obviously, it's opinion a deeply searing day. it's been a healing night as well. even as families are beginning to grieve, even ooas the detail are becoming known, thousands of people did what they could to reaffirm life. many of them young lives taken. more on all of it in the hour ahead. >> this is the campus from the school. it's a relatively new building called the freshman building. this is where authorities say at 2:19 in the afternoon, about 20 minutes before the final bell, the gunman arrived by uber and entered the east end of the building carrying an ar-15

semiautomatic rifle in a soft shell bag and went into the stairwell. it's a three story building with ten rooms per floor. he emerged with the gun and began firing into four rooms there. now how much shooting was going on here, we don't have a final count but we had multiple magazines. when you look at the video shot from inside, there's one section where you can hear 22 shots in ten seconds. a lot of shooting going on in this area. then, he moved on. he went to the west end of the building and up a different flight of stairs to the second floor where police say he shot somebody else in another room and then from there to the third floor of the biluilding where h

tactics seem to have changed. he dropped his backpack and fled down the west stairs and went out of the building with all the other people trying to flee the violence just blending in with everyone and wound up at a walmart not far from the campus where they say he bought a drink. then he left there, kept moving further down, went to a mcdonald's where police say he sat for a while. around 3:01 p.m. this is about 40 minute spos in the whole thing. he took offer walking once again and 40 minutes later or 1:20 police saw him walking down the sidewalk in neighborhood. an officer went over, confronted him and arrested him without incident. anderson. >> thanks very much for that. students being students today. many texted to let parents know they were okay.

emily took video. i want to show you that. >> keep your hands high. >> you're okay. stay close to me. you're okay. you're okay. stay close to me. you're okay. you got your bag and everything. >> emily joins us now along with her sister who also goes to the school. she's a senior. we should say her father is okay with them talking to us. we want to make sure about that. first of all, who are you holding up?

>> i'm not sure. it's shocking and doesn't seem real. it feels like a movie. >> when did you realize something terrible was happening? >> there were -- everyone was talking about how we were on the news. we were in the computer production room. everyone looked it up. no one believed it until we saw videos of people on the floor like in a pile of blood. then like when i saw it, i didn't believe it. i thought it was fake. >> you hadn't heard any shots? >> i wasn't in the building. i was in -- i was pretty far. i'm so thankful for that. it still affects me because it could have been anywhere in the school. sd >> what was that like?

>> it was unreal. i basically live in the tv room. walking out and seeing swat members in the military gear and them having their gun ready to shoot, it didn't feel real. it was like why are they here. why our school. >> emily, you had been in the school earlier that day -- i'm sorry. alisia. you had left. were you in communication with emily? >> we text here and there throughout the day. i mean just in school, teachers and you're focusing on your work and they have no phone policy in the majority of the classes. just here and there. >> i didn't have good connection. >> when you heard what was happening and it must not seem real to you either. >> no, it's how can it happen to anyone but how can it hit so close to home.

being this parkland and we're very privileged and so thankful that we live in this community and feel safe. it shows this can happen anywhere. tragedy can strike anywhere. >> you knew the person who did this. we're not using their name. what did you know about them? did you know them well? >> in middle school i did have a class with the student. just communicated with him through the halls as everyone did. they weren't very direct with people. very secluded and kept to themselves but just knowing that they, you're a peer with them. you attend school with them. you grow up through teenage years with them and know they might be a little off but maybe they're finding themselves. you don't know what goes on behind closed doors. >> how difficult will it be going back to school? >> i can't imagine. for me not being there. just seeing my friends and peers and community going through this, it heart wrenching.

it makes your heart physically hurt. you don't feel and those families that have lost people and friends. it's unbelievable. going back to school, it's not what people are thinking about. if you are, it's unimaginable as you can mentally do that. >> was you a the vigil? >> i went to both of them. >> did it help? >> it helped. it was more like a community grouping together and to let the emotions out. you hear people sobbing and on the floor weeping for lost lives and the fact this happened and tragedy struck so hard at our school. through a mass school shooting. it's so surreal to hear it. for you to say you physically in your school and community went through mass school shooting with casualties is it doesn't roll off the tongue. >> i'm so glad that you're okay and you're with your family and friends. thank you for talking with us. >> thank you.

stay strong. >> there's so much ahead to talk about. another student was one of the 17 who lost her life yesterday. today her mother, lori made an impassioned plea for action. >> my daughter alyssa alhadeff was a beautiful lady. i dropped her off at school and i said i love you. then a few hours later i get a call that there's a shooter at stoneman douglas high school. i ran as fast as i could to get there. i knew at that point she was gone. i felt it in my heart. how? how do we allow a gunman to come into our children's school? how do they get through security? what security is there? there's no metal detectors. the gunman, a crazy person, just walks right into the school, knocks down the window of my child's door and starts shooting. shooting her and killing her.

president trump, you say what can you do? you can stop the guns from getting into these childrens's hands. put metal detectors at every entrance to the schools. what can you do? you can do a lot. this is not fair to our family that our children go to school and have to get killed. i just spent the last two hours putting the burial arrangements for my daughter who is 14. president trump, please do something. do something. action. we need it now. these kids need safety now. >> gary tuckman joins us. i know you were able to speak with her a little bit as well.

>> that's right. alyssa was a freshman. she was 14 years old. she was the big sister to two little brothers. to her loving parents, she will remain their little girl. her mother, devastated. you'll see how eloquent she is in the interview also. >> she was meant for so much more in this world. she would have given this world so much more. she was so passionate. just had the zest for life. >> how does a mother cope in this situation? >> right now i'm fighting. i'm not fighting my daughter's dead. i'm fighting for all these kids here. all of them. these are the ones that have to go back to that school and they have to feel safe. i have two other children and they have to feel safe in their heart. we can't let shooters just walk

in. just walk in that school without any security. nothing. >> do you feel our government leaders should have done more over the years to protect your child and others? >> exactly. if you have people with illnesses and people already flow that this kid was a problem, how do we just let him go? let him loose. the kids were joking saying they knew about this kid. he deserves the death penalty. he doesn't deserve to live. >> what would you like for the president and congress to do right now? >> they need to get these crazy guns out of these kids hands. get them off the streets. they need to put metal detectors at every entrance to get into the skoochools. they need more security. >> what would you say to your beautiful daughter right now if you could talk to her? >> alyssa, i'm so sorry this

happened to you. i would have taken the bullets for you. i would have protected you. i'm sorry i wasn't there. i love you with all my heart and so does your dad. >> alyssa alhadeff will be laid to rest tomorrow morning opinion anderson. >> it's so unimaginable. you're at the hospital. i know a number of victims are still being treated there. i understand you have an update on them. >> the remaining injured victims are in two hospitals. this hospital in deerfield beach hospital. another nearby hospital. there's still three people in this hospital. four in the other. a total of seven. of those seven, four remain in critical condition. the other three are in stable and good condition. that's encouraging news. we'll tell you that as you may have heard yesterday two people died in this hospital.

one of them was aaron feis. he was the assistant football coach, a security guard in the high school and he died a hero because he protected children. got in front of them when the bullets were flying. that led to his injuries and led to his death in this hospital. anderson. >> gary, i appreciate that. thanks for that. coming up, a story of survival. the teacher who made it possible and the terrible price that he paid.

introducing dell cinema. technology with incredible color, sound and streaming. just as the creators intended. ♪ up to 40% off at dell.com ♪

yes! ours is still buffering. what's happening? you're experiencing a network delay. you both need to be watching that on the iphone with verizon. the best streaming network. how long have you been here? i've been here a couple days. (avo) get the best unlimited on the most awarded network. buy iphone 8, and get one on us with no trade-in required. no one burns on heartburn. my watch! try alka seltzer ultra strength heartburn relief chews. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing. i have heartburn. ultra strength from alka seltzer. enjoy the relief.

the 17 people who lost their lives saving lives, one was a football coach. one was scott beigel. he made it possible for a father to hug his daughter. >> my teacher was holding the door and i just, me and six other kids were just kind of hiding at the desk. >> reporter: it was sanjana's last class of the day. her teacher scott beigel hustled her and others into the classroom for safety. seconds later he was dead. >> he opened the door for me and the second i looked back, he was on the floor. he was shaking at first and then

he had no movement at all after that. >> reporter: she started texting her dad who heard about the shooting and was trying to get to the school. >> i was huddling down in the class trying to be quiet but i texted a lot of people to let them know what's going on and i love them. >> reporter: the shooter was right outside her classroom door. she sent this text to her dad. the man is so close to my class. my teacher is laying on the floor. her dad responded. okay. be really quiet. >> what was that like for you? >> it wasn't easy. i was about five miles away. all of a sudden i got a text from her and i sort of lost it on the road. >> reporter: her text to her father read, dad, there's a shooting at school. i'm scared. he left his car and started running toward the school. >> all of a sudden she said i'm hearing shooting. he's coming. he's coming. i stopped hearing from her. >> what did you think at that

moment? >> i more or less felt like i lost her. i really beroke down. >> i stopped texting and i was praying. i went back to them and i was saying like what's going on. i was saying like i don't think i'll make it and stuff. that's when they got super worried. >> you did think you weren't going to survive this? >> i didn't think i was because of how close the shooter was and i heard him so clearly. every time he yelled my heart was beating. it was scary. >> reporter: an hour passed before her father knew his daughter was safe. it wasn't until he saw her walking out of school. >> i saw her coming out and couldn't stop hugging her. >>. >> for the nightmare of a father getting this text from his daughter. >> it was so scary. at one point he got in touch with some of the police officers that were already on the scene.

he gave his phone to the police officer and they started texting with his daughter with the wi-fi had gone out at the school. it was spotty. they kept asking her what room. he wasn't getting a message back. it was so frightening for her and these other girls. their teacher had gone down. he was in the doorway. they're taught to barricade themselves in. lock the classroom. they didn't flow if they should run to the door and try to pull the teacher inside. he hadn't moved and the shooter would see them. it was putting themselves at risk opinion the door was wide open. never came in that classroom. >> thanks for that. with me is broward county mayor. he joins us. i spoke to you last night. i appreciate speaking to you again. you said something last night that really struck in my mind. you're a former teacher. you talk about kids who kind of lack connection and that teachers try to help kids make

connections. >> you do. it's kind of your job has a teacher when you see a kid, say you go out to the cafeteria and see a kid eating by himself or the playground, the kid is over by themselves. part of being a good teacher is to try to bring them into the fold. try to bring them into find a buddy for them. find out something they can have some interest where you can bring them, bring people together. that's what teachers do. that's what good teachers do. >> when you hear about this person and how do you reconcile it? this is somebody who fell through the cracks? >> yeah. we've seen or heard some signs. we knew he had gone to mental health clinic. we knew he had said things to people. we knew that his -- we found out now his mom had passed away. knowing those things, you want the communities resources the come to that kid. there's lots of things that communities have to offer. we should be trying to -- if we

know a kid is in pain or is hurting, we have to find a way and we do. we do that a lot of times with foster care kid, with all kinds of kid. >> there's still stigma in this country about mental health issues. it's one of the dangers in a situation like this. you don't want to stigmatize because with mental health issues. a lot of them are not violent. >> you're exactly right. instead of saying i'm going to tell on this kid, in our hearts we should be saying i want to care for this kid and get the best whatever help you need. we're not saying that. there are people saying i'm going to tell him on. >> are there resources for somebody who has mental health issues? >> absolutely. this community has lots of those resources. i'm chair of the children services council. we tax ourselves this this county to make sure we have plenty of resources for kids on

all kinds of things. family strengthening, for kids who are taking away from their parents. we have resources. >> one of the things that struck me talking to young people who go to this school is the feeling so many of them have that they don't want this to just be yet another shooting and then the world keeps moving forward and everyone goes back and then this happens again. they want something to change. people are talking about gun control. whatever it is, they want to affect change. that, to me, i haven't heard that so quickly after a shooting in other places i've been. >> these kids give me some hope. when i hear them talking, this is a special group of kids. i'll say that. they do want to bring about change. my hope is nobody else is listening to anybody. if these kids can get through

that wall and that would be great. i think the kids would be progressive if their stance. i think they would say if a kid has mental health problems, he shouldn't be buying a gun. shouldn't be able to do a lot of these things. they know people should have background checks. they know there should be waiting period. they know all those things. >> it was interesting a student isabel on a short time ago who was saying, that while she wants to affect change, he also doesn't want people speaking past each other and vilifying the other side. nothing will get done if people who want gun control measures say that people who don't have killers or don't want to protect kids. it's easy to vilify your oppone opponent. >> isn't that a novel idea to listen to each other. they're right. she's saying listen. she's exactly right. we're so polarized.

no one is listening to some really common sense basic ideas that most americans agree with. they agree with background checks. they agree with waiting periods. they agree with people have some mental situations. they agree. let's hold off on letting somebody buy a gun. i don't think anybody thinks we should have ar-15s anywhere. >> you've been at the vigil. i'm wondering what you were hearing from people. >> i was listening to a lot of people up there. i was way in the back. it was kind of hard to hear. you're hearing kids say -- people say so close to home. thep they' then they're saying it's our home. this isn't close to home. it is home. it changes the way you look at some of these things because it brings it quickly into perspective. >> aurora, colorado there was a big vigil and a person read the name of each person killed and

the whole ground chanted we will remember. that's always stuck in my mind. in talking to people here, the kids, particularly, they all are saying we will never forget this. this is changed the trajectory in one way or another in our live, of our interests of what we think we can achieve. >> the sad part is, this becomes your memory of high school which is incredibly sad. that's not the memory you want of high school. hopefully they can bring another memorial. hopefully they can bring a memory of change. if they can bring that, that's a good memory. >> appreciate it. next, the latest on the investigation. updates on the timeline of we know what happened here a little more than 24 hours ago.

this is food made to sit down for. slow down for. put the phone away, and use a knife and fork for. and with panera catering, it's food worth sharing. panera. food as it should be.

and with panera catering, it's food worth sharing. new year, new phones for the family. join t-mobile, and when you buy one of the latest samsung galaxy phones get a samsung galaxy s8 free. yahoooo! ahoooo! plus, unlimited family plans come with netflix included. spectacular! so, you can watch all your netflix favorites on your new samsung phones. whoa! join the un-carrier and get a samsung galaxy s8 free. all on america's best unlimited network.

we begin the hour with the timeline of what happened here yesterday. we want to show you more on the investigation itself. we're finding out more about the shooter at this point. what have you learned? >> anderson, we often say this after these types of shootings

and this one is no different. there's a picture emerging of a young man whose life was unraveling. there was so many signs that so many people could have seen and all of that is coming together. they range from mentally ill person to a call for a child elderly abuse. domestic disturbance. repeatedly police were called to this home and we're getting a picture of a very troubled home. his mother dies in november of 2017. it appear that's when everything goes south for this young man and we still don't know exactly why he decided to carry out this shooting at this school yesterday. we know that he had previously

attended it and at some point perhaps was kicked out of it. >> can you explain what he said? >> yeah, we know now he arrived in an uber at 2:19. one of the first calls that came in was that there was somebody dressed in black and started shooting. turns out he was wear maroon shirt. the remarkable thing that happens over the course of 1:20 is the police are able to arrest him. he enters the school. he goes on all three floors of the building and shoots people. 17 people are killed.

he goes to walmart, buys a drink and goes to a mcdonald's and sits there for a while. it wasn't until 3:41 he's walking down a residential that a police officer from a nearby town pulls over and arrests him. >> appreciate those details. i'm wonder, i mean you can talk of trying to figure out what the motive was but no motive will make sense of why this person did this. it's not going to change anything. it's not going to maybe even help the next time. how does one prevent something like this from happening again? it's obviously a multi-pronged effort. there's maybe a gun component. a school security component. a mental health component. when you look at this and a parent says how do we stop this from happening at a school down the road. >> i don't know if you can stop it 100% in terms of seeing that it never happens dpen. there are lessons that you learn along the way.

there's information you gain. every time you go through one of these, there will be a debriefing that will take place among law enforcements and others. where are the gaps? what are things that can happen in order to close those gaps so it's less like tloi happen. you can't guarantee with 100% accuracy it will never happen again. >> we talked about this a lot. law enforcement has learned an awful lot since columbine. we saw the result of that here where it's the first units on the scene. they try to get the shooter and deal with wounds and try to get everybody out. what more though can change? what more can get better? >> chief ramsey and i were walking around and talking to parents, they were so in their praise. at the tactical level we have figured out ways as the chief said you can't present all of

them. it's the tstrategic level that involves the political component. looking at this from our new normal. they had a school resource officer on duty. they had a single point security entry to come in. they practiced these active shooter drills. >> the football coach said in his 28 years and he's worked at other schools, he's never seen a school which had practiced so much for exactly this. >> that probably saved countless lives. it skrould becould have been mu. >> some people say they did all these drills and yet 17 people are still dead. are the protocols enough here? >> obviously they're not enough. i believe in these situations the same thing i would have believed in government. if you can walk this my office

with a problem, i don't want to hear things are tough. i want a specific solution. let me give you one example among several i would offer. we talk about school resource officers. my guess, they do not have the expertise especially if there's one or two in a school size of 3,000 people to deal with someone with this level of mental instability. they have a relationship with law enforcement so there can be a parallel conversation on that ref referral. what are intervention programs that the federal government can report states on so we're not talking about this at the age of 19. you're talki inin ining about i

and 16 when the cops are getting called to his house and he gets expelled. >> why can an 18 or 19-year-old not get a hand gun until they are 21 but can get an ar-15 or ar-15 type weapon? >> the difference is concei conceiveability. it's got a stock to it and a longer barrel. when the shooter took the uber to the school, he carried it in a soft case which a professional would have looked at and triggered us and said a guy just walked into a bank and it's the middle of summer and he's wearing raincoat and hat. it wasn't enough time or someone didn't recognize it. >> for so long people are talking about schools are too open.

if this had a single point of entry, i guess how is he able to get through. i guess it wasn't guarded or someone let him in. >> those are the things they will look at. my understanding is it happened at the end of school day. maybe people take that deep breath and starting to leave saying the school day is pretty much over. i don't know the answer to that. those are the kinds of questions that have to be answered. it will be a benefit to other schools and locations when it comes to security. >> how much coordination is there between federal, state and local officials before something like this happened. if someone flags a person to the local police, do they bring it to the attention of the fbi or vice versa? >> this has got to be a local problem.

the fbi is not a mental health institution. this is a question for states and those states have a simple problem to solve. talk to teachers and talk to police officers and ask them if you got to intervene with a kid like this and you don't have the tools, what tools do you think you could use. i have one other simple question. forget about armed guards and single point of entry. this country is incredibly unanalytic. go to countries like canada and say what do you do to stop this is this do you think they will say we have more armed guards. why can't we ask people who do this better? i don't understand it, anderson. >> isn't the answer that access to guns? if that's the question you're raising, isn't that the difference between us and other countries? >> that's exactly right. that's exactly right. what i'm saying is we take an emotional approach to this. i'm afraid somebody will take my guns and i can't resolve it.

i'm an analyst by training. if you look at numbers, numbers on mental health are comparable to the united states. we don't necessarily have a worst mental health problem. if one variable if you're looking strictly at numbers is a weapon. i can't give you another answer because if you look at the numbers there's only one that pops out. >> yeah. taken out of politics. that's the difficulty. thanks. just ahead, the emotional text messages that were being sent. students sent while trapped in the school unsure if they would make it out. one my king. is my ride ready? of course, big brother. but you have to hurry. ♪ show off! experience luxury performance that takes the crown. presenting the all-new lexus ls 500. long live the king.

everyone has a thing. that binge watch over the weekend thing. that back from the dead or robot-cowboy thing. or maybe it's watching satisfyingly-satisfying things. organic avocado on everything thing. doing it yourself or tagging a friend thing. more checking-in or checking out things. like faaaaaaaaaar out of this world things. far out. more revolutions in the making thing. that play like a girl thing. is it a '4 your eyez only,' thing. more of a 'no role modelz' thing. that triple-double thing. "is he the g.o.a.t.? thing." no, not that goat thing. no no no no no no no more saving the world from the darkness thing. that selfie game strong thing. that four-legged friends thing. oo la la! at&t gives you more for your thing. more entertainment, internet, and unlimited plans. more for your thing. yeah, that's our thing.

with advil's fast relief, you'll ask, "what pulled muscle?" "what headache?" nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. advil liqui-gels and advil liqui-gels minis. what pain?

during the mayhem yesterday, students were able to text loved ones. just caution, this report includes a video from inside a classroom. we have the story. [ gunshots ] >> reporter: students and faculty had little time to react. those who escaped ran for cover and reached out to loved ones. [ screaming ] >> reporter: caitlin was at work yesterday when her younger sister hannah texted in panic. kate lynn, there's a shooter on campus. i'm not joking. call 911, please. hannah, what? are you serious. run. caitlin, i'm not joking. they just shot through the

walls. someone in my class is injured. i'm not joking. call mom and dad. the next message was to her parents in case she did not make it. i'm so scared. tell them i love them so much. i know, hannah. you're going to be fine. moments later she texted about a wounded classmate. they got shot like eight minutes ago when the shooting started. how many shots did you hear? a lot it happened in a first floor classroom. hannah survived and so did samantha grady, a junior grazed by a bullet while hiding in the same classroom. this morning they received the terrible news about their injured classmate. >> unfortunately, she didn't make it. >> reporter: some who survived hid behind chairs in the audi r auditorium or in closets. many tried to keep quiet as possible while texting emergency messages. >> he's say iing help me.

>> reporter: there's a shooting at school. i'm fine. i'm terrified. please call police. that's the frightening message lisette received from her daughter, a sophomore. tell them someone is hurt on the third floor. we can hear him crying and praying. i love you. everything is going to be okay. where are you now? i'm hiding. what floor, baby? third floor. >> it was 20, 30 minutes that i had lost contact with her. those 20, 30 minutes, i lost it. i was hysterical. >> reporter: her daughter survived. she, like so many from the school, will carry the pain of what has happened. kira, a student, tweeted wishing yesterday was some type of sick dream. i'm sick to my stomach. i pray for guidance. then she wrote, i want my friends back. cnn, new york. >> one of the most difficult things in all of this is what to

say to children. most parents these days know their kids do drills in schools to teach them what to do and how to move in the event of a shooter. joining me now is julia who has been an assistant secretary for homeland security and is now at harvard. i know you spent a lot of time thinking about this. you're a parent yourself. how do you explain to kids? how to answer the question of why? why did this happen? >> you don't do the impossible. some things are inexplicable. when this happens, whatever crisis we learned over the years sort of three major things. one is don't infantalize your kids. listen to them. are your friends talking about this? did the teachers talk about that? the second thing that's key is we learned in crisis that

resilient kids come from resilient parents. you want to show sort of moving forward that you're prepared for what's happening. you have grip over the situation. yelling at the tv is not a good idea. the third is the most important which i think you're seeing the students in florida doing is this fear can lead to action. get your kids to write their congressmen or congresswoman or senator or intern if they are galvanized by gun issues, get them engaged. for kids of a certain age, this is a way to turn this in inexplicable into action. >> we've been seeing that a lot here on the ground. i've never seen so many kids who are already talking about change that they want to try to enact and empowering themselves. >> i think that's right. i can't explain it. i don't know enough about this

jurisdiction, the politics or anything else but it is remarkable. i think it has something to do with social media. the images you were showing before. we were in the classroom with them. i think it's just that sort of connectivity that we're seeing with this tragedy can be used to make change. kids aren't stupid. they get it. they get the inexplicable aspects of this. they get that one of their peers who couldn't buy a beer, was able to buy a weapon to kill them. to the extent i feel like we failed them as parents in terms of the society that exists right now. it may be they are looking to themselves for the solution. >> just from a security standpoint, trying to stop the next shooting like this or another shooting like this, it's something that's being talked about a lot today whether it's

gun control, mental health, school safety. for you, i assume it's not just one of those things. it's some sort of combination of all. >> it's all of the above. i think the white house sort of tries to and sort of on the political side we view it as more safe society, look, we won't get our vulnerabilities down to zero, you try to minimize the risk across all of those things. yes, mental health, right, is an issue. yes, we want emergency management plans and yes, let's not just talk about gun control, let's ask ourselves why a society that has assault weapons like this is having the kind of violence in schools that no other country has. these are solutions that we can get to easily if we would just look at all of them in their totality. >> juliette kayyem, appreciate your time tonight. coming up, a look at what some lawmakers are saying today and a conversation with the author of the book calum bien,

the book ago about another horrible high school shooting. we took legendary, and made it liberating. we took safe, and made it daring. we took intelligent, and made it utterly irresistible. we took the most advanced e-class ever, and made the most exciting e-class ever. the 2018 e-class coupe and sedan. lease the e300 sedan for $569 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

tripadvisor compares prices from over 200 booking sites to time to bask... in low prices! find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. refreshing, isn't it?. tripadvisor. no one burns on heartburn. my watch! try alka seltzer ultra strength heartburn relief chews. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing. i have heartburn. ultra strength from alka seltzer. enjoy the relief.

having had a day to absorb what happened here, some of the nation's most prominent politicians talked what not to do about guns, but about mental health. here is some of what they had to say. >> as you know, mental health is often a big problem underlying these tragedies. that may be the case here today based on earlier reporting. >> how do we make sure when a parent is ready to send their child to school that in florida that parent knows that child is going to be safe? how do we make sure that individuals with moment illness do not touch a gun? >> it seems to be common for a lot of these shootings, in fact, almost all of the shootings, and that is the mental state of the people that are doing it. >> i think effective enforcement of our gun laws focussing on criminals and dangerous people,

mentally ill people -- >> people are going to learn a lot. >> joining for us is the author of "columbine," a terrific book about the colorado high school massacre and its impact, how it change things and what actually happened at columbine. dave, mental health is certainly a component of a lot of these mass shootings, and reportedly with this shooting as well. it's certainly only part of the prevention. i keep also coming back to the fact that one doesn't want to stigmatize all people with any kind of mental health issue. >> right. i'm a huge proponent of doing something on mental health, but particularly really narrowing that to teen depression and then -- what's the word for it? i'm losing it- of scouting for teen depression or surveying for it. that's such a deflection here. my first reaction is, if you're going to do something about mental health, great. it's been 19 years. where is the plan? where are the bills? how come you haven't done anything yet? it sounds like a big deflection to me.

what they really want to avoid and they realize is a window of outrage opportunity, where anything about guns is going to happen in the first week or two. it's going to get a head of steam rolling by then. if they can just keep deflecting and changing the subject and wait that out, they're going to win by the outrage dropping. but i don't know this time because i don't know that these deflection politicians, they may have met their match with these kids. because i have just been amazed for the last 24 hours that these kids are having none of that. they're calling the politicians on it and reacting and saying, you know abaftfter this ridicul consoler in chief speech that trump gave this afternoon, this kind of patronizing thing where he said things like, you know, we're here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do. except for anything. you know, kids have amazing bullshit detectors. they know immediately when

you're patting them, oh, it's going to be okay, johnny. what the hell? that is not what they need. >> i remember in -- >> they want their leaders to step in and do something. >> i remember in columbine, i think it was, you were talking about a rally that took place after columbine where kind of a lot of politicians came and talked to kids and sort of saying, you know, everything's going to be okay. it was really the principal who got up and said kind of a much more fact-based thing and the kids really responded to that. >> exactly. 9 morning after at 10:00 a.m. at light of the world church that they got the kids together the first time. 20 different officials. one after the other. i was sitting in the back and think, god, i hope somebody knows what to say. i was sitting in the back and honestly thinking i have no idea what to tell these kids and i'm glad i'm not up there because i don't know what to say, but i knew these people were not saying it. the kids were politely applauding and very stoic.

then frank deangelis got up and told them the truth. instead of saying everything was going to be fine, he said the opposite, he said this is going to be really rough. we're going to have a really hard time. i'm not going to sugar coat it. it's not going to be easy. we're going to figure this out together. we're going to get through this together. no bullshit, telling them the truth. they loved that. here was an adult leveling with them and telling them the truth. it was the first huge one. they're not ready to hear, oh, it's going to be okay. they're more like, what is the plan? it's been two decades. >> it is amazing -- it is amazing, i mean, i said this now multiple times tonight. i haven't not been on a shooting like this where so many of the kids that i talked to who lived through it are saying, you know, enough is enough, we want to do something, we don't want to just be another statistic. we don't want to just be, you know, our town known for this. we want to actually be the

agents of some sort of change. if there is hope, it be in that. dave cullen, appreciate you being on. thanks everyone for watching "360." we'll be here tomorrow as well. on tomorrow from 9:00 to 11:00 tomorrow morning and tomorrow night. don lemon picks up our coverage "cnn tonight" starts right now. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. thanks for joining us. thoughts and prayers. you've heard a lot of people offering thoughts and prayers for the 17 people who lost their lived in a florida high school yesterday. students and teachers shot to death by a 19-year-old who had been expelled. a 19-year-old who had absolutely no business having a gun. none whatsoever. we should all know better by now than to offer empty words about thoughts and prayers. i don't want you to misunderstand me at all, heartfelt sympathy and prayers are very powerful, we all need them from time to time, but we need to turn those thoughts and prayers into action. we