Suspected Atlanta School Gunman in Custody; Oklahoma Teens Arrested on Murder Charges
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: murder charges in the killing of a promising college basketball -- baseball player. Police say the teenage suspects simply were bored. Plus, who's to blame nor extreme weather? U.N. scientists are more convinced than ever that humans are causing climate change. And critics say the White House is getting something for nothing and the president needs to start paying his interns now. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Jake Tapper and you are in THE SITUATION ROOM. It's being called a senseless attack, but that doesn't even really begin to describe a killing so apparently random and deeply disturbing. Three teenagers were in court today in Oklahoma accused of gunning down a 23-year-old Australian student who happened to be jogging by. Police say the teens had nothing better to do and they wanted to see someone die. CNN's Alina Machado is following this story. Tell us about the charges filed today.</s>ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we just got these court documents. They show two of the teens are facing felony murder charges. The third is being accused of being an accessory after the fact. All three, as you mentioned, went before a judge just hours ago in a case that has sent shockwaves across the world.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just can't imagine it happening in this neighborhood.</s>MACHADO (voice-over): Shock and disbelief in the small Oklahoma town where Chris Lane, an Australian student at East Central University, was gunned down in what police say was a random attack; 15-year-old James Edwards Jr. and 16-year-old Chancey Luna are charged as adults with first-degree felony murder. And 17-year-old Michael Jones is facing two charges, including accessory after the fact to murder in the first degree. Authorities say the teens were on a mission to kill, supposedly just for the thrill of it.</s>DANNY FORD, DUNCAN POLICE CHIEF: They witnessed the young man run by on the street, chose him as a target.</s>MACHADO: Chief Danny Ford says Lane was out jogging Friday afternoon when the teens drove up and shot him in the back.</s>FORD: There was some people that saw him stagger across the road, go to a kneeling positioning, and then collapse on the side of the road.</s>MACHADO: A woman told police she ran to Lane and tried to help by performing CPR. Another witness dialed 911. Lane was taken to a local hospital where he died. Police say one of the teens told investigators details of the killing and where they could find the murder weapon. Thousands of miles away in Australia, Lane's father shared the family's heart break.</s>PETER LANE, FATHER OF VICTIM: He's left his mark, as we know. And, you know, there's not going to be any good come out of this because it was just so senseless. It's happened. It's wrong. And we will just try and deal with it the best we can.</s>MACHADO: Tens of thousands of people have liked the rest in peace Christopher Lane Facebook page, sending their thoughts and prayers to the 23-year-old's loved ones. Lane's murder has sparked outrage here in the</s>U.S.  MARIE HARF, SPOKESWOMAN, STATE DEPARTMENT: The United States is deeply saddened to hear the tragic news of the death of an Australian citizen in Oklahoma.</s>MACHADO: And, in Australia, former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer released this statement cautioning Australians about going to America. He says in part: "Tourists thinking of going to the USA should think twice. I'm deeply angry about this, not just because of the callous attitude of three teenagers, but it's a sign of the proliferation of guns on the ground in the USA."</s>MACHADO: Now, Lane was on a baseball scholarship at East Central University. We just got a statement from the head baseball coach there describing Lane as an extremely well-respected teammate who was a shining example of the school's baseball program. He ended the statement by saying -- quote -- "I pray that his soul receives the light he deserves" -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Alina, thank you. We're joined on the phone right now by the Duncan, Oklahoma police chief, Danny Ford. Chief Ford, thanks for being with us. Three teens were charged today in connection with this murder of Australia baseball player Christopher Lane. This murder is thought to be a random act of violence. But what with can you tell us about the motive?</s>FORD: I think pretty well all the information is out on how it occurred. Certainly I will try to answer any questions that you might have, but I think the charging today puts the -- puts kind of the -- obviously not a period, but at least a comma in our job here and that we got it to the judiciary system. That's our job. That's what we have tried to do.</s>TAPPER: Have you been able to talk to these teens?</s>FORD: Our investigators have talked with all three of them. Two of them obviously are not talking, but there's a third one that has given us the information as you reported there.</s>TAPPER: What do you know about their background? Do they have any sort of history of violence?</s>FORD: They have some -- some of the teens have juvenile backgrounds. Of course, juvenile records on them are part of sealed information, so I'm not real familiar with what the situation was. I know one of them was reporting to a state agency for some of those problems.</s>TAPPER: Chief Ford, do you have any idea where the weapons used in the crime came from?</s>FORD: No. We sure wish we did. The one that talked to us gave us the location of where they left it. And it was not out in the open. It wasn't in some place where no one would find it. I think they left it in the apartment complex with other people. So we have been -- that's probably the biggest disappointment to us is that we have not found that weapon yet. But we're not through.</s>TAPPER: Is this kind of violence, this random, nihilistic violence, is it a problem in your community?</s>FORD: No. I think that's what everybody needs to understand. I think in the last five years, we have had three or four murders, but this is -- nothing like this, nothing that was for apparently no reason or a reason of sheer boredom.</s>TAPPER: This murder in your small city with a very small population just under 24,000, it's gained global attention largely because the victim was an Australian baseball player. And those in his home country are outraged. What do you say to Australians about your community? And have you spoken at all to his family?</s>FORD: What we have done with the family basically, we tried to -- if you get too many people giving information to the family, so what we did, we assigned a couple people that have been giving them information, so that we don't have everybody from the department calling there. And they have spoken with them, in fact, did again last night. Brought them totally up to date with what was going to occur today. So they have been talked to. As far as the community, the community is outraged. The community has some fear. I think they have some of the same questions that maybe folks in Australia have. That's about how did the kids get guns? Pretty Simple. They steal them. The shotgun that we found in the car which was not involved in the incident had the serial number ground off. It was obviously hidden in the vehicle. It was under the spare tire in the spare compartment. That's a pretty good indication that those weapons have been taken illegally.</s>TAPPER: One final question before you go, sir. Can you give us any idea about the parenting of these kids? Do they come from two-family homes? Are their parents outraged, shocked, surprised?</s>FORD: I can just go by what I have read in the local media about the parents. I know that one of them has a parent that is incarcerated. I know that the others have -- one of them has a two-parent home or at least that's what the indication is. But I don't know a whole lot about the family situation.</s>TAPPER: All right. Police Chief Danny Ford, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.</s>FORD: You bet. Not a problem.</s>TAPPER: Now to Georgia. We have new information about shots that rang out at an elementary school and the suspect who is now in custody. CNN's David Mattingly is at the school in Decatur just outside of Atlanta -- David.</s>DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the most remarkable thing about this incident is that no one was hurt. Parents now, hundreds of them, having taken their kids home now thinking about what might have been and thinking about how tragic this could have been. Right now authorities are telling us exactly how this played out. A gunman, a lone gunman carrying an AK-47 was able to get into the school by going through when the door was still open after it had been buzzed open for someone else. He went in that way, went into the office. Held a couple of the office personnel hostage. Then as police arrived, he exchanged gunfire with them firing about a half dozen times at the officers. They returned fire, and then this gunman described only as a 19-year- old man gave just himself up without incident from there. But you can imagine how tense and how scared everyone at that school was. And particularly after the man was taken into custody, then they found his car out in the parking lot and one of the police dogs was able to get a sniff of something that could be explosives. And from that point, the police chief said they had to be even more careful with the children's lives. Listen.</s>CEDRIC ALEXANDER, DEKALB COUNTY POLICE CHIEF: Upon further investigation, what we learned that the vehicle that he came in was parked in front of the vehicles and when our canine dogs hit on the vehicle, we suspect it may have been some type of explosives inside of the vehicle.</s>MATTINGLY: Needless to say, they're being very careful about proceeding with that car. But they are looking at it very slowly, very methodically. No word yet on actually if there were any explosives inside.</s>TAPPER: All right, David Mattingly, thank you so much. Coming up next, we will break down a new report on climate change and the role humans play in global warming. And did the governor accuse President Obama hating white people or not? This is a man who has been known to say some outrageous things.