Oregon Gunman's Father Talks to CNN.
PEREIRA: A community in Roseburg, Oregon, is left with so many questions about why a gunman stormed a college campus and opened fire, killing nine people. Among those left wondering why this happened, the gunman's father. Our Ryan Young spoke to him exclusively and joins us now from Roseburg, Oregon, with that conversation. I'm sure it was a difficult one.</s>RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very difficult. You know, obviously, it's one of the toughest pars of our job when we go to someone's door and knock on it, especially in a situation like this. And you can really feel the father's pain. He's searching for answers himself. But he kept stressing over and over to us, he really wanted to reach out to the families who are involved in this. He talked to us for about 25 minutes, 5 of the minutes on camera. You can really feel his pain in terms of how he wanted to move forward, how he wanted to ask questions about how his son could even have all the guns that he ended up having.</s>IAN MERCER, OREGON GUNMAN'S FATHER: How on earth could he compile 13 guns? How can that happen? You know? They talk about gun laws. They talk about gun control. Every time something like this happens, they talk about it and nothing is done. I'm not trying to say that is the blame for what happened but if Chris had not been able to get a hold of 13 guns, it wouldn't have happened.</s>YOUNG: Did you know he had 13 guns?</s>MERCER: I had no idea he had any guns. I had no idea that he had any guns whatsoever. And I'm a great believer that you don't buy guns -- don't buy guns, you don't buy guns.</s>YOUNG: So, even you, you want changes? You want the gun laws to change?</s>MERCER: It has to change. It has to change. How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, you know, what right do you have to take people's lives? That's what guns are, the killers, as simple as that. Simple as that. It's black and white. What do you want a gun for?</s>YOUNG: A lot of people talk about his mental make-up. Police will dig into that. What do you understand about his mental make-up?</s>MERCER: I'm going to let the police follow through with all the investigations on that. You know, whatever they determine is something they're going to find through their investigations. I don't have any comment to make on his mental state, obviously, somebody goes and kills nine people has to have some kind of issue. He's my son. He's my son, you know? There isn't any kind of disharmony or bitterness or anything like that between him and I. When he was down here, we saw each other, went for dinner and did things that sons and dads do, you know, just talk and -- he lived with his mother the whole time. He didn't come and live with me at all. So, we had a harmonious relationship.</s>PEREIRA: So, Ryan, you mentioned that you spoke to him at length off camera. Did he talk any more about any troubling signs that he had seen in his son?</s>YOUNG: You know, none that he wanted to mention. He kept stressing to us over and over again, at first he only wanted to answer a few questions. He ended up going so forthcoming. So, we kept kind of going with the interview. One of the things he talked about was he wanted police to be able to do their investigation. He said he had no problems with this. And you heard that on the last part of the interview. So, he had really no idea that this was even ever a possibility. He understands now that a lot of people are going to view his son as a monster.</s>PEREIRA: That's the part for him that's so hard, I'm sure. Obviously, this was a child that -- he mentioned it, his parents were divorced, correct?</s>YOUNG: Yes.</s>PEREIRA: When was the last time he saw his son? Did he talk about that?</s>YOUNG: He said the last time was before his family moved here to Oregon was the last time he saw his son. He said, look, he had no issues with him. So, you know, you kind of want to ask those questions, you want to psychoanalyze the situation, but he really had no way to provide us with extra information in terms of why his son may have turned this way. I mean, look, he said he didn't know he had the 13 guns. That was the thing that blew us all away. He's calling for gun control. So, that was something that kind of astounded all of us during the interview.</s>PEREIRA: Ryan Young, thank you so much. I mean, that's the thing. He joins a horrible group of people whose parents -- parents of people who have committed these kinds of mass shootings and they struggle to understand why their own child could perpetrate such a horrendous act.</s>CAMEROTA: Right. Well, this is what is ultimately so unsatisfying. I mean, I applaud him for speaking out. We always want to hear from the family. How could this have happened? What did you see?</s>PEREIRA: What did you miss?</s>CAMEROTA: What ends up being unsatisfying is there is no answer. Often when you ask the parents, they didn't see it coming. They didn't know that there was this history of violence. I mean, he was estranged, not from his son but he hadn't seen him for over a year. But still, no sign. You always want them to put the puzzle pieces together and he couldn't put the pieces together.</s>CUOMO: No sign he wants to talk about. The push back on this man, this family is going to be you are the people we're looking for accountability. Where were you in this guy's life? There's no way he spontaneously combusted.</s>PEREIRA: But should parents be held responsible for their adult children's actions?</s>CUOMO: Well, first of all, he's an adult. Legally no.</s>PEREIRA: Yes, 26 years old.</s>CUOMO: It's not going to happen unless he is a judge to --</s>PEREIRA: You're going to bear that.</s>CUOMO: Right. And many will say you should, because somebody knows about what was going on with this guy.</s>PEREIRA: There were signs. There had to have been.</s>CUOMO: That's going to be a big factor here. Hearing it from this man, it made sense. But many people will say, well, you're not the person who make that case because you were the one who was supposed to help control this guy in the first place.</s>CAMEROTA: Well, sure. I mean, where else do we go for any answers about him? Anyway, we'll be talking a lot about this throughout the program. We have a lot of news to get to this morning. So, let's get right to it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The state of emergency for the city of Columbia.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just don't be stupid. Don't try to drive through flooded areas.</s>CUOMO: Hundreds of saves in deadly rushing water.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best thing is that we still have our lives. We still have our lives.</s>CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton proposing new gun control measures overnight.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shot the professor and just started shooting everybody.</s>YOUNG: Did you know he had 13 guns?</s>MERCER: I had no idea he had any guns.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Large debris field has been located.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest concern we have not heard from this vessel.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The blame that's to be done is on the hurricane, not the captain.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.</s>CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. We do begin with breaking news in South Carolina. The flood ravaged state gets even more rain. First responders fighting the historic high water levels this morning to rescue people who need to be evacuated. Hundreds of daring water rescues already carried out over the weekend.</s>CUOMO: Governor Nikki Haley is calling the flood a thousand- year event. That's about chance of happening, not historical context. Take a look at the streets and roadways. They've already had at least five fatalities. We don't know the number and it's likely to rise. And many, many thousands are without power. That's going to get worse as well. The highways in Charleston remain closed and with good reason. Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Nick Valencia, live in Columbia. The situation there now?</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Just within the last hour, the curfew, that 12-hour curfew here for the city of Columbia has lifted, but the rain has not let up. It's almost as if the storm is just lurking over the state of South Carolina.