Four Wounded in Cleveland School Shooting Rampage; Authorities Investigate Mystery at Sea
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news tonight in a story that erupted today, a school, teenager, terror, and tears. New details emerging about what really happened in Cleveland, as we dig deeper tonight into what turned a young man into a gunman bent on murder. We're expecting 911 tapes of the incident any moment now. We are going to bring them to you as soon as they come in. Also tonight, that mystery at sea. The feds take legal aim today at two men who say they survived a pirate attack that left four people dead. The police are not buying piracy. They are charging the survivors. But the mystery remains. 360 investigates. And later, you won't see this anywhere else. Take a look.</s>COOPER: The world premiere of a song by REM and a talk with front man Michael Stipe, all part of our upcoming documentary "Planet in Peril." We begin, though, with the grim picture now developing in Cleveland of an apparently very troubled teenager, Asa Coon, who showed up at school dressed in black with a pistol in each hand. Authorities say he took his own life, but not before taking aim and hitting teachers, as well as students, wounding four. Tonight, we are going to be looking at school violence in depth. Every time these incidents occur, the same questions get asked. So, we went and talked to one former school shooter who is now in prison about what he did and why. We will have that conversation ahead. But, first, the latest on the attack today and the chilling words that every student learns to dread: code blue. Those words rang out today in a Cleveland school as a shooter stalked the halls.</s>SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon, SuccessTech Academy was under a code blue alert. The school was under attack from a 14-year-old student. Witnesses say Asa Coon was dressed in black with a gun in each hand when he opened fire, wounding two adults and two students. One of the victims says he was hit in the elbow as he was walking to class.</s>DARNELL RODGERS, SHOOTING VICTIM: It look took me like a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot. When I felt like my arm burning or whatever, that's when I realized that I had got shot.</s>ROESGEN: But as it is with most shootings, the story did not begin with the gunfire. There were warning signs. Coon had past troubles with the law. The police say he had pleaded guilty last year to domestic violence. And, earlier this week, he was suspended for school for fighting with another student. Coon apparently talked to one of his friends about his plans to attack the school.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, if he would shoot up the school, he would let me and some other dude he knew go and all that. But I -- I didn't think he actually meant it. I thought he was just kidding around.</s>ROESGEN: Cleveland television station WOIO reports that police were at Coon's home Tuesday to arrest his brother, who is on probation for carrying a gun. Shortly after Coon opened fire today, police rushed to the school, getting there at about 15 minutes past 1:00. Inside, students were still hiding in closets and under desks, many afraid they could be hit next. Parents describe the chaos.</s>DEBBIE, PARENT: All the kids were upset. They were screaming and yelling because they didn't know what was going on, but they did hear the shots, and they did not know what had happened. All they know is that someone was in the school with a gun.</s>ROESGEN: Officers surrounded the building, guns drawn, prepared to confront the shooter. But there was no battle. Coon had taken his own life, shooting himself once in the head, apparently after watching the police close in from a classroom window.</s>MICHAEL MCGRATH, CLEVELAND POLICE CHIEF: That very possibly could be; he could see the police officers showing up, and, at that point, he -- he took his own life.</s>ROESGEN: The police later found a box of ammunition and three knives near Coon's body.</s>COOPER: Susan Roesgen joins us live now from the scene now. Susan, how did he get the guns inside the school? Were there metal detectors?</s>ROESGEN: Well, you know, Anderson, we found out tonight that this school system has roving metal detectors. Administrators just sort of move these metal detectors around to whichever school they think might need one that particular day or that particular week. And, at this school today, there were no metal detectors. But what the police told us tonight that they do have, Anderson, is videotape taken inside the school by security cameras that they say will show exactly where Asa Coon got into the school and where he moved around, what his path was when he was blasting away.</s>COOPER: Susan, there's -- there's also a remarkable interview I read with one student, Rasheem Smith, 15 years old, who was apparently in the bathroom with Asa Coon as he was removing his slacks. I guess he -- he showed up in one getup and then went into a bathroom in the school, changed into a Marilyn Manson T-shirt and black pants. But this student actually saw him loading a gun in the bathroom, and left the bathroom, and didn't tell anybody.</s>ROESGEN: You know, I read that same blog, Anderson. And we have not been able to confirm it with the police. But, apparently, that student said that he just didn't feel like telling anybody because he was afraid that he would be shot. Then he said, he went on to the school lunchroom, was eating lunch, and heard what sounded like a shot, but thought maybe it was just a book dropping. So, not quite sure why this student didn't alert someone. But, again, that hasn't yet been confirmed by the Cleveland police.</s>COOPER: Do we know, too, the -- the full background? And I know, you know, reporters are swarming all -- swarming all over this. We are going to talk to one reporter who's been in Asa Coon's neighborhood, as well as we are going to talk to the police in just a moment. But do we know much about -- I mean, there were apparently a history of threats in the last several days. Do we know the -- sort of the timeline on that?</s>ROESGEN: You know, no, we don't know exactly, Anderson. But we do know there was this domestic violence incident. And then he was suspended because of a fight on Monday. And he was not supposed to be in class today or tomorrow, according to the mayor here in Cleveland. So, apparently, this was a troubled kid. What he was doing in class and why somebody didn't say, hey, you're not supposed to be here, what are you doing here, why no one stopped him, we don't know the answer to that yet either.</s>COOPER: All right, Susan, appreciate the reporting. Thanks. As we mentioned, reporters have been working all day to flesh out the picture of Asa Coon's home life. It does not seem like a very pretty picture, what we have learned thus far. In a moment, we are going to speak With Matt Stevens of CNN affiliate WOIO in Cleveland. He was in the shooter's neighborhood today, as well as at his house. First, though, a bit of reaction from neighbors.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a good person. He never -- I don't know why he did what he did. Couldn't tell you. Pushed too far, that's all I could think of. You get pushed and pushed and pushed, and, sometimes, you go over the edge.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joel, why did he do this?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I ain't justifying nothing. I ain't saying he did the right thing. But I'm saying, he got pushed for a long time, and asked them people to help, help, help, help. And nobody helped.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who did he ask for help?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I'm standing here. I ain't saying that. I'm just saying I know him as a person.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the guns, Joe? Do you know where he got the guns?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's what I just said to him. I would like to know where the hell them guns come from, because that boy should have never had access to...</s>COOPER: Well, what we are hearing from police is there were actually guns in the home that the police saw days before this incident. We are going to talk to the police about that in just a moment. Matt Stevens is with us now, a reporter who has been canvassing the neighborhood. What -- Matt, what do we know about the shooter tonight that we didn't know a couple hours ago?</s>MATT STEVENS, WOIO REPORTER: Well, Anderson, we have been told by police sources that he ran with a gang called the Denison Boys (ph). Cleveland has a gang culture, not the kind of culture that you would find in a Los Angeles or a New York or even Chicago. But it's definitely there. And we understand that -- that this has been some -- some bone of contention between this family and law enforcement for some time. He also has an older brother, an 18-year-old brother, who has been in and out of jail. And neighbors tell us that he has been known to carry guns. In fact, two nights ago, there was an incident where two teenage girls who had been having a feud with the boy's older sister, 15-year- old sister, for some two years now saw her on her porch. She yelled something at them. This was a couple of nights ago. The older brother came out and actually fired a shot at them. They called the police. The police came to that scene and arrested the older brother. But we have been told that no search warrant was obtained to go into the house to try to get the guns. And, so, there's going to be some questions that have to be answered by the Cleveland Police Department this week as to why they didn't pursue a search warrant to try to get into that house. And maybe -- maybe, if they had, the questions will be asked, you know, this kid would not have had anything to go to school with today.</s>COOPER: We were just putting up a picture of Asa's older brother, Steven (ph), which is the only picture that we -- we have of him. He recently just got out of jail, as you mentioned. At this point, do we know much about Asa's criminal record? Because I understand he did some time in a juvenile facility.</s>STEVENS: Yes. I think, as Susan mentioned earlier, he had a history of run-ins with authorities. But he had only gone to court for one thing, and that was a domestic violence incident, I believe, involving his mother, we have been told by sources. And, so, he had been in and out of court. He had been on probation. He had been on home monitoring. But, in the most recent times, he had not been on any kind of monitoring or any kind of probation. But there certainly was a history. And, of course, as we said, he was definitely, according to police sources, running with this gang, the Denison Boys (ph). And, in fact, we have been told by sources that -- that he and his older brother were the -- were the targets of a drive-by shooting about a week ago. And they were still investigating that when this happened.</s>COOPER: We heard from two neighbors just before we talked to you who talked about him being pushed too far. I'm not sure how reliable those neighbors are. But any sense of what he was being pushed about, if that, in fact, is true? And if that -- did that have anything to do with what happened in the school today?</s>STEVENS: Well, those friends of the family who talked to us, you know, intimated that he was having some trouble at school, and perhaps because of his appearance -- I understand that he was -- he was short and a little heavy -- that he was being ridiculed at school and -- and for various reasons. Whether that is -- that could possibly be true, and so -- and have nothing to do with the rest of his life, we just don't know at this point whether anything that was going on outside of school had anything to do with what happened today. We have still got to put those pieces together.</s>COOPER: Yes. That's always the case. Matt Stevens of CNN affiliate WOIO -- Matt, I appreciate it in Cleveland. Thanks so much. Just a short time ago, Cleveland's police chief spoke to the media about some of what they are working with. Let's listen.</s>MCGRATH: We have the tapes, camera tapes, from the building. We will review them. And, until we review them, I can't give you a specific answer on that. We don't know how long he was in that particular building. We did search his locker. And there was nothing in his locker pertaining to this incident.</s>COOPER: Joining me now is Cleveland police spokesman Thomas Stacho. Appreciate you being with us. At the press conference today, the police chief said that he believed Coon was targeting specific teachers in the building, that -- that this was really not a random shooting. Do we know more about this, why he was targeting the people he did?</s>THOMAS STACHO, SPOKESPERSON, CLEVELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT: We don't know for sure. That's part of our investigation. What we know is what we have been told by some of the witnesses, some of the -- the parties that were inside the building as the shooting occurred. The information that they told us is that he made some comments about specific teachers before he shot one, and inquired about another one, who he did not find. So, it's based on that information. Of course, it's very early in our investigation. So, we won't know all the answers for quite some time, but we are working towards that.</s>COOPER: And I know there are things you can't say that you might know, so I don't want to put you too much on the spot. But there's a report out there that there was a sophomore, Rasheem Smith, 15 years old, who saw Asa Coon in the bathroom changing and loading a gun, left the bathroom, didn't tell anybody. Can you confirm that?</s>STACHO: I can't confirm that. I have been told that by some of the local media here, some of the national media that's on scene. I -- I don't know that. I know that some of the facts that were given to me at least from the media are incorrect. Some of the information that he said or that's been attributed to him was incorrect. So, I don't know that that's true. Certainly, if it is, we would like to have that information. And -- and we are looking to interview any party with any information about this shooting.</s>COOPER: As we just heard from affiliate reporter Matt Stevens, Cleveland police were at Asa Coon's residence on Monday investigating an incident where Coon's brother allegedly shot at some -- some girls. Police reportedly saw weapons at the house, didn't have a warrant, and could not remove them. Do you -- A, do you know more about that incident, what kind of weapons they saw? And was any -- were any of those weapons involved in today's shooting?</s>STACHO: You know, I -- I don't have any information about that at all. I know that -- that Matt Stevens said that we arrested him two nights ago. I went through our records just before I came out here, and I don't show any record of him being arrested. Now, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. But I couldn't find anything to -- to -- to support that.</s>COOPER: OK.</s>STACHO: But it is something that we will look into. We know there's been a long history of criminality involving that household. And, certainly, we are curious, we are interested in finding out where those guns came from. We are working with the local ATF to determine where those guns came from.</s>COOPER: You say a long history of criminality involving the household. Is that involving just Asa and his brother, or parents as well?</s>STACHO: Primarily Asa's brother, a little bit on Asa's part, but primarily Asa's brother, a long history of arrests and run-ins with the law.</s>COOPER: And Asa was arrested last year for -- for what was called a domestic violence incident. Can you tell us anything more about that?</s>STACHO: I don't have the specifics on it. I know it was January of 2006. He's under court supervision as a result. I talked to the spokesperson from juvenile court. He was being monitored. I don't know if he was at the time of the shooting or if he's been taken off of that -- that monitor.</s>COOPER: There was an incident, an altercation the other day between Asa and another student. Both were suspended from the school. Do you know the details of that?</s>STACHO: Apparently some altercation outside the school. It was broken up by some security here for the Cleveland Municipal School District. Both the parties were suspended. It's believed that some part of the discipline led to the shooting today, and maybe the teachers had some hand in -- in giving some information related to that discipline, though it's very preliminary.</s>COOPER: Mr. Stacho, Thomas Stacho, Cleveland police spokesman, I appreciate you telling us what you can. Thank you very much.</s>STACHO: Thank you.</s>COOPER: Just moments ago, we got our first portion of the 911 tapes from this incident. Let's listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. A student with the gun at SuccessTech Academy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he threatening somebody with it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shot the gun?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many shots did he fire?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many shots did he fire? It was two or three.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see him?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's like 5'5'', white.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: White male, about 5'5''?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know his name?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His name is Asa, Asa Coon.</s>COOPER: Well, that is the first of the tapes we get. We anticipate several more. There are also tapes from inside the school. It's unlikely we will be seeing those anytime soon, not that probably we would even want to at this point. Shortly after the shooting, one parent that said SuccessTech is the last place -- that's the name of the school -- is the last place that anyone would have expected to see this kind of violence. The school, in fact, has been a shining star for the city of Cleveland. Here's the "Raw Data" on it. SuccessTech gives young people living in poverty a chance to learn business skills. Its teachers are teamed up with local business owners. Now, in the past five years the school has been open, class enrollment risen from 79 students to 240, and the academy's graduation rate is 94 percent, which is far above the school district's rate of just 55 percent. We have a lot more on this ahead and the motivations of this school shooter and others. This young man, Evan Ramsey, was 16 when he shot a student and his principal to death in '97. What was going through his mind as he rode the school bus with a gun? We will talk to him in prison tonight. Also, these stories:</s>COOPER (voice-over): Six went to sea. Only two returned, telling a story of piracy and murder. Now a different story is emerging about them.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do think of him as a violent man. And he's capable of anything.</s>COOPER: The clues, the alleged crime, solving a mystery that could land two survivors on death row. Later, a stirring plea for a planet in peril.</s>COOPER: REM sounds the call. And you will hear it first only on 360.