[Poppy Harlow, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning, everyone. Happy Friday, welcome to EARLY START. I am Poppy Harlow in for John Berman.
[Zoraida Sambolin, Cnn Anchor:] That is determination, isn't it. I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Thanks for being with us. It is 6:00 a.m. in the east. We begin with breaking news this morning, it is out of Afghanistan, a man wearing an Afghan military uniform opened fire on U.S. troops killing three soldiers in the country's southern Helmand Province. This as we are learning more details about another deadly attack on Wednesday where suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan left four Americans dead, including an aid worker and senior members of an Army brigade. CNN's Chris Lawrence is live from the Pentagon. What can you tell us about this, Chris?
[Chris Lawrence, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, Zoraida, this is a big blow to the leadership of that brigade there in Eastern Afghanistan. Military officials have said securing Eastern Afghanistan on that border with Pakistan is one of the primary missions that they feel they have to accomplish before all of the American troops start to come home. In this case, two suicide bombers blew themselves up just as a team of American military and civilian personnel were going into the province council's office, sort of the council that runs that part of Afghanistan. This team was going in. The suicide bombers blew themselves up. Two majors were killed, Army Major Tom Kennedy and Air Force Major Walter Gray, as well as the senior enlisted man, Command Sergeant Major Keith Griffin Zoraida.
[Sambolin:] And also this morning, three U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan. What can you tell us about that attack?
[Lawrence:] That's right. Right now, what the officials are trying to determine is, was this an actual Afghan security force, an Afghan policeman or soldier who turned on the Americans or was it someone who just got the uniform? Either way it's a huge problem. When I was there in Afghanistan, you could see the casual way that some Afghan troops treated their uniforms leaving them around where they could be picked up by anyone. On the other hand, if it is a true so-called green on blue attack, it's the third time this week, just this week that the Afghan forces have turned on Americans.
[Sambolin:] All right, Chris Lawrence, live from the Pentagon for us. Thank you for those details.
[Lawrence:] You're welcome.
[Harlow:] Well, A CNN exclusive now, inside that Wisconsin temple where six people died and three others were wounded. This video shot by our CNN troops on the ground, a stark reminder of the attack. What you're looking is a bullet hole in the door to the main prayer room. They say they will keep that there forever, to remember what happened that day. Our Ted Rowlands is live in Wisconsin joining us now. Ted, I know you're outside of the high school where they are going to have the memorial for the victims in just a few hours. They are going to lay the six bodies out. First though, tell me what it was like for you personally to be inside the temple, what they call the Gurdwara, and to be with family members who lost had their fathers and mothers.
[Ted Rowlands, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, as you can imagine, Poppy, it was very emotional to be in the temple with them after it was released by the FBI. As soon as it was released as a crime scene, many people from the temple came to help repair and clean up. There were bullet holes all over the place. They have been able to clean all of those up and get rid of them. You mentioned the one there, leaving that because they never want to forget what happened. In fact, there was some discussion about leaving all of the bullet holes, but it was decided that that would be too much. So they just left that one. Talking to them, a range of emotion, some saying our temple will never be the same. Others were saying that it's important that it is the same and we get as soon as we can. We talked to one of the victim's sons and he talked about not only the victims, but also he addressed the shooter. Take a listen.
[Amardeep Kaleak, Temple Member:] Simply put, our families, his mother who left behind two beautiful boys and was the only mother imagine losing your mother, our father, the four other victims and people who were shot and in the hospital. The police officer that did his job, they are heroes. They are living the American dream. The other person was a coward and at the end of the day she always be remembered as a coward.
[Rowlands:] You may have seen Reverend Jesse Jackson was up yesterday and prayed with victim family members in the Gurdwara. And they plan on having a private ceremony in the temple, Poppy, after the public ceremony at the high school. That's why they worked throughout the night last night to prepare for today's ceremony.
[Harlow:] It stood out to me so much, Ted, that press conference on Monday, the day after the shooting, one of the Sikh members said when are we going to be allowed back inside? Every family member that I spoke with that was affected said that they have no hesitation to go back. Their resolve to go back to this Gurdwara is even stronger now. So you're absolutely right about how important it is. It is amazing that you are in there with us. Thank you for bringing us those pictures and those stories. Thanks, Ted.
[Sambolin:] It is 5 minutes past the hour. A Colorado judge is not ruling on unsealing the full court record in the case against movie massacre suspect, James Holmes. Prosecutors agreeing with Holmes' defense team yesterday arguing the full court record should stay sealed. Seventeen news organization, including CNN, want access.
[Harlow:] President Obama widening his lead over Mitt Romney in the latest CNNORC poll of registered voters and the GOP's challenger unfavourable rating looks like it's heading in the wrong direction. Here are the latest numbers with less than three months to go ahead of the election, the president with 52 percent of those favoring him and Romney with 45 percent. Here's a real concern for the Romney camp. The former Massachusetts governor's unfavorable rating climbing from 42 percent to 48 percent in the past month, 64 percent of Americans saying they believe he favors the rich.
[Sambolin:] After a triumphant week on Mars, a bit of trouble for NASA. Take a look at that. It's [inaudible] unmanned moonlander crashed and burned Thursday during an engine test. This was at the Kennedy Space Center. There were no injuries reported during the test of the cargo transport vehicle. Officials believe a hardware problem with the navigation control system is to blame for that blaze.
[Harlow:] Officials in Louisiana want to know if an underground salt cavern is responsible for what has become a massive sinkhole that has swallowed trees, forced people in the area to leave their homes. It's on the bayou. The sinkhole is in Assumption Parish. It measures 324 feet in diameter and 50 feet deep. But get this, at one corner, it's actually more than 420 feet deep.
[Sambolin:] Wow, mother nature in action there. Predictions for this hurricane season have been revised up. Forecasters now say they expect more named storms this season. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is here to break the numbers down. More and perhaps more intense as well?
[Alexandra Steele, Ams Meteorologist:] Well, intensity is very tricky, one thing and a few aggravating factors and mitigating factors. We'll show you what's happening in the atmosphere. But we are heading into the peak of the Atlantic season, which goes mid-August to mid-October. So here's a look at where we stand. On average in the Atlantic, we see 12 named storms. We've actually already had six thus far this season. Six hurricanes on average, three majors, but you can see the numbers have been bumped up. Named storms up to 17 potentially, up to eight hurricanes, three being major, but atmospherically, what moved, what kind of move the needle up ever so slightly kind of taking it to above average? For two factors, water and air. Now above normal temperatures are there in the Atlantic in the tropical Atlantic. That will kind of bump the numbers up towards more active. But the mitigating factors, we have dry sinking air in the upper levels of the atmosphere. So that would be a mitigating factor so does that call it a wash? Will that be average or just above? It is hard to tell, but I mean, it only takes one serious hurricane. In 2010, we only had two hurricanes, but they did a lot of damage to the
[U.s. Sambolin:] All right, Alexandra Steele, live at the CNN Center, thank you very much.
[Harlow:] Will, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt cements his Olympic brilliance? Winning the gold in a thrilling 200-meter final.
[Sambolin:] And he says so himself.
[Harlow:] The island nation has a lot to celebrate. Jamaica actually swept the medal stand, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir took silver and bronze respectively. The big story for Team USA, the women's soccer or football team winning its third consecutive gold medal, they beat Japan, 2-1, avenging their painful loss to the Japanese in last year's World Cup.
[Sambolin:] Listen to this, he heard a pop and felt a snap, stopping was not an option. If you're still wondering what separates an Olympic athlete from the rest of us. Here it is. A pretty unbelievable story from the track in London. American Mitchell finished his relay lap on a broken leg. He had 200 meters to go in the first leg of the 4x4 meter relay preliminaries on Thursday. The adrenalin must have been flowing.
[Harlow:] Look at that. It is hard to tell when it happened. He's running harder than I run with both legs not broken.
[Sambolin:] I know. It's incredible. Mitchell finished the lap and limped to the side to watch the Americans finish the race and qualify easily for the finals. A few hours later, doctors confirmed he had run the last half lap with a broken left fibula. Mitchell downplayed it to reporters after, but later he said, quote, "I felt it break, I heard it. I put out a little cry, but the crowd was so loud, you couldn't hear it. I wanted to just lie down. It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half."
[Harlow:] Incredible.
[Sambolin:] Now I want to rewind.
[Harlow:] You can't tell. He's an Olympian. He's amazing.
[Sambolin:] That is incredible.
[Harlow:] A woman takes the field for an NFL game for the first time in history. She's the one calling the shots.