knit, very family-oriented. we moved here almost 18 years ago, raised our boys here, and you would never imagine something like this could happen here. >> when you got the call yesterday, as the mayor, what do you do? >> so i first got the call that they were on the scene. they had an active shooter call, so i thought, well, maybe it's one of those pranks. you have those pranks sometimes, then i heard all the sirens driving by. i live nearby. then i knew it was something more than just somebody calling something in. i came to the scene immediately just as they were setting up the perimeter. parents were slowly arriving, and it's heartbreaking to watch parents when they haven't heard from their children yet. thank god for technology that allowed children to text their parents and let them know they

were okay, but the shooter in the beginning hadn't been apprehended yet, so there was a lot of nervousness. then the police were wonderful about going section by section in the school and making sure it was safe, and as soon as they could get the kids out, they did. and to see parents hugging their children that they weren't sure they were going to see again was -- i don't even know words to describe it. >> of course, 17 families did not have that joyful reunion, and others are still now in the hospital. i know your thoughts are with all those who lost their lives and all those whose lives are forever changed. >> we have such a small, close-knit community between our soccer leagues and our sports leagues and our ptas and just the volunteer mindedness in our community. most people know someone who was affected tragically by this. i hope we're going to keep focusing on them. as a mayor and a city, we're

making sure they have the support system they need at this time. that's very important to us. >> you heard what the president said. what does this -- what will change? can anything actually change? >> i sure hope so, and i think anybody who goes into public service today has to have some optimism about it. something does need to change. i hope people are become morgin aware that, if they see something, say something about it. talk to each other a little more. i don't know how it changes. i'm sure we'll have better ideas a week or so from now, but i hope we really start talking about these things. it seems like we all want to take a side on something as opposed to rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work of coming up with a solution. if it were that easy, i think we

would have had one already. >> mayor, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. i wish you the best. >> thoughts and prayers but no real change. how inaction in washington by senator rounds about why that's happening. >> it doesn't seem right to our government that children are being shot to death day after day in schools. it's not enough, apparently, to move our leadership, our government, people who are running this country to actually do anything. that's demoralizing.

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17 people from a high school in florida have been killed. the community, the country are coming to grips with yet another tragedy. a short time ago we heard from president trump making his first public on-camera statement about the shooting. here's what he said. >> we are committed to working with state and local leaders to

help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. later this month i will be meeting with the nation's governors and attorney generals where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. it is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference, we must actually make that difference. in times of tragedy, the bonds that sustain us are those of family, faith, community and country. these bonds are stronger than the forces of hatred and evil, and these bonds grow even stronger in the hours of our greatest need. >> we invited republican senators marco rubio and ted

cruz and florida governor rick scott. they declined. joining me now, senator mark rounds, republican from south dakota. senator, thank you so much for being on. you heard the president. i wonder what you thought of his message and what kind of a difference do you think he's specifically calling for? >> first of all, i echo what the president said. our hearts and prayers go out to the folks in florida. our prayers go out to the families and the individuals fighting for their lives right now. i think the president set the right tone, and i was very pleased to hear him suggest that it was important that he work with governors and attorneys general to move forward. i think that we should be, as i would say, putting in additional defensive capabilities, a series of defenses within the -- within the different school systems. and i think at the federal level, we have an obligation to step in and work with those governors and local units of

government to try to see that happen. i know schools have tried. i know they've done a lot of it, but the reality is that we could do more, i believe, by making a series of defenses. >> when you talk about defensive, you know, greater defenses within schools, what specifically do you mean? >> let me give you an example. this morning i walked into an office building in downtown washington, d.c. when i walked up to the front door, the door was locked. i had -- there was a television camera there. they looked at me, identified ourselves. we walked into the next set of doors. another person came, looked at me and then opened up the second set of locked doors. i then went to a desk where a person wanted to see my identification. once i provided my identification to them, they then gave me an id card and then another person came in, opened the door and allowed me to walk into an office building. think about what would happen if at the school systems we had experts, professionals actually laying out a series of defenses.

in other words, a series of layers in which we could actually provide additional protection for young people. they're the most valuable asset we've got. and i think there is a real opportunity here to talk with professionals about what types of layers could be provided across this country. >> a number of schools do have metal detectors, they have guards. this school had an armed guard as well who actually did not encounter the shooter. i want to play some of the comments today from the broward county sheriff and just have you respond. >> what i'm asking our lawmakers to do are go back to places like tallahassee, places like washington, d.c. and give police the power if they see something on social media, if they see graphic pictures of rifles and blood and gore and guns and bombs, if they see something, horrific language, if they see a person talking about, i want to grow up to be a serial killer,

we need to have the power to take that person and bring them before mental health professionals at that particular time involuntarily and have them examined. people are going to be rightly so concerned about their rights, as am i. what about the rights of these students? what about the rights of young kids who go to schools with back bags and pencils? don't they have the right to be protected by the united states government to the best of our ability? >> he also called for commonsense gun laws, in his words. what about that? this seems to be obviously one of the politic things to stay away from. are there any gun laws you would be willing to change. i think he has hit it on the head in terms of being able to do the advance work. and i think technology could be used to identify those areas in which these types of activities are actually going on. right now when we talk about what the russians are doing

here, we can also talk about one -- about what young men and women are doing here as well if we're willing to provide that opportunity to law enforcement to actually go in and to look for those types of warning signs in advance. so i agree with him. i think that would be a step in the right direction. and i think the technology could be identified that we could work with. now, with regard to the other issues, i know every time one of these happens, and it happens way too often, there is always a discussion. some folks immediately, others later on down the road. when they talk about gun control, they immediately talk about what they could do with regard to those guns that are in the hands of law-abiding citizens. the challenges is to get the guns out of the hands of those people who do us harm. society has a responsibility to protect us from those who would do us harm, and i still think, anderson, and i know there are people out there who would disagree, we have to do this to identify those individuals who would do us harm. that means if they're adjudicated as being mentally ill the way the laws are today,

then they shouldn't be able to have that gun. i think the challenge is getting to the point where we can identify those individuals who truly can't be allowed to have a gun in the united states. >> this 19-year-old legally purchased this because there weren't any records on him, he had not committed a crime, so he got this ar-15-like weapon legally. there have been a number of specific measures. people talked about a ban on bump stocks, a ban on magazines that could allow as many as 30 shots before reloading. you have to be 21 to get a handgun, but you can get an ar-15 at the age of 15. would you be willing to have a move on any of those, bump stock

stocks,? >> we have a law on the books right now saying you can't have an automatic weapon without having a specific license, going through additional work. i agree with that, i think that's a step in the right direction. but then you talk about trying to identify a specific type of weapon or long gun that somebody should not be able to have. the challenge is to identify any weapon that would be considered assault and would be subject to additional work. i think back to the types of guns you're talking about. in this particular case, you're suggesting a 30-round clip. i've seen smaller clips that you can take smaurter tips and tie them together. ilts not so much the size of that clip as long as getting that individual.

i think the young people spoke with good integrity and thought. in many cases it's a sense of reaching out and telling other people. it's almost like they're suggesting to people they need help. i'm not sure, but i think we're supposed to have an interest in the personal side of protection and privacy. i even think those folks agree with this, that there has to be a way to identify those folks so we can find out where those problems are before they actually take action. >> i mean, a locality t of poli say let's listen to law enforcement on this, and that's what you were just saying, but most law enforcement are actually in favor of some change in what they refer to as commonsense gone laws. does a hunter need a 30-round magazine? >> i think the question is, at what point do you change it? is it 10 rounds, is it 15 rounds? i've got a gun myself personally that was made in the late 1940s that you can actually put 20 rounds in and it's a winchester

61. it was designed for target practice and rabbits. but to suggest those types of things, for it to be identified as an assault weapon, that's where you start running into the problems. part of the problem is once you start saying this is an assault gun because it has a larger magazine, or this is an assault gun because you can have it as a semi-automatic. i have a three-handled shotgun. to some it proposes it's semi-automatic but also defines itself as an assault weapon. even though it's not a rifle, it can be used. for us who have started to use firearms over the years, that's when you ask yourself does it simply become a lrns.

i certainly respect hunters, and i think it's great, it's an amazing part about america. but i don't understand how anyone could say a high capacity magazine, whether it's 30 rounds or 40 rounds, whatever it is. doesn't it seem unreal that someone can shoot a number of people at a time? >> i can show you where you can take two clips, put them side by side, flip them one to the other as quick as anyone can, and you can go from 3 rounds to 30 rounds just by a piece of tape. then what do you say, it should be 5 and 5 and 5? they simply have more magazines.

it still comes back to that mindset of someone wanting to do harm remembered. it do >> it does require, though, some time to change the bullets and taking time to reload. should there be a limit as to how many bullets one should be allowed to fire in any one magazine? >> anderson, i think that's a critical question out there. as i say, i look at a gun that's been passed from our family. it carries 21 shells. yet you don't find that being used anywhere to do damage. so people will say, why do you want to take that away from a law-abiding citizen? i don't think that's the goal,

but i think that becomes the threat. >> you also talk about passing weapons down in the family. that's such an amazing tradition and it's nice to have something your grandfather had, but when you pass down a vehicle, you do have to file a license on, you have to fill out forms on it. you can give a weapon to a friend without having to register it or make any notification that you have actually something somebody. and suggest that we would have to write that in the federal government to be followed through. once again, it sounds really easy, but i don't think that's where your issues are at. i think what's happening is you still come back down to there are individuals in this society who should not be allowed to have access to firearms.

>> right. why, then, should cars be reregistered? >> you mean going from one person to another and paying for the license, paying a licensing fee that goes to the highway systems themselves? it's a matter of picking up the dollars. it isn't a matter of suspicioning. we aren't licensing them because they are a weapon, we're licensing them because that's the way you pay for your road systems. people license those victims because that's what goes into maintaining our road systems. it's a user fee. it's entirely different than suggesting you want to keep a national registry of individuals who have firearms. even though right now, if you're going to buy a firearm, walk right in and go through a background check. some say the background check could take only 6 or 7 minutes. i would suggest that means it's working the way it's supposed

to, meaning that the system is put in place. that goes into the background of that system being made available. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. up next, we'll continue to learn more details about what happened inside the school. the heroic efforts of teachers trying to get their students to safety. i'll talk to a student who credits him for saving her life. patrick woke up with a sore back.

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here in florida, students in the line of fire. too many of them dying here in parkland in their high school. 17 fatalities at this point. all they wanted was to learn and to grow as people. with me is kelsey friend. she's a student at stoneman douglas high school who saw her teacher get gunned down in front of her. how are you holding up today?

>> today has been a lot easier than it was yesterday and this morning. i still break down in tears when i look on instagram and when i remember the classroom and how the school looked at the time. and if i was at home, i would probably be crying now because it still hurts. it's something that i'll never get over. >> i want to ask you some questions and i know your mom has given permission and stuff, but if there's anything you don't want to talk about, that's completely fine. you don't have to. can you just tell me what happened when you realized something was going wrong? >> when i realized something was going wrong and when there was a huge wave of students coming back from downstairs saying they heard gunshots. >> this is after the fire alarm had been pulled? >> yes, this was after the fire alarm. i actually walked up to my teacher because i was being shoved around. i walked up to my teacher, who is mr. bugle, and i said, i'm scared. i don't know what's going on.

he heard the gunshots. i opened the door and ran in. unfortunately, he did not run in with me. >> how far were the gunshots when you heard them? were they loud? >> they were close. they were right down the stairwell, it sounded like. he was probably 5, 10 feet away from me and a group of friends who were hiding in an open door classroom. we're lucky to be alive. >> there were five of you in that classroom? >> there were probably 20 kids with me in that classroom and we all had to be very quiet so we didn't get caught because our door was wide open. >> he had gone down the hall? >> yeah, he had gone down the hall. i think one or two times, i don't really remember, because it happened so fast, but i heard multiple, multiple gunshots. and it was probably the worst thing to hear. i've never heard gunshots before. and having it happen at your favorite school with your favorite teacher on the floor and friends and my mom texting

me, and my friends crying, it's the hardest thing in the world. >> did you actually see what happened to your teacher? >> no, i did not witness what happened to my teacher. i just heard the shot that ended -- killed him. and remembering that bang, it haunts me. every time i hear a loud bang anywhere, i freak out, and it's hard. >> how long were you staying hunkered down in the classroom? >> it felt like years, fim goif going to be honest. it really did. i just remember the time, 2:35, and that's the time i remember, and i don't remember how long i was in there for, but it felt like forever. >> how did you ultimately get out? >> the swat team got us after my friend called the police. we were all crying and upset, and that's the time we realized there were helicopters outside, police outside, that it was real. my friend had called the police and said, we're on the third

floor, please come help us. then i heard the swat team. i almost got out but then i realized, what if it's not them. so we waited until they came into the classroom and let us out. >> and as you're leaving, did you witness anything, or were you just keeping your head down? >> i saw a lot of things that i shouldn't. i saw my teacher, i saw two very sad images of two students and a puddle of blood that i had to walk close to and blood on the stairs. everything was thrown, gunpowder all over the place. it really felt like a movie, if i'm going to be honest. it was that terrifying. >> i know you said you only slept a couple hours tonight. are you exhausted, are you on adrenaline? >> i'm exhausted, but i can -- i'm still pushing because i loved this teacher very much, and i'm going to continue to push for this teacher and keep

his name out there, because he saved 10 to 15 to 20 kids' lives and i'm very thankful for him. he is my superhero. >> what kind of teacher was he? >> he was a geography teacher and he made learning and what went on in the classroom much easier and more fun. before the alarm went off, we were actually playing a geography game with coordinates on a map. he was playing music and we were all dancing. he was laughing. and when the fire alarm went off, we were all confused but we all got up, and he was joking around and made everybody laugh, because everybody was scared and confused. he said, we're all going to die, but then in the end, unfortunately that did happen to him and the rest of the class, i believe, had lived, which is heartbreaking for me. >> well, i wish you the best and take care of yourself, and i'm glad you're with your mom and

your family. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. we're going to have more of our breaking news. why authorities may have missed multiple red flags on the shooter's deadly threats. we'll speak to the man who first alerted the fbi to the possible dangers, next. mom? dad? hi! i had a very minor fender bender tonight in an unreasonably narrow fast food drive thru lane. but what a powerful life lesson. and don't worry i have everything handled.

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we're learning more about some warning signs that maify he been missed in the florida school massacre. the fbi has learned they were warned by a youtube user that a threat was made by the same name as the suspect. a disturbing message was posted to one of his videos. ben mcnight first alerted the fbi when he saw a person using the same name as the alleged shooter. ben joins me now. ben, thank you for being with us. ben, what did you think when you first saw the news and you heard the name of the person involved?

>> i called them and told them it could possibly be the same person. >> i'm wondering, what actually was the post that made you alert the fbi? >> in september i received a comment on one of my videos that said "i'm going to be a professional school shooter." and i found that just disturbing enough that i thought somebody needed to know about it. >> what was the fbi's response when you alerted them? >> they came out to my office the very next morning in person and met with me and they took down as much information as i could give them, and they left.

>> you have no doubt this was the same person? >> i don't know, because i'm not on the investigation end of it, so everything that i'm being told, they believe it's the same person. >> the fbi today said that they weren't able to track down the person who made that post. did the fbi update you on what they were doing in response to your concerns? >> no, they did not keep me up to date with their investigation. i wouldn't expect they would. >> well, ben, i appreciate you talking to us. let me just ask you from your perspective. do you think more could have been done to stop this tragedy? >> i think that question is more for the people that knew the individual personally, if they saw red flags. i don't know that a comment on a

youtube video would have been enough is to stop it. >> the whole idea of see something, say something, you did that, and i really appreciate you talking to us. thanks very much, ben bennight. many people still compare the school shooting to a school shooting in colorado april 29, 1999. two people walked in and shot many students. a worker in the jefferson county school district, he joins us now. thank you for being with us. i just wonder on a personal level, when you see what happened here, and frankly every time this happens in some community, what goes through

your head? >> it takes me right back. yesterday when i started getting texts saying you're in my thoughts and praryers, i'm thinking about you, if you need anything -- because i was aun we -- unaware. i had just gotten in from new jersey to denver. usually it means a school shooting. when i looked at the coverage, i saw the kids running out with their hands over their head, and it took me back to the kohl um b -- columbine march or the columbine run. it was so sad because two weeks ago i was talking to the maypeo of kentucky, helping them get set up with their kids. >> so much has been learned in columbine with law enforcement, their tactics have changed

dealing with active shoorters. they now go in immediately and try to stop the shooter any way they can. so there has been a lot of evolution. what do you think needs to change, though? a lot of politicians talk about thoughts and prayers right now, which are always welcome, of course, but what do you think fundamentally can change? is it greater what's your take? >> anderson, i think you bring up some valid points. i think the mental health component is huge. you know, more and more information is coming out. how was he able to purchase a gun if he was a mental health risk? i think you have to look at some of those laws. having school resource officers in place are important. at columbine, and you mentioned just previously about the protocol, we had a school resource officer that was exchanging gunfire, but he was told to wait until s.w.a.t.

now s.w.a.t. goes in or the first responder goes in. unfortunately what i'm hearing happened yesterday is there was a school resource officer but the shooter walked in and meshed in with all the other kids. this kid had this planned out. he pulled the fire alarm. it was a calculated risk. what is so important is the kids really need to be the eyes and the ears. and if there were things being opposeded, as the guest you had on before, report that. and we can't underestimate the role parents play in kids' lives. a lot of times when kids get to high school, parents feel they need more freedom and things like this, but parents still need to be parents. if they're concerned about some of the actions of their children, don't be afraid to go into their rooms to see if there are things that are being kept from them. social media is so much further along than what it was in 1999.

so many of these killers are broadcasting what they're going to do. and people need to come forward to alert the proper people and then hopefully action is taken. >> what's the best advice you could give right now to the students here, to the teachers, to this community and those who want to help everybody who is impacted by yesterday's shooting? >> right now they're overwhelmed and in a state of denial. so many people have reached out to me saying what can we do? i have to remind them that so many people were reaching out we were overwhelmed. the piece of advice i can give them is it's a marathon, not a sprint. and someone asked when is it going to get back to normal? unfortunately, that's not going to happen. they have to redefine what normal is. i made the statement almost 19

years ago they're now a member of a club that no one wants to join, but we're all out there to help. we can help them. what they're feeling right now is what we felt 19 years ago. and i would be fooling them if i said everything is going to be fine. it's going to be tough. and the wounds they experienced yesterday, they say, time will heal. those scars will be around. they don't have to travel that journey alone. >> that's helpful information. appreciate it, frank deangelis. thank you very much for talking with us. we're following breaking news out of washington. cnn has learned that rob porter told one of his ex-wives in september that he was informed that his security clearance check was delayed partly due to concerns that he was violent. cnn's national politics reporter mj lee joins me now with more. explain exactly what we know. this raises new questions about what the white house knew and whe

when. >> that's right, anderson. jenny willoughby said that he called her and informed her that the security clearance was delayed and one of the reasons was concerns that he had been violent. here is exactly what willoughby told me, quote wherks i asked him how he knew that, he told me that people who were involved in the background check let he him know it was being delayed and that one of the concerns was that he was violent. he asked me if i had used that word with the fbi and if colbie had used the word. this is all raising more questions about who knew what and when about allegations against porter. what willoughby is saying here is it suggests that porter was told about concerns in september about his security clearance check. we have reached out to the white house with a series of questions

to figure out who may have talked to porter and we haven't heard back. just to remind everyone, top white house aides have insisted that few people inside the west wing knew about the allegations before the news broke last week but keep in mind fbi director chris wray said that they submitted a report as early as march. >> mj, we should also point out that jenny willoughby, his second ex-wife, when i was talking to her, she actually said that he had reached out to her multiple times, not only asking her what she had told the fbi, but asking her to take down a blog post that he was concerned about or at least putting out a statement saying that she had sort of exaggerated or kind of embellished her account of what happened and she refused to do that. remind us what jenny willoughby told the fbi. >> she was initially interview

bid the fbi in january last year. and she says she was pretty upfront with them about her troubled marriage to porter, as you alluded to, anderson, including his abusive behavior. and she actually says that she disclosed in this interview that she had taken out a protective order against porter in 2010 after porter punched a glass panel on their front door. and we're also now learning that willoughby got a follow-up order about that 2010 restraining order. the special agent asked willoughby to sign a release form so that the fbi could obtain a copy of the incident report from 2010. what's not clear, anderson, is why the fbi requested this information some eight months after her initial interview back in january. so, we're still waiting to hear back from the fbi on that as well, anderson. >> mj lee, appreciate it. more on breaking news as this community mourns 17 lives lost in another mass shooting.

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are you nikolas jacob cruz? >> yes, ma'am. >> okay, sir. you are charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. i have something very important to tell you. you're charged with some very serious crimes. you have the right to remain silent. if you give up that right at any time during this hearing, whatever you say can and will be used against you in the prosecution of this case. state, how would you like to proceed today? are you seeking to hold the defendant no bond and a finding of. >> yes, your honor. >> you may proceed. >> the state is relying on the sworn affidavit that the court has