Al-Zawahiri Dead Or Alive?; Florida Boy Shot By SWAT Officer Remains On Life Support
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Was al Qaeda's number two man killed or not? It's Saturday, January 14th. Good morning, everyone. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris.</s>BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen. We also have a new development in that school shooting in Florida yesterday. One of the students held hostage in the stand-off is now talking. We're going to hear his story. Well, let's get right to it with some of the headlines now in the news. Wicked weather expected in the Northeast today. Lots of rain and a drop in temperatures in the forecast, as well. This follows a night of powerful storms along the East Coast. You're looking at wreckage from storms in Manning, South Carolina, where nine people were injured and an Alabama woman was killed after a tornado tore through there, causing the chimney of her home to collapse. And eighth grader is on advanced life support this morning after being shot by police at his school. A SWAT team was called to the Orlando area middle school yesterday after students spotted a gun in the boy's backpack. Now, authorities say police fired on the 15-year- old after he pointed the weapon at them. It turned out to be a pellet gun. Tests for bird flu in a patient hospitalized in Brussels have come back negative. That's according to a Belgian government official. The patient had been visiting an area in Turkey where 18 people were confirmed infected with the deadly virus. Three of those people died of it. and Republican sources tell CNN that House Speaker Dennis Hastert has reversed course and is now trying to oust Representative Bob Ney of Ohio from his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee. Hastert is under pressure from within his party to take a strong stand against ethical misconduct and Ney has been linked to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Ney denies any wrongdoing.</s>HARRIS: The big question this morning, was al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, killed in a CIA air strike? The latest reports from Pakistan say he is not dead and that the CIA acted on false information. But knowledgeable U.S. sources tell CNN al- Zawahiri may have been killed in yesterday's strike on a village near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, joins us now live with details -- and, Jamie, how difficult has it been to nail this story what with all of official Washington saying very little about this?</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, considering we still have no official comment from anyone in the U.S. government, and really, although there's been some official, no definitive statements from the Pakistani government, only that they now believe it's not likely that Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in this strike. And the biggest indication of that is that the Pakistani government is lodging an official protest with the United States over the strike, which was, according to knowledgeable sources telling CNN's David Ensor, was called in by the CIA, based on intelligence that al Qaeda's number two might have been among some high ranking al Qaeda leaders who were suspected to be gathering in this village in northwest Pakistan. Also unclear is the manner under which this attack took place. Some of the villagers claim they saw planes coming in to bomb or shoot missiles at the location. In the past, the CIA has used armed predator spy planes, unmanned planes, to conduct attacks. The U.S. military insists it was not involved in this strike. And now it appears that the primary victims were women and children, along with, perhaps, some other people, as well. So that's part of the reason for the anger on the part of the Pakistani government. last month, the CIA, in a similar strike, took out or killed a man that they said was an operations chief of al Qaeda. They said that was a success. But in this case, again, pending some definitive word, it's beginning to look like this was not a successful attempt to take out Ayman al-Zawahiri.</s>HARRIS: CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, for us. Jamie, thank you.</s>NGUYEN: Well, many of you have seen Ayman al-Zawahiri on videotapes like this one trying to incite his followers with fiery rhetoric. The Egyptian born doctor is widely considered the brains behind al Qaeda. Terrorism experts believe he helped mastermind the September 11 attacks. In 1998, al-Zawahiri formed the World Islamic Front for the jihad against Jews and crusaders. The following year, he was sentenced to death in abstentia for an alleged plot against U.S. interests in Albania. And in December 2001, a U.S. air strike on his residence in Afghanistan killed al-Zawahiri's wife and three children.</s>HARRIS: You can depend on CNN for late breaking developments on this story. You can also log on to cnn.com for more on al Qaeda's number two man, including information on his latest videotaped message, in which he called on President Bush to admit defeat in Iraq.</s>NGUYEN: A tragic ending to a stand-off at a middle school near Orlando, Florida. Police say an eighth grade student was shot and critically wounded by a SWAT team officer after police say the boy terrorized classmates and teachers with what appeared to be a .9 millimeter handgun. But that weapon tuned out to be something else entirely. Bringing us a live update from Longwood, Florida, CNN's J.J. Ramberg -- of course, the main concern here is with the boy. He is on life support, is that what we understand?</s>J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, there, Betty. Yes, he still is on life support at a local hospital here. He's on assisted life support. We haven't had any reports on his condition yet this morning, but as far as we know, it hasn't changed since yesterday, which they're saying that he was on assisted life support. Now yesterday, there was some confusion, as you commented, between his -- what turned out to be a pellet gun but yesterday they thought was a real gun. He brought this gun to school. Two students noticed that he had it and alerted a teacher. But some colleagues of ours spoke to one of those students and his mother earlier today and this is what he said happened yesterday.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Everyone ran out of the classroom except for me and this one girl. And we were walking. And he said, "You, stay." So the girl, she ran out of the classroom and he told me to get up against the blackboard. And I did. And he put the gun to my back and then we -- then I told him, "Please don't shoot me. Please don't shoot me."</s>RAMBERG: Now, eighth grader Christopher Penley, who was holding the gun, then ran out of that classroom. He was followed by the resource officers at this school. And then the SWAT team came. And the SWAT team then cornered him in an alcove. They tried to, as they say, talk to the boy and get him to put down the weapon. But then Christopher Penley, they say, lifted up the gun and pointed it at one of the SWAT team, who then shot in self- defense. And, as we know, what happened to the story now and we'll keep on following it to see if there are any new developments -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: J.J. let's talk about this gun just briefly because we saw some video earlier of this gun next to a real .9 millimeter and they look very similar, especially from a distance. These officers may not have been able to tell the difference.</s>RAMBERG: Yes, that's what they're saying. Generally, pellet guns and a red tip and that's what distinguishes them from a real gun. This particularly pellet gun had that red tip painted black. So, from a distance, it looked exactly as they saying, like a real gun.</s>NGUYEN: All right, J.J. Ramberg in Florida this morning. Thanks for the update on this tragic story.</s>HARRIS: Weather wreckage in South Carolina. A possible tornado sweeps through a mobile home park in the east-central part of the state. At least nine people have been injured, four of them critically. One woman is unaccounted for, although it's not clear if she was at home at the time the tornado struck last night. Officials say nine mobile homes were destroyed and 18 others just damaged. A second possible twister damaged homes in North Carolina, but there are no reports of any injuries there.</s>NGUYEN: In Alabama, the National Weather Service says it was a tornado and not just strong winds that caused extensive damage to homes in one south-central county. Authorities say one woman was killed when a chimney collapsed in Belleville. Fifteen to 20 homes were damaged. Downed trees blocked a section of U.S. Highway 84.</s>NGUYEN: Well, author James Frey says his memoirs are true, mostly. And Oprah says that's good enough for her. But do readers feel betrayed anyway?</s>HARRIS: And fiery words from Iran's leader this morning. What did he say? Our Christiane Amanpour was there. She'll join us live from Tehran when CNN SATURDAY MORNING returns.