erin mcpike, thank you so much.ery cold and snow think in columbia, maryland, where now it continues to be an investigative scene on what is a crime scene there at the mall in columbia, maryland, outside of washington, d.c. not far from baltimore as well. you're looking at the live images right now. law enforcement outside the mall. three confirmed dead. one believed to be the shooter, according to police there. we're going to continue to keep tabs on this situation. much more coverage right here from the "newsroom" right after this. [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance. call liberty mutual insurance at... [ thump ] to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house, or add a c

standing by we have erin mcpike at the mall along with the county executive there who can fill us in the details. erin? >> miguel, this is ken ullman, howard county executive. you may have seen him earlier at the press conference. i want to ask you a little bit more about the first responders. you said they got into the scene very quickly. can you tell us a little bit about the train that they had because everybody has been very impressed by how quickly everybody was able to respond and deal with the situation. >> sure. we have an unbelievably professional attack team, s.w.a.t. team. but also the patrol officers. we put a lot of priority and training. unfortunately post-columbine, you know, we beefed up our efforts, train with our school system, do active shooter training and a number of public places where it be schools or large gathering places. we've been in the columbia mall doing that kind of training with regional partners and i talked to some of our folks on the attack team and said, how did you feel like it went with all of our regional partners. they said actually better than

our erin mcpike is live on the ground there in columbia, maryland. erin, what more can you tell us?er: well, miguel, you may see it there. the police chief said at a press conference within the last half hour that they were releasing aguilar's official driver's license photo. they also said that he had no criminal record. but when they searched his house last night, they did find a journal in which he expressed general unhappiness for his life. >> so -- and -- are we expecting any other updates from police tonight, erin? >> reporter: not tonight. they said to stay tuned to their facebook page and their twitter account, but no more press briefings tonight. we do know that the mall is reopening at 1:00 tomorrow. and they are establishing two memorial sites for the victims there. >> rough, rough, rough. thank you very much, erin mcpike, in columbia, maryland, for us. >>> now, with the super bowl happening in just a week, all eyes will be on new york. we should really say new jersey. it's an easy distinction to miss. our alexandra field saw that for herself. >> reporter: miguel, the sup

erin mcpike is outside the mall. see what is the latest, erin? >> reporter: well, fredricka, from early information that we're getting, some early reporting, we understand that there are three victims. one may be the shooter himself. a man and a woman, he apparently shot dead. those are, of course, some of the early investigative reports we're getting, but there is supposed to be another news conference right here behind me in about an hour, and we should get some more information then, but authorities have stressed that this is still an ongoing investigation, and they don't have all the answers yet, but, fred, you can probably see behind me that it's calmed down a lot. it looks like most of the evacuating has been done. there are some school buses over at the movie theater to my right, and that's where a lot of people were removed to earlier today. but it appears that it's calmed down quite a bit, but the investigation obviously is still going on. >> all right. >> -- i ran into -- we all hid in the back room, locked the door and waited for polic

erin mcpike, our cnn correspondent is there outside of the mall. erin, i just want to remind people at home, there is a very lengthy delay in our communication now. so there may about great pause before you hear erin speaking after i have stopped speaking. so, erin what more can you tell us? have you seen a lot more people being escorted out, exiting that mall as they try to secure that mall of 200 stores? >> well, fred, we have seen people come out in front of the jcpenney, but a lot of the activity has been around the sears area. we also understand that a lot of people were taken to a theater which is on the other side of the mall, and people who came out on that side were going to a bar in the area, but they're removing people from the mall and taking them to other establishments so that they can meet up with family and friends, and, also, brief investigators on what they saw or heard inside the mall. that's what we've seen so far. we haven't seen as many people leave in the last half an hour or so on this side of the mall, but we understand it i

erin mcpike is in trenton with more. good morning, erin. >> reporter: good morning.ildstein is in court right now trying to find out if he will have to testify here at noon and we will bring you the answer live after the break. [ male announcer ] this is betsy. her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's just common sense. you wouldn't have it she any other way.our toes. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anyti

erin mcpike live in columbia, maryland. erin, what more have we learned about what happened leading up to the shooting? fred, investigators have pieced together how the shooter got to the mall and what he did when he got here but they still haven't figured out why. the gunman now identified in saturday's terrible shooting at the mall in maryland. >> darion marcus aguilar is the shooter. >> police still aren't talking about a possible motive, although they say the 19-year-old aguilar lived in the same college park, maryland neighborhood as one of the victims, 21-year-old benlolo. >> we haven't been able to verify a relationship at this point between him and either of our victims. we can't establish there is one, we can't establish there is not one. that is an open question. >> reporter: surveillance videos, police say, revealed aguilar arrived by taxi at this upper level mall entrance 10:15 saturday morning walking by a children's carousel and carrying a backpack with two homemade explosive devices. over the next hour, they s

. >> cnn erin mcpike has more this morning. good morning. >> reporter: carol, good morning to you. just so we know what was happening later today, i want to point out to you, christie is coming here to the trenton war memorial giving his inaugural address after he is sworn in at noon. i just spoke to an aid to chris christie who tells they ellis island event this evening is cancelled due to severe winter weather. as you know the east coast is getting pounded be a blizzard. so it's not the best day for his inauguration. obviously also there are controversies that are overshadowing the inauguration. >> governor christie, you have a few seconds? >> in his remarks, he is expected to discuss smaller government and unity among the people. on monday, forceful denials and rge which as of lying flew back and forth between chris christie's lieutenant governor and hoboken's mayor dawn zimmer. >> the suggestion anyone would hold back sandy relief funds for any reason is wholly and completely false. >> a sandy victim herself called zimmer's actizations false and illogical. zimmer spoke to coope

. >> peter hamby, erin mcpike, many thanks to both of you. we will be talking about chris christie and the two scandals surrounding his administration today. thank you for joining me. i'm carol costello. "legal view" with ashleigh banfield starts now. >>> new jersey's newest scandal hitting the fan. the lieutenant governor firing back with the mayor of hoboken calling her claim completely false, illogical and offensive. >>> also, this hour, a terror threat for the olympics. it comes from beyond the grave. a chilling video supposedly from the suicide bombers in the volgograd attacks promising something similar for sochi. >>> a stunning presidential proclamation that has a lot of parents on high alert. the leader of the free world declaring marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol and not much different than smoking cigarettes. hello, everybody. i'm ashleigh banfield, monday, january 20th, martin luther king jr. day. welcome to legal view." >>> a day before chris christie is beginning his second term as new jersey's governor, his lieutenant

now to erin mcpike cnn correspondent in minneapolis, minnesota. currently 4 degrees as we heard in chicago. there's been a low of negative 16 degrees. to put it in context, extreme wind chills the flesh can actually freeze i'm told in as little as five minutes. authorities have already blamed 16 deaths on the cold so far. 11 from traffic accidents, three from hypothermia. how does it feel to you, erin? you've obviously been in this for quite some time. what does it actually feel like to be in the extreme cold temperatures? >> reporter: well, piers, it is obviously cold here. there is no doubt about that. and i haven't been standing outside for more than ten minutes at a time. i've been standing out here now for about five minutes. and my fingers are very cold. it's hard to move them. but what i will tell you about this is that it's not as treacherous, let's say, as it is where pamela is in upstate new york. there hasn't been precipitation falling here in the last couple of days, but that can be deceiving. we want to show you why. a video came to u

. >> our erin mcpike is standing by. she's in trenton, new jersey, right now. erin, let's talk about the investigation specifically the powers this new committee we will have. do we know what the first order of business will be? >> well, wolf, as you mentioned that committee has just formed. they are about to start meeting. and they will vote so that they do have subpoena power. now, as you mentioned, we expect they will issue between 10 and 20 subpoenas, however our understanding from the head of that committee, john wisniewski, is they will not be naming those names. we'll get the names in a press release later today. obviously top political advisors and other officials who were involved in the bridge closures. but, wolf, i would point out that last week david wildstein, who was that port authority official who was subpoenaed and appearing before the transportation committee, he chose to plead the fifth and they did not get much information out of him last week. we will have to wait to see what happens as this investigation goes forward, but that is something

. >> that's right, erin mcpike. his two-time campaign manager. you very much, erin mcpike. >>> bridget kell sly is named i that class-action lawsuit. the six plaintiffs are people claiming that they were stuck in the traffic jam. each plaintiff was deprived of life, liberty, and property as a result of the defendants' action. joining me now from new york are one of the plaintiffs filing the suit, joy and her attorney rosemarie arnold. joy, explain to me what happened to you in this bridge traffic and what makes you compelled to sue. >> you know, it was so unexpected and it came out of nowhere and it was a very frightening experience for me and i actually had a panic attack and it was extremely uncomfortable. i live in ft. lee. normally when there's a problem in ft. lee, you have signage, transit authority people in the lanes. but there was nobody. there was nobody. it came out of nowhere and we were caught on the approach and we couldn't turn around to go back and all of the cars were trying to literally millimeters away from each other, inching

cnn cnn's erin mcpike is in maryland. what have we learned overnight? >> reporter: well, there were five people injured here yesterday. one of a gunshot wound. the other from chaos from the scene. all five of those people were treated and released from the hospital yesterday. overnight, police did identify the shooter but they are not yet releasing his name to the public. >> i saw people sitting there, food was knocked over, everyone just started running. kids were running. you just ran and you just run to the nearest place you could find. >> reporter: chaos at columbia mall in maryland as a gunman opens fire killing two workers inside a second-story sports apparel shop called zumiez, then killed himself. >> thought i heard something fall. it sounded like bricks. i saw three people that were shot fall. so everybody ducked to the ground. heard more than ten shots. >> reporter: police identified the dead employees as 23-year-old brianna benlolo and 25-year-old tyler johnson. police say the shooter was carrying makeshift explosives. a robot was used to exa

>> erin mcpike, thank you very much. >>> on the phone with me now from columbia, maryland, is evelyn mcdonald. evelyn and brianna benlolo were close friends. evelyn, our condolences for your loss. thank you for chatting with us a little bit. how are you doing? >> it's just so shocking. it's just a complete tragedy. it's a horrible thing. we're hanging in there. >> and ms. benlolo's family, how are they holding up? >> you know, i'm not quite sure. i was friends with brianna through school. i didn't really get to meet her family. so i'm not sure how they're holding up. but i do want to send my deepest sympathy to them and let them know that we are praying for them and hope they're doing okay. >> tell us a little bit about brianna. what she was like. >> oh, god. she was just full of energy. she was so nice. just an amazing artist. just an amazing person inside and out. it's such a shame. >> did she like working at this store? >> she loved it. she was actually full time in school. we met at hair expressions. it's a paul mitchell partner school in rockville. and then she got the opportuni

the answer tonight from erin mcpike. >> reporter: the divorced mother of four worked for chris christie since 2010 and was appointed his deputy chief of staff in april. about five months later she sent a career-ending message "time for some traffic problems in fort lee." the e-mail certainly seems incriminating. but those who know kelly say they doubt the dedicated staffer could have orchestrated this on her own. >> i think a lot of people find it hard to believe that she was acting as a rogue political operative conducting this operation regarding the bridge solely by herself. >> reporter: here in new jersey, bridget ann kelly has been a staple of republican politics for more than a decade. she began as a legislative aide for republican assemblyman david russo and eventually rose to become his chief of staff in 2002. she joined the christie camp as director of legislative affairs and again rose through the ranks to become deputy chief of staff in just three years. >> she was more of a liaison, one that kind of worked behind the scenes with the authorities in the legislature and a taskm

. >> all right, i want to bring in cnn's erin mcpike, who is live in trenton, new jersey. erin has practically moved to trenton to cover the events there. the inauguration today was supposed to be this giant celebration of chris christie's second term. i think he wanted to put a national spotlight on the events there. how overshadowed will these events now be? >> reporter: well, a lot, john, obviously, but the guidance we've received from the christie administration is that he doesn't plan to address any of these controversies in his inaugural address today, but it obviously has taken a big toll. a new pew research center poll came out yesterday that showed his unfavorable rating has jumped, doubled in the last year, and also, a majority of people who have heard of the george washington bridge controversy say they don't believe him when he says he didn't know anything about it, john. >> and erin, what is the latest on, i suppose, the second controversy, what the mayor of hoboken is saying that superstorm sandy funds were withheld unless she supported a certain real estate p

erin mcpike, we'll be watching. appreciate it. >>> for sure chris christie has never been a shrinking violet. so we're going to watch and see what his demeanor is when he delivers his state of the state address this afternoon. and wolf blitzer is joining us to talk a little bit about that. so wolf, we've seen the scandals play out here over the last couple of weeks. and it seems, at least, that he's taken somewhat of a hit in the popularity. if you take a look at the polls here, the approval rating with new jersey registered voters has dropped somewhat. before the scandal broke he had 65% approval rating. now that's 58. first time since superstorm sandy hit back in 2012 that it's actually been below the 60% mark, telling here. it's 46% of registered voters in new jersey now have a favorable impression of christie personally. more than a year ago, about a year ago, it was a whopping 71%, that really had a good regard of him. so what do we make of the demeanor? when we go to watch him here today, does he need to be ki

erin mcpike is in trenton, new jersey, this morning. tell us more, erin. >> reporter: good morning.irst what we are told is that this committee will subpoena the documents. they want to see text message conversations and as well as e-mail conversations to see what more was said. as you know, earlier e-mails and text messrages are what first provided the evidence and what bridget ann kelly said. in addition to bridget ann kelly and some of may sources here in trenton are saying that she's tremendously well-liked by her peers and there's wide ranging disbelief it was just her who issued this order, that it must have come from above or could be somewhere else. we know that the most trusted political adviser in chris christ christie's orbit will be on that list. he was dismissed last week. people think that he may know more as well. we will certainly see bridget anne kelly and bill. >> we also understand that there is a new attorney assisting the panel. one with experience deal high-profile governors and scandals. talk about him. >> well, carol, his name is reid shar and he was former a

erin mcpike at the scene for us. thank you very much. >>> we want to bring you up to date now on everything that has happened at the columbia -- in columbia, maryland, at the howard county mall. about 11:15 a.m. a gunman with a shotgun entered that mall and in a zumiez store shot and killed two individuals, both in 20s, one male and one female and turned a shotgun on himself. police not saying exact li what the motive is at the moment and pushing back on some information that cnn has learned that this may, in fact, be a domestic situation. i do want to bring in lou palumbo now, though, who is a retired police officer. and the police pushed back on that fairly hard. the county executive told our erin mcpike a few moments ago that both individuals worked at that zumiez store. this may be a case of workplace violence. >> exactly. i mean, what i think we're going to find out here are a couple of things. first that the police know a lot more than they're prepared to disseminate to the media right now and that's responsibl

erin mcpike for us in columbia, maryland. thank you, erin, for keeping track of it all for us. >>> and the clolumbian american mall was open, and those who were witnesses described what they heard in the terrifying minut minutes. >> i was in the back of the store working with my co-worker, and all of the sudden two people run through the back of our back room saying that somebody is in the mall shooting. some people were going towards the one exit, and a lot of other people who didn't know where the exits were, they were going the other way and hiding out in romney rooms. >> and people started running and they said that somebody is down there running with a gun and i heard at least 8 to 10 gunshots. >> i heard shots fire and i saw a kid and three people fall to the ground, and i grabbed the kid and ran and the mother followed me. >> people left their strollers and kates and bags and everything. shoes. i saw people's shoes just sitting there, and food knocked over and everybody just started to run, and kids were running, and yo

cnn's erin mcpike is joining us. what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, today chris christie's administration got very aggressive in fighting back against these accusations that dawn zimmer has had. they even described a conference call describing how much they have done for hoboken. chris christie's lieutenant governor spent the day defending herself and her boss against growing allegations of political retribution that now stretch far beyond traffic jams in ft. lee. >> the suggestion that anyone would hold back sandy relief funds for any reason is wholly and completely false. >> reporter: guadagno is playing defense after being accused by dawn zimmer of intimidation in the aftermath of superstorm sandy. in an interview on sunday with candy crowley, zimmer said that she was told that hoboken would receive millions of dollars in storm recovery only if she pushed a real estate project by the rockefeller group, a developer with ties to the governor and his allies. >> she pulled me aside and said essentially you've got to move forward with

erin mcpike is outside the mall. one thing remains a mystery. what is the latest? little bit ago that the mall will reopen at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. that is a day earlier than expekt expected this morning. >> when the mall does reopen, we will ensure that we have a ro

cnn's erin mcpike is live outside the mall. good morning, what have we learned?d here yesterday. they were all treated at a local hospital and then released. also overnight, police identified the shooter, but they're not yet releasing his name to the public. >> sitting there, food was knocked over. everyone just started running, kids were running. you just ran and you just run to the nearest place you could find. >> chaos at columbia mall in maryland as a gunman opens fire killing two workers inside a second story sports apparel shop. >> thought i heard something fall, sounded like bricks. all of a sudden i saw people fall, three people that were shot fall. everybody ducked to the ground. i heard more than ten shots. >> reporter: police identify the employees brianna benlolo and tyler johnson. a route was used to examine the crime scene and the mall is still closed this morning. the motive at this point is unclear. >> we don't know yet what caused the shooting incident. so, any at tribution this being domestic related or something else is purely speculation. >> r

erin mcpike with us.democrats are seizing what they're calling a war on women and that's what mike hucka by said. >> our party stands for the recognition of quality of women and the capacity of women. that's not a war on them. it's a war for them. and if the democrats want to insult the women of america by making them believe that they are helpless without unck many sur gar coming in and providing birth control because they cannot control their libido without the help of the federal government, then so be it. >> well, plenty of high-profile republicans were not too pleased about that, like rick santorum who was on "crossed if choir" a few seconds later. >> do you thing language like that helps the image with women? >> i think hucka by could have phrased that differently. mike speaks off the cuff as some of us are known to do and splobl have chosen other words. >> republicans leaders are even more upset especially since republicans have gone to great lengths like tapping cathy mcmorris rodgers to deliver t

erin mcpike is outside the mall. one thing remains a mystery. what is the latest? >> well, we learned a little bit ago that the mall will reopen at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. that is a day earlier than expekt expected this morning. >> when the mall does reopen, we will ensure that we have a strong police presence here. the mall has a unique place in the county. it is not just an economic institution. it is a place of community. we understand that and we are working closely with the mall officials to allow them to reopen as quickly as we can. we learned more details this morning saying that the shooter purchased his shotgun last month in neighboring montgomery county and he came by taxi here at 10:15 and entered a double level entrance and also has two homemade explosive devices on him and police were able to disable them. police also have said that they haven't been able to establish a relationship between the shooter and the victims so they don't have a motive. >> all right. thank you very much. yesterday was the sixth day in a row that the public place was the place of

erin mcpike is cover that aspect of the story. she's joining us now from p washington. erin? >> because president obama signed that emergency disaster declaration there in west virginia, it means that fema can deliver aid directly to the residents there of west virginia affected by this leak. you will see there that fema is bringing in water to those residents. 75 trucks carrying about 4900 gallons of water each going into west virginia. on top of that, homeland security is delivering 16 tractor trailer trucks of bottled water so residents have water to drink there because obviously that is evidented as well. as far as the investigation is concerned, the u.s. attorney there in west virginia is booth goodwin and he was on cnn yesterday talking about the investigation that they will launch. take a listen. >> it's really too early to tell. that's the purpose of an investigation. i mean, we -- we have already been on the ground. we're looking at what actually occurred here and, you know, really too early to tell whether criminal charges could be brought. >> but again, just neglig

. >> erin mcpike reporting live. i want to bring in our chief national correspondent, john king.hris christie is going to deliver a state of the state. he twoonts lay owants to lay ou. in my mind, not many people will be listening for that. >> it is great, carol. there is an opportunity if he can turn the page. think of it this way. chris christie is to politics what target is to retail. he had a blue collar brand that people like. there is an identity crisis there. he needs to look people in the eye in his state and thinking about running for president nationally as well and say, i get it. we are going to cooperate with these investigations. i'm sorry this happened. if there are lessons for me to learn about the culture of my leadership style, i'm going to get those too. yes, he wants to talk about education reform, property taxes. he wants to reach out to the very democrats in the assembly who are investigating him and say, even as you conduct these investigations, we have important business to do. let's prove we can do our business while you get these investigations out of the

i'm erin mcpike live in columbia, maryland, where there was a shooting at the mall here yesterday morningier this morning the howard county police chief, bill mcmahon, briefed reporters on the identity of the shooter, but still there is no motive. >> darion marcus aguilar is the shooter. we do not have any -- we have not been able to verify any type of relationship at this point between him and either of our victims. we can't establish that there is one. we have not been able to establish there is not one. that is an open question. we know that's a important piece of information our community's interested in. >> reporter: now, the investigation will continue. the mall is set to reopen tuesday. it may open earlier. "fareed zakaria gps" continues now. >>> in a moment an exclusive interview with the man who is trying to put japan back on the map. it's prime minister shinzo abe. once admired and feared by much of the world, especially america, the great japanese economy has since become moribund. the economy has grown less than 1% on average for the last 20 years. and the amount of debt the n

. >> erin mcpike, thanks. >>> when we come back, the list of the oscar nominees are back. >>> plus, a to pregnant women living in one west virginia town. don't drink the tap water. but if it's not safe for them, why is it safe for anyone else? i'll ask the mayor of charleston, west virginia, next. coming up. of energy is so abun, it can help provide the power for all this? natural gas. ♪ more than ever before, america's electricity is generated by it. exxonmobil uses advanced visualization and drilling technologies to produce natural gas... powering our lives... while reducing emissions by up to 60%. energy lives here. ♪ [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance. call liberty mutual insurance at... [ thump ] to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a ne

erin mcpike joins us from washington. erin, the republicans were hoping to plot a comeback at their winter meeting in washington. is this now a big setback for the gop? >> well, fred, democrats are seizing on this issue again. and they hope to pit factions of the republican party against each other as they do try to move past it. first, listen to what mike huckabee actually said the other day. >> our party stands for the recognition of the equality of women and the capacity of women. that's not a war on them. it's a war for them. and if the democrats want to insult the women of america by making them believe that they are helpless without uncle sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it. >> well, plenty of high-profile republicans were none too pleased about that, especially because the party has gone to great lengths over the past year to promote some of their wome

erin mcpike, we want you to get back inside, you and your photo journalism producer. thank you for standing out there in it for us. from the moment this polar air made its way south, airports have been in meltdown mode. really across the country, just today, more than 2300 flights have been cancelled. airlines still scrambling to clear the backlog of stranded passengers. so it begs the question, why the heck did jetblue cancel 400 flights when other runways kept running? cnn's dane asher is at laguardia airport. this is pretty unheard of. why did jetblue do this? >> reporter: it was really all about jetblue hitting the reset button. they had a lot of flights that depart from the new york city area, the boston area. we are in the terminal. activities slowly resuming, getting back to normal. i've been speaking to passengers outside the jetblue terminal. a lot of them kind enough to share their stories with me. one woman anticipates a four-hour delay before she gets on her flight. another woman saying how difficult it is to get hold of a real live person on the phone. on

. >> erin mcpike, thanks so much in columbia, maryland. >>> people scrambled for shelter in that mall, crawling on their hands and feet for a safe spot. once they were able to get out they described what they heard and saw in those moments of terror. >> i was in the back of my store working with my other co-worker. all of a sudden three people just run to the back of our back room saying somebody is in the mall shooting. some people were going towards the one exit. a lot of other people who didn't know where the heck they were were going the other way hiding out in rooms. >> people started running and said somebody is down there and has a gun. i heard at least eight to ten gunshots. >> i heard somebody say shots fired. so i grabbed a kid and looked. three people fell to the ground. grabbed the kid and ran, the mother followed me. >> people dropped everything. they left strollers, strollers there, coats, bags, shoes. i saw people's shoes just sitting there. food was knocked over. everyone started running. kids were running. you just ran and you ran to the nearest place you could find.

investigators search for a link, any link, if there is one, between the shooter and the victims, our erin mcpike got a chance to take an escorted tour of the crime scene. walk us through. what have you found out, erin? >> reporter: ashleigh, construction and leaning crews got access early sunday morning. they have been working around the clock to get the mall ready to reopen today at 1:00. when we took a tour of this within the last hour, you could not see any damage inside. everything has been cleaned up. i will say, though, that zoomies is closed until further notice. i want to stress where that is. it is in the center of a long haul whallway on the upper leve. you can imagine the amount of chaos that sound created from all of the gunshots. it is right in the center there. the food court spans the entire first level of that corridor, ashley. obviously, a lot of people could hear that. now, we did see two memorial sites too. there is one inside and one outside. you may be able to see those there as well. this mall is opening in about two hours. >> so as we get a look inside of the crime scene,

erin mcpike has a preview now of the potential reforms. >> reporter: trying to end a worldwide up roar over nsa spying, president obama will unveil how he'll keep his promise to reform government surveillance programs. >> we may have to refine this further to give people more confidence. and i'm going to be working very hard on doing that. and we've got to provide more confidence to the international community. >> we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance. >> reporter: the president has suffered months of blow back since edward snowden's revelations last summer that the nsa has been collecting personal phone records on every american. and spying on world leaders, including allies like germany's chancellor angela merkel. he's called in experts, tech company leaders. and in the past few days, key members of congress. >> there were many members of congress there from both the house and the senate who cover the ideological spectrum who urged him to throttle back the collection of meta data on a bulk level. i hope he listens. >> reporter: he's deciding whether to accept recommenda

guadagno, will be sworn in just before noon eastern and our coverage of it all begins with cnn's erin mcpike in trenton. >> governor christie, do you have a few seconds? >> in his prepared remarks, the embattled new jersey governor is expected to discuss the need for smaller government and unity among the people. apparently missing, the scandals engulfing his administration. on monday, forceful denials and charges of lying flew back and forth between chris christie's lieutenant governor, kim guadagno, and hoboken's democratic mayor, dawn zimmer. >> the suggestion that anyone would hold back sandy relief funds for any reason is wholly and completely false. >> reporter: guadagno, a sandy victim herself, called zimmer's allegations false and illogical. zimmer spoke to anderson cooper sunday night. >> this isn't something you forget when the lieutenant governor of the state of new jersey tells you in a parking lot, if you tell anyone, i will deny it. you remember it. i was very upset. i did a journal entry a few days later. >> reporter: zimmer also accused richard constable of intimidation for t

our owner ra erin mcpike is joining us. do we have any indication of whether he'll mention the so-called traffic scandal during the speech? >> reporter: wolf, our sources in christie's office say he will, in fact, acknowledge the scandal. but he's going to say that it's clear that it doesn't take away from the bipartisan results that he's had over the last four years, nor will it stand in the way of what he hopes to accomplish over the next few years. now, we also know that he's going to unveil a few new proposals, one of those is on property tax relief. and the other is on education reform. so he's going to call for a longer school day and for a longer school year. and, of course, he's tussled with teachers' unions in the past so it will be interesting to see how that plays out, wolf. >> what about the investigation, separate investigation, auditors looking into how his office spent money earmarked for superstorm sandy relief? >> reporter: well, wolf, i just spoke with someone in christie's office who told me that christie

thank you so much, erin mcpike in columbia, maryland for us today. stay tuned to cnn throughout the day for the latest in the deadly mall shooting in columbia, maryland. "fareed zakaria gps" is next for our viewers here in the united states. >>> this is "gps," the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria coming to you from davos, switzerland, the site of the annual meeting of the world economic forum. we have an extraordinary show for you today. three world leaders at the center of the news. first up, president hassan rouhani of iran tells me despite the progress there might be a fundamental disagreement with the west on the way forward in nuclear negotiations. >> so there will be no destruction of centrifuges, of existing centrifuges? >> translator: no. no. not at all. >> and what would the iranians do if israel

. >> erin mcpike in trenton, thank you. >>> the mayor not backing down, reacting to lieutenant governor's statement, among other things. she said this "i am genuinely disappointed the lieutenant governor gud ago know has lived up to her promise she would deny the mitigation funding with expediting a private development project. i stand by my word. remain willing to testify under oath, and i will continue to answer any questions asked of me by the u.s. attorney's office. let's bring in democratic congressman, frank pallone, of new jersey. joining us from union beach right now. congressman, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >> sir, this is a she said versus a she said. she said, who do you believe? do you believe the mayor of hoboken or the lieutenant governor of your state? >> well, wolf, i wasn't party to the conversations, but i do think the allegations of the mayor of hoboken are very serious, and the u.s. attorney needs to look into it. and i have said to you in the past, there's been so many allegations now about, you know, threats and bullying by the christie admini

off of erin mcpike, a relatively popular incumbent in wyoming. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, wolf, it was very rocky. that's understandable. because it was a surprise when she announced this campaign in the first place. you may remember, she moved her family across the country to take on a low-key but powerful republican incumbent senator, and then she picked a family fight along the way. now, this incumbent, mike enzen complained he was a friendy fishing buddy, but former vice president said that wasn't true. the whole race turned into a major distraction for the republican party. >> we're proud of our family in wyoming. we're proud of grandma and grandpa. >> we're proud of our mom. >> she is not running anymore. liz cheney's famous family helped catapult her political career but also the reason she is ending her ill-fated effort to unseat fellow republican, three-term wyoming senator, mike enzi. in a statement this morning, she explained, my children and their futures were the motivation for our campaign. and their health and well-being will always be my

erin mcpike, thanks so much in washington. >>> all right.ext, he is the top scoring nba player of all-time. let me give you a couple seconds to think about it. before you see him, right there. kareem abdul-jabbar. also known for his sports diplomacy. he joins us live and weighs in on dennis rodman's trip to north korea. we use this board to compare car insurance rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. [ rattling ] that's one smart board. what else does it do -- reverse gravity? [ chuckles ] split atoms? [ whoooosh! ] hey, how is that atom-splitting thing going? [ rattling ] [ electronic whistling ] oh! [ zap! ] a smarter way to shop around. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> apologies coming from dennis rodman saying sorry to the family of american kenneth bae ba. and sorry to the players he took to north korea and to those he blasted in a cnn interview. >> reporter: overnight former nba player dennis rodman admitted in a statement to cnn he was out of bounds. i want to apologize. i take full responsi

mcpike is in trenton. peter hamby is in washington. i want to start with you, erinieutenant governor categorically denied everything. what are people saying in trenton? >> reporter: what they have been saying for the past couple of days. the christie administration put out a statement and a fact sheet saying this was completely false. as you mentioned, the lieutenant governor said it was illogical and particularly offensive as a sandy victim herself. >> peter, it is interesting. the governor is not exactly hiding. i guess you could argue he kind of is hiding and kind of not. he went to florida toe raise money for the republican governor there, rick scott. nobody really saw him. i do have word that he was greeted warmly by republican supporters. they say this story has added to the interest in chris christie frankly in the financial class of the republican party. there were a number of fund-raisers in florida. most were for the re-election campaign of governor rick scott. christie is the chairman of the republican governor's association. if you talk to people, he sai

erin mcpike has more. >> reporter: howard county police identified 19-year-old darion marcus aguilar as the shooter in the latest outbreak of gun violence to shock the country. armed with a shotgun and what police say was a lot of ammunition, he terrorized maryland's columbia mall, taking two other young lives before his own. 27-year-old chris came face to face with the gunman and described the scene but did not want to be identified. >> he shot her. then maybe not even ten seconds later i heard the second gunshot. i basically scrambled out of the store on my hands and knees right by the male employee who was down on the ground, still alive. >> reporter: those two victims are 21-year-old brianna benlolo and 25-year-old tyler johnson. aguilar fired six to eight shots, investigators said, killing them both. police still haven't pinned down a possible motive, though they say aguilar lived in the same neighborhood as benlolo. they raided aguilar's home. >> he does express general unhappiness with his life. we have no known relationship between the victims and our shooters. >> reporter: a