Mall Shooting Rampage; Intense War Debate
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Messages from the man police say went on a rampage, a shooting rampage inside a Tacoma, Washington, mall. Who is this alleged shooter? Are we getting closer to learning why he did it? A live report is just ahead. War of words over the war in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney prepares to strike back against critics who want U.S. troops out now. We're live at the White House this morning. And the world's largest automaker is downsizing. A major announcement from General Motors is ahead on this</s>AMERICAN MORNING. ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.</s>O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Miles is off today, but Rick Sanchez has been nice enough to help us out for a couple of days this week. We sure appreciate it.</s>RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: An absolute honor to be here.</s>O'BRIEN: Well thank you very much. Even if you don't mean it at all, we appreciate that.</s>SANCHEZ: I mean every bit of it. I do.</s>O'BRIEN: I'm just joking you. You know, we've been talking about this shooting...</s>SANCHEZ: Yes.</s>O'BRIEN: ... that happened at the Tacoma, Washington, mall. And one of the biggest questions is there's been no real sense of what made the man who is now in custody, the alleged shooter, snap. I mean, there's no one event that led him as far as they can tell right now.</s>SANCHEZ: Although, it was a dangerous situation to begin with. A judge had already said he shouldn't have a weapon. He apparently had a drug problem in the past, and he had an affinity toward guns. Put all those together...</s>O'BRIEN: And his girlfriend said he had problems in his life. But still, no one -- I mean, why that day?</s>SANCHEZ: Yes.</s>O'BRIEN: Why that time? Why that mall? Lots of questions to get to this morning. In fact, let's get right to them. Kareen Wynter is live for us in Tacoma. Kareen, good morning.</s>KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you. Again, we are learning a few more details about the accused shooter here, the fact that he apparently worked at a local Subway shop just about four months ago, and that co-workers describe Maldonado as a gun enthusiast, that he was unstable and also very quiet. But Soledad, what could perhaps be more telling here are the conversations Maldonado apparently had with two friends before and during the shooting.</s>WYNTER (voice over): Clues into Sunday's random shooting spree at a Tacoma mall could lie in this text message the accused gunman, Dominick Maldonado, allegedly sent to an ex-girlfriend minutes before the attack. It reads: "Today is the day that the world will know my anger. Today the world will feel my pain. Today is the day I will be heard."</s>TIFFANY ROBISON, SUSPECT'S EX-GIRLFRIEND: I texted back, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" And he didn't respond.</s>WYNTER: Tiffany Robison says she never imagined what would happen next. An armed gunman taking aim at shoppers inside the Tacoma mall. The sound of gunfire interrupting a business Sunday afternoon.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At first, somebody thought it was firecrackers. I said, "No, those are gunshots, .38 -- it sounded like a .38 and a .9 millimeter."</s>WYNTER: Police say it was a semiautomatic rifle. Shoppers and employees tried to run for cover. Some had no time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He walked past. He turned around, shot, kept walking. They run the salmon shop right next to us, shot at that, kept walking.</s>WYNTER: This witness and medical assistant described some of the injuries.</s>JENNIFER JOHNSON, WITNESS: Shot in the stomach, abdomen, exit wound, and then shot in the elbow.</s>WYNTER: After shooting at least six people, officials say the gunman barricaded himself inside a music store, holding three employees hostage. The standoff lasted three hours and ended with the suspect surrendering to police and leaving the unanswered question, why?</s>WYNTER: One person who claimed to have received a text message from Maldonado during the shooting has said he's not sure why his friend went on the shooting spree and that, Soledad, the day before he seemed a bit different, a bit more quiet.</s>O'BRIEN: Kareen Wynter for us with some questions and obviously some answers we still need. Thanks, Kareen -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: President Bush is making his way back to the U.S. this morning after a trip to Asia that was dogged by questions about Iraq once again. Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney going on the offensive against his critics. AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken is live at the White House following this for us. Bob, what are we hearing from the vice president this morning?</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, because the president now in his trip is trying to put himself a little bit above the fray, defending the rights of those who dissent on the questions of Iraq. Meanwhile, here in the United States, the vice president has, to some degree, been the fray. In his speech last week, he used words to describe the criticisms as "dishonest" and "reprehensible" -- these are quotes -- "irresponsible." And in fact, last Thursday the president said, "I agree with the vice president," but now the good cop-bad cop game has begun to some degree. The president, as I said, is now speaking in a more conciliatory tone. And what we're going to be finding out this morning, Rick, is whether the vice president will continue with his bad cop part of the act, or whether he is going in fact not be acting, but expressing the angry side of the administration's response to all of this -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Well, actually, it's a little more personal in his case, right? Because haven't some of the accusations said that when, you know, he accepted some deferments at a time when he was asked to perhaps go to war?</s>FRANKEN: Well, it's interesting. When the president left here so short a time ago, he left with an angry debate going on. This has not turned into a real slugfest.</s>SANCHEZ: Tell us about the president's trip. We understand he went to a country that no U.S. president has ever visited before and experienced some -- well, different things. Is that fair? Is that safe?</s>FRANKEN: He had, among other things, cheese curds and fermented milk. And I know what you're going to ask. Yes, I have had cheese curds, although you don't have to go to Mongolia for that. Wisconsin is far -- is close enough. And as far as fermented milk is concerned, if I've had it, I don't remember it, but chances I wouldn't have.</s>SANCHEZ: Wow. Sounds like a great show and tell. Bob, thanks a lot. Appreciate all that.</s>O'BRIEN: You want to make sure to stay tuned to CNN for live coverage of Vice President Dick Cheney's speech on the war on terror. That's this morning 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Other stories making news. Kelly has those this morning. Good morning again.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we do. Hello, and good morning again, everyone. We're beginning with another deadly attack in Iraq to tell you about. At least five people were killed, 11 others wounded in a car bomb attack near a busy market. That attack taking place about 22 miles east of Baquba, which is north of Baghdad. A U.S. official said a military convoy may have been the intended target, but that the convoy passed by shortly before that bomb went off. A U.N. report estimates the number of people living with HIV is the highest since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and is likely to grow. The organization UNAIDS found that more than 40 million people have the virus. Almost five million of those were infected this year alone. The U.N. report listed eastern Europe and central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa as having the highest rates of infection. And we're just getting this word in to CNN, this coming from the Middle East. Israeli warplanes have attacked targets on the Lebanese side of the border. They were returning fire after Hezbollah gunners fired artillery rounds. More information as we get it here at CNN. Meantime, staying in Israel, the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, taking a big political gamble. The 77-year-old leader quitting the Likud party he helped form back in the 1970s, saying he'll launch a more moderate party and push for early elections. Sharon has been up against a party rebellion over Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. And the tallest Christmas tree in Europe is brightening the spirits of folks in Lisbon, Portugal. City officials flipped the switch to illuminate the tree that's said to be as tall as a 23-story building. Get this, it is taller than the national Christmas tree and the Rockefeller Center tree combined, but it is artificial.</s>O'BRIEN: Well, fake.</s>WALLACE: It is fake, Soledad. So, you know, it's hard to compare the real thing.</s>O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, it's not hard to be really, really tall if they just plunk another story on top of it.</s>WALLACE: That is true.</s>O'BRIEN: I was going to say, wow, the tallest tree, that's going to be amazing to see how tall this tree grew in the forest in Europe somewhere.</s>WALLACE: The folks in Lisbon are saying it's still amazing, Soledad.</s>SANCHEZ: But at least it's not silver.</s>WALLACE: I think it has something like, though, more than two million light bulbs. So...</s>O'BRIEN: Oh, man. It's fake. It's not a feat to be tall if you're fake.</s>WALLACE: Jacqui, help us.</s>O'BRIEN: Anyway...</s>WALLACE: The poor folks in Lisbon, Portugal, are hoping to get a lot of attention for their tree, but it is fake. We must -- we must reveal that to our viewers.</s>JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's pretty, though. I thought it looked pretty nice.</s>WALLACE: It sure is.</s>JERAS: Yes. Anyway, hey, by the way, Thanksgiving, of course, the big holiday on Thursday coming up, and you might be seeing a little bit of snow on that tree there in New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. If you're going to be watching that, you might see a few snow showers. Part of that due to this storm system we're looking at right here across parts of the southeast. Right now we're looking at some heavy wet weather here. That's going to eventually make its way up the coast, and we're going to help pull down some cold air and bring that cold air in place. And then when our next clippers system comes on through, that means we could be seeing some snow showers mixing in with some of the rain showers.</s>JERAS: If you are going to be traveling, tomorrow is the day to do it in the southeast. But today is the day to do it in the northeast, if you can.</s>O'BRIEN: If we were getting holiday, which we're not.</s>JERAS: I'm here all week. Are you guys here all week?</s>O'BRIEN: Yes, I am.</s>JERAS: All right.</s>O'BRIEN: So we can celebrate Thanksgiving together, Jacqui, you and me.</s>JERAS: There you go. We'll share a turkey leg.</s>O'BRIEN: Exactly. Thanks, Jacqui. Appreciate it. Ahead this morning, the update on rebuilding New Orleans. We all know the damage is bad, but it might actually be worse than we thought. We're going to tell you why just ahead.</s>SANCHEZ: And then later, everywhere the president goes these days, questions about Iraq follow. Will the war overshadow the rest of his presidency? It is questions -- it is a question being asked at the White House as well. A closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.