Tracing Jared Loughner's Steps; Inside Loughner's Mind
COSTELLO: Authorities in Arizona are now interviewing a teenager who found a black bag believed to have belonged to the suspect in the Arizona shootings, the Tucson shootings, Jared Loughner. Susan Candiotti has been following the developments in Arizona. And, Susan, they're interviewing this teenager and we also know more about this black backpack-type bag.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): That's right, Carol. Good morning. You know, there's no early indication that this young man had any connection at all to the suspect, but he is the one who was walking his dog yesterday that we told you about in a dry river bed in the neighborhood where the suspect lives, and he came across this black bag, according to police. Police say that when the young man picked up the bag, he took it over to some Quest Communication workers in the neighborhood and he said, hey, he told them, I found this bag and it's got ammunition in it. And the workers said, well, you've got to call the police and you shouldn't be touching it. But he said I don't want to call them because I've got some warrants out on me. So the Quest workers then called the police. They came right away and, of course, you saw all the pictures that we took yesterday as the FBI, the ATF, the sheriff's office, et cetera combed the area for additional evidence. And the bag, of course, was immediately retrieved and is being tested for DNA and fingerprints to get a 100 percent positive link the suspect. However, authorities do believe that it did belong to Jared. And, Carol, we have some additional detail about what was inside the bag. Police now telling us it contained seven boxes, seven boxes of ammunition along with a receipt for the bag itself. So, of course, with very no idea why the suspect left the bag there, what his intentions were. If he meant to come back for it or simply leave it there police at this time do not know.</s>COSTELLO: Do we know more of a timeline as to exactly when he checked into that hotel and when he left his parents' house? And he arrived by taxi at the Safeway, do we have any better idea of his actions on that morning?</s>CANDIOTTI: We do. A lot of that information is coming together now, and the police will be releasing a more detailed timeline. But we know a lot already. We know, for example, it was late the night before that police say that the suspect checked into a Motel 6 that's very close to his house. He checked in, he had to show an ID, he used a credit card. He -- they have no security camera at that motel, but they do know that the door, they know this from the electronic , that the door opened and closed opened and closed several times. They don't know why. When he left the hotel early in the morning, we know that would have been around just before 7:30 in the morning, he did not check out. He left, and that is when he drove by car, his own car, and got stopped very close by in an intersection for running a red light, was pulled over by, remember, the officers -- the officer from the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and they let him go with a verbal warning. Then he went home. That's when his father confronted him about the black bag, didn't know what was in it. The suspect left by foot, son left by foot. Dad took off after him I his car, but couldn't find him and suspected that he was somewhere out in the desert. In fact, he was a short distance from the house at this dry river bed where police say -- believe he left the black bag. And then he left from there and went to a Circle k convenience store where he called a Yellow Cab and then took that cab to the Safeway. So he left the motel around 7:30 or so, got home, they believe, about a half hour after that around 8:00 a.m., left there, made his way to the cab -- to, rather, the Circle K, called the cab, and took that short ride over to the Safeway.</s>COSTELLO: Interesting.</s>CANDIOTTI: And we know the shooting happened at about 11:00 a.m.</s>COSTELLO: Very interesting. Susan Candiotti, great work. We'll get back to you if you have more. Thank you. Jared Loughner's alleged actions outside a Tucson Safeway last weekend may have been influenced by conscious dreaming, or as some call it, lucid dreaming. Is this just product of an unbalanced mind? We asked CNN's Randi Kaye to look into it.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the months before the shooting, Jared Loughner appears especially disturbed. His world was getting darker, his questions stranger. (on camera): Chartroom postings published by "The Wall Street Journal" offer insight into Loughner's growing disappointment and resentment, a window into his state of mind. "The Journal" says Loughner, using a pseudonym, posted more than 130 messages last spring over a two month period on an online gaming forum. He seemed to be dealing with feelings of rejection and searching for a purpose. (voice-over): CNN hasn't been able to confirm independently the postings are Loughner's, but they are filled with aggression, many of them too startling to comprehend. April 24th, last year, he asked, "Would you hit a handy cap child/adult?" Later that same day, a hate filled rant titled, "Why rape" suggesting college women enjoyed rape. "There are rape victims that are under the influence of a substance. The drinking is leading them to it rape...being alone for a very long time will inevitably lead you to rape." May 9th, he asked, "Does anyone have aggression 24/7?" The next night, a new online thread. "If you went to prison right now...what would you be thinking?" He added, "Just curious?" May 20th, he wrote, "I bet you're hungry...because I know how to cut a body open and eat you for you more than a week." If Loughner was looking to escape his demons and reality, too, he may have done so through something called lucid dreaming, an alternative reality in which a person is aware he's in a dream and can manipulate that dream. Psychology professor Gary Schwartz has studied lucid dreams. (on camera): Can lucid dreaming be dangerous?</s>PROF. GARY SCHWARTZ, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: For someone who might be mentally ill, it could become very dangerous, especially if they were obsessed with it.</s>KAYE (voice-over): And friends say Loughner was obsessed with lucid dreaming. One friend, Zane Gutierrez , told "The New York Times," "Jared felt nothing existed but his subconscious...the dream word was what was real to Jared, not the day-to-day of our lives." Another friend, Bryce Tierney , told the online publication "Mother Jones" that Loughner viewed dreams as his alternative reality. Tierney said Loughner even kept a dream journal. "That's the golden piece of evidence," Tierney said, "You want it know what goes on in Jared Loughner's mind, there's a dream journal that will tell you everything." Strange ramblings apparently posted on YouTube by Loughner just within the last month or so paint the picture of a young man apparently losing his grip on reality. On December 15th, Loughner wrote about lucid creaming. "My favorite activity is conscience dreaming...some of you don't dream...sadly." He later wrote, "The population of dreamers in the United States is less than 5 percent." Also, "Jared Loughner is conscious dreaming at this moment. Thus, Jared Loughner is asleep." (on camera): Loughner's focus on dreaming has some experts wondering if he could no longer tell the difference between dreams and reality. If so, is it possible he was dreaming when he allegedly shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and all those other people?</s>SCHWARTZ: It is conceivable from what we know about his history that he was -- he could have been confusing when he was in a dream and when he wasn't in a dream. And so, we have to be open to that possibility.</s>KAYE (voice-over): Loughner's friend Bryce Tierney also told "Mother Jones" that Loughner had become convinced he could control his dreams. He said he told friends, "I'm so into it because I can create things and fly. I'm everything I'm not in this world." Professor Schwartz says it seems Loughner enjoyed his dream world more than his daily life.</s>SCHWARTZ: He was able to fulfill things in his fantasy that he couldn't do in reality. He's someone who was abusing this capability and under those circumstances, it could be very dangerous.</s>KAYE: Dangerous indeed. And even if what happened was part of some dream for Jared Loughner, it was a terrifying reality for this community. Randi Kaye, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.</s>COSTELLO: Looks like the end of the road for Michael Steele. We'll go live to the RNC meeting as the party gets ready to pick a new leader.