control the united states senate. we're breaking down new polling from pennsylvania and wisconsin with just 15 days to go before election day. also this hour, u.s. supreme court justice clarence thomas sides are republican senator, lindsey graham, freezing an order for him to testify before a special grand jury, at least for now. we're following the decision and what it means for the investigation efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in georgia. and doctors are warning about a potentially very, very dangerous triple health threat. the flu, covid, and respiratory illness. any americans with babies around the country, especially vulnerable. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

an epic battle for control of congress is heading into the final stretch tonight. with only two weeks until election day and miles to go for the candidates out there on the campaign trail. let's get right toe hottest battlegrounds. pennsylvania. where the senate race could be decisive for democrats. cnn's chief national affairs correspondent is there for us. >> on the eve of a critical debate, all eyes are on pennsylvania. in the fight for control of the senate. as democratic john fetterman and republican, mehmet oz, share a stage for the first time. a new cnn poll shows fetterman with a narrow edge. 51 to 45%. just outside the surveys margin of error, as oz works to boost his campaign two weeks before election day. the race to fill the seat of retiring republican senator, pam toomey, has played out as a bitter, long distance duel with a sharp focus on fetterman's recovery from a near deadly stroke in may. >> it's the elephant in the room. having a stroke.

>> at a weekend campaign stop, fetterman explaining how he will use closed captioning tuesday night. >> the lingering issue is they ca called it auditory processing, which makes it, i hear and i understand everything in terms of on words, on paper. and understand what i hear, but when we're talking about very specific and having things like this, i need captioning. >> today, oz unveiling a plan to fight crime, an issue that has been front and center in their contest. with president biden spending most days off the campaign trial, he made a brief visit today to the democratic national committee's headquarters in washington. >> the choice couldn't be clearer. the stakes couldn't be higher. >> the economy is top of mind for voters and should be more of a priority for democratic candidates, bernie sanders told cnn. >> i am worried about the voter turnout among younger people and

working people who will be voting democratic. what democrats have to do is contrast their economic plan with the republican. >> all this as more than 7.3 m 7.3 million ballots have already been cast, more than 1 million in florida, a half million in pennsylvania. tonight, florida taking its turn in the spotlight. >> many of you voted yet? how many of you are waiting until election day? >> with ron desantis facing challenger, charlie crist, for their first and only debate in a race democrats hoped would slow desantis' rapid rise through the gop. and in arizona with key races for senate and governor on the line, new fears of rising tensions. officials say two armed individuals dressed in tactical gear spotted at a ballot drop box in mesa. the secretary of state's office said it referred to the justice department a report of voter intimidation. kari lake already taking a page

from the trump playbook, questioning election integrity with no evidence. >> i'm afraid it's probably not going to be completely fair. >> so these races from coast to coast are so tight, wolf. arizona in particular, but it is the debate tomorrow night here in pennsylvania that really could be a game changer. of course, many debates have been taking place throughout this fall season, but this one is different because of the health concerns of john fetterman. he'll be answering those questions in closed captioning. of course, dr. mehmet oz has to be careful in terms of how he treats his rival as well. so it will be the first time that pennsylvania voters are able to see them in an extended setting here, so truly with control of the senate in the balance, all eyes have been on pennsylvania. they will be tomorrow night again, wolf. >> we'll be watching very closely. i want you to stand by. we'll get back to you in a few moments. right now, i want to dig deeper into cnn's new polling from the midterm battleground states. david chalis here with me at th

magic wall. let's start with pennsylvania. republican nominee for the senate, tv doctor, mehmet oz, versus john fetterman. >> 51% for fetterman, the democratic lieutenant governor. 45% for mehmet oz. this is a slight edge just outside the margin of error. for fetterman, let's look at what issues are animated pennsylvania voters. far and away, the economy and inflation. 44% of likely voters say that's the most important issue in their vote. then abortion rights. that's 19%. then voting and election. that's 12%. you see everything goes down, but it is clearly an economy election. look how this issue is animated democrats and republicans differently in pennsylvania. among republicans, 59% say the economy and inflation is number one. nothing even comes close. the other thing in double digits

is abortion at 11%. but among democrats, abortion rises to the top issue. 30% of democrats call it the most important issue compared to 24% on the economy and inflation. 18% on voting. one other question we asked that is so interesting is what is the biggest factor in your senate vote? is it the positions your candidate takes on the issues? control of the senate, like which party controls the senate? or the candidate's character. the plurality, 48% of likely voters in pennsylvania say it is issue positions, but 27% say they're strategic voters. they're voting. the factor is which party will control the senate. these voters tend to favor oz in this race. >> interesting. let's talk about wisconsin. potentially, that could be key to controlling the senate. it looks close. >> it's a currently republicrepub republican-held state. ron johnson is running for re-election and this is a race

with no clear leader. 50% support johnson. 49% support the lieutenant governor, the democrat, barnes. the issue list is going to look familiar to you. once again, economy and inflation, 47% of likely wisconsin voters call that the top issue. everything else flows from there. and when you look at the issues and how they animate the parties, it's even more dramatic than we saw in pennsylvania. 76% of republicans in wisconsin likely voter republicans say the economy and inflation is number one. that is what is animating the johnson support right now. here on the issue list, nearly four in ten democrats in wisconsin say abortion is their number one choice. it is the economy that is very much giving that ron johnson that 50% factor there. and then we asked that same question. what are you looking for as the driving factor in your senate vote? 45% say issue positions. but here's something interesting. it's a flip in pennsylvania. 35% say character.

20% are strategic voters. they say which party's going to control the senate is their big factor in their vote, but here, it's actually benefitting the democrat. these voters are more likely in our poll to support barnes than they are johnson. >> going to be a nail biter. very, very close. elections coming up. thank you very much. back to jeff right now. he's in pennsylvania. the cnn political commentator, michael smerconish, is also there. he's joining us as well. and our national politics reporter is in another key battleground state, georgia, for us. michael smerconish, you're there. you know pennsylvania. you live in philadelphia. the senate candidates there, john fetterman and dr. mehmet oz will scquare off in a very highy anticipated debate tomorrow night. our polls show fetterman with a slight lead. you think this debate will solidify that lead? >> i think jeff's report and david's numbers make great sense to me from what i'm seeing

anecdotally. i think there's tremendous curiosity about the debate and fetterman's ability to think and communicate. i don't think concerns about his stroke are the reason that the race is narrows. i think it's the economy. i also think it's crime. there's a very creative az d no on air from republicans saying john fetterman is much more radical than josh shapiro and essentially it's an invitation to say to pennsylvania voters, plit your ticket. shapiro wins for governor, but give us dr. oz rather than voting for both democratic candidates. there's a rich tradition in this state of doing exactly that. it's a state al gore won at a time when rick santorum was being elected to the u.s. senate. last year, 2020, joe biden wins the state. it was actually a great year for republicans down ballot. so i wouldn't be surprised if there's kind of ticket splitting going on in pennsylvania. we'll all see what happens

tomorrow night. >> it will be a big night indeed. you're in georgia for us. warnock and walker are there in a very tight race. you attended a walker campaign event today and you're at a warnock event now. what are georgia voters telling you? >> good evening, wolf. senator warnock about to take the stage here in atlanta. pardon the noise here at this skating rink, but earlier today when we were in dalton with herschel walker speaking to some of his supporters, they said the level of enthusiasm they had that was evident in their community is actually more than pass republican statewide candidates. that there's a grass roots energy on the ground surrounding walker. sometimes when we talk about walker, have this washington conversation about walker being a flawed candidate, that doesn't necessarily mirror what is happening among the supporters on the ground. we also spoke to another one of his supporters who told us her

socially conservative circles that for a long time, there were many people that were not going to support walker, but that folks are slowly coming around and supporting him more and more in the wake of the recent debate. >> jeff, in florida's race for governor right now, desantis and crist are set to debate in under an hour from now. what will you will looking for from this match-up? >> wolf, i think no question about this, can governor desantis be stopped? can he be slowed in his rise, which most people on both sides will be to re-election. but even beyond that, this is the only debate that i can really think of where people are already looking to 2024 to see if he can be muddied up be a little bit. he's running for re-election, but he has his eye looking ahead. i think that's so interesting, charlie crist, he's been in that position before.

he was a republican governor of florida. a democratic congressman. so he has nothing to lose really and he is a pretty experienced debater. but the reality is that it likely won't change the trajectory of this race, but could it change the shape of the next race. but one thing in particular, this was a delay because of the hurricane by a couple of weeks. governor desantis is going into this debate in a very strong position here. but the meanness factor. some of his policies have been viewed by some as mean. so is that somebody charlie crist is going to raise? can he sort of you know, push him on any of these issue s? it's not about the election in 15 days. it might be about one slightly farther down the road, wolf. >> good point. michael smerconish, you just heard david report the results of our brand-new cnn poll where voters in key states say the economy is the top issue on

their minds. president biden addressed the economy issue today, but our democrats, do you believe, doing enough to reassure voters of their economic concerns? >> no. i don't. i think they're being held accountable rightly or wrongly. you know, it's almost when the stock market rises, whomever is in the white house gets the credit whether they deserve it or not and when it tanks, likewise. the reverse is true. for better or worse, i think there's an accountability for how the economy is going. people's perception is that it's going poorly because of a 40-year high in inflation. i think that's hard for democrats to distinguish themselves or get away from. final thought is this. what's youunique about this campaign, this election in 15 days, both sides have good issues. you've heard it repeatedly. for the democrats, it's about abortion. to a lesser extent, it's january 6th. the republicans, the economy, porous borders and crime. the real issue is wherein lies

the passion? i've seen all of david's numbers. i get it. i agree. but which is going to be most passionate to bring people out to vote? that team wins. >> we'll find out in about 15 days. guys, thank you very much. just ahead, clarence thomas temporarily blocks a subpoena for lindsey graham in the georgia election probe. so what happens next? we'll take a closer look right after this. ♪ what will you do? will you make something better? create somhing new? our dell technologies advisors can prove you with the tools anexpertise you need to bring outhe innovator in you.

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lindsey graham has been granted a temporary reprieve from having to testify in a grand jury probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. u.s. supreme court justice clarence thomas put a temporary hold on a lower court order compelling graham to appear before the panel. sarah murray is here with me and has the latest developments. sarah, will georgia investigators get to actually question him about all of this? >> that is the big question and this is what is on hold right now. you know what lower courts said is that graham had to show up before the grand jury and answer some questions. graham's arguing that as a u.s.

senator, he should not have to appear before the grand jury. lower court said you made these calls to georgia election officials. if for instance, you were trying to cajole them into something, that's not covered by your legislative activity. the supreme court has now intervened. they said you get a stay. essentially, your appearance is paused, but that doesn't tell us how the court is going to rule. so prosecutors have until thursday to weigh in on this. >> criminal trial in new york of the trump organization also started today. it's very dramatic what's going on up there. i know you're following this as well. >> it is. jury selection got underway. we expect it will continue tomorrow. for as long as prosecutors have been looking into donald trump in new york, this is the closest they've gotten is bringing these charges against his company. he's not been implicated in any wrong doing, but this is the company he's poured his blood, sweat, and tears into and if there's a conviction, they could face $1.6 million in fines.

there was a potential of a plea deal. trump didn't like the political implications in appearing as though his company is guilty of something. we're going to watch closely because we're expecting from a star witness, the trump organization's long temperature cfo. he pleaded guilty to accepting this off the books compensation and not paying taxes for it. so you can bet everyone's going to be paying close attention to this trial. >> thanks very much for that report. let's get more on all these developments. cnn's senior analyst, elie honig is joining us and the former fbi deputy director, andrew mccabe is with us. does today's move by justice thomas tell you anything about whether senator graham will have to face questions in georgia? >> well, wolf, this is a very temporary reprieve for graham. this is what we call an administrative day which means justice thomas has just said the ruling below, which said graham has to testify, that's on hold

while the supreme court decides whether or not they'll take the case. as sarah said, that will happen quickly. we should know by the end of this week so it's a temporary reprieve. the bigger question is will the supreme court in fact take the case. it does happen sometimes that justices issue an administrative stay like this, but the supreme court then says we're not taking it. the ruling below stands in which graham would have to testify. >> andrew, let's turn to the trump organization criminal trial in new york. the former president isn't a defendant, but what's at stake for trump's reputation and his business? >> well, you know i think provisionally, wolf, this is just another way that the temperature is rising on donald trump in terms of all it of the legal battles. he's already the subject of multiple criminal investigations in different places like for his activities around january 6th

and of course in the case in georgia. you have the civil lawsuit that's been filed by the attorney general in new york. now you have also this criminal trial against this corporation. i think again you know, trump seems to weather these shots to his reputation in a way that no other human being is able to do. even if the prosecutors are successful against the trump corporation here, i'm not sure that that, although i'm sure the former president will be distressed by that, i'm not sure it will be a hurdle he can't get over. >> elie, let me get your remarks to merrick garland today. he was asked about disturbing reports of voter intimidation. watch this. >> justice department has an obligation to prevent, to guarantee a free and fair vote by everyone who's qualified to vote.

and will not permit voters to be intimidated. >> as you know, this comes after multiple reports of intimidation out there including people captured on video armed with tactical gear spotted near an arizona ballot drop. an arizona ballot drop box. so what does the justice department need to do with now 15 days until election day? >> wolf, first of all, i give the attorney general real credit for coming out and making this statement. so important that he does this. first of all, because it is a federal crime to intimidate voters or even attempt to intimidate voters. so the doj has to make good on garland's work here and follow up and investigate and if prominent, charge these cases. more over, this is the kind of conduct that has to be called out immediately. can't be allowed to fester or become the norm, to spread. so i really do give the attorney general credit here for coming out and making a prompt and strong statement. >> andrew, how do law enforcement officials help

protect voters without inadd ver tently intimidating voters? >> it's very challenging. you hit on the sensitivity of that. you immediately think well, if you're having people, civilians with no authority, showing up at polling places armed in an obvious effort to intimidate people, maybe the response should be flooding those polling plac places with law enforcement. but the presence of the law enforcement, folks can have the same discouraging, chilling effect on people who want to vote, be left alone, vote in secret and not be subject to that sort of scrutiny. so it's a very hard thing to do. i would expect that communication between federal law enforcement and state and local counterparts, that communication is of primary importance right now. and particularly in areas where

you have self-deployed election forces. >> good point. coming up, we'll go live to ukraine where cnn is at the scene of a new russian missile strike and i'll talk to a key member of congress who just returned to the united states from kyiv. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." anything else exciting going on? of course. (engine revs) hey lexus, read my newest message. car: our place. sunrise. the all-new lexus rx. looking good... always. never lose your edge. ♪

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tonight, ukraine is asking a nuclear watchdog group to investigate allegations that kyiv is planning to use a dirty bomb in the war. this as moscow launches more

missile strikes at ukraine delivering more blows to the power grid. clarissa ward is on the ground for us now in southern ukraine at the scene of new russian attacks. >> reporter: by now, it has become a familiar routine in mykolaiv. in the relative calm of daylight hours, residents comb through the wreckage of the night before. on this day, it's an apartment building on the outskirts of town. two russian s300 missiles hit at 1:00 in the morning. so this here is where the first strike hit and then you can see the second one just smashed in to the top of that building. five people were injured but miraculously, no one was killed. in one apartment, andri is busy cleaning up. he tells us this is what the

russians do. they shoot not at military objects, but where people live, he says. the fact is, anger towards them is rising an it won't go way a. not in a year, a month, a year, ten years. in this southern port city, people have become used to hardship. since april, there has been no fresh water here. the main pumping station was hit in a russian strike. now, they gather every day and patiently wait to stock up. a few blocks down, another line. this one for humanitarian aid. will i be able to get something today, this old woman asks. we already had 100 people on the list, the organizer replies. mykolaiv is less than 20 miles from the nearest front lines. and just 35 miles from the russian held city of kherson. last week, russia announced that civilians must leave kherson, warning of an imminent ukrainian

attack. ukraine called it propaganda, distract from recent ukrainian military gains. it is difficult to get a picture of what's really going on in kherson. but we managed to connect with one resident who took these videos. the streets, he says, are empty, but there are people in the markets. most vendors no longer want to take russian rubles as they prepare for a potential russian withdrawal. do you have a sense of whether russian forces have left the city or not? [ speaking foreign language ] why did you decide to stay? are you not frightened?

the people who remain in mykolaiv have made a similar decision. back at the strike site, the clean up has already begun. as the city braces itself for the next attack. now vitali from kherson, wolf, told us that he has seen that russia has already moved most of its civilian administrative infrastructure out of kherson so they've closed the russian banks. they've moved out the passport office, the pension office. some of those emergency services. all of that sort of giving people optimism that potentially russia could be withdrawing, but today, we heard of ukraine's head of military intelligence. he cautioned about being too optimistic saying it could well

be a faint and that russia is moving different assets. that of course would have a devastating impact on residents like vitali who have made the brave but difficult decision to stay in kherson. >> stay safe over there. thank you very very much. and joipning us new, a key member of the house intelligence committee. he was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that has just returned from ukraine. how do you interpret these disturbing accusations by russia that ukraine plans to detonate a so-called dirty bomb? >> yeah, wolf. it's a classic. right out of the russian playbook. before them, the soviet playbook. it's a classic false flag operation. so you know, it's designed to shift the moral high ground away from the ukrainians to the

russians. more concerningly, it could be a prelude to them undertaking a false flag operation in which they are trying to show they were able to predict a dumb or bad action by the ukrainians, but it is right out of the playbook and it is frankly a sign that as long as they're losing on the battlefield, they are going to look to shift the conversation in other and potentially more frightening ways. >> are you worried that russia, god forbid, could detonate a dirty bomb? >> well, you know, if you look at the mass graves that are being exhumed everywhere that the russians were, if you look at the fact that missiles are raining down on civilian targets around ukraine, you can't do anything other than to jump to the conclusion that the russians are willing to do just about anything. so no, of course i can't discount it. but you know, they need to be very, very careful because you know, the worst day in the eyes of the world, the more the

gove gloves will come off for the west. the one thing that's putting a pause on the more aggressive weapons the west could be sending is a desire not to see this thing escalate out of control. if the russians are the ones escalating out of control, this will get uglier, i should say. i was going to say ugly, but uglier for them quickly. >> you were just on this bipartisan visit to ukraine with your congressional colleagues, but i don't know if you know this, but 30 of your liberal democratic house colleagues have just sent a letter. here's a copy of it. a letter to president biden urging him to redouble diplomatic efforts and quote engage in direct talks with russia. what's your reaction to that? >> well, it's always good to talk, wolf. even in the worst of situations. but in my lifetime, i'm not sure that we've seen an example of an international conflict as black and white as this one. as good versus evil.

you sort of had to be around in the 1930s to see anything like this. i'm all in favor of discussions and negotiations, but here's the underlying principle. when a war criminal like putin does something out of the 1930s and invades a peaceful neighboring country, negotiations end with him paying re reparations, rebuilding ukraine and standing trial in front of t the hague. i'm in favor of anything that can stop the bloodshed, but we are not compromising with pure evil. >> thanks so much for joining us and welcome back. >> thank you, wolf. just ahead, the danger from a surging respiratory illness among children may soon get even worse as doctors are now warning that a triple health threat is emerging. helping them achieve financial freedodom. we'rere providing greater acces to investing, with low-cost options to help maximize savings..

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right now, we're following the very dangerous surge in respiratory illness among young children. doctors now fear the health risk could worsen in the days and weeks ahead as the outbreak coincides with new cases of the flu and covid. rosa flores takes us inside a children's hospital in houston where too many kids are sick and suffering tonight. z >> adrian was healthy when -- >> he was struggling to breathe. >> then his dad noticed pauses in his breathing that lasted for seven seconds. it got bad quick. >> he remembers fearing the worst as he rushed to the

hospital. >> there's no way to describe it. i mean, it was a terrifying situation. it was heartbreaking. >> at 7 weeks old, little adrian was diagnosed with rsv. a common respiratory disease that is spreading at unusually high levels and could be severe in babies and young children according to the cdc. doctor melanie kitagawa says more than 40 children are hospitalized at texas children hospital, including more than ten in pediatric icu. >> it's awful. it's terrible to have any family go through this. >> how can you think he got rsv? >> his sister's in school. she started having this could have cough. >> he said his 4-year-old got rsv then adrian, did, too. some believe it gains speed as

children return to school and bring the vie raus home. he's been on a ventilator for a week. his sister has fully recovered. what would you tell parents who are watching this story? >> don't wait. do not wait. if you feel as if something is wrong with your child, you know your child better than anyone does. get your child help immediately. >> according to hhs, three out of four pediatric hospital beds in the united states are in use right now. wolf? >> thank you very much. let's discuss this with the co-director of the texas children's hospital center for vaccine document. thanks for joining us. as hospitals like yours for example are filling up with children, even very young children with severe cases of rsv, just how concerned are you about what's being called the

triple threat, rsv, covid, and the flu, all circulating at once. >> i mean, before the pandemic, wolf, before the covid-19 pandemic, we would see surges of both rsv and influenza, but typically, it would be late in december into january, february. so the game changer is the fact that it's occurring so early, number one. number two, the fact that the level of severity likely because as was pointed out in the story, kids haven't been as much in contact over the last few months as they are now. so it's all surging at once. and third, we have covid-19 to worry about. so we have all three respiratory viruses and it's not unusual to have an individual like an infant to have both. either covid and influenza orrico individual and rsv. so we're all getting slammed with these three viruses, this triple pandemic. >> the cdc says that during one week in mid october, rsv cases

were higher than at any week in the past two years. is this an unfortunate outcome of coronavirus, the pandemic, isolation that we know about or is there anything that can be done now to slow the spread of rsv? >> well, it may be that kids were social distancing and before they were wearing masks and now they're not. and so there's just a sudden uptick and surge in the amount of exposure. i think that has a lot to do with it. so i think the most important thing to think about right now is recognize those who are at greatest risk. at least in the pediatric age group. those are premature infants. those who are in were previously in neonatal icus, those with underlying heart disease and those with neuromuscular disorder. but really any child could get

severe rsv. here's the most important thing as a parent to do. you want to establish a good working relationship with your pediatrician. whether or not your child is sick. you don't want to be in the middle of the night and realize that you're concerned about your child and have no way to reach your pediatrician because the problem is in too many parts of the country right now, pediatric emergency room s are getting overwhelmed so if you simply bring your child to the emergency room, it compounds the problem. have a low threshold for having contact with your pediatrician and have that relationship ready to go. >> thanks very much for joining us. coming up, we're getting details on britain's newly selected prime minister. richard quest is standing by. he'll tell us more. that's next. better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can prprovide you with ththe tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you.

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begin historic tenure as britain's new prime minister tomorrow. the country's conservative party selected rishi sunak to replace liz truss who resigned after just six weeks on the job. his emergence as leader comes at a time of both political and economic chaos in britain. >> joining us now cnn's richard quest. thank you for joining us. what can you tell us about britain's history making new leader? >> a number of furs. first of all he is the youngest prime minister that we've had for some 200 years. he is the first british asian prime minister that we've had in the net it kingdom. and he's also the wealthiest

that we've had at least in living memory. his wife is the daughter of the founder of -- the indian software company. between them there is said to be worth the best part of several hundred or 800 million pounds just nearly $1 billion in change. a lot of firsts for a prime minister who is sort of known he has been the finance minister, the chancellor. he's only been a politician for the last seven years. so this is very fast elevation. into a crucial job at a vital time. >> amid all the market turmoil and the cost of living crisis going on right now in the uk, is rishi sunak seen as a steady hand when it comes to the economy ? >> yes. rishi sunak is absolutely a safe pair of hands. he is the quintessential safe pair in a sense.

former chancellor who had come through numerous budgets. he put forward a policy under plan that was absolutely designed for market credibility. and it is the total opposite of the sort of financial fiasco that we had with liz truss. so i expect markets will be hugely relieved. there is one caveat to all of that. the financial position in britain is worse than it was before. so not only does he have to dig the hole, he also has to dig it a little bit deeper before he starts to fill it in. >> encouraging he clearly according to you knows what he is doing. richard quest thank you for joining us. up next we are just getting into the situation room right now new details of another horrific school shooting here in the united states. this time in st. louis. standby. we will be right back.

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have named the gunman in today's fatal shooting at a high school in st. louis where three people were killed including the shooter. adrian is live from the scene for us right now. adrian what are you learning from police? >> reporter: wolf in the last 30 minutes invested in to say that 19-year-old who shot and killed 2 people graduated from this high school last year. the victims range from age 15 to 61. among the deceased a 16-year- old female student and a 61- year-old woman. investigators also saying when members of law enforcement showed up here they ran toward the sound of gunfire. >> this could have been much worse. the individual had almost a dozen 30 round high-capacity magazines on him. so that is a whole lot of victims they are. because of the quick response,

that suspect did not have the opportunity to turn this into it certainly is tragic for the families. it is tragic for the community. but it could have been a whole lot worse. >> reporter: it could have been a whole lot worse. that for members of law enforcement. meanwhile tonight everyone wondering how did this 19-year- old enter the building. investigator would not tell us when we asked repeatedly. saying, they do not want this to happen at the school again. or at another school around the country. saying they are working to harden the safety at the school. meanwhile investigators also said mental illness likely played a role. adrian thank you very much. to our viewers thank you for watching. i'm a wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett outfront starts right now. upfront next putin's former speech writer tells ou