Oregon Shooting Investigation; Calls for Sheriff to Resign Over "Truther" Videos; Former Sandy Hook Teacher Responds to Oregon Shooting.
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Let's stick with our national lead, the school shooting in Oregon. Years before Douglas County, Oregon Sheriff John Hanlin found himself investigating that school shooting in his own community, he apparently shared a video on his Facebook page. One of those offensive videos based on ludicrous conspiracy theories. This one about Sandy Hook shooting that included 20 small children dead. The post has since been removed from his Facebook page. When CNN asked him about it, Hanlin said he did not post the video but did not provide any further explanation. Let's go now to CNN's Kyung Lah. Does it seem likely that someone else would have posted this on his Facebook page?</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, anything is possible, but most of us know what's on our personal Facebook pages. And this does appear to be his real Facebook page. That's why there are now these calls, Jake, that he step down.</s>JOHN HANLIN, DOUGLAS COUNTY SHERIFF: Good afternoon, everybody. My name is John Hanlin.</s>LAH (voice-over): Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin is the face of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, calling for compassion for his community.</s>HANLIN: These families are currently living through the nightmare in the most personal way possible.</s>LAH: But he did not express that same sympathy for the 20 first graders and their teachers killed at Sandy Hook. On his Facebook page in 2013, he apparently posted a link to this video produced by conspiracy theorists. The viral video calls the victims actors, ludicrously claiming that Sandy Hook is a hoax, cooked by the government to take guns. On his Facebook page this comment about the video, "This makes me wonder who we can trust anymore." The sheriff denied to CNN that he posted the video. (on camera): You didn't post it?</s>HANLIN: No. No. I know what you're referring to, but no. That's not a conspiracy theory belief that I have.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, I'm not buying a word that's coming out of his mouth.</s>LAH: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is demanding the sheriff step down.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy who has just about zero credibility, and we know has extremist points of view is now charged with leading an investigation into this terrible tragedy that's happened in his county and is supposed to come to an unbiased point of view.</s>LAH: The campaign also points to this letter posted on the department's Facebook page that the sheriff sent to Vice President Biden after Sandy Hook saying gun control does not prevent school shootings. The sheriff writes, "Any federal restriction on the Second Amendment shall not be enforced by me or by my deputies," even pledging to stop any federal agents from doing so in his county. Sheriff Hanlin has a history of opposing gun control, speaking here at a public hearing on a proposed bill requiring background checks on private gun sales.</s>HANLIN: This law is not going to protect citizens of Oregon in that it is going to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. It will not do that.</s>LAH: The bill was signed into law this last May. The sheriff has not responded to repeated calls by CNN today -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. Joining me now, Kaitlin Roig-DeBeli. She was a teacher in Newtown, Connecticut, when that gunman blazed through Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. Kaitlin saved her first grade class from the carnage. She has since written a book describing that dark, dark day and her life since. It's called, "Choosing Hope: Moving Forward From Life's Darkest Hours". Kaitlin, thanks so much for joining us and thank you so much for what you did that day.</s>KAITLIN ROIG-DEBELI, FORMER SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER: Thank you for having me. I'm so grateful to be here.</s>TAPPER: What did you first thing when you heard about what happened in Oregon just days before your book was about to come out?</s>ROIG-DEBELI: Unfortunately, the pain is so near and dear. My heart goes out to their community, to the victims, to their families. It's just heartbreaking. I'm so sorry.</s>TAPPER: I -- Sandy Hook has been mentioned in -- obviously a lot in recent days. You lived through that horror. And I have to ask you about these crackpot, nonsense stories out there. I hate to even bring them up, they're so offensive, especially to someone like you who lived through it. But what's your reaction when you hear, there are public officials even out there who have entertained and shared this nonsense. What impact does it have on people like you, survivors?</s>ROIG-DEBELI: They are so offensive, especially to those who lost and were lost. What I have learned is to not give it any attention or a voice. You know, you can't argue with someone who has such a -- you know, unrealistic, awful thought.</s>TAPPER: In Newtown --</s>ROIG-DEBELI: Not to give it any credit.</s>TAPPER: In Newtown, you hid your 15 first graders inside a tiny bathroom to save them from the gunman. You wrote about your will to save those children, very movingly. You wrote, quote, "With the inescapable sounds of carnage happening all around us, my little ones are feeling desperate." At that time you tell a child, quote, "We're going to be OK. I promise." I never make promises I can't keep especially not to children, but this is a matter of life and death. Kaitlin, over the weekend, there were politicians arguing that if teachers had had guns at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, more people may not have died. What's your take on this argument that arming teachers could be a way to save lives?</s>ROIG-DEBELI: You know, first and foremost my expertise is as an educator. So, my background is ensuring and making sure children are successful. And I am so incredibly grateful that gun control and gun sense are being discussed on the platform that they are in our country because they are such crucial issues. But the expertise that I can speak of is making sure that kids are successful.</s>TAPPER: You're no longer teaching. You founded the organization called classes for classes. You try to instruct children about tolerance and teach that there's no room for hate. How open to your ideas are you finding educators?</s>ROIG-DEBELI: Well, first I'm a teacher through and through. I will be a teacher always. That is at the core of everything that I do, and certainly now with a nonprofit organization Classes For Classes that's what I get to do every single day. And the response has been amazing. It has been amazing. We are a tool to actively engage classrooms, kids in learning to care about one another, in learning to be empathetic and compassionate and to learn that in life, we're all connected and the way this is to work is to reach out and make sure others have what they need. And that's exactly what our website is a platform for. It lets kids really shine in all of the amazing things they're doing in correlation with their project.</s>TAPPER: Kaitlin Roig-DeBeli, thank you so much for joining me. Best of luck with the book and with your new mission.</s>ROIG-DEBELI: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.</s>TAPPER: In our world lead today, it's being called a war crime on one side, a tragic accident on the other. How was a Doctors Without Borders hospital struck by U.S. forces after the organization says it gave the Pentagon their exact location weeks ago? That story next.