CBS Evening News open - 1999-05-20

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] Littleton, Colorado. One month later,

[0:04] President and Mrs. Clinton are here to

[0:06] console families of the Coline High

[0:08] School shooting victims on a day when a

[0:11] student opens fire on classmates at a

[0:14] Georgia high school. And the Senate

[0:17] votes modest new restrictions on gun

[0:19] sales by only the slimmest of margins.

[0:27] This is the CBS Evening News

[0:31] with Dan Rather reporting tonight from

[0:33] Littleton, Colorado.

[0:36] Good evening. The people here in

[0:37] Littleton and the nation are grappling

[0:39] with yet another case of school

[0:41] violence. This time in Georgia. Even as

[0:44] President Clinton is here to mark the

[0:46] Coline High School massacre one month

[0:48] ago and the school flag behind me flies

[0:51] at half staff, more parents are

[0:53] agonizing tonight over how and why a

[0:56] teenager shot and wounded classmates at

[0:58] a high school outside Atlanta. CBS's

[1:01] Byron Pittz is on the scene in Conjurs,

[1:03] Georgia.

[1:06] >> This time, a suburb east of Atlanta. At

[1:08] approximately 7:55 a.m., a student

[1:12] entered the commons area and began

[1:14] shooting.

[1:15] >> One teenager's rage unleashed on another

[1:18] American high school.

[1:19] >> What I heard was like at least 10 to 15

[1:21] gunshots

[1:22] >> like pow pow pow pow when it went off.

[1:25] >> I was getting dropped off by my grandma

[1:26] and then all of a sudden I saw everybody

[1:28] running out and I thought we had a bomb

[1:30] threat or something and then then Drake

[1:33] had his foot all bloody and he was shot.

[1:36] Six students were shot, 1,400 were

[1:39] scared.

[1:40] >> Every door there was seemed like a

[1:41] thousand kids just running out in the

[1:42] parking lot. Everybody was screaming,

[1:43] "They got a gun. They got a gun."

[1:45] >> The gunman, a 15year-old sophomore, a

[1:48] good student, a boy scout who witnesses

[1:50] say when he was done shooting a

[1:51] classmate with a 22 caliber rifle, ran

[1:54] outside and put a revolver in his mouth

[1:57] >> and then he dropped to his knees and put

[1:58] the gun in his mouth and like he was

[2:00] going to shoot himself. As for motives,

[2:02] classmates say he was distraught because

[2:04] his girlfriend broke off their

[2:06] relationship.

[2:07] >> He said he didn't feel like living

[2:08] anymore. And I just, you know, I thought

[2:11] he wasn't being serious. I thought he

[2:12] was just feeling sorry for himself.

[2:13] >> Fearful of explosives, the bond squad

[2:15] searched the school and found nothing.

[2:17] Administrators here say they thought

[2:19] they were prepared. Weeks before the

[2:21] school shooting in Colorado,

[2:23] surveillance cameras were put in and a

[2:25] sheriff's deputy was assigned to the

[2:26] school full-time. You're darn right it's

[2:28] frustrating, but we also need to be

[2:31] forever vigilant.

[2:33] >> CBS News has learned the suspect rode

[2:36] the school bus to Heritage High School

[2:37] this morning. Police have impounded the

[2:39] bus, questioned the bus driver.

[2:41] Authorities believe the boy may have

[2:42] carried both weapons in his book bag.

[2:45] All the victims were told none of their

[2:47] injuries were life-threatening. Dan

[2:50] >> Byron Pittz, thanks. Against the

[2:52] backdrop of that Georgia school shooting

[2:54] today and the much more serious

[2:56] shootings here in Littleton last month,

[2:58] there was at least a minor setback today

[3:00] for the gun lobby and its allies in

[3:02] Congress. The Senate reversed course and

[3:05] approved a modest gun control measure.

[3:07] CBS's Bob Schiffer reports the vote

[3:09] could not have been tighter.

[3:12] >> The Senate being equally divided, the

[3:14] vice president votes in the affirmative

[3:16] and the amendment is agreed to. It was a

[3:18] dramatic moment as the vice president

[3:20] broke a tie vote. To Democrats, it meant

[3:23] the grip of the National Rifle

[3:24] Association had finally been broken.

[3:27] >> And this was a huge victory today. A

[3:30] huge victory not only for this piece of

[3:32] legislation, but a victory for our

[3:34] country. A victory so timely given the

[3:38] circumstances today in Georgia.

[3:40] >> The measure requires background checks

[3:42] for all gun show transactions. And when

[3:45] anyone tries