our breaking story from downtown orlando. a shooting at a 16-story office building not far from a large sheraton hotel and the whole area is locked down. i-4 traffic in both directions stopped. the hotel is in full lockdown. according to local reports as many as eight people had been shot. the shooter is somewhere at large. perhaps still in the building. apparently this took place on the fourth floor. the gateway center is in lockdown. all patients have been taken to area hospitals. at least four of the eight people who are victims are considered serious trauma cases.

emergency crews and there are 50 or so combing that building looking for possible victims and one of the highest priorities is finding a shooter. it's not a secure situation. mary is in that building itself joining us live by phone. mary, where are you? what have you heard and what's it like? >> we're on the bottom floor. we haven't heard much. we're on lockdown. we're asked to stay away from the windows and so we're all just kind of pacing around wondering what's going happen next. >> when did you hear about this? around 11:30 or so? >> yeah. around 11:30 the police came and told us to lock the doors and stay away from windows. we had no idea. we were just doing our thing. working. and we've been stuck in here ever since. >> are you in the building where the shooting took place? >> we're right next door. >> are you near the hotel? >> yes. >> so you can't go anywhere. can you look out a window and see what's going on?

you're in the basement so i take it you can't. >> we're on the ground floor. we can't see really anything but cops running around with machine guns, s.w.a.t. team, men on horses. that's all we've seen. they evacuated the restaurants in the building and all of the doctor's offices but we're for some reason on lockdown inside. >> you have cell phone, right? >> yes. >> i hope everyone who loves you is listening and knows you're okay at least. who is providing the information? is someone in the building coordinating all of that? >> yes. the gentleman in the front of the building who can see everything is kind of giving us information. >> all right. i know it's scary. all of the best. thanks for your time. officers with assault rifles looking for a suspect described as a male, blue shirt, blue jeans and a lot of assault rifles pointed at the parking garage. so it is clear that whoever is there either is in that garage or may have access to a car.

you see nothing, nothing, is moving on the central east-west artery that bysects orlando. the shooting took place as mike brooks just told you it may be a workplace violence incident. someone who was disgruntled. perhaps lost their job or was about to. not clear exactly what's going on. that could be what's going on here. again, a shooting. eight people shot. four seriously injured. they've already been transferred to area hospitals. we'll keep our eye on the latest. let's go to ft. hood, texas. military investigators are trying to answer a one-word question in the wake of that massacre yesterday. why 13 people died. 30 others wounded. a gunman opened fire at the army post. the worst mass killing at a military base in u.s. history. the accused gunman is major

nidal malik hasan shot and seriously wounded by a police officer who was directing traffic at a graduation ceremony at that post. hasan as you can imagine is in custody. various reports indicate he's on a ventilator. maybe in a coma. motive unclear. they raided his apartment today and they're hoping to find more answers. the army is doing its best to help survivors of this tragedy. >> approximately half of those who were hospitalized required surgery and all are stable today. our focus today is going to be on those soldiers who are continuing to require medical care from admitted patients. they are both in our hospital here at darnall and three other community hospitals in the area. we also will focus on the behavioral health needs of our soldiers and family members and

other folks in the community. >> darnall is where major hasan was working until yesterday. so far the army hasn't released the names of any of the people killed or wounded in the attack which occurred around 1:30. the chicago tribune reports the family of private first class michael pearson has now come forward to say he was one of those killed. his brother says he's baffled. >> you know he's on his way home. there's no way out of 43 people got injured, there's no way he's already done with the readiness. he wasn't in that building. i told my mom that there's no way he could have been there. there's no way someone got on base and shot people unless it was one of our own and not a half hour after i said that it was on the news that it was one of our own soldiers. >> indeed. we're learning more about hasan, the man who allegedly carried

out the rampage. u.s. army major nidal malik hasan, an army psychiatrist. before being posted at ft. hood he worked at walter reed. just outside of d.c. counseling soldiers that returned from iraq and afghanistan. he required counseling himself when he was a mid student due to problems with patients. he was a muslim born and raised in the u.s. he graduated from virginia tech with a degree in biochemistry and earned a medical degree in the army. owner of a convenience store at ft. hood said the man came in for coffee and hash browns almost every morning. this video shows nidal hasan five or six hours before the store shooting. he often chatted with him when he stopped in. >> there was one exchange which really stuck out in his mind. like i said. this is a regular customer.

a week ago he estimates it was he came in and he seemed to want to talk. he knew that the store owner had been overseas and was also former military. he expressed that he was worried about his upcoming deployment. he expressed that he had a problem -- one would judge it as a religious conflict but as a fellow muslim and someone of faith he had a problem with having perhaps the opportunity and future to have to shoot or kill or injure or fight fellow muslims and that weighed heavily on him. >> this is the other tape the store owner provided showing hasan there earlier in the week dressed in some sort of black clothing. civilian clothing. not a military uniform obviously. he may be in military scrubs at that point. hasan's cousin spoke for their family yesterday because his parents have passed away. in a statement he said "we're filled with grief for the families of today's victims.

our family loves america. we are proud of our country and saddened by today's tragedy." president obama says it's too early to jump to conclusions about what happened at ft. hood. in a few minutes we'll hear what else he had to say. we'll also have your views on the tragedy at ft. hood. we're also mandated to stay on top of other developments other than the ft. hood shootings. hln has that goal. let's move on to other stories of the day. for the first time in 26 years the nation's unemployment rate soared into double digits. the labor department says the october jobless rate hit 10.2% highest since ape of 1983. the economy lost 190,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate in september was 9.8%. more on the orlando shooting. it's still an active scene for police, s.w.a.t. team members and ems technicians. they arrived it at the scene of a mass shooting. eight people have been shot according to various reports.

we'll cover that story and bring you the latest. plus, more about the tragedy at ft. hood. your views coming up. what you're saying about the massacre.

back to our breaking story. in the heart of orlando's downtown central business district, a shooting at a 16-story office building. as many as eight people have been shot. the shooter apparently is still on the loose. they have not cleared this case. the legion's place office building and nearby structures including a rather large sheraton hotel are all on lockdown. police are trying to clear the building floor by floor. the shootings took place on the fourth floor. all patients were taken to orlando regional medical center. four are considered serious trauma cases. we're working to get you all the details we can. emergency crews, dozens of police cars, s.w.a.t. teams, fire engines as you can see are at the scene. it appears that some or all of the focus is on the garage area

of that office building which is hard by interstate 4. no traffic in either direction on i-4 just in case the shooter is inside and may try to use that as an exit route. president obama spoke out about the ft. hood shootings today. he says he met this morning with fbi director robert mueller and relevant agencies to discuss their ongoing investigation. the president said they don't have all of the answers yet and he warned against jumping to conclusions without all of the facts. the president ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at u.s. government facilities. >> from now until veterans day i've ordered the flags at the white house and other federal buildings to be flown at half-staff. this is a modest tribute to those who lost their lives even as many were preparing to risk their lives for their country. >> the president said their families friends and an entire nation are grieving for the men

and women that came under attack yesterday. why such a small word and such a big question. we're wondering why it happened. the massacre at ft. hood and we want your thoughts on the tragedy. richelle carey is here with more on that. >> people are all over the place about this. some people trying to get into the alleged shooter's head. weig wei he was a psychiatrist. trying to figure out what was going on in his mind. did it have to do with the stress of what the army is going through being stretched so thin? so many deployments. he had not yet been deployed. he was told he would have to go overseas. so many soldiers are having multiple deployments so we just left it open ended. he wanted to get people's thoughts on this. this is a comment i got on my facebook page. guy wrote this --

guy is saying there is multiple deployments but he doesn't have a lot of sympathy. he thinks that soldiers and their families know what they sign up for. larry wrote this -- let's get to john who is calling us from louisiana. john, i understand you're in the military. what branch? >> caller: the army. >> go for it, soldier. what's on your mind today? >> caller: i have three tours to iraq and two tours to afghanistan. i was in iraq for the invasion as a private and my last tour overseas was to sadr city, iraq, last year as a platoon sergeant. i've seen every aspect. i've seen from the ground, you

know, from kicking in the doors to sending troops out to kick in doors. and you know, when i cam back ever have i wanted to walk into a crowd of people and start shooting people. that's just -- i'm floored. it's incredible. >> you have seen the absolute worse and you're saying that no matter what you see, what you go through, you can't possibly understand that being a factor in doing something like this under any circumstances. >> absolutely. like i said, i was a private. i used to surf in florida and then i'm in baghdad, iraq, in 2003 kicking down doors and i came back after losing friends after each deployment i lost somebody and never did i come back -- i know different strokes for different folks. people deal with it different. got it. understand. but that's just -- what happened at hood is unbelievable. >> let me ask you this before i

let you go. i did the math quick. that was five deployments you were talking about. let me ask you this quick. you can't tell me it hasn't affected you in some way. >> caller: it has. not to the point where i'll walk in and start -- >> i wasn't trying to lead you there. just wanted to touch days on that. thank you so much for your service and your phone call. so was this just a terrible random event? something more? we want your thoughts on what might be behind the tragedy at ft. hood. call us right now at 877-tell-hln or e-mail us at cnn.com/hln or text the word views and comments to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we'll continue talking about this throughout the day. chuck? richelle, thank you so much. a woman was desperate to have weight loss surgery but it was too expensive so she decided to have it south of the border. dr. sanjay gupta has her story. >> reporter: sharon was arriving on a flight from atlanta but she's not here for vacation.

she's heading south to tijuana to have band surgery. >> we saw he was highly credenti credentialed. >> the price tag a third of the cost in the united states without insurance. >> it's different economy. different cost structure. it does not in any way affect the standards of quality. >> there can be risks when seeking care abroad so says emery university's dr. john sweeney. >> the issue is follow-up and continuity of care that is going to be difficult to achieve. >> it's important to research the types of certifications both the hospital and the surgeon hold. patients should be prepared to pay out of pocket for complications that may arise when they return home. sweeney does note just because a hospital is outside u.s. borders doesn't mean it's bad. >> we tend to be very close minded and not realized that there's countries outside of the

united states that do this as well as we do or better. >> as for sharon, she says all of the travel has been worth the cost savings. >> i work in a hospital institution. this is very well run. >> i'm dr. sanjay gupta.

back to our breaking story. a shooting at a high-rise office building in downtown orlando along i-4. eight people have been shot. we just learned that two people are dead. the shooter is still on the loose. this may be a workplace shooting. according to information provided from one of our affiliates. according to orlando's fire department, an unknown number of people still in the legion's place office building at gateway center could be hurt. they can't clear the building so they can't let the ems

technicians go by door to door and make sure that nobody else is hurt. they are scouring that building canvassing it floor by floor. all patients rushed to orlando medical center. two people now dead according to affiliate wftv. working to get more details including a motive and how far the lockdown extends. a couple buildings including the giant sheridan hotel are on lockdown. nato says two soldiers have been missing in afghanistan since wednesday. we don't know the soldiers i.d.s or if they're from the u.s. but families are being kept up to date on the ongoing search for them. nato said the soldiers disappeared in a routine resupply mission in the western part of the country. cleveland's coroner -- i think we're going to go to this story.

much more on the orlando shooting is what i was efforting to say. we'll be right back. a lot of new details coming up.

breaking news out of a high-rise office building in downtown orlando. a shooting today apparently one shooter local affiliates report two people are dead and six others hurt. it took place around 11:30 eastern and the shooter is still on the loose identified as jason rodriguez. according to the orlando fire department an unknown number of people are still in that office building and could be hurt. they have to clear the building to really get full access to it so the ems technicians can go door by door and make sure everybody is okay. all of the patients who have been taken out were rushed to orlando medical center.

we're working to get more details. mike brooks, what have you been able to glean from this? >> i was watching coverage. you can see ems personnel that are behind a wall staged out in front. you're not going to go in. they're not going to go in and put their life on the line until law enforcement goes and clears the building floor by floor. we heard there was attention to that parking garage. it makes sense because apparently the suspect rodriguez is in a nissan suv. still on the loose. they want to make sure if he had left that building or not. there's a six-level parking garage next to this building that has direct access to that building. what they're going to do now is look at video from that parking garage, see if the person actually did go, what time did he get there? was he alone? that's something you have to consider while you go through and clear the building. they set up a perimeter. they shut down i-4 on the west side of this building.

brand new renovated sheridan hotel in lockdown. they are looking for this person. what they need to do is get that office cleared. get in. take a look at the personnel records and find out where this guy lives and go to his house and find out if he's there and find out more information about this person and to see if he's the only suspect they're actually looking for. go to friends, associates, references when he was employed here because we hear from former employees and now from drew from wbdo that he was a former employee inside this building which would make it a workplace violence incident. >> we don't know what kind of situation it was. >> don't know the position or company. early on in this situation. >> here's a photo of the suspect. right there. this is from wesh, an orlando affiliate. that's what they're looking for right now. presumably they have the plates on that suv, that nissan suv. and probably the direction of travel but we don't know that,

do we? >> we don't. could that be a reason they shut down i-4? also because it was the west side of the building fronting i-4. if they shut down i-4 there's other roads he could make good his escape. we don't know where he lives. i'm sure law enforcement knows this and sending out leads to check this out right now. >> it's got to be a sigh of relief if you're in the sheridan hotel. doesn't look like he ran into one of those nearby buildings. he got in a car and left. >> the only other thing that i always tell you, you never assume anything. was he acting alone? we don't know. this is something they'll have to clear this building anyone else goes inside. investigators are trying to track down a motive in the worst mass killing at a u.s. military base in history. 13 people died yesterday. 30 others were wounded when a man went on a shooting rampage at ft. hood, texas. military investigators say the man doing the shooting was an

army officer. major nidal malik hasan is in custody recovering from gunshot wounds. he was shot four times by a civilian police officer who was directing traffic for a graduation ceremony. this morning authorities raided hasan's apartment in an effort to find answers. a spokeman for one of the hospitals treating the wounded said some of the victims' injuries are very serious. >> some of these were extremely serious injuries. again, i have to give credit to emergency room staff, nurses, physicians, surgeons that care for these patients considering extensive nature of these injuries it's remarkable that they've done so well but not surprising. >> do you expect them all to survive? >> we would hope that everyone would survive. it's too early to make any expectant comments about survival. >> so far the army has not released the names of the people killed or wounded although the chicago tribune reports the family of private first class

michael pearson came forward to say he was one of those killed. his brother says he's baffled. >> he's on his way home. there's no way that out of 43 people got injured, there's no way he's already done with the readiness. he wasn't in that building. he wasn't -- i told my mom that there's no way he could have been there and there's no way someone got on base and shot people unless it was one of our own and then not a half hour after i said that it was on the news that it was one of our own soldiers. >> worst possible news for family members like that. we're learning more about the man who allegedly carried out the rampage. major nidal malik hasan, army psychiatrist. a mental health professional before being posted at ft. hood he worked at walter reed army medical center in maryland. counseling soldiers who returned from iraq and afghanistan. the army said he required

counseling while a med student due to problems with patients. he is a muslim who was born and raised in the united states. he graduated from virginia tech with a degree in biochemistry and earned his medical license in the army though he never had been deployed outside of the u.s. he was due to be deployed soon. our sister network cnn obtained surveillance video from the owner of a convenience store right at ft. hood. in a few minutes our law enforcement analyst will look at clues to discover from inside and outside of nidal malik hasan. we'll stay on top of that developments. a disabled man that fought his insurance company looks to have a law named in his honor. a few weeks ago we told but ian pearl. he has muscular dystrophy. he has an insurance company that was just about to deny him coverage for life savings and expensive medical care until he shared his story with us and we

featured it on our "your views" segment. there's a bill called ian's law and ian pearl is on webcam talking about it. thank you so much. i appreciate it. your health policy had no lifetime benefit cap and it did cover home nursing care. what did they tell you? what changed? >> what really changed is they reversed their decision and reinstated all of my coverage and that's great news and i really do think that my insurance company has set the example for the insurance industry to really follow. >> all right. when they told you the ceo said -- let's put that quote up if we can. when just a day after the story ran, he said we're comprised of human beings and sometimes we make mistakes. did that give you comfort? what did you think about that? >> absolutely. i mean, they did admit that what

they did was wrong and they did apologize and great gratitude and the fact that i'm going to continue surviving thanks to the fact that they corrected their mistake and that they did reinstate my benefits again and that's all i have no more worries now with regards to that and it's really ian's law that i'm looking forward to seeing passed and hopefully once it's passed it will go to the federal level and that's really what i'm looking forward to talking about now. >> were you a consultant in that? were you involved in the language of ian's law? >> actually, no. it came to a complete surprise to me. the first i heard about it was when cnn's jim acosta announced it that ian's law was going to be announced and hopefully passed by the state legislature. senator schneiderman introduced the bill. i'm speechless and honored and that it will prevent insurance

companies from dropping high claim individuals ever again and that really is remarkable. it's an outstanding bill and it is unprecedent and no one has ever introduced anything like this before. >> are others needing home coverage like this in the same boat, do you know? how many others are facing this loss of rights? >> well, that i really don't know due to privacy issues. and that really is something that i really can't address because of that. i mean, i can address this bill and because i know all about that and i know about the fact that i am reinstated and that i'm covered and that really is just thrilling and i really am speechless that the bill is named for me and i really do have to thank new york and i really am a native new yorker and i was born there and i couldn't be prouder. >> ian, you're an inspiration to everybody. i appreciate it. thank you. you fought the good fight, sir.

well deserved. thank you. i'm glad we could play a small role in helping. ian pearl down in florida. all of the best. thanks again. >> thank you. president obama says the nation is grieving those who lost their lives at the ft. brag shootings. why he says it's too soon to drop to any conclusions about what happened yesterday.

quickly to orlando a police spokesman on the shooting today at an office building. two dead, six wounded. let's listen. >> around magnolia, garland, orange avenue up to and include weber and the surrounding areas. you probably need to -- princeton. you probably need to stay out of

that particularly geographical area. >> any update on injuries at this point? >> multiple victims. as soon as i find out and i can confirm i'll let you know if anybody died. >> thank you so much. >> all right. that's obviously the tail end. here's the scene from overhead of the gateway center and the office building where a man walked in today on the eighth floor and opened fire. eight people were wounded. two people according to affiliates have died and as bark jones of orlando pd just said we got to find this guy. he's at large. he may be in the area. he may have made his getaway in an suv, nissan suv. he may still be downtown orlando. the emergency by no means is over. we'll continue to follow this developing story out of orlando. president obama speaking out about the ft. hood shootings. he said it's too early to know what led to the tragedy. here's what he had to say.

>> this morning i met with fbi director mueller and the relevant agencies to discuss their ongoing investigation into what caused one individual to turn his gun on fellow service men and women. we don't know all of the answers yet and i would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all of the facts. >> calling it a modest tribute to those who lost their lives ordered that flags be flown at half-staff until veterans day next wednesday and the president will attend a memorial service for those killed once it is scheduled in the next few days at ft. hood. in three weeks our sister network cnn is announcing "hero of the year." right now we get introduced to roy foster, the former homeless army vet is on the streets hoping other vets overcome homelessness and addiction.

hi. i have the honor of performing at the first cnn heros, an all-star tribute recognizing every day people who changed the world. i'm dedicating myself to help women reach their full potential in life. now more than ever, the world needs heros. i'm thrilled to help cnn introduce one of this year's top ten honorees. >> how can i turn my back and walk away and leave you right here? i can't. because i know you wouldn't turn your back and leave me. nationwide veterans are neglected, homeless, unacceptable. what branch of service? >> army. >> so was i. we're brothers in arms. no man left behind. my name is roy foster and my mission is to help and empower homeless veterans. if you're going to work for

sobriety, you got to change. we provide services for veterans only. a safe, clean place to live. all of the meals. the comradery is that internal blue. tell him one of his brothers in arms came out looking for him and let him know we'll be back. they are the best. they deserve the best. what i do, i love. i love it.

orlando affiliates report two people are dead from a shooting today in a high-rise office building in downtown orlando. word that eight people had been shot along orange avenue on the

north side of downtown orlando. six other people are hurt. s.w.a.t. teams are on the scene. they're looking for the shooter identified as jason rodriguez. a 40-year-old man driving what could be a 2002 nissan suv. described as light skinned hispanic wearing a blue shirt and blue jeans. he is a former employee of an infrastructure company that has office was inside that complex. an unknown number of people are still in that building and could be hurt. it's not clear that eight is the together number of people who are victims from this. police are trying to clear the office building by going floor by floor. all patients have been taken to orlando medical center. dozens of police cars, fire engines, ambulances on scene. the hunt continues for jason rodriguez and rodriguez again may be on foot. it's not clear. two california cities are using different ways to keep

type ii diabetes from ravaging their communities. dr. sanjay gupta takes a look in this week's "fit nation." >> drugs, prosecution, gang violence. all of it chula vista california just a year ago. students were walking to school along these roads with no sidewalks. what do these two situations have in common? both of them were prevenlting residents from being physically active. a critical problem in two border towns with above average obesity and diabetes rates. >> the community and environment really do affect people's risk for diabetes because it is a lifestyle thing. you can do a lot to prevent if you're exercising. >> how do you fix it? >> in this case, with an unusual partnership with local high school students, la teechbo organizers a little bit of money from local government, a lot of hard work. >> the conditions of the park a year and a half ago were not the

same conditions you're looking at right now. >> the reality is that if you have to walk on a dirt road in summer in california, you're not going to walk to. and at least with the sidewalks, it is a more comforting environment. >> two different towns, two different solutions. both projects are showing results. what started as school projects for aaron and gerard may you now become careers. >> my goal is to go to college. >> i want to see dreams like this in the future. >> in the meantime hope their work can serve as a model to other communities and will prove the kids their age that they can make a difference. >> it has been a long process. two years now. just seeing the changes actually start to take place is great. >> cnn, reporting.

i want to get you to our breaking story out of orlando. a deadly shooting. affiliates are reporting one person is dead from the shooting at a high rise office building. eight people have been shot. at the legion's place office building. at least seven people are hurt, we understand. the shooter, here's the thing. is still at large. there is a manhunt for this man identified as jason rodriguez. there's his picture. according to the orlando fire department, he is a former employee of reynolds, smith and hills, an architectural engineering firm. the company is housed inside that building.

it says rodriguez was let go two years ago for performance issues. that's coming from a spokesman for that company. a massive search is underway for him right now. >> to stop that threat. we have not located that suspect yet. so if he is seeing the news and he sees himself on the news, it would be in his best interests to turn himself in and to surrender to law enforcement. an unknown people are still in that building and they could be hurt. they're going floor to floor to try to find those people and clear the building. all patients have been taken to orlando regional medical center. we want to point out, emergency crews,s tos of police cars, fire engines to s.w.a.t. teams. all arriving at the scene here. let's get an idea what police are facing here. mike brooks is joining us. he's our law enforcement analyst. it was funny when that woman says if he sees himself on the news, we encourage him to turn

himself in. you've been reading up on this suspect document they normally do that when they see themselves on the news? do they panic? >> we don't know exactly what the mental state of rodriguez is. he was employed there two years ago. now this is an architectural engineering firm. a spokesperson for reynolds, smith and hills says he was working transportation engineering and you was doing work on projects such as with the florida department of law enforcement. he is 40 years old. so i guarantee you, they know where he lives. they're proeshl right you now going over to his house. we know that he was possibly driving a 2002 silver nissan suv with d 119 ux. it is shut town on the west side of the building.

there was a six-story parking garage them say they'll have to go through, search the parking garage and go floor to floor. clear this place before any ems personnel can see if there is any more wounded people inside the building. now you've also got orange county sheriff's office that is assisting orlando. it is a good size department but when you've got a building this big, 16 stories, you can use additional tactical assets to come in and help to clear this building. that's what they're going to do. it will be a very tedious task. there could be people inside as we saw, sheltered in place in their office. they were afraid to leave. so these are people today they could encounter. >> that's what i was going to mention. orlando sentinel saying there were office workers barricade inside as they were waiting for word as to whether they could leave or not, and that they had a chest of drawers pushed up against the door. one woman according to the orlando sentinel saying we're alive but we're scared. >> absolutely. they're not hearing the news

theflg don't know that this active shooter, what was an active shooter has possibly fled the scene. they don't know where he is. the spokesperson for the police department said that he could still be in that area. most likely they've checked the parking garage because they were concentrating to see if they could find his vehicle. they know who he is. apparently, they could not find and it they believe did he flee in his vehicle. the direction unknown right you now. >> i'm assuming at this point, he has tonight that they know who he is. >> oh, yeah. >> they can consider him armed and extremely dangerous. >> thanks. stick around. i know we'll be talking to him a little bit, too. we do want to talk about the latest from ft. hood, texas, where military investigators are trying to answer a one-word question in the wake of the massacre. that question of course is why. what everybody is asking. 13 people tied. 30 others were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the army foeflt accused gunman is major

will nadal malik hasan. he was shot and wound by a police officer who was working the traffic for the graduation ceremony. she sprang into action when she heard the shots and hasan is in custody. his motive is still ununclear. they raided his apartment early this morning. they're trying to find more answers. a news conference is scheduled about a half-hour from you now at ft. hood. they are holding a memorial for the victims today. >> this has been a tragic incident. our hearts and prayers go out to all those who have been impacted by this tragedy. the investigation of the incident is ongoing. initial findings indicate there was a single shooter who was ultimately shot and subdued by first responders. today on ft. hood, we'll observe a day of mourning and remembering in our thoughts and prayers the victims of the incident. >> so far, the army has not

officially released the flames of any of the people who were killed. the wounded in yesterday's attack. however, the "chicago tribune" is reporting the family a private first class michael pearson has come forward to say that he was one of those killed. his brother says he is just baffled. >> i figured, he is on his way home. there is no way that out of what, 43 people got injured. there is no way he has already done with the readiness. he wasn't in that building. he wasn't. i told my mom, that there is no way he could have been there and there is no way somebody got on base and shot people unless it was one of our own. and then an half-hour after i said that, it was on the news that you it was one of our -- one of our own soldiers. >> will the man can hardly talk there. i want to let you know, what we're learning about the plan who allegedly carried out yesterday's deadly rampage. let's talk about this.

major nadal malik hasan is an army psychiatrist. he had worked at walter reed medical center counseling those who had returned from iraq and afghanistan. the army said he required counseling himself while he was a medical student due to problem with patients. he was a muslim born and raised in the united states. he graduated from virginia tech with a degree in biochemistry and earned his medical degree while in the army. so although he had never been deployed outside the u.s., he was due to be deployed will soon. defense secretary robert gates says u.s. military forces worldwide will hold a moment of silence at 2:34 p.m. eastern. that's when the shooting rampage began yesterday at ft. hood will. the army chief of staff traveled to the post. today we'll stay on top of this story, of course. all the developments coming out of ft. hood.

we are hln so we do wanted to cover the other news. one of the stories being the florida mother accused of secretly giving her child to a baby sitter and then reporting her missing. well, that mother has appeared in court. she is charged with child custody desertion of a child and seefrl charges as well as her baby sitter whom you just saw. there susan baker. she is charged with child neglect and interference of child cuss difl investigators found 7-month-old shannon. there she is alive beneath the sitter's bed. the sheriff got all choked up as he talked about the discovery after the five-day search. such good news that she was found alive. police are searching for a gunman who opened fire at a downtown orlando office building.

i want to get you updated on the breaking story we've been following out of orlando. you our affiliates there telling us that one person is dead from a shooting at a high rise office building. eight people had been shot at the legion's place office building. at least seven are hurt. many of them, seven we're told, were on the way to the hospital in trauma red condition which is critical. the shooter is at large though. let me show you his that i can youture here. he's identified as jason rodriguez. there he is. and according to the orlando environment, he is a former employee of reynolds, smith and hills. an architectural fimpl. the company says he was let to go with years ago in june of 2007 for performance issues. w kmpbl wkmg said he was just filing for bankruptcy and you was broke. a massive search for this man. jason rodriguez. we're expecting a news

conference at any moment and we'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens, showing you you some video here of the scene. we don't want to show you some live breaking pictures now because we don't want to compromise the situation for the emergency personnel on the team as they search for jason rodriguez. meanwhile, we are learning more about the suspect in the ft. hood tragd. he served treating the soldiers returning from iraq and afghanistan. i asked paula bloom who works with military veterans why he wouldn't have recognized that he himself might need some help. as a doctor, would you not feel yourself slipping into some unstable or unrealistic patterns that you can spot in other people? >> yeah. it is so much easier to see clearly in someone else than it is in ourselves. it is very difficult to see ourselves completely honestly.

and in a lot of work settings, you're seeing so many patients, you're working so hard. you don't have a lot of time and a lot of settings to consult with colleagues and that kind of thing to get support. sometime we don't see ourselves accurately in the mirror as we can see others. >> now an army spokeswoman said he had been scheduled to deploy the afghanistan to counsel soldiers suffering from combat stress. here's more bad news. this morning u.s. labor department released the october jobs report. 190,000 more jobs were lost, which means the unemployment rate jumped to 10.2% in october. into double digits for the first time in 26 years. cnn money.com is in new york. i know you've been studying these number. what do they mean? >> the headline number, 10.2% is worse than expected. it is really staggering but not a surprise to many americans, especially those waiting in those unemployment lines around the country. here in new york city, unemployment, 10.3%.

we went up to harlem to talk to someone at the employment office about the situation there. here's what they told us. >> it's been extremely busy here. the person is here because they've actually gone beyond that whole prideful thing of not seeking help. once they're here, they express a lot of concerns about the current labor market. about what is the next step to actually take. they'll vent out. they'll take a you few minutes to talk about what's been going on with their professional careers. >> so maybe they've lost a job in a profession that might not be coming back as strongly. the auto sector. maybe mortgage backed securities on wall street. it really ranges the gamut. that number, 10.2% is not the whole story. many workers in the united states are underemployed. i want you to you look at these numbers to get a sense of what we're talking about. they're working part time because they can't get full time jobs. you see it has increased hugely over the recession. 9 million of those people. you have to look at the number

of people classified as discouraged workers. same story. there that has increased over 800,000. those are people that have given up on looking for work. they are unemployed you but they're not even included in the unemployment rate. that gives us a more complete picture of the u.s. employment situation. when you look at it on a percentage basis, it is stunning. it was 12% in october 2008 when you add that all up for the fuller picture. now it is at 17.5%. the bright spot here and there is just a little bit, despite all the frustration, some company are starting to hire again. if you look at the story today on cnnmoney.com, look who is hiring you. now check it out on the site. >> you thank you for the bright spot. we needed that today, poppy. thank you. >> sure. when holly robinson, pete's father and son were diagnosed with brain disorders, she didn't back down. she fought back. now she fights for the rights of beam oughtism and parkinson's disease. meet this week's true breakyou

through woman. you're going to recognize her from 21 jump street or hanging with mr. cooper but her most important role you was when her son was diagnosed with autism. >> i had no information and very you few examples of hope. >> reporter: she learned everything she could and you now she is encouraging other people to learn more about it as well. >> please keep up the good work in advocating for families, for yourself, your child's best advocate. >> she has a heart for the underserved and for the undertreated. you don't encounter that as much. that really inspired me about hospitaly. >> reporter: another cause close to her heart is parkinson's disease which claimed her father. in his memory she founded the foundation with her husband, the former nfl quarterback rodney pete. >> occupational speech therapy and get them connected with the you newest procedures. service is the rent we pay for

living. i feel like it is not what you have and what you give back, it is how you give back.

we're all wondering why the massacre happened yesterday at ft. hood. >> people want answers and we don't have answers yet. the alleged shooter is still alive so answers from him, they may or may not come. we're kind of trying to broaden this out to figure out what do you think is going on in the military? do you think that some soldiers are extremely stressed because the multiple deployments, we're fighting two wars? this is not about making excuses for the person who is responsible for this.

that's not what this is about. we made it open ended. michelle called us. she is a military wife living in texas. and michelle and her family are having a tough time. she shared some really personal stuff with us that i think you'll want to hear. michelle, talk to me about what's going on with your husband. >> caller: my husband has been battling a lot of different emotional problems since his return back from iraq. that was his third deployment. i was on the post yesterday at the time of the tragedy. and so i don't take lightly, my heart goes out and prayers to the families, to all of us in this community. and i believe that the actions of the alleged sleert deplorable. >> you were actually talking. you said you were on post. you were talking to a chaplain. >> caller: i was meeting with the chaplain concerning my husband and things. i've been trying get to him help for the last eight months or so. and that was like the last thing. i was in a meeting with him when we got the call for the

stand-down. he was called up to go to the mortuary at the time right after that. so, you but it is unreal. i think a lot of times, they sweep things under the rug and they keep saying they can't make them to go counseling, they can't make them get help, when they come back they go through a series of reintegration classes. but so many of the soldiers, it is not an individual thing. so they're worried about the stigma of being singled out and pointed out. so that individual treatment and counseling is not offered unless there is an incident. >> let me stop you for a second. to be fair, the army says they are aware of the problems some of the soldiers are having and they say they're trying to address it. you're saying from your personal experience, you still don't feel like that's enough. you don't like the approach at all. >> caller: i definitely do not. i'm speaking as a former military member. i was in the army. so because like i've exhausted all kinds of different avenues and possibilities, giving them

the benefit of the doubt myself husband has had to do things like suicide prevention classes when the army went on stand-down program. he's had to do that, those classes. >> michelle, i have to -- >> and he doesn't have any experience. >> i have to wrap you you but i thank you for your service and your husband's service and i really hope you can get the help you need.

the suspect who allegedly opened fire in a downtown orlando office building is in cuss difl at least six people were shot and one was killed. you can see them roping things off there at the building. the shooter identified as this man. jason rodriguez. as he former employee of reynolds, smith and woods and you was described as armed and dangerous. he was actually let go in june of 2007 two years ago for performance issues. wkmg is reporting he had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. you was basically broke.

the suspect, jason rodriguez is in police custody now. >> we're proud to say a s.w.a.t. team has apprehended the suspect. he was located and is in custody. we received information that he may be in the area of his mother's residence. we sent our officers out, there our s.w.a.t. team out there. we had intelligence information on him. they were able to see him through the window and asked him to come out. did he. he was arrested without incident. >> so again that shooter is, alleged shooter is in custody you now and we'll continue to keep our eyes on it. as soon as we get word of conditions of some of the injured we'll pass that along you to you. at the same time, we're waiting for a news conference heerl from ft. hood, texas. it should start at any moment. ft. hood, of course, where investigators are trying to track down a motive in the worst mass killing at a military base in u.s. history, a military

post. 13 people died. 30 others were wounded when a man went on a shooting spree in ft. hood, texas yesterday. and military investigators say the man doing the shooting was an aempl officer in custody you now recovering from gunshot wounds himself. he was shot four times by a civilian police officers directing. traffic for a graduation ceremony. this morning they raided hasan's apartment in an attempt to find more answers. a spokesman for one of the hospitals says some of the victims' injuries are so very serious. >> some of these were extremely serious injuries. again, i have to give credit to the emergency room staff. nurses, physicians, and the surgeons, the nurses in the operating presume care for these patients. again, considering the extensive nature of these injuries, i think it is remarkable that they've done so well. but not surprising. we would hope everyone would survive but it is too early to

make any expectant comments about survival. the white house says the president will attend the memorial once it is scheduled. he spoke about the tragedy this morning. >> this morning i met with fbi director mueller and the relevant agencies about what caused one individual to turn his gun on fellow servicemen and women. we don't know all the answers yet and i would caution on jumping to conclusions. >> calling it a modest tribute to those who lost their lives, the president ordered the flag be flown at half-staff from now until veteran's day. and will this shows people trying to comfort each other and trying to absorb what happened. 13 people were killed in that attack and the suspected shooter, major nidal malik hasan

in custody. a florida woman was on the phone with her son stationed at ft. hood when it all will happened. he was shot in the rampage while they were on the phone. this is one she will never forget. >> i was talking to him. we were just joking around. i heard. -- in my ear and i said what is that. i thought at first, i thought he was kidding around with me and turning up the video game. and then i said, maybe it is a training exercise. so i started listening. and then i hear all the screaming and the crying. >> and we understand thankfully, johnson's son is going to be okay. the united states military forces around the world are observing a moment. silence as you and i speak right here right you now. let's take a moment. live pictures there for you.

defense secretary robert gates declared the tribute a show of respect for the ft. hood shooting victims. and we of course want to show our respect. that moment. silence you was slated for 2:34 p.m. eastern standard time exactly 24 hours after the shootings in texas began. all u.s. forces worldwide being asked to participate in the show of respect here. a spokesman says gates has no immediate plans to travel there but army chief of staff george casey and army secretary john mccue arrived at the post today. another moment of silence there in our respects. we're going to stay on top of the developments of this story, obviously. we are hln so we want to let you know some of the other news we're covering. particularly out. cleveland. the coroner is urging the families of missing women to give dna samples. however, i don't know if you've heard about this but there is a mistrust of police apparently that could be slowing the process of identifying 11 bodies

found in that sex offender's home. police say relatives with checkered pasts are reluctant to come forward. only three women have been identified. that the suspect anthony sowell is being held without bond. his charges you include five counts of murder. . the florida mother accused of secretly giving her child to a baby sitter and then reporting her missing has appeared in court to face charges team of a look at her. she is charged with desertion of a child and seefrl charges. that's the baby sit they are. susan bake here is charged with child neglect and interference of child cuss difl investigators found shannon dedrick live. the sheriff got so choked up as he talked about the discovery after a five-day search. the best kind of discovery that she is alive and well. house democrats had scheduled a vote for tomorrow on the massive health reform bill

which would overhaul the nation's health care system now. they say it may need to be push back until sunday or perhaps later as they admit, they don't know yet if they have the votes to pass it. the hold-up appears to be differences amongst democrats over abortion funding and illegal imgranlt access to health care. so president obama plans to go to capitol hill tomorrow to make the push for the priority. latest from the downtown orlando office building. what we're expecting to learn about the, what we have learned about the suspect thus far. we're keeping you up to dwatd the latest develop. s from ft. hood as well. we'll take a closer look at the army base. ft. hood and who lives and works there.

i want to take you live to texas where we're learning more about the tragedy. >> arm general george casey. all morning, the chief of staff, mrs. casey, myself and other representatives from the army staff, from the pentagon, have been here at ft. hood, having the opportunity to tour with general cone and mrs. cone and his command staff. we have had the chance to go to the processing center, the sight of the incident, receive a full brief from a variety of law enforcement agencies who have been involved in this situation.

cid, fbi, local police, texas rangers and others who are working seamlessly together. and we so teadeeply, deeply appreciate. that after that our party traveled to darnall to hear from the medical staff as to the condition of those who have been wounded and who are still in treatment. the chief and i and mrs. casey had the chance to visit those both in the intensive care unit and on the general ward. and there after, go visit with a grouping of those who were processing the soldiers through the processing center at the time of this very, very tragic incident. we there after went to one of the post chapels, had a chance to meet with the 36 engineer brigade. a group of soldiers that had an extraordinarily tough day

amongst so many soldiers who had a tough day yesterday. four killed, 11 wounded and tried to do our best to talk about how the army family will stand with them. obviously, our thoughts, our prayers, are particularly with those of the fallen. the families of the soldiers who were killed, the soldiers and the families of those who were wounded in action, these are soldiers who were preparing to do what they love for the country that they love. and we wanted them to know, and we want america to know that the united states army, the united states government at large stands ready to provide them every possible assistance, not just today, not just through the weekend, but what will undoubtedly be very troubling, very challenging times ahead. i want to give a special thanks

and a word of admiration to the first responders. those who came when the call went out. within minutes of the shots being fired in the center. and those soldiers who utilized their battlefield -- >> you're seeing there secretary of the army john mchugh. 13 people dead, 30 wounded. we'll continue to monitor this behind the scenes and we'll let you know what else is said. meanwhile, i want to talk you to you about the suspect in another shooting. allegedly opened fire in an office building in downtown orlando. that suspect is in custody. police say at least six people were shot and one was killed. the wounded victims are in stable condition. orlando police say the suspect appears to have acted alone at this point. there is his picture. he was taken into police

headquarters. police say he said "they left me there to rot." we don't know what he meant but we do know that rodriguez is a former employ yeef reynolds, smith and hills housed in that building. the company says he was let go two years ago for performance issues. wkmg is reporting that he just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy waffle basically broke you but one person dead, five wounded from the shooting at an office building and the suspect jason rodriguez in police custody after at least a two-hour manhunt. i do want to get you back to you new developments from the shootings at ft. hood, texas. it is home to thousands of families in texas. joining us from this military post, hello. >> a lot of us were surprised at how big it is. 340 square miles. put that in perspective. a lot of people have been to the

city of san francisco. san francisco is only 46 square miles. compare those numbers and you'll see how big this place is on. any given day, it has between 25,000 and 30,000 residents. there are malls there, subdivisions, ball fields, a total of nine schools. of course there are families. it is like any other city, with a big exception. there are men and women every day who are either transitioning out of texas and on to points in afghanistan or iraq or coming home after many months away from home. as you know, these shootings where the people were killed yesterday happened at a readiness center. a soldier's last stop before they are sent away. that readiness center offers a lot of programs for soldiers including a program called the warrior stress reset program. and that is supposed to help people who are having very normal and common reactions to being in war experiences.

you can find out more by going to our web page, cnn.com. >> one of the things that's so sad, this isn't the first time we've had to cover something like. this give us the history of shootings on bases. >> particularly in iraq. we have seen this happen three times in recent memory. we go through it in a time line when you go to our website. first i want to tell you about, it happened near baghdad. this was the case where a soldier had rolled some grenades into a tent and ended up killing two soldiers and injuring 14 others. that happened just two days after the war started in 2003. last year work the other soldiers were killed by a fellow comrade at a joint security station near iraq. the most recent one happened in may of this year. that's when five u.s. soldiers were shot to death at a stress clinic at camp liberty, a base just outside of baghdad. as you say, horrible to realize when you put this all together, this is not the first time it has happened. you can look at some of these other incidents by going to our

time line on the website. >> we'll do it. you thank you so much. i want to let you know we know more about the man who carried out the deadly shooting rampage. he was a psychiatrist who counseled soldiers coming back from the war zones. what else the army is saying about him and new pictures in just a moment.

i want to show you these pictures. that's the suspect who opened fire in an office building in downtown orlando. as you can see, he is in custody. heal let's listen here. >> they left you to rot? >> who left you to rot? >> that is shooter, the alleged shooter, i should say, identified as jason rodriguez. orlando police say he appears to have acted alone but they say at least six people were shot. one you was killed. the wounded victims are in stable condition. this is jason rodriguez, a former employee of reynolds, smith and hills, an architectural firm where this

hampden. today he was let go two years ago for porlance issues. wkmg is reporting he had just filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. he was basically broke. as you can see him there, he just said to reporters, they left me to rot but we don't we don't know what that means or who he was referring to. one person dead, five wounded from the shooting at the orlando office building. suspect jason rodriguez in police custody after a massive man hunt for him. took about two and a half hours, i believe. we're learning more about the man who carried out yesterday's deadly rampage at ft. hood. before being posted to ft. hood he worked at walter reid army medical center. the army said he required counseling himself while he was a medical student due to problems with patience. he's a muslim born and raised in

the united states. he graduated from virginia tech and earned his medical degree in the army. although he was never deployed outside the u.s., he was due to be deployed soon. a civilian police officer put her life on the line yesterday at ft. hood and is being called a hero now, for good reason. officer kimberly munley stopped the shooting rampage by shooting the gunman four times. she was wound maryland the exchange of gunfire, but she should survive. others are also being praised for their quick thinking and calm reaction. >> it's really scary. i'm sure everyone had it in the back of their mind, you know, that being -- we're the type of the people that kind of rush towards the sirens instead of away from them. and so -- you know, first and foremost we're thinking of our patients and doing our job. i'm sure everyone had it in the back of their minds, you know,

our personal safety you just kind of keep an eye out and do what you need to do. >> 13 people were killed. 30 others wounded in the attack. thoughts and prayers with all of them. 

police say this is the suspect, the 40-year-old man who opened fire at an office building in downtown orlando today, killing one person. jason rodriguez is in custody. and he's talking. he was escorted to police headquarters, and all he said is they left me here to rot. orlando police says he appears to have acted alone. aside from the one person fatally shot, five other people were wounded. the wounded victims are in stable condition. rod reegds is a former employee of reynolds, smith and hill. working primarily on transportation issues.

the company said rodriguez was let go two years ago for performance issues. wkmg reports he just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, basically he was flat broke. one dead, five wounded from a shooting at an orlando office been. the suspect jason rodriguez in custody after a massive search that consumed a lot of police assets. mike brooks, our law enforcement analyst is here to talk about that. what have you learned? >> apparently he gave up without incident. he was at his mother's house. find the people closest to you. that's sometimes where they go. when law enforcement got there they were able to look inside the window. they saw him inside the house. they went ahead and called him out. he surrendered without incident. at all. without firing a shot. now the investigation begins on the motive. his statement was they left me to rot. what is meant by that? we have no idea.

it's been two years since he was employed at this engineering firm. >> was the suv found nearby? >> apparently so. law enforcement was concerned because they thought he may still be in the area. they didn't know where he was. . they shut the interstate down. which you don't see that happening very often. but the whole west side of the building was next to the interstate. >> and three schools locked down. >> three schools. they just didn't know. they brought in a few s.w.a.t. teams. orange county sheriffs. now the real investigation begins to find out what he was doing, what he was thinking, what the real motive was. was someone there that he knew that he thought maybe was responsible for his firings? we don't know. this is early in the investigation. they have their work cut out for him now. >> handguns, what did he use?

>> we don't know. that's part of the investigation. didn't hear anybody describe any kind of long gun, rifle or that kind of thing. but handguns, a lot of people in florida have them. >> last question, what does it mean to you, what does it tell you that they shut down interstate 4? that's the major east/west artery in orlando. >> when you have an active shooter in a building like this, chuck, especially near a very populated area, you don't know. if there was any more shooting inside the building it could go outside. they didn't want to take any chances. tie traffic up all you want. i have no problem with that. you want to make sure the public is safe. traffic will always clear up. >> one person dead and five others wounded. there is the alleged shooter in custody. now to texas. a news conference a few moments ago. the army chief of staff general george casey said the army and u.s. military in general is in

mourning. 13 people died and 30 others wounded yesterday when a gunman opened fire at the army post. the accused gunman was shot and wounded by an officer who was directing traffic for a graduation ceremony that was supposed to begin just a few minutes after the shooting started. she sprang into action when she heard the rounds. they're going to try to find more answers. the army is doing its best to help survivors. >> approximately half of those hospitalized are required surgery. all are stable today. our focus is on the soldiers continuing to require medical care. they are both in our hospital here as well as three other community hospitals in the area. we will also focus on the behavioral health needs of our

soldiers and other folks in the community. >> so far no official names of victims. no i.d.s from the attack, although the chicago tribune is reporting the family of private first class michael pearson has come forward to say he was among them. he wasn't in that building. he wasn't -- i told my mom that there's no way he could have been there. and there's no way somebody got on base and shot people. unless it was one of our own. and then not a half hour after i said that it was on the news that it was one of ours -- one of our own soldiers. >> awfully close to home. the owner actually at home because that's the brother.

the owner of the convenience store in ft. hood that was frequented by hasan said he knew what he called major nidal. came in for coffee and hash browns almost every morning. he released this video to our sister network, cnn. it shows hasan in the store hours before the shooting. the store owner said hasan often chatted with him when he stopped in. he came in and he seemed to want to talk. he knew the store owner had been overseas and was former military? . he was worried about his upcoming deployment. he expressed that he had a problem, i guess, one would judge as a religious conflict. but as a fellow muslim and someone of fate, he had a problem with having perhaps the opportunity in the future to have to shoot or kill or injury

fellow muslims. >> same store from the same owner showing him walking in. apparently in medical scrubs. >> in a statement he said -- we've learned president obama will attends a memorial service at ft. hood for those killed in the shootings. he spoke out about the tragedy this morning. he said he met with the fbi director robert muller and other leaders to discussion their investigations into the shootings and they don't have answers yet. he warned against jumping to conclusions without all the facts. he also ordered flags to be flown at half staff. >> so from now until veterans day i've ordered the flags at

the white house and other federal buildings to be flown at half staff. this is a modest tribute to those who lost their lives even as we were preparing to risk their lives for their country. the president said their families, friends, and an entire nation are now grieving for the valued men and women who came under attack yesterday. we're going to stay on top of all the developments today. the ft. hood shootings and the orlando shootings as well. because we're hln we're going to cover other news of the day. let's press ahead with other headlines. we have stories of the families whose loved ones were at ft. hood during the shootings. including an amazing story of a woman who was on the phone with her son when the gunfire began. plus we're dedicating our "your views" segment to the tragedy.

everybody wonders why it

happened. why the massacre at ft. hood happened yesterday. we've been asking your thoughts on the tragedy. richelle carey is here with that. what have you learned? >> chuck, a lot. people are really -- people in the military going through with multiple deployments and things like that. larry wrote this -- we also asked people what they thought about the fact that this is a fellow soldier -- or rather

officer accused in this shooting. this is an e-mail i got. john is calling us from new jersey. all right, john. what's your take? >> caller: well, my take is -- and it's hard for me to say this -- but they should not allow any muslims on any army navy base. if they are allowed it should be on a restrictive base only. >> what would the restrictions be? you said you're uncomfortable

saying this. you're uncomfortable for a reason? >> caller: i hate to pick on any ethnicity. you have to look at 9/11. you have to look at the ship blown up there where 17 people died in the mideast. you have to look at this incident here. >> we don't know what the cause was with this alleged shooter. >> caller: why don't you ask some of the other family members who were wounded. let them answer unrestricted and see what they have to say. let's go to the source instead of the format of the army and the news people and the police officers who have a format that they say they won't know. let them speak from their hearts and see what they have to say. >> i'm sure the army and the people investigating this are probably asking themselves a lot

of questions. thank you for your phone call. we appreciate it. bob biin north carolina had this to say. this is an e-mail from bob bi. everyone on the post and every other military post has experienced traumatic stress. i haven't heard of any of them choosing to kill anyone. hasan made a choice. he did an evil thing. don't blame the war, war stories or soldiers who went to him for hel help. >> i have a facebook entry, too, richelle

>> let's keep talking about this. was this a terrible random act? we want your thoughts on what might be behind the tragedy at ft. hood. if you want to talk about something else related to the service or what your family is going through, that's fine as well. call us right now at 1-877-tell-hln. you can also text us. text views plus your comment and name to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we'll continue to air responses and talk about this throughout the day, chuck. >> you have a lot of service members weighing in, too. >> yeah, a lot. a florida mom found out about the ft. hood shootings as it happened. her son was shot while they were talking on the phone. you'll hear her story. in other breaking news of the day that shooting at an office building in orlando. we'll hear from somebody inside the building.

welcome back. orlando police say this is the suspect. the 40-year-old who opened fire at an office building in downtown ol doe, killing one person. as you can see. jason rodriguez is in custody. and he is outspoken. orlando police say he appears to have acted alone. he was escorted into police headquarters telling reporters they left me here to rot. >> many workers still shaken up. >> you didn't have a lot of information as to what was going on? we locked the front doors and went from there. sat tight and looked at what we could get on the news and out the window.

>> most folks seem relieved and calm schlt that what you're feel sng. >> i think it's still numbing. a very surreal experience. >> the scary part was getting in the elevator and walking across the street. >> he's a former employee of reynolds, smith and hills. apparently let go two years ago. june of 2007 for bad performance. wkmg reports he just filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy three months ago and was basically broke. one dead, five wounded from the shooting today. he is in custody after a massive search. he was caught at his mother's house. we're learning more about the man who carried out a deadly rampage yesterday at ft. hood in

texas. he's an army psychiatrist. a mental health professional. before being posted at ft. hood he worked a long time at walter reed army medical center counseling soldiers who returned from iraq and afghanistan. he required counseling himself when he was a med student due to problem with patients. he was born in virginia. he graduated from virginia tech with a degree in biochemistry. earned a medical license in the army. though he was never deployed outside the u.s., testifies due to be deployed to afghanistan in a coup of weeks. some experts say it's irrelevant that hasan had not been deployed to a combat zone before. a former navy officer says treating troops with combat fatigue takes its toll. >> this is something mental health providers are trained to do. those who work for the military or in the military, whether we wear uniforms or we don't are

certainly subject to the compassion, fatigue and secondary traumatization that can occur from taking care of some of these very, very difficult situations. >> these are images captured after the ft. hood shooting. showing people trying to comfort each other to absorb what happened. a lot of people rushed to the scene and ripped off their clothes and tend to the wound of so many people. 13 people dead. the suspected shooter, major hah son in custody. himself in the hospital. said to be in a coma. a florida woman was on the phone when her son when it went down. he was shot but will be okay. >> i was talking to him we were just joking around. i heard something in my ear. i said what is that? first i thought he was just

kidding and turning up a video game. i thought maybe it was a training exercise. i start listening and hear all the the screaming and the crying. >> the quick response from ft. hood police impressed a lot of people. we'll get to that and more from ft. hood and more of the day's news just ahead.

police in orlando have in custody the man they think opened fire at a downtown office building. one person was killed today in the attack. five others wounded. there was a general lockdown all aross the heart of orlando. that's jason rodriguez, believed to be the 40-year-old shooter. police said he was apparently acting alone when he walked into the 16-story building complex. many office workers are still, still shaken up. >> it was just -- we were working. a coworker came in and said the building was being surrounded and there were policemen with heavy machine guns. they were surrounding the

building. all the sudden a lot of cars kept coming up. we saw people being carried out of the building that were injured and bloodied. it was scary. we called # 11. they told us to hang tight. we held out in the office and waited for police to escort us out. >> well, we locked all the doors. one of the guys in the office, he's a baseball fanatic. he had 15 baseball bats in his office. we all got baseball bats. we had those as weapons in case, you know, the guy came in there, but that was really all we had. >> i can't believe that it's happening. i can't believe anybody would come -- i don't care what's going on in your life. you don't shoot people. you don't kill people for job loss or whatever the case is. it's not worth that. this company said they let him go two years ago for performance issues. he is in custody. >> there's no way out of 43

people that got injured. there's no way. he's already done with the readiness. he wasn't in the building. i told my mom that there's no way he could have been there, and there's no way somebody got on base and shot people unless it was one of our own. not a half hour after i said that it was on the news that it was one of ours. one of our own soldiers. >> the brother of christopher craig. reaction to the world that pfc michael pearson was among those kill maryland the shooting rampage. the family came forward after the "chicago tribune's" report. more about the man who allegedly carried it out. he's an army psychiatrist, a mental health professional. before being posted at ft. hood he had worked at walter reed army medical center outside washington counseling soldiers who returned from iraq and

afghanistan. he required counseling when he was a medical student due to problems with patients. he's a practicing muslim born and raised in the u.s. he graduated from virginia tech with a degree in biochemistry. earned a medical degree while in the army. though he was never deployed outside the u.s., he was due to be deployed soon. some experts say it is irrelevant he had never been deployed to a war zone. a former navy psychologist who served in iraq in 2004 says treating troops with combat fatigue takes its toll. >> this is something that mental health providers are trained to do. those of us that work for the military or in the military, whether we wear uniforms or we don't, certainly are subject to the compassion, fatigue, and secondary tramtization that can occur from taking care of the very, very difficult situations. >> the owner of a convenience store on the post or near at ft. hood said the man came in almost every morning for coffee and

hash browns. here's video released exclusively to cnn showing hasan in the store just hours before the shooting. he said hasan often chatted with him when he stepped? >> there was one exchange that really stuck out in his mind. this is a regular customer. but about a week ago he estimates he came in and seemed to want to talk. he knew that the store owner had been overseas and was also former military. he expressed to him specifically that day he was worried about his upcoming deployment. and he expressed that he had a problem, i guess, one would judge it as a religious conflict. as a fellow muslim and someone of faith, he had a problem with having perhaps the opportunity to kill, shoot, or fight fellow muslims. >> he didn't speak arabic very well. here's another tape. different day.

different outfit. apparently this is hasan wearing medical scrubs on another visit to the same store. hasan's cousin spoke for their family yesterday because major hasan's parents have passed away. we should tell you that. in a statement he said -- jane velez-mitchell has been watching the shooting. the shooting today, the shooting at ft. hood. she's beyond shocked. jane, what's your take on this? >> well, i think the time has come to say that we are crossed a line, chuck. because i think i had the reaction that everybody across the country did. we all looked up at our tvs and said, whoa, it's happened again for the second day in a row. what the bleep is going on in our country? with these masked shootings and

all this violence in general. i really feel that it is time now to take a deep breath and say, yes, we want to know the who, what, when, why, how of this particular incident and the particular incident that occurred yesterday. but we also need to find the deeper why. of why this is the solution that is being selected by people with a whole variety of problem. i'm asking the question tonight, is america addicted to violence? and if so, which i do believe we are addicted to violence, we have a real problem on our hands. one thing i do know about addiction is it progresses. it will always get worse. it feeds on itself. you bing on it. you experience remorse, the remorse wears off. you do it again. if you look at what's happening

in our culture, columbine, virginia tech, what happened yesterday, what happened today, there's a ton of examples. we are seeing that this is a progressive problem. we as a society really need to step back and say, hold on. do we want to hit bottom on this violence? which means basically breaking it down, having a complete analysis of why this is happening and coming up with real solutions and alternatives. what is going on in the culture? >> wasn't your first impulse that orlando fed off ft. hood? >> i do believe, yeah. sure. i think violence feeds on itself. what's interesting is that the doctor from the ft. hood incident went to virginia tech, where there was a massacre that

left more than 30 dead. it's a chain reaction of violence as well, i think. >> jane, great stuff. thanks so much. appreciate you joining us. tonight jane will tackle the ft. hood massacre. who is that courageous woman who shot the suspect, who con front fronted the shooter. plus how the community is handling this tragedy. a graduation ceremony at ft. hood erupts in gunshots. live reports from the post.

sean callebs is live at the army post. we understand you have talked to some of the first responders from yesterday. what did they have to say? >> when we came here a number of

the first responders, people who arrived in chaos. that's how they referred to it. controlled chaos. he had seen civilians and soldiers. he said training immediately kicked in. however, when you see people down and you know one soldier is accused of killing other soldiers. that gets their blood boiling. i'm sorry. anyhow, he talked about anger but you have to put that in the back of your mind. you have to be professional. you have to do everything you can. what habit the alleged suspect? he was shot and wounded by a civilian police officer. kim munley. she's from north carolina. her husband is also in the service wels her father, rushing to ft. hood to be by her side. authorities have not had a

chance to speak with her. a short while ago there was a news conference with the army chief of staff. both highly praising her efforts as well as all of those. not just the first responders. but from virtually everybody. there was a graduation ceremony going on at the time. the graduates heard gunshots and immediately ran to see what they could do in their caps and downs. they were among the first to begin helping those who had been shot. another private had his pickup truck. he loaded his buddies into the truck. they are okay. about 90 pk of them received a great amount of training in battlefield medical treatment. and because of the treatment, the army personnel say a lot of people survived yesterday. 13 died. it's certainly horribly tragic. sadly this could have been a lot worse. what about hasan? we know he's in stable condition. also, learning more about him. some surveillance video from a

nearby convenience store just in the shadow of this. hasan swla of a creature of habit went in there almost every day to get coffee and hash browns. went in yesterday wearing traditional arab garb. nobody knowing what kind of hell he was going to unleash on this military post later on today. chuck? >> apparently according to some reports he gave away his furniture and made farewell voice mails and gave indication that he was leaving the realm. >> a lot of people are looking at this. he gave copies of the karan to a number of neighbors. he called another neighbor. he had gone over to his house to use his neighbor's computer on occasion. he called that neighbor and thanked him for being "a good friend." federal authorities have seized the computer. they're trying to find out if there is anything either in his

apartment or computer use that may lead authorities to find out why he went on this rampage. responders said when they got in there yesterday and got near him he was unconscious, chuck. >> sean callebs with the latest from the post, ft. hood. in three weeks cnn will announce the hero of the year. anticipation is high. right now grammy winner mary j.blige introduces us to a homeless vet. >> this is cnn heros. >> hi, i'm mary j. blidge. i had the on honor of performing at the first cnn heros.

i'm dedicating myself to help women to reach their full potential in life. now, more than ever, the world needs heros. and i am thrilled to help cnn introduce one of this year's top ten honorees. >> how can i turn my back and walk away and leave you right here? i can't. because i know you wouldn't turn your back and leave me. nationwide veterans are neglected. homeless, unacceptable. what branch of service? >> army. >> army? so was i. we are still brothers in arms. so no man left behind. my name is roy foster. my mission is to help and empower homeless veterans. if you're going to work for sobriety, you got to change. services for veterans only. a safe, clean, place to live. all the meals. and the comradery is internal. one of his brothers in arms came out looking for him and let him

know, yeah, we'll be back. they are the best. they deserve the best. what i do, i love. i love it.

orlando police have in custody the man they believed open fire at a downtown office building today. one person killed in the attack. five others wounded. police believe jason rodriguez is the shooter. people working near the building are still shaken up. they will be for a while. >> they are surrounding the building. all the sudden a lot of cars kept coming up. we saw people being carried out

of the building. bloodies. it was scary. we called 911. they told us to hang tight. we held out and waited for police to escort us out. >> we locked all the doors. one guy in the office is a baseball fanatic. we has them as weapons in case, you know, a guy came in there. that was really all we had. >> i just can't believe that it's happening. i can't believe anybody would come -- i don't care what's going on in your life. you don't shoot people. you don't kill people for a job loss or whatever the case. it's not worth it. he was also having a lot of financial problems. he had just filed for bankruptcy. labor department out with jobless numbers. 10.2% now for the unemployment

rate. first time since the early 8'80 it's been in the double digits. >> chuck, the headline number, 10.2% unemployment in the country is americans they know story already. they're unemployed, in those unemployment lines. especially here in new york you have unemployment in new york city at 10.3%. we headed up to harlem, pretty close to the studio here, to talk to someone at an employment office and ask them what the real situation is there. what are they hearing? here's what they told us. >> it's been extremely busy here. if a person is here, they've actually gone beyond the whole prideful thing, not seeking for help. when they're here they express concerns about the labor market, the next step and they'll vent out. they'll take a few minutes, ten minutes sometimes, to really talk about what's been going on with their professional careers. >> that's just the thing, with

their professional careers. if they say worked in the auto industry, their skills may not have the job market. >> this doesn't tell the whole story, right? >> you're right. not even close to the whole story. what you have to look at are the underemployed people in this country. maybe they have a job but want full time and can only find part-time work. take a look. you'll see what i'm talking about. it's risen to over 6 million in october of last year to over 9 million now. then look at the number of discouraged workers, people that have just stop stopped looking for a job for four weeks or more because they just can't find one. that number has risen, over 800,000. when you add those two factors together with the unemployment rate, it gives us just over 17% real unemployment in this country, a number that doesn't get a lot of headlines but that really is the headline. that has been steadily increasing throughout the

recession. one bright spot for you. a feature on the site on cnn money. look who's hiring now. we talk to hiring manager and ask what they're looking for. this is where you can find it on cnn money.com. >> have a nice weekend. we'll be right back after this.

a gunman opens fire in an orlando office building after a panicked evacuation and a frantic manhunt, police catch a suspect and he had something to say about his arrest. the nation pays tribute to the victims of yesterday's deadly shooting attack at ft. hood. what the army is now saying about the officer accused of carrying out the attack. also, the new unemployment numbers are out. they're not good. how high the jobless rate is now. here is the latest from hln news and views. i'm richelle carey. police have arrested the man suspected of opening fire in an office building in downtown orlando. one person was killed, five

others hurt. at least one with of them is in surgery right now, the others being checked out. orlando police say jason rodriguez appears to have acted alone. there he is right there. he told reporters they left me here to rot. >> i was left here to rot. >> i don't know what that means. we do know rodriguez is a former employee of reynolds smith and hills. the company says he was let go two years ago for performance issues. police caught him about two hours after the shooting. >> still a lot of details we need to sort through, but we are proud to say that our s.w.a.t. team has apprehended the suspect. he was located at his mother's residence and he is in custody. >> can you tell us about that apprehension? how did it go down? >> well, we receive information that he may be in the area of his mother's residence. we sent some officers out there, s.w.a.t. team out there, they confirmed. we of course had information, intelligence information on him. they were able to see him through the window and asked him

to come out. he did, he was arrested without incident. >> did he try to commit suicide at all? >> we haven't heard details like that. they just arrested him. i'm sure a lot more information will come in. >> can we talk about the motive or why he did this. >> you know, i really wish i knew the motive. our investigators are going to be works around the clock to find out exactly why he would do what he did today. there's still a lot of details we'll have to sort through. a recap for you. one person is dead, five wounded, from a shooting in an office building in orlando. the suspect, jason rodriguez, is in police custody after a massive search. our law enforcement analyst mike brooks has been following the developments closely. he joins us now. mike, a massive search, but he wasn't that far away. >> no. he was at his mother's house just as the crow flies a little over five miles away. now of course you always go and say, who are the closest people

to this person? they had a name and tag number. we're hearing now that it possibly could have been used -- there was cell phone technology, we hear all the cases they use them to track them down. i think they were able to put him in the area. the s.w.a.t. team went to his mother's house, saw his vehicle. apparently when they surrounded the house they saw him insid. they were able to talk him outside. >> does that surprise you? >> nothing surprises me anymore. that says to me apparently he did not want to die. what was the motive? in the statement we made, we don't know. but they found him there, talked him outside. he gave up without incident. >> mike, we don't want people to be scared, but when you think about it, he's the suspect, but a former employee, he went back to his place of business. most office buildings you can just walk into. that's just the way most buildings are. >> you can. he had not worked at that company for two years. the t

twor years. most offices you go into you have a receptionist/security person there at the desk. if you know where you're going, they won't question you, don't ask you to sign in. if you don't need a proximity carded to swipe, press a number on the elevator to go a certain floor, you can go right to the floor. i'm sure the door there, maybe they thought he was there for a reason. they let him in. i thought the comment he made, he said, they left me here to rot, someone basically asked him, what do you mean by that? they left me to rot. who is "they"? was there something that happ happened that pushed him over the edge, if you will? a precipitating event? is "they" his former employer? what he's been he been doing for two caree two years? usually it's a precipitating event when something like this happens it happened in the last 24 to 48 hours and then they carry out the event. >> the fact that he spoke right then leads you to believe maybe he'll talk more.

>> with utterances like that, if he gets in, he may talk to police before he lawyers up. again, early on in the investigation, a crime scene and they're interviewing him as we speak. >> mike, appreciate it. well, more shootings. a moment of silence to honor the victims of the ft. hood tragedy. at least 13 people killed, dozens more injured yesterday afternoon when a gunman opened fire at the military post about an hour and a half ago at the exact moment of the attacks, u.s. service personnel around the world stopped what they were doing to remember the people who were killed. >> most of all, we want the soldiers and the families here at ft. hood and across every army facility everywhere in the world to know this is a time for the army family to stand together. this is a time for army strong to mean what it says. in texas, military

investigators are trying to answer a one-word question after this massacre. why? 13 people died and 30 others were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the post. the accused gunman, major nidal malik hasan was shot and wounded by a police officer who was directing traffic for a graduation ceremony at the post. she sprang into action when she heard shots. hasan is in custody, but his motive is still not clear. investigators raided his apartment early this morning. hasan reportedly gave away furniture and copies of the koran to some of his neighbors and apparently paid a woman $60 to clean up the apartment just hours before the shooting. the owner of a convenience store in ft. hood says the man he knew as major nidal came in for coffee and hash browns pretty much every morning. he released this video exclusively to cnn. he says it shows nidal hasan in the store just hours before the

sho shooting. the store owner said hasan often chatted with him when he stopped in. there's another tape that the store owner shows hasan earlier in the week. this one appears to show him in medical scrubs. the election of president barack obama has impacted the political world, but what about the social impacts? coming up in a special "what matters," one expert believes he's had a major impact on black families.

this week we recognized the one-year anniversary of the historic election of president barack obama. all week long in our "what matters" partnership with "essence" magazine we've been looking at a special look at life for black men since president obama took office. has his election really changed anything about their day-to-day lives.

this week i sat down with prominent leaders to pose that question. today i wrap it all up with hill harper. you probably know him from "csi new york" but he's also an author. his last book deals with strengthening relationships between men and women. he thinks the president is a positive role model not just for black men but for black families. >> i guess life has changed in a certain way. i would say that there is an image of someone who looks like many of us that we can look up to and celebrate and respect and also aspire to be like, you know. he represents the best of us. he's a patriot. he's intelligent, hard working. he's a great father, great husband. and so i would hope that he represents what many of us aspire to be. >> and you talk about the father and the husband. in your book "the conversation," this is how you describe his marriage. you said that the marriage of

barack and michelle obama is calming and hope inspiring. describe what you mean by that as it relates to black men. >> well, if we look at the data and what's happen nd the african-american family. in 1966, 84% of african-american children were being raised in two-parent households. you fast-forward to 2006, that number dropped to 31%. there ae' something going on. even in the african-american community when we're having kids together we're not staying together. also the divorce rate when we're getting married in the african-american community is the highest among any distinct ethnic group. we have to look at what's going on in relationships. seeing a highly performing, very good family like the obama family in terms of the way they interact with each other, the way they're raising their children, it's something to hope for and hopefully we can emulate that and that becomes the norm in the african-american

community, that type of two-parent household rather than the exception. >> harer also adds that experts say family structure and the presence of positive male role models have a direct effect on the achievement levels of young black men. for more of what matters, check out "essence." or logon to cnn.com/whatmatters. a lot of you are deeply affected by the killings at ft. hood. we've been letting you weigh in on this, whether you think -- not necessarily what the gunman was thinking because we don't really know that for sure. you've been weighing in on a lot of fronts, repeated deployments, stress on soldiers. we want to start with scott. scott is calling us from iowa. scott, you are a former military, correct? >> caller: yes, ma'am. i just got out of the army in june. >> thank you for your service.

i understand you have a take on this shooting. what do you think? let me remind you of something. i apologize. the alleged shooter in this case had not been deployed but had been told he was going to be deployed. i i want to make sure our viewers are aware of that. >> caller: i think fear. fear of being deployed. i think it was fear. the people that he sees day in and day out are the kids that go over there at 19 years old a normal kid. they come back and they're messed up. he was scared, in my opinion, of becoming messed up like the soldiers that he sees. he doesn't see the good. >> with him being a psychiatrist, we're talking about the fact that he was seeing and hearing some of the horrifying things that you're saying he thought he was eventually going to have to experience. again, we're not in any way trying to make any excuses for the alleged shooter. that's not where we're coming from. we just wanted to reach out and let people weigh in. scott saying that there may be something to be scared of. he understands it.

scott, thank you for your phone call. we appreciate it. also got a comment from william on my facebook page. this is what he wrote. the sad fact is, no matter how secure any military base, bank or hospital is, there will always be some angry civilian with psychological problems looking for a way to terrorize others, whether it be with guns or bombs. as a friend and family member of those who served, i participated in a moment of silence today. we're sure quite a few people did. sommer is calling us from illinois. she want to react to a caller we had last hour who felt like this was the final straw for him and he thought that we should ban all muslims from the military. we challenged him on that, and sommer wants to address that. go ahead. >> caller: yes. i think that's absolutely appalling for anybody to say that muslims should not serve. there are hundreds of muslims currently serving that are faithfully serving the country. to say that muslims should not be allowed to serve in this nation is saying that jews or

christians or koreans or japanese people shouldn't. that kind of racism has absolutely no place in today's society, especially in america. our country was founded upon the fact that you could come here and be free to be who you were regardless of what your race or ethnicity is. and for anybody to say that muslims should not be allowed to serve is just atrocious. >> i can tell you got fired up and got on the phone right away. summer, we appreciate your phone call. we want all views on this, your thoughts on what you think might be behind the tragedy at ft. hood. e-mail us. text views and your comment and name to hlntv. do you think there's something to this or was it a horrible random act of violence? we'll keep talking about it. the quick response from a police officer is what stopped the deadly attack at ft. hood. learn more how she did it

a florida woman was on the phone with her son who is stationed at ft. hood when all of this happened. he was shot. he's going to be okay. but still, as you can imagine, a phone call she'll never forget. >> i was talking to him, and then we were just joking around. then i heard, doosh, doosh, doosh, in my ear. i said, what is that? so i thought at first he was just kidding around with me and turning up the video game then i said, maybe it's a training exercise. then i started listening and i hear all the screaming and the crying. >> wow. a civilian police officer put her life on the line yesterday at ft. hood. she's now being called a hero

for it. officer kimberly munly stopped the bloody ham page by shooting the gunman four times. she herself was wounded in the gun fire. she is expected to survive. other first responders are being praised for their fiquick thinkg and reaction. here is a nurse that tended to some of the wounded. >> it's really scary and i'm sure everybody had it in the back of their mind, you know, that being -- we're the top people that kind of rush towards the sirens instead of away from them, and so you you know first and foremost we're thinking of our patients, of doing our job. i'm sure everyone had it in the back of their minds, you know, our personal safety, but you just kind of keep an eye out and do what you need to do. hundreds of people responded

to a call for blood donations following yesterday's shootings at ft. hood. do we have the photo that captures that? all right. we do not. we're going to move on to the next story. we'll check in with alison kosik at the business desk in new york for more on the jobs report, which was really bad numbers. >> it really was. the unemployment rate jumped to 10.2% in october, the highest since april 1983. it's a sign that the labor market is still weak even though the economy grew in the third quarter. the number of jobs lost in october, 190,000, was worse than expected. but the pace of layoffs is slowing. still, economists are forecasting that the unemployment rate will keep rising and that job losses will continue into the next year. but because we knew that the 10% jobless rate was likely on the horizon, stocks didn't sell off the way some expected. the dow added 17 points, ending at $10,023, the naz dif gaining

23 points. we got upbeat earnings reports. aig reporting it made money for the second quarter in a row. its profit rose to more than $450 million. the company says the upbeat results come as the mortgage and credit markets are stabilizing. it looks like people aren't cutting back on their caffeine intake. starbucks reported upbeat earnings of $150 million in the fourth quarter and raised its forecast, compared to $5 million at the same time last year. people still want their pricey cup of joe. >> so they're feeling pretty good about themselves. >> at least when they walk into starbucks. >> thanks, alison. cnn.com and oprah are teaming up for the biggest oprah's book event ever. watch oprah's video blogs or file an i-report and share your thoughts, plus register for the book club event happening on the new cnn.com monday night at 9:00

eastern. well, two deadly shootings in two days shocked the nation. we'll talk about what's going on with all of the violence in this country. that is next. jane velez-mitchell.

just one day after the massacre at ft. hood, a gunman goes on a shooting spree, this time in florida. police in orlando have arrested 40-year-old jason rodriguez. they say he went into an office building where he used to work this morning and opened fire. one person is dead, five others hurt. and in texas, military investigators are looking for a motive in the shootings there. 13 people killed, 30 wounded when the alleged gunman major nidal malik hasan opened fire at a processing center at ft. hood. police have arrested a man they say opened fire in orlando

killing one person. they say it is this man, jason rodriguez. it appeared he acted alone. he was escorted into police headquart headquarters. he told reporters, "they left me here to rot." we don't know what that means. we know rodriguez is a former employee of reynolds smith and hills, an engineering company where the shootings took place. the company says he was let go about two years ago for performance issues. police caught him two hours after the shooting at his mother's house. >> we are proud to say that our s.w.a.t. team has apprehended the suspect. he was located at his mother's residence, and he is in custody. >> can you tell us about that apprehension? how did it go down? >> well, we received information that he may be in the area of his mother's residence. we sent some of officers out there, sent our s.w.a.t. team out there, they confirmed. we of course had information, intelligence information on him. they were able to see him through the window, and asked

him to come out. he did. he was arrested without incident. >> did he try to commit suicide? >> we have not heard any details like that. they just arrested him so there's -- i'm sure there's a lot more information that will be coming in. >> at least five people were hurt. we're told those victims are in stable condition. a moment of silence to honor the victims of the tragedy at ft. hood, 13 people killed, dozens more injured yesterday afternoon when a gunman opened fire. the military post about two hours ago at the exact moment of the attacks, u.s. personnel around the world stopped what they were doing to remember the people who died. >> most of all we want the soldiers and the families here at ft. hood and across every army facility everywhere in the world to know, this is a time for the army family to stand together. this is a time for "army strong"

to mean what it says. the bodies of the 13 people ki killed yesterday in the mass shooting will arrive at dover air force base tonight. upon arrival, these fallen servicemen will be transported to the air force mortuary operations center. at that time, families of the fallen ft. hood servicemen have not authorized media coverage. military investigators are trying to answer a question. why? the accused gunman major nidal malik hasan was shot and bund wounded by a police officer who was directing traffic on post. she sprang into action when she heard the shots. hasan is now in custody. the motive is not clear. investigators raided his apartment early this morning, going through the scene to try to find more answers. the army is also doing its best to help survivors. >> approximately half of those who were hospitalized required surgery and all are stable

today. our focus today is going to be on those soldiers who are continuing to require medical care from admitted patients, they're both in our hospital here at darnall as well as three other community hospitals in the area. we also will focus on the behavioral health needs of our soldiers and family members and other folks in the community. the white house says president obama will attend a memorial service for those ki killed. he spoke out this morning about the tragedy. >> this morning i met with fbi director mueller and the relevant agencies to discuss their ongoing investigation into what caused one individual to turn his gun on fellow servicemen and women. the we don't know all the answers yet. i would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all of the facts. >> calling it a modest tribute

to those who lost their live, the president ordered flags be hung at half staff until wednesday. a police officer put her life on the line at ft. hood. she's being called a hero for good reason. officer kimberly munly stopped the rampage by shooting the suspected gunman four times. she herself was wounded in this exchange of gunfire. she is expected to survive. other first responders are being praised for their thinking and reaction. we have a registered nurse here who tended to the wounded. >> it's really scary. i'm sure everyone had it in the back of their mind, you you know, that being, you know -- we're the top people that kind of rush towards the sirens instead of away from them, and so, you know, first and foremost we're thinking of our patients, of doing our job. then i'm sure everyone had it in the back of their minds, you

know, our personal safety. but you just kind of keep an eye out and do what you need to do. >> 13 people were killed and 30 others wounded. we're learning more about the man who allegedly carried out this deadly rampage yesterday. major nidal malik hasan is an army psychiatrist. on air a few minutes ago, sean callebs reported that he gave away the koran to neighbors and gave away furniture. before being sent to ft. hood, he worked at walter reed medical center counseling soldiers who returned from iraq and afghanistan. the army says he required counseling himself while he was a medical student due to problems with patients. hasan is a muslim who was born and raised in the ute, graduated from virginia tech. he had never been deployed outside the u.s. he was due to be deployed soon to afghanistan.

we are going to stay on top of all the developments. things happening in ft. hood and orlando. because we're hln, we also want to cover some of the other day's news as well. for the first time in 26 years, the nation's unemployment rate has soared into double digits. the labor department says october jobless rate stood at 10.2%, the highest since april of 1983 in all, the economy lost 190,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate in september was 9.8%. the jobless numbers didn't seem to have much of an effect on wall street. stocks were up and down most of the day, dow finished up finally almost 18 points at 10,023. the florida mother accused of secretly giving her child to a babysitter, then reporting her missing, has appeared in court to face charges. christina mercer is charged with interference of child custody, desertion of a child and several

other charges. her babysitter susan baker is charged with child neglect and interference of child custody. investigators found the 7-month-old alive in a box underneath baker's bed. baker had written a letter to governor charlie crist's office in august pleading for help for the baby and claiming her father shook her and both parents did drugs in front of her. house democrats had scheduled a vote for tomorrow on their massive health reform bill which would overhaul the nation's health care system. now they say that vote may need to be pushed back until maybe sunday or later. they admit they don't yet have the votes to pass it. the holdup appears to be differences among democrats regarding abortion funding and illegal's access to health care. president obama plans to make a personal push for his top legislative priority when he visits capitol hill tomorrow. we will have an update for you on the toll from the orlando high-rise office building. plus, we're keeping you up to date with the latest

developments from ft. hood. just ahead, we'll take a closer look at the army post who lives there, works there. we'll also dig deeper about the fatal shootings at u.s. military installations. sadly thshgs s

police say this is the man who opened fire in that office building in downtown orlando, killing one person. his name is jason rodriguez. he was arrested at his mother's home earlier today as they're escorting him right here into police headquarters he said, "they left me here to rot." orlando police say he appears to have acted alone. police say aside from one person who was fatally shot, five other

people were wounded. the wounded victims are in stable condition. now, rodriguez is a former employee of reynolds smith and hills, the company says they let him go two years ago for performance issues. wkmg reported he just filed for chapter 11th bankruptcy and was basically broke. hundreds of people responded to a call for blood donations after yesterday's shootings at ft. hood. this photo captures donors watching a television as news broke that the gunman was still alive. some waited in line for hours, long lines at scott and white hospital in temple, texas, about 30 miles from ft. hood. an emergency blood drive was with put into action shortly after word of the shootings got out. blood centers in other parts of texas said volunteers were showing up there as well because they wanted to donate. as we follow the developments on this tragic story being we want to give you a closer look at ft. hood,

texas. it is home to thousands of u.s. troops and their families. cnn.com's nicole lapp joins us. i'm proud to say i used to live in temple, texas, and i used to cover ft. hood. it is breath taking, huge. >> it's the largest military installation not only in the united states, richelle, as you know from covering it there, but in the world. 340 square miles on any given day 25,000 to 30,000 people are there in the military installation. you find malls, right, richelle? >> yes, yes. >> you find subdivisions, ball fields. >> it it's a city. >> yeah. nineschools. it's like a city unto itself. it was with yesterday a city most of us would not want to be in. it was a scary city. as you know, it's a transition point for a lot of troops who have served overseas as well. so soldiers have come there. they have seen the worst that

war has to offer, and they are trying to return back to normal lives. you know, yesterday we saw that the people that were killed in this massacre were at the readiness center. now, the readiness center is basically a soldier's last stop before deployment. they are getting their medical records, their dental records, they're getting everything signed sealed and delivered. the readiness center also offers programs for soldiers, including the warrior stress reset program. that's designed to help address common reactions to war experiences, and knowing what we know today, it's all the more eerie once you hear the descriptions of what that center is supposed to do. >> i know. i'm glad you described everything that's there because it lets people know this isn't just a post. this is people's home. >> right. >> it's their home, you know.

families are living there. schools are on lockdown. >> as horrifying as this is, nicole, a lot of people might not realize this isn't the first time there has been a fatal shooting on a u.s. military installation. >> no. let's go through the soldier on soldier violence. you remember a couple of days after the war in iraq started in 2003 this happened in kuwait. there was a soldier that killed two and injured 14 other of his fellow soldiers when he rolled grenades into their tents and fired shots. these are some of the images we played when that event occurred. now we're taking a closer look back to try and look forward to make sense of this because just last year you may recall that two other soldiers were killed by fellow comrades near iraq and then this is still appreciate in our minds, in may of this year, five were shot to death in a stress clinic in camp liberty, a

base outside of baghdad. on cnn.com we're trying to make sense of the senseless, trying to put it in context and trying to give it perspective. >> i hope our viewers appreciate it, they do seem to from the feedback we're getting. nicole, thank you so much. we did dedicate this segment to the tragedy of ft. hood. what you're saying about this horrific shooting after the break.

"prime news" is coming up in a few minutes. mike galanos has a preview of what's coming up. as you always do, you take the stories of the day, breaking stories, and try to advance them. people could not believe that today, after yesterday, we're reporting another deadly shooting. >> i'm shellshocked. to walk into work and as i'm coming in and getting ready for the day we're hearing of another shooting. i'm sure -- we want to hear from you, 1-877-tell-hln is the phone number. what's what'ses the feeling you're getting? within 24 hours roughly we have two horrific shootings. >> it feels almost like the past

two days haven't happened. so many people are in so much painment i'm thinking about what jane velez said. she's really fix ated on what's going on with the violence. we've got to get the answers for why people are so angry. i just keep thinking about these families in so much pain. >> we'll be talking about that, updating you on what happened in orlando, today's shoot, one dead, five wounded. what would drive a man to do that? we'll talk about that, want to hear from you. also, as richelle said, the victims, the families. what happened at ft. hood we're going to talk about the hero, the police officer who shot and took down this alleged gunman. we'll talk about that. and others who also -- the selfless acts of helping someone else while they're being shot. that's the kind of stories we're hearing, the selfless acts of heroism at ft. hood. we'll be talking about that we want to hear from you. we're also continuing to follow this story. this is what began the week. this is a week of just the

heinous. we're talking about the alleged serial killer in cleveland, ohio, anthony sowell. we're hearing from victims' family members now as they try and piece things back together.. and we're also finding out they're not coming forward with dna so we can identify the bodies at this point because they're concerned about their past and what -- how police officers might treat them. that's part of what we're hearing. we're going to get the latest on that, as well. that just hit me. that's where the week began and now we ended in orlando with ft. hood in between. >> it's unbelievable. >> yes we want to hear from you. these are the days we try to come to grips. 1-877-tell-hln is the number or text us. >> these stories don't happen in a vacuum, they affect people. that's why we do this. thank you, mike. well, we have been listening to and reading your passionate opinions on what happened at ft. hood.

got an e-mail from mohammed. and this is what he said, i'm an american muslim, served in the u.s. navy, i am very disturbed by the incident in texas. i always put my country first and then the religion. it's a shame for the whole muslim community and i can't explain how ashamed i feel personally. until these people can't put their -- until these people can't put their country above their muslim faith, they shouldn't be allowed to serve in the military. when a person in the military puts on the uniform and takes the oath, they become the one and only part of the american military. and barry says this, this is a jerk who wanted the army to pay for his medical school and residency but chickened out of his agreement talking about the alleged shooter he went to medical school and that the army paid for it and he was supposed to be deployed. now he convinces himself that his cowardice is religion. she says this is time to think

about peace not prejudice. think with an open and compassionate mind. thank you so much for speaking your hearts and minds today. we appreciate it. and again, two deadly shootings in two days. we'll talk about what's going on with all of the violence in this country with jane velez-mitchell. @@@@@@@@@

there's no way he could've been there, and there's no way somebody got on base and shot people unless it was one of our own and then not a half hour after i said that, it was on the news that it was one of us. one of our own soldiers. >> one of their own. speaking through his grief, the brother of a soldier killed in a massacre at ft. hood. the alleged gunman, an army psychiatrist, someone who is supposed to help soldiers. now accused of killing 13 of his fellow comrades. it could have been worse if it wasn't for the hero who took this guy down.

we will hear her incredible story. and what about him? his name linked to radical online postings. authorities have their eyes on him. yet he was in the midst of heroic soldiers at ft. hood, how could this happen? and 11 women, victims of an accused serial killer and their families won't go to police, won't help identify their loved ones remains? apparently they're afraid to turn over their own dna. we love hearing from you. call in as we try to come to grips with a very difficult week. the number 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us cnn.com/primenews. it's your chance to be heard. controversy, opinion, your point of view. this is "prime news." >> welcome once again this is "prime news," i'm mike galanos. many of us are shell shocked right now. hours after the massacre in ft.

hood, texas, another shooting, this one in orlando, florida. one person killed, five wounded, all of them employees. now, the suspect taken away in handcuffs. his name is jason rodriguez, he used to work there but was let go a couple of years ago. listen to what he said as he was hauled away. >> why did you do it? why did you do it? >> left me to rot. >> you're mad at your employers? >> friends, comrades. >> who left you to rot? >> left me to rot. what is he talking about there? we'll get to that. joining us to talk about it, mike brooks, law enforcement analyst, also with us stacy kaiser psychotherapist. we'll take your calls 1-877-tell-hln. how are the wounded victims doing right now? what's the latest word? >> well, everybody appears to be in stable condition. we have four down at orlando health and one at florida south

and everybody other than the one deceased that appears to be doing pretty well. >> how's the orlando community right now taking this, mayor? >> well, obviously it's a shocking incident. we haven't had anything like this in our downtown in years, but i do have to say it was a model response by the orlando police department, the orlando fire department, and our supporting law enforcement agency opd was on the scene within a minute of the 911 call, secured the building, and obviously we caught the shooter within a matter of hours. >> again, your city's shell shocked, we as a nation shell shocked as we have to deal with this back to back days. let's bring in mike brooks as we figure out, jason rodriguez, what do we know about him other than he was let go in 2007, and that could be the seed planted that he would carry out this evil two years later. >> we don't know what he's been

doing for two years. what did he mean by "they left me to rot?" is that the people at reynolds, smiths, and hills. is that what he perceives as left him to rot. he was 40 years old, apprehended without incident by the s.w.a.t. team at his mother's house that was just a little over five miles from the gate way plaza, right there where everything happened. again, as the mayor said, the orlando police department did a great job, got on the scene, didn't know what they had when they got there. the orange county sheriff s.w.a.t. team also came in because you had a 16-story office building that you had to contain. they didn't know where the perp was at the time. you had a parking garage, and when they found out he was a former employee, they checked his car was gone. they most likely checked the surveillance and said, yes, be on the lookout for jason rodriguez, hispanic male, 40 years old, dressed in a blue

shirt, blue jeans. and through technology, we're hearing, that's how they traced him to his mother's house. s.w.a.t. team went there, looked in, called him out, he surren r surrendered without incident. >> that's stacy kaiser, as we watch that video, he seems so matter of fact. they left me to rot. >> and that's what i think. i think this is a guy who was desperate and feeling hopeless and at that point he didn't care anymore. he was going to do whatever it took to make him feel better. >> stacy, as we continue on with this story, he gets let go from his job, divorced in 2006, a couple of kids. he filed for bankruptcy in may, in what is dubbed immense debt. i mean, we're -- yes, there's a lot of people in debt. what sends someone over the edge like this? >> well, that is true. there's a lot of people in debt, and i think we're going to be seeing and are seeing more and more extreme reaction. over what i think is happening here, a lot of people are wondering well it happened two

years ago. that may have been the beginning of what started to be a tremendous mess. and so he might be rooting the cause of all of his troubles and traumas to that job. and he wanted to retaliate. >> and it seems he did that. before we go, let's listen to an eyewitness account as we bring this back home. the horror that played out in orlando today. >> they said the shooter's coming, the shooter's coming. people are falling out of the elevators to get out. >> she's running towards me trying to get back in. gunfire and you can smell the gunfire. >> it was a little unnerving. you think the worse and you call on your families and your families are calling you and your phone's going crazy and you start hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. >> there it is, the horror that some went through in orlando, florida. mike, stacy, thank you. stay strong, mayor, as you guys walk through this difficult road. we appreciate your time. thanks so much.

in another part of the country walking through an equally or more difficult path, ft. hood, texas, worse massacre at an army post in history. we'll talk about that and the heroes -- we'll talk about the person who took down this gunman and we'll talk about the alleged assassin himself. and we'll talk your calls at 1-877-tell-hln.

so many new revelations coming in right now on that shooting in ft. hood. the worst massacre. and u.s. army post, u.s. history. going to take your calls, text, e-mails on this. we'll talk about the alleged

gunman, the hero who brought him down and all of the victims. 13 people, soldiers, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. their personal stories. one of the 13 people killed, private first class michael pierce just 21 years old, shot three times, died on the operating table. his family was so excited he would be home for christmas. now they'll have a christmas filled with grief. there are heroes, soldiers tearing off their clothes to help the wounded. some saving others while they're being shot themselves. and our hero, police officer kimberly -- without her, who knows how many would be killed? 1-877-tell-hln. i want to start with the uncle of an injured soldier. elmo, tell us about yesterday, when did you find out what had happened to your nephew? and what was going on at ft. hood?

>> caller: well, i was working a part-time job and noticed there was an incident occurring at ft. hood, texas. i've got a nephew that is a member of the army that is stationed at ft. hood, i immediately tried to call him, wasn't able to get through to him so then i tried my sister, that would be his mother. we finally made contact, found out that nathan was indeed one of the ones injured but he was going to be okay. >> do you know his story, elmo? >> caller: yes, i do, i actually got a chance to talk to him for the first time this morning around 11:00. he was in the medical facility being prepared for predeployment vaccinations. he said it's a cubical-style office with the dividers in there. he said he heard the door, heard some yelling, he looked up over the top of the cubicals and saw

an individual. didn't know him, didn't recognize him, he said he heard some gunfire -- thought it was a dummy round as he described it. didn't think anything of it, then that second round went off. he said he felt a burning -- or muscle cramp in his leg. didn't realize he'd been hit. >> that muscle cramp, that's him being shot? >> caller: that was actually him being shot, yes, sir. >> i want to bring in christopher gray, a first responder. christopher, we thank you for your heroism to go into a situation like this. sergeant, what did you see when you went there? >> well, there's a lot of stuff going on at that time. a lot of people screaming, a lot of panic. you really don't know where you're looking. you're trying to find out what direction the fire's coming from, you know.

trying to find out -- trying to get to a place where you can help people. >> were you able to successfully help people? there were -- we're talking about 30 wounded, right? >> caller: yes. >> you had your hands full as you show up. >> caller: absolutely. we got as many people to the hospital as we could. once we were at the hospital, myself and my platoon pulled security on the emergency door to make sure there wasn't any other person that wanted to commit any acts against us in the immediate area. >> sergeant, did you see the shooter at any time as you arrived? >> i did not. >> did not. okay. before we go, i want to listen to this, this is roxanne johnson. we'll take a quick break and come back with more on this. you talk about what was going on. roxanne is talking to her son on the phone as shots ring out. and he is, indeed shot. let's listen to that. >> i was talking to him and then

we were just joking around and then i heard -- in my ear. and i said what is that? i thought at first he was just kidding around with me and turning up the video game. and then i said maybe it's a training exercise, so i start listening, then i hear all of the screaming and the crying. >> screaming and crying. that's what we're getting a sense of. we're going to take a quick break. more on the tragedy of ft. hood coming up. and we'll take some calls at 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. continuing our conversation about the tragedy at ft. hood. we're taking your calls 1-877-tell-hln. joseph, your thoughts here? >> caller: yes, mike, i'm right here. >> go ahead, joseph. joseph, you with us? >> caller: this is unacceptable behavior for a man who was trained and educated to evaluate people. question, is there a process by the government for psychiatric evaluations for soldiers going into combat conditions? >> good question there. i'm going to go to people from the military. steve with us. do you know anything about that? is there a psychiatric evaluation for what our caller's talking about? >> well, there's a pre-deployment phase everybody has to go through.

the questionnaires everybody has to address. it's more or less a generalized process. if there's any red flags that are raised during that deployment process, which is basically the training up mission, it does include that, but it doesn't necessarily have a psychiatric evaluation per se. but if there's red flags there, yeah, it'll be done. >> i'm going to read an e-mail coming into us from sergeant first class smith from iraq writing we all voluntarily join the military and it is the utmost disgrace that this individual was actually in uniform and could've committed such a heinous crime. let me go back to steve, steve raiser. steve, that's what we continue to hear. one of our own. how does it hit you when this is the accused? >> it hits me particularly hard, actually, because i am a soldier also and i've been to iraq and i've actually dealt with a similar situation in the past. and when you hear this, the vision that you get where a soldier is in the united states

jumping up on a table and unloading on his fellow soldiers, his brother soldiers, it's sickening. and the vision of that female officer standing practically toe-to-toe with them, a citizen police officer exchanging fire with a soldier in uniform is very, very disturbing. >> we're going to talk about her heroism. coming up, i want to get sergeant christopher gray back. sergeant, i've got to get your thoughts on this. one of our own doing this. what went through your mind and in your heart when you heard that? >> well, i couldn't believe it. and to know that one of our own is capable of such atrocities is ridiculous. and to have a whole bunch of my guys go through that when they're supposed to feel safe in a place that they call their home. and we're not even down -- we're not even in afghanistan yet, you know? and they're having to go through this. it's too much to ask for them,

they should never have to deal with that. at least when you're in a combat zone -- >> right. >> -- you have that edge about you. you know that something could happen at any given point. >> and at ft. hood, you expect the utmost safety. we're going to take another quick break and talk again about the heroism of a police officer coming up. drugs, prostitution, gang violence. all of this plagued the park in california a year ago. nearby in la mesa, california, students were walking to school with no sidewalks. what do these two situations have in common? both of them were preventing residents from being physically active. a critical problem in two border towns with above average obesity in diabetes rates. >> the community and the environment, they really do affect people's risk for diabetes because it's a lifestyle thing. even if you're genetically predisposed, you can do a lot to prevent if you're exercising. >> how do you fix it? well, in this case with an

unusual partnership with local high school students, latino community organizers, a little bit of money from the government, and a lot of hard work. >> the conditions of the project a year and a half ago were not the same conditions you're looking at now. >> the reality is that if you have to walk on a dirt road in summer in california, you're not going to want to. and at least with the sidewalks, you know, it's more comforting environment. >> reporter: two different towns, two different solutions. but both projects are showing results. what started as school projects for erin and gerard, may now become careers. >> my goal is to go to college. i want to be an engineer. >> i want to continue doing things like this in the future. >> in the meantime, both students hope their work can serve as a model to other communities and will prove to kids their age that they can make a difference. >> it's been a long process, it's been two years now, but seeing the changes to take place is great. >> sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. 8

welcome back to "prime news" on hln, just in to us, another victim of the accused ohio serial killer identified. her name nancy todd last seen in april. wasn't reported missing until monday when cops started pulling bodies out of a sex offender's home. so far only 4 of 11 victims have been identified. and there's something going on here. why are their own family members afraid to go to police? apparently some relatives are reluctant to give police dna. and the coroner's office is reassuring them if they're frightened, they can go to their pastors, their dna won't go into a data base, won't be shared

with police, but some family members are speaking up. like those who knew a mother of three last night, her aunt was on the nancy grace show. >> when did you learn that your niece is allegedly one of sowell's many, many victims? >> today about, i guess, about 1:30. it was very hard. we got to keep going and we've got to constantly pray for other families. and you know stay strong for the children. she has three small children. >> so sad. joining me now to talk about this, dwayne fordson, the brother of one of the victims. dwayne, first off, our condolences. it must be such a difficult time. i know memorials are going on right now. >> yes. >> when was the last -- she was

last seen when? >> we last seen her in june, but we found out last night one of her friends saw her in july and that's the last we heard from her. >> as this was playing out, dwayne, was this something you feared? or were you totally caught off guard when your sister was mentioned in possibly was connected to this guy? >> totally caught off guard. my sister had a brain. she was very smart young lady. we never thought this. >> tell us about your sister. a mom, right? three kids? >> yes. >> how was her life going? from what i'm reading and researching, sounds like she was tryi ining to get her life back together. >> went to rehab, had her -- she was making money for her children. and she had just spent a lot of money on her children, spent time with them. like i said, she got caught, i guess, in one of her weak moments and what can we say? everybody have a weak moment, i guess. he caught her at hers. and that's what happened. >> that seems to be what's going

on here, dwayne. >> because she was a very strong, very loving individual. she very much was. >> does she live -- or did she live near the area of anthony sowell's home, dwayne? >> well, her baby's father did. >> so that's what might have brought her to that area? >> i guess so. because she's 30-something years ago, i live with my wife and everything, so she has her own life. i hear from her every now and then. that's why i never figured her as being missing because i very seldom see her anyway. >> let's bring in mike brooks, mike. as we walk through this and the investigation i'm sure continuing as -- that's got to be pain staking at this point, mike. because they've got to be continuing to rip apart anthony sowell's home to find out what other evidence. >> they had the fire department in there, tearing through walls. there was the best of doing

that. tearing through the walls, looking for any kind of evidence because they found all of these bodies and the skull. but there's still a dozen people missing from that community. and you know there's a mistrust of what they say the people don't trust the establishment, they don't trust the police. but it's vital that people, if you have someone in your family that's missing, they need to give a dna sample. i'm sure the reason they don't want to do that is because of their distrust because some of their people, you know, they may be wanted. but still, if you have nothing to hide, give your dna. it's good to help these families who are missing these people, have closure in their life. there's people out there missing and they don't know where they are. and they could be involved in this case. >> let's go back, again, dwayne fortson, his sister identified as one of the victims. dwayne, as we look into this case and we find out that this guy committed a brutal crime in 1989, served 15 years. but from what we're gathering,

not long after he's let out of prison, he's right back to his criminal ways and worse. how is your family processing that? >> well, that's the cleveland system for you. these criminals go do their crime and the system let them right back out. and like i said, this situation he wasn't monitored. for the health department to say they've been in his house and the police say they went and checked on him because he's a sexual predator, i can't see it adding up because i haven't seen nothing in life yet that smell like death. and if you can't decipher death from a roll of sausage, you've got another thing coming. and they're covering up something for the city of cleveland, the police, the judicial system, somebody's covering up something. i don't feel it's right. but all of these young ladies to lose their lives and nobody did nothing. not even investigators. >> well, dwayne, you pick up on a good point. a lot of people talked about it. and people said that smell was

there for three or four years. dwayne, thanks for taking time. our condolences to you and your family. stay strong. >> thank you very much. coming up, a missouri woman is accused of cutting in line at walmart, now she's facing up to 15 years? how's that? we'll lay that out for you coming up in our weekly feature "what matters."

a woman faces 15 years in prison for cutting in line at a walmart. it sounds harsh, but that's how the case against heather ellis is playing out. now, prosecutors say she jumped the line at walmart and then that led to an argument. police were called in. they say ellis assaulted them, but she denies that and refused to sign a pre-agreement.

>> we tried to resolve this thing early on, and there was no indication of any desire to do so. >> ellis was charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace and two felony counts of assaulting an officer. the case has gotten national attention. joining us now -- what was your reaction when you first became aware of this story that heather ellis is facing charges for an incident that stemmed for cutting in line. what was your first reaction? >> i didn't believe it. i said that's impossible. there's got to be more to it. tell me more about this young lady. my assistant's children were the ones that brought this to my attention. and that's why we're calling it the journey of justice out of respect for the kids. they're the heroes in all of this. i did my research. and once i sort of dug into it,

you know, i thought about my own background. my father's been in law enforcement for 30 years. so i have a lot of respect for good police officers. once i dug deeper, i said, you know, something's wrong here. there seems to be an abuse of authority. you know, if you look at heather ellis' record, there is absolutely nothing in her past that indicates she's capable of this behavior. a college student on her way to medical school, doesn't have any criminal record at all. so the idea she's facing these sorts of charges over an incident of magnitude is absolutely astonishing. >> well, we do have a statement from the prosecutor in missouri that we want to share. it say ws we tried to resolve ts thing early on and there was no indication of any desire to do so. you know the family, let me ask you, why won't she sign something to make it go away? >> well, because when -- one of the problems with the justice system, which is why i consider heather's case to be a broader search for justice rather than the end of anything is that we

have lots and lots of people, thousands of people who go to prison every year for crimes they did not commit. primarily because they signed these plea bargains that are offered and backed by an implicit threat that says if you don't sign this plea bargain, you're going to get a long time in prison. i standby heather's decision. the truth is that when you sign this bargain, you're waving your right to a jury trial. you can't sue the police department for false arrests or whatever the case may be. so heather did exactly what any good conscientious person should do. she said i didn't do this, i'm not going to sign this. and i stand behind her on that. the idea that the prosecutor feels that, oh, we could've all made it go away if you're willing to admit to something you feel you didn't do. that's a bit of a travesty of justice and that should concern all of us. >> we also have a statement from walmart. walmart says this, when the incident occurred we asked local police to intervene, you'll have to direct any questions about the incident to them and we did that, as well. somehow the kkk has become involved.

what is that about? >> well, effectively the kkk has threatened the family and told them if you raise too much of a stink, then we're going to respond. -- in a scary way. what's more frightening about this, the threats from the kkk were delivered by a police officer in uniform. and i don't have any information to my knowledge that says that this officer then went to investigate where the threat came from and when to prosecute the threat as a hate crime, which is actually what it is. you know, the truth is that this is a very complex case. the people that we've asked to come down for the rally. we've let them know, this is not a safe place, especially for people of color. so, you know, it's my greatest hope we can get in there and get out safely while at the same time standing up for justice. the thing is this is not a black issue, this is a civil liberties issue that all americans should be concerned about. >> thank you very much for your time and talking about this and looks like no plea deal. looks like they might be headed

to trial. we'll keep people posted on this. for more of what matters, log on to cnn.com/whatmatters. >> thanks, richelle. coming up, rihanna speaking out about her violent relationship with chris brown. telling abc's "good morning america" why she took him back and then why she decided to leave.

hi, i'm mary j. blije, and i had the honor of performing at the first "cnn hero," a tribute recognizing every day people that change ordinary people. i help women to reach their full potential in life. now more than ever, the world needs heroes, and i am thrilled to help cnn introduce one of this world's top ten honorees. >> how can i turn my back and walk away and leave you here? i can't. because i know you wouldn't turn your back on me and leave me. >> nationwide veterans are neglected, homeless, unacceptable. we're a branch of service. army? so was i. we are brothers in arms. so no man left behind. my name is dwight foster and my mission is to help and empower homeless veterans. if you're going to work for sobriety, you've got to change.

provide services for veterans only, safe, clean place to live, all the meals, and to help services the comradery. tell him one of his brothers in arms came looking for him and let him know, yeah, we will be back. they are the best and they deserve the best. what i do, i love. an emotional rihanna recounting the night she was brutally beaten by ex-boyfriend chris brown. it's rihanna's first interview since her attack and she is really opening up. confiding in abc's "good morning america" that chris brown had no soul in his eyes. she talked about the relationship, a violent obsession, yet she went back to him. >> the more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for

each other. it was dangerous because it was a bit of an obsession. >> and rhode island naihanna sa back was the wrong decision. and wants to send a message. but guess who is appearing right before rihanna's prime time interview tonight? chris brown. so he's going to upstage her. she's opening for the first time about this terrible ordeal and he's going to horn in on her message? i think it's a bad move on that front. we'll see what the experts have to say. let's bring in stacy kaiser and jim moret. stacy, let's first off get back to what rihanna is talking about, falling in love, turning into an obsession. how common is that among young people, a young couple like this? >> well, it's very common with young people, but they aren't really falling in love. what she's describing that the rest of us would call that intense passion where it makes for a great happy times and also

really volatile violent times. >> and young people are more susceptible to that, i would think? just not mature enough to handle those feelings, right? >> and you get older, you get wiser, more jaded and less accepting of that sort of stuff. >> let's listen a little bit more to rihanna talking about what led to this infamous incident. a text message from another girl. let's listen to rihanna again. >> i caught him in a lie -- and he wouldn't -- he wouldn't tell the truth. i wouldn't drop it. i wouldn't drop it. i kept saying i couldn't take that he kept lying to me and he couldn't take that i wouldn't drop it. >> stacy, as you listen to that. for young people, jealousy, a text from somebody else. how does that turn into this brutal beating? >> yeah, that isn't really what caused -- that's what she thinks caused it, that's really the excuse. what we're looking at is people who have abuse in their history.

and when they do and they haven't gotten the right kind of psychological help for it, they haven't heeled those emotional wounds, the trigger gets set and they go. and i think that's what happened. they got explosive. and that's why also she talks about sort of talks about sort of seeing that look in his eyes. it's because he really compartmentalized and the went back to that raging childhood experience. >> she admits they had a volatile relationship. do we know about blow-ups they've had in the past? >> we do from the court documents, that there were, i believe, two incidents that were not nearly as violent as this, but there were incidents in the past. also, mike, i don't want you to think that this was just a text from somebody and she got jealous. i think that what the allegation was and what we got from the court records was -- i believe it was a text from somebody that he was allegedly seeing. she caught him in a lie. she wouldn't drop it, as she said. and then, you know, is simply

escalated. it wasn't just a text from a friend. >> good perspective there. so, stacy, when we talk about this -- and if parents are watching and maybe their child is involved in a relationship -- is it more difficult for a young person to realize this is bad, i've got to get out? >> i read an interesting statistic the other day. i read that it takes the average woman 11 assaults before she gets out. what that says to me is, young or old, people are staying too long when they're getting beaten up. and once it starts, if someone can do it one time, they can do it again. people need to get out immediately. >> 11? why, stacy? >> you know, first of all, there's the whole cycle of violence where after they beat you up, they apologize, they send you flowers. they tell you how amazing you are. that's a big piece. the other piece is women tend to blame themselves. just like rihanna is saying i wouldn't stop relenting. there are lots of people that are persistent and don't get hit.

there's no way he could have been there. and there's no way somebody got on base and shot people unless it was one of our own. and then not a half hour after i said that, it was on the news that it was one of -- one of our own soldiers. >> one of their own. speaking through his grief, the brother of a soldier killed in a massacre at ft. hood. the alleged gunman, an army psychiatrist, someone who is supposed to help soldiers. now accused of killing 13 of his fellow comrades. and it could have been worse if it wasn't for the hero who took this guy down.

we will hear her incredible story. and what about him? his name linked to radical online postings? authorities had their eyes on him, yet he was in the midst of heroic soldiers at ft. hood. how could this happen? and 11 women victims of an accused serial killer. and their families won't go to police, won't help identify their loved one's remains. apparently they're too afraid to turn over their own dna. that story coming up. call in as we try to come to grips with a very difficult week. the number, 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us cnn.com/primenews or text at hlntv. start your message with the word prime. it's your chance to be heard. controversy, opinion, your point of view, this is "prime news." welcome once again. this is "prime news." i'm mike galanos. many of us are shell shocked. hours after the massacre in ft. hood, texas, there's another shooting, this one at an office

high rise in orlando, florida. one person killed, five wounded, all of them employees. the suspect taken away in handcuffs, his name jason rodriguez. he used to work there but was let go a couple of years ago. listen to what he said as he was hauled away. >> they left you to rot? why did do you it? >> they left me to rot. >> they left you to rot? you mean your employers? >> who left you to rot? >> who left you to rot? >> left me to rot. what is he talking about there? we'll get to that. joining us to talk about it, mike brooks, hln law enforcement analyst. also with us stacy kaiser, psychotherapist. and orlando mayor buddy dyer with us as well. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. mayor, first off, how are the wounded victims doing right now? what's the latest word? >> well, everybody appears to be in stable condition. we have four down at orlando health and one at florida south,

and everybody -- other than the one deceased that appears to be doing pretty well. >> how is the orlando community right now taking this, mayor? >> well, obviously, it's a shocking incident. we haven't had anything like this in our downtown in years. but i do have to say it was a model response by the orlando police department, the orlando fire department and our supporting law enforcement agencies. opd was on the scene within a minute of the 911 call, secured the building and, obviously, we caught the shooter within a matter of hours. >> again, your city shell shocked. we as a nation shell shocked as we have to deal with this back-to-back days. bring in mike brooks as we try to figure out who jason rodriguez -- what do we know about him, other than he was let go a couple of years ago, right, 2007? and that could be the seed planted that he would carry out this evil a couple of years later, right? >> yeah, mike. but this has been two years, so we really don't know what he's

been degree for to you two years. what did he mean by, they left me to rot? they, is that the people at reynolds smith and hills or at least what he perceives? left him to rot, we don't know. he was 40 years old. he was apprehended without incident by the s.w.a.t. team at his mother's house that was just a little over five miles as the crowe flies from the gateway plaza, right there where everything happened. so, again, as the mayor said, orlando police department did a great job. they got on the scene. they didn't know what they had when they got there. the orange county sheriff, s.w.a.t. team also came in, because you had a 16-story office building that you had to contain. they didn't know where the perp was at the time. you had a parking garage. then when they found out that he was a former employee, they checked. his car was gone. they probably most likely checked the surveillance and said, yes, be on the lookout for jason rodriguez, hispanic male, 40 years old dressed in a blue shirt, blue jeans.

and through technology we're hearing, that's how they traced him to his mother's house. went there, looked in, saw him. called him out. he surrendered without incident. >> there it is. and that's -- stacy kaiser, psychotherapist, as we watch that video, he just seems so matter of fact. i mean, they left me to rot. he was indignant until the end there. >> that's what i think. i think this was a guy desperate and feeling hopeless and at that point he didn't care anymore. he just was going to do whatever it took to make him feel better. >> as we continue on with this story, so he gets let go from his job. he was divorced i believe in 2006. he's got a couple of kids. he filed for bankruptcy in may in what is being dubbed immense debt. i mean, is -- i mean, we're so -- yes, there's a lot of people in debt. what sends someone over the edge like this? >> that is true, there's a lot of people in debt and i think we're going to be seeing and are seeing more and more elf stream reactions. what's happening here, a lot of people wonder why it happened

two years ago. that may have been the beginning of what started to be a tremendous mess. so he might be rooting the cause of all of his troubles and traumas to that job and wanted to retaliate. >> it seems he did that. before we go, let's listen to an eyewitness account as we bring it back home, the horror that played out in orlando today. >> they said the shooter's coming, the shooter's coming. people were falling out of the elevator to get out. >> saw him coming out of our suite. she's running towards me telling me to get back in, there's gunfire. and you could smell the gunfire. >> it was a little unnerving. you think the worst and you're calling your families and your families are calling you and the phones are going crazy. just started hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. >> there it is, the horror that some went through in orlando, florida. mike, stacy, thank you. orlando mayor buddy dyer, thanks. stay strong, mayor, as you guys walk through this difficult road. we appreciate your time. thanks so much. in another part of the

country walking through an equally or more difficult path, ft. hood, texas, the worst massacre at a u.s. army post in history. 13 killed. stories coming out about victims. we'll talk about that. and the heroes. we'll talk about the person who took down this gunman and we'll talk about the alleged assassin himself and take your calls at 1-877-tell-hln.

back too "prime news" on hln. so many revelations coming in on the shooting at ft. hood, the worst massacre at a u.s. army post in u.s. history. going to take your calls, texts, e-mails on this, talk about the

alleged gunman, the hero who brought him down and the victims. 13 people, soldiers, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, their personal stories. one of the 13 killed, private first class michael pearson, just 21 years old, shot three times. dead on the operating table. his family was so excited he would be home for christmas. now they'll have a christmas filled with grief. they're our heroes, soldiers tearing off clothes to help the wounded. some saving others while they're being shot themselves. and our hero, police officer kimberly munley. family members call her a tough lady. without her, who knows how many would have been killed. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. want to start with elmo, the uncle of an injured soldier. elmo, tell us about yesterday. when did you find out what had happened to your nephew and what was going on at ft. hood?

>> well, i was working at a part-time job and i happened to look at the internet and noticed there was an incident occurring at ft. hood, texas. i've got a nephew that is a member of the army that is stationed at ft. hood. i immediately tried to call him. wasn't able to get through to him. so then i tried my sister. that would be his mother. we finally made contact, found out nathan was indeed one of the ones injured but he was going to be okay. >> do you know his story, elmo? >> yes, i do. i got a chance to talk to him for the first time this morning around 11:00. come to find out that he was in the medical facility being prepared for predeployment vaccinations. he said that there was -- it's a cubicle style office with the dividers in there. he said he heard the door, heard some yelling. he looked up over the top of the cubicles and saw an individual.

didn't know -- didn't recognize them. he said he heard some gunfire, thought it was a dummy round, as he described it. didn't think any of it. then that second round went off. he said he felt a burning or muscle cramp in his leg. didn't realize he had been hit. >> so that burning -- that muscle cramp, that's him being shot? >> that was actually him being shot, yes, sir. >> i want to bring in christopher gray, a first responder. christopher, we thank you for your heroism to go into a situation like this. sergeant, what did you see when you went there? >> well, there was a lot of stuff going on at that time. a loflt people screaming. a lot of panic. you really don't know where you're looking. you're trying to find out what direction the fire is coming from, you know. trying to find out -- trying to

get to a place where you can help people. >> were you able to successfully help people? so there were -- i mean, we're talking about 30 wounded, right? >> yes. >> so you had your hands full as you show up? >> absolutely. we got as many people to the hospital as we could. once we were at the hospital, myself and my platoon sergeant pulled security on the emergency room door to make sure that there wasn't any other person that wanted to commit any acts against us in the immediate area. >> sergeant, did you see the shooter at any time as you arrived? >> i did not. >> did not. okay. before we go, i want to listen to this. this is roxanne johnson. we'll take a quick break and come back with more on this. you talk about what was going on. roxanne is talking to her son on the phone as shots ring out. and he is indeed shot. let's listen to that. >> i was talking to him and then

we're just joking around. then i heard doosh, doosh, doosh, in my ear. i said, what is that? so i thought -- at first, i thought he was just kidding around with me and turning up the video game. and then i said, well, maybe it's a training exercise. so i started listening. then i hear all this screaming and the crying. >> screaming and crying. that's what we're getting a had sense of. we're going to take a quick break. more on the tragedy at ft. hood coming up and take calls at 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. continuing our conversation about the tragedy at ft. hood. taking your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joseph is with us in north carolina. joseph, your thoughts here? >> caller: yes, mike, i'm right here. >> go ahead, joseph. joseph, you with us? >> caller: this is unacceptable behavior for a man who was trained and educated to evaluate people. the question, is there a process by the government for psychiatric evaluations for soldiers going into combat conditions? >> good question there. i'm going to go to two people from the military, steve razor is with us, former j.a.g. do you know anything about that? is there a psychiatric evaluation, what the caller is talking about? >> well, there's a predeployment phase everybody has to go through.

there's questionnaires everybody has to address. it's more or less a generalized process. if there's any red flags that are raised during that deployment process, which is basically the training-up mission, it does include that. but it doesn't necessarily have a psychiatric evaluation per se. but if there's red flags there, yeah, it would be done. >> gotcha. this is an e-mail coming in from sergeant first class lonsdale smith from iraq. we all voluntarily join the military and it's the utmost disgrace that this individual was in uniform and could have committed such a heinous crime. back to steve razor. steve, that's what we continue to hear, one of our own. how does it hit you when this is the accused? >> it hits me particularly hard, actually, because i'm a soldier also. and i've been to iraq and have actually dealt with a similar situation in the past. and when you hear this, the vision that you get where a soldier is in the united states,

jumping up on a table and unloading on his fellow soldiers, his brother soldiers, it's sickening. and the vision of that female officer standing practically toe to toe with him, a citizen police officer exchanging fire with a soldier in uniform is very, very disturbing. >> we're going to talk about her heroism coming up. i want to get sergeant christopher gray back. sergeant, i've got to get your thoughts on this. one of our own doing this. what went through your mind and in your heart when you heard that? >> yeah, i couldn't believe it. and to know that one of our own is capable of such atrocities is ridiculous to me. and to have my -- a whole bunch of my guys go through that when they're supposed to feel safe in a place that they call their home and we're not even down -- we're not even in afghanistan yet, you know. and they're having to go through this. it's too much to ask for them.

they should never have to deal with that. at least when you're in a combat zone, you have that edge about you. you know that something could happen at any given point in time. >> and at ft. hood, you expect the utmost safety. we're going to take another quick break and talk again about the heroism of a police officer coming up. drugs, prostitution, gang violence. all of it plague a park in lauderbach park. nearby in mesa, california, students were walking to school along these dangerous roads with no sidewalks. what do these two situations have in common? both of them were preventing residents from being physically active, a critical problem in two border towns with above average obesity and diabetes rates. >> community and environment really do affect people's risk for diabetes because it's a lifestyle thing. even if you're genetically predisposed you can do a lot to prevent. >> how do you fix it?

with an unusual partnership of high school students, latino organizers a little bit of money from local government, a lot of hard work. >> the conditions of the park a year and a half ago were not the same conditions that you're looking at right now. >> the reality is that if you have to walk on a dirt road in summer in california, you're not going to want to. and at least with the sidewalks, you know, it's a more comforting environment. >> two different towns. two different solutions. but both projects are showing results. what started as school projects for erin and gerard may now become careers. >> my goal is to go to college. i want to be a civil engineer, so -- >> i definitely want to continue doing things like this in the future. >> meantime, both students hope that their work can serve as a model to communities and will prove to kids their age that they can make a difference. >> it's been a long process. it's been two years now. but just seeing the changes actually start to take place is great. >> dr. sanjay gupta.