New Developments in the Sandy Hook Shooting; George Zimmerman's Brother Speaks Out on Social Media
KAREN LEWIS, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO TEACHER'S UNION: And when you close schools primarily on the south and west sides, that the children who will be affected are black. Let's not pretend that that's not racist.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The schools are being shuttered in an effort to close a $1 billion budget gap. Breaking news to tell you about. We're learning more about what led to the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. New documents just released by the court this hour, are giving us hints at what motivated Adam Lanza to murder 27 children and teachers. CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti following the story from New York. What can you tell us?</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. It's really unclear what the motive is. That remains a mystery at this time. But we are learning additional and you might describe as very disturbing and shocking new details about exactly what was found during searches of Adam Lanza's home. Now, some of this information may be difficult to hear for some people. We do want to tell you, first of all, that the families of the Newtown shooting victims have been informed already about what I'm about to tell you. Among other things we're learning is a -- a detail about Adam Lanza's mother, that he shot her as we all know, before made his way to Sandy Hook Elementary School. The new detail we have is that she was found with a gunshot, a single gunshot to her forehead. Her body as we previously reported was found lying on her bed. In the master bedroom. We also learned this from a cooperating witness, whose name is being withheld at this time, and he told authorities this. Very early on, said that he was -- that Adam lanza, the shooter here, an avid gamer, the game he liked to play was called "Call of Duty." Said that Lanza rarely left his home, that he was considered a shut-in and that he a safe in his bedroom and in fact, we have documentation that confirms he had a gun safe in his bedroom that contained at least four guns. Several guns that we're finding out about now, and in the words of this cooperating witness, Sandy Hook, quote, "was Adam Lanza's life." And Sandy Hook Elementary, of course, is where he took the lives of 20 children and 6 teachers at that school. Now, additional information, we are learning that they found in the house mainly in his bedroom, but in other places as well, newspaper clippings, personal notes, memoirs, drawings, some subscriptions and prescriptions pertaining to Adam Lanza. We know that authorities have been looking at exactly what drugs he may have been taking or at least what he had been prescribed. Again, that gun safe. We are finding out he had a shoe box in his bedroom filled with bullets and magazines, bags of ammunition, ear protection. He had a rifle, he had a .12-gauge shotgun, that they discovered, a BB gun. The .12-gauge shotgun, by the way, contained two magazines with 70 rounds of bullets. Three samurai swords and additional information is that -- that they are finding all kinds of paper targets. So a lot of information that we've learned in addition, some of which we had known previously. In addition, they also found a photograph, that is described as a digital image of a child holding various firearms. Now, according to a news report in the "New York Daily News" very recently, that child was identified as Adam Lanza. A photograph, reportedly taken about two years ago, him posing with various firearms. So we're trying to piece all of this together. We are certainly not done by any means in going through all of these documents. Suffice it to say, a lot of ammunition found, a lot of knives found, bullets found, we're trying to add all of this up for you. Does it mean we have more of an indication about a motive here? Not at this time. The last time I spoke with police, their investigation is ongoing, they don't expect to have a final report on this, Carol, until June. And they said they hope to pin down a specific motive by then.</s>COSTELLO: The thing that immediately jumps to mind if Adam Lanza had a gun safe in his room and all of these guns and ammunition, why was he allowed to possess such things if he was such a troubled young man?</s>CANDIOTTI: That is the question we've been asking from day one. And that is what did his mother know? When did she know it? Was anyone else aware of this? Now, this cooperating witness appears to have had knowledge, because according to these documents now released, this person told authorities about the gun safe, and about -- that he was an avid gamer and this kind of thing. How many people knew about this? They are protecting the name of this individual for good reason, police say. They want to protect him, his safety, they don't want his name to come out at this time, so they are not releasing it. But, of course, it raises the question about what did family, what did friends, what did neighbors, did anyone have any clue about all of this? We certainly know from our investigation early on that we have been looking into, our sources have told us and the ATF has told us as well. That Adam Lanza and his mother were known to have gone to gun ranges. They've got documentation and interviews of witnesses that confirm that. So we know that they would go to gun ranges, so obviously his mom was aware that her son had these guns. From what we're looking at so far in adding up with the help of the people who are helping me here, we're counting at least 1,400 rounds of ammunition that were discovered in that house. 1,400 rounds, and all of these weapons. In a safe and apparently elsewhere. Shoe boxes, bags, you know, in various parts of the house, presumably a lot of this in his bedroom. We know he spent a lot of time in a basement in that house that you're taking a look at right now. It certainly raises more questions about who knew what and when about this, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: You're not kidding. You are poring through the new documents. You will join us in the next hour of NEWSROOM, fascinating information, disturbing information. Susan Candiotti live from New York. An explosive debate on PIERS MORGAN LIVE over a tweet. It was written by George Zimmerman's brother Robert, and it had everything to do with Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager shot and killed by George Zimmerman, Robert's brother. Here is Robert's tweet. He says, "A picture is worth 1,000 words." That caption headlining side by side photos of Trayvon Martin and a 17-year-old boy accused of killing a baby in Georgia. And you can see in the images, both teenagers are giving the middle finger. Of course, one of them is accused of murder, the 17-year-old. The other is dead, Trayvon Martin. His shooter, George Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder. Needless to day, this has caused outrage. Robert Zimmerman Jr. now says his tweet was a mistake but meant to make a larger point about how the media portrays Trayvon Martin.</s>ROBERT ZIMMERMAN JR., BROTHER OF GEORGE ZIMMERMENT: I made a tweet about, here are two individuals of two individuals. One accused of a crime, one who in our minds would have gotten away with a crime had my brother not saved his life. The social media accounts of Trayvon Martin, the way he chose to portrayed himself, before he was a household name, are irrelevant. Things about Trayvon Martin like marijuana pipes allegedly, thing that we know now in evidence have come out, are irrelevant.</s>COSTELLO: If you ask George Zimmerman's attorney, Robert did his brother no favors. Listen.</s>MARK O'MARA, ATTORNEY FOR GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: I have always said for the past year that we have to have a conversation about race, and the Zimmerman case has brought to forefront particularly the way young black males are treated in the system. These types of tweets, these - types of comments were insensitive to that, and quite honestly are the opposite of what I hope the conversation would be to try and figure out what's wrong with the system and maybe a good way to fix it. The only real connection we know about is that they are black and they have middle fingers, not a connection to make in the very, very serious conversation that we should be having and brought about by this case.</s>COSTELLO: In other words, he is saying we need a broader conversation, but certainly not like this. Joining us today, CNN contributor and senior writer for ESPN, L.Z. Granderson, along with CNN contributor and analyst for "The Blaze," Will Cain. Welcome to both of you.</s>WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.</s>L.Z. GRANDERSON CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Morning, Carol./</s>COSTELLO: I know it's a tough topic this morning, but it was just so outrageous that tweet. George Zimmerman's attorney says you can't judge a man's heart though, by his tweet. He's just trying to help his brother. Is that what this is, L.Z.?</s>GRANDERSON: I think so. I think he's trying to say anything he can to make his brother look better. The fact of the matter is that blaming the media for what happened is really not helpful. In fact, it's just false and misleading. We have the 911 tapes. We saw what happened in terms of development, with the police telling his brother not to follow Trayvon, not to get out of the car. We hear the 911 tapes with him saying these bleeps get away with things all the time. And so, trying to parade (ph) his brother as some sort of victim in all of this doesn't help anything at all.</s>COSTELLO: And, Will, Robert Zimmerman also sent out a separate tweet. And I'll read it to you. It said, "Liberal media should ask if what black two teens did to a woman and baby is the reason people think blacks might be risky." That's not really helpful either, is it?</s>CAIN: No, it's not helpful. And here's the reason, I'm getting a little bit of feedback, Carol, so forgive me if I get stumble here. It is that there is always an attempt - there has been a consistent attempt to turn the Zimmerman trial into a larger narrative. Whether that narrative is about the media, whether it's about race and race relations in this country. When -- what gets lost is the events of that night. Do I think the media did play a role in confusing the public about what did happen that night? I do. I don't think we know. But I think that from the beginning of this case, this trial, this incident has been treated with a series of conclusions in the media. I was here. I was here for part of many of the conversations, and the conclusions were that George Zimmerman was a white Hispanic who said, as L.Z. just said, used a derogatory term about blacks, which is a claim that has been dropped. That he didn't drop his pursuit of Trayvon Martin. That Trayvon was in junior high and George Zimmerman didn't have injuries. All of these things over the past year have been disproven and the media ran with conclusions in the beginning, when the media's job is to ask questions and to stand up to the conclusions of groups. And that works no matter who the race. The Central Park Five was an example of the working in reverse. Where the media crucified a group of five African American teenagers and nobody stood up in the media to ask questions. The role of the media now is to ask questions and avoid conclusions.</s>COSTELLO: Well, along -- go ahead,</s>L.Z. GRANDERSON: I just need to put out to Will (ph) is that I wasn't referring to a racial slur that had been dropped, but there still was is a derogatory word that was hurled (ph) in his way in a groupie (ph) sense. That has not been disputed. That actually was true, and as far as Will is saying what the media's role was, if it wasn't for the media, we would never heard this case. Because the parents have been trying to figure out what had happened to their child. The parents are trying to get the 911 tapes that the local police were withholding and if it wasn't for media asking questions and if it wasn't for people pushing, we wouldn't have gotten this far in the conversation. George Zimmerman would not be behind bars.</s>COSTELLO: I will say that the internet is partially to blame for this too. I mean, Robert Zimmerman saying Trayvon Martin has been portrayed as this angel, but online he certainly wasn't in some cases portrayed as anything but a dangerous human being. So it's really hard to perhaps get to the truth to this. Blaming the media is the easy way out.</s>CAIN: No, it's not the easy way out. But I think that L.Z. and I have been having this debate for a year now and I think we're getting at a central question which has nothing to do with the Zimmerman case. What is the role of the media. The two of us, we have purported two separate answers for that. L.Z. is suggesting the role of the media is to push for answers when no one else is asking. That's a legitimate role. If a case is going unrecognized, unknown, the media's job is to shine a light on something and say this needs some attention, this needs some truth exposed. What I'm telling you, the media also has a role in standing up against the conclusions of mobs, and I can look throughout history and come up with example after example, no matter who the race, no matter what the race of the victim and say that is a very, noble and important purpose of the media and one completely avoided and treated with dereliction in the Zimmerman case. Treated with conclusions, not questions.</s>COSTELLO: Okay, L.Z., please wrap this up quickly. I'm running out of time.</s>GRANDERS: I was going to add that the media as a concept is much larger than what Will is describing. There's certainly (ph) the news generators (ph) whose job is it to report strictly the news. We're part of the media as well, Will and I, and right now we're not in a news position, in a pundit position. And there are bloggers and news reporters and the notion of the media, including social media is much broader, and so the responsibilities and roles and expectations are much, much broader. My thing to George Zimmerman's brother, is that blaming the media is like chasing clouds. It's too large. You want to focus in on the events that happened. What we know happened is that your brother negated the order from the police confronted Trayvon and Trayvon ended up dead. So then the blame (ph), you can certainly do that through the trial (ph), but there is no disputing the fact that he negated the orders of the police and you can't blame the media for that.</s>COSTELLO: Well, I think - one thing I have to end this here. One thing --</s>CAIN: Well, we don't know that. That is an example of conclusion we do not know.</s>COSTELLO: One thing we all agree on is that Robert Zimmerman probably shouldn't tweeting anything else. The trial is set to start in June. We'll get more answers then. CNN contributors L.Z. Granderson and Will Cain, thank you so much. We're back in a minute.