We've done the "Hustle". We've been to outer space. Hell, we've even been blindfolded and taken on a spaceship all the way to Neptune.
And now, tonight, at 5:30
p.m. PST, it all comes to a (we hope) glorious end with the 86th
Academy Awards live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. What can we expect from tonight's show? Here are five moments to watch:
What movie will win best picture?
"Argo," "The Artist," "The King's Speech" ... by the time the final
envelope has been opened the last few years, you could cut the suspense
in the room with a spork.
The three leading contenders have engaged in a game of awards-season
musical chairs since December. "American Hustle" won the top prize from
the New York Film Critics Circle. "Gravity" found favor with the Los
Angeles Film Critics Assn. "12 Years a Slave" and "Hustle" each won best
picture awards at the Golden Globes in January. Then, a week later,
"Hustle" took the Screen Actors Guild's ensemble award, while the
Producers Guild's top prize ended in an unprecedented tie between
"Gravity" and "12 Years."
Most pundits are going with "12 Years," but the academy's
preferential voting system, which favors movies liked by a broad
consensus of voters, could tilt the contest toward "Gravity" or
"Hustle."
Will Jennifer Lawrence win back-to-back Oscars?
Nominated for her supporting turn as the loose-cannon housewife in
"Hustle," Lawrence could find her way back to the podium (remember:
"Kick, walk, kick, walk" and not "cakewalk")
after winning the lead actress Oscar last year for "Silver Linings
Playbook." Just 23, she'd be the youngest double Oscar winner,
surpassing Luise Rainer, who won her second Oscar in 1938 when she was
28.
Is Bono more powerful than an ice princess?
Having already established what song will not
win, it would seem natural to assume that "Let It Go," the popular
power ballad from Disney's "Frozen," will take the Oscar. But the
academy is primarily composed of older male voters, steak eaters who may
well be immune to the charms of pixie princesses and adorable snowmen.
And these old dudes, these classic rock listeners, have an obvious
alternative right there on the ballot, U2's "Ordinary Love," the anthem featured in "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom."
Bono made the rounds this awards season, being greeted like ... get this ... a rock star.
He was mobbed at the Oscar luncheon and the Palm Springs International
Film Festival. And he had Harvey Weinstein backing him. "Ordinary Love"
already beat "Let It Go" at the Golden Globes. It probably won't happen
again, but if it does, those Disney singalongs might have a tinge of
rage in the near future.
Could "American Hustle" get completely shut out?
David O. Russell's con artist comedy won 10 nominations, leading the
field with "Gravity." But many pundits aren't picking it to take any
category. Its strongest prospects come for original screenplay, where
it's competing against Spike Jonze's acclaimed and adored "Her," costume
design and, as mentioned, Lawrence for supporting actress.
"How can you complain?" Russell said recently at a benefit event he
did for the Santa Monica video store Vidiots. "And you know, if I have
to sit on my behind for five hours at an event and watch other people
win, so what? I'm just grateful to be included."
Why, again, is Pink going to be at the Oscars?
Is the singer taking the show's Cirque du Soleil slot this year? Will she sing a duet with Bette Midler? Or maybe do
something acrobatic with Pharrell Williams' hat? Probably she's just
there to give television critics something to complain about when
reviewing the show.
As Ukraine's new leaders accused Russia of declaring war, Russia's Prime Minister
warned Sunday that blood could be spilled amid growing instability in
the neighboring nation.
Kiev mobilized troops and
called up military reservists in a rapidly escalating crisis that has
raised fears of a conflict. And world leaders pushed for a diplomatic
solution.
In a post on his official
Facebook page, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the recent
ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych a "seizure of power."
"Such a state of order will be extremely unstable," Medvedev said. "It will end with the new revolution. With new blood."
Officials said signs of Russian military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula were clear.
Russian generals led
their troops to three bases in the region Sunday, demanding Ukrainian
forces surrender and hand over their weapons, Vladislav Seleznyov,
spokesman for the Crimean Media Center of the Ukrainian Defense
Ministry, told CNN.
By late Sunday, Russian
forces had "complete operational control of the Crimean Peninsula," a
senior U.S. administration official said. The United States estimates
there are 6,000 Russian ground and naval forces in the region, the
official said.
"There is no question
that they are in an occupation position -- flying in reinforcements and
settling in," another senior administration official said.
Speaking by phone,
Seleznyov said Russian troops had blocked access to bases but added,
"There is no open confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian military
forces in Crimea" and said Ukrainian troops continue to protect and
serve Ukraine.
"This is a red alert.
This is not a threat. This is actually a declaration of war to my
country," Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
Speaking in a televised
address from the parliament building in the capital, Kiev, he called on
Russian President Vladimir Putin to "pull back his military and stick to
the international obligations."
"We are on the brink of the disaster."
Kerry heading to Kiev
A sense of escalating
crisis in Crimea -- an autonomous region of eastern Ukraine with strong
loyalty to neighboring Russia -- swirled, with U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry condemning what he called Russia's "incredible act of
aggression."
Speaking on the CBS program "Face The Nation," Kerry-- who is set to arrive in Kiev on Tuesday --said several foreign powers are looking at economic consequences if Russia does not withdraw its forces.
"All of them, every
single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate
Russia with respect to this invasion," he said. "They're prepared to put
sanctions in place, they're prepared to isolate Russia economically."
But Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations said his country needs more than diplomatic assistance.
"We are to demonstrate
that we have our own capacity to protect ourselves ... and we are
preparing to defend ourselves," Yuriy Sergeyev said on CNN's "State of
the Union." "And nationally, if aggravation is going in that way, when
the Russian troops ... are enlarging their quantity with every coming
hour ... we will ask for military support and other kinds of support."
Pushing diplomatic possibilities
In Brussels, Belgium, NATO ambassadors held an emergency meeting on Ukraine.
"What Russia is doing
now in Ukraine violates the principles of the U.N. charter," NATO
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters. He later added
that Russia's actions constituted a violation of international law.
He called upon Russia to
honor its international commitments, to send it military forces back to
Russian bases, and to refrain from any further interference in Ukraine.
Rasmussen also urged
both sides to reach a peaceful resolution through diplomatic talks and
suggested that international observers from the United Nations should be
sent to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel's office said Putin had accepted a proposal to establish a
"fact-finding mission" to Ukraine, possibly under the leadership of the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and to start a
political dialogue.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched a special envoy to Ukraine Sunday evening, a spokesman for his office said.
Lean to the West, or to Russia?
Ukraine, a nation of 45
million people sandwiched between Europe and Russia's southwestern
border, has been plunged into chaos since the ouster of President Viktor
Yanukovych on February 22 following bloody street protests that left
dozens dead and hundreds wounded.
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Anti-government protests
started in late November when Yanukovych spurned a deal with the EU,
favoring closer ties with Moscow instead.
Ukraine has faced a
deepening split, with those in the west generally supporting the interim
government and its European Union tilt, while many in the east prefer a
Ukraine where Russia casts a long shadow.
Nowhere is that feeling
more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the
new political leadership. Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension
in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for separation
by its Russian majority.
Ukrainian leaders and
commentators have compared events in Crimea to what happened in Georgia
in 2008. Then, cross-border tensions with Russia exploded into a
five-day conflict that saw Russian tanks and troops pour into the
breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as Georgian
cities. Russia and Georgia each blamed the other for starting the
conflict.
Escalating crisis
At Ukraine's Perevalnoye
base, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Crimea's regional capital of
Simferopol, a CNN team saw more than 100 troops -- not Ukrainian and
dressed in green with no identifiable insignia -- deployed around its
perimeter, as well as a dozen or so vehicles. Some 15 Ukrainian soldiers
were on guard while civilians, both pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine
protesters, stood on each side of the road.
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A 66-year-old man named
Nikolai Petukhov marched up to the entrance of the military facility
carrying a Russian flag. He told CNN that he hoped Putin would
facilitate democratic elections in Ukraine.
When asked whether he
thinks Crimea should be part of Russia or Ukraine, he said, "If you look
at it logically, it should be part of Russia."
It is not an unpopular
feeling there, as 58% of the 2,033,000 residents of Crimea identified
themselves as Russian in a 2001 census.
In Simferopol, men dressed in both civilian clothes and camouflage gear and wearing red armbands were seen on the streets.
By Sunday night,
electricity had been cut off at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy
in Crimea, and officials feared there could soon be an attack, Seleznyov
said.
CNN has not independently verified that claim, and Russian officials could not be immediately reached to respond.
Military maneuvering
Word of the power outage
came hours after the newly named head of Ukraine's navy disavowed
Ukraine's new leaders and declared his loyalty to the pro-Russian,
autonomous Crimea government.
Rear Adm. Denis Berezovsky,who
was appointed Saturday by interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr
Turchynov, said from Sevastopol on the Black Sea that he will not submit
to any orders from Kiev.
He was quickly suspended and replaced by another rear admiral, the Defense Ministry in Kiev said in a written statement.
These scenes come one
day after Putin obtained permission from his parliament to use military
force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, spurning Western pleas not
to intervene.
Putin cited in his request a threat posed to Russian citizens and military personnel based in southern Crimea.
Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied Putin's claim.
Western governments worried
The crisis set off alarm bells in the West.
In discussions over the
weekend with Putin, U.S. President Barack Obama "made clear that
Russia's continued violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial
integrity would negatively impact Russia's standing in the international
community," according to a statement released by the White House.
According to the
Kremlin, Putin told Obama that Russia reserves the right to defend its
interests in the Crimea region and the Russian-speaking people who live
there.
Obama met Sunday with his national security team and called U.S. allies afterward, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he spoke with Obama on Sunday night.
"We agreed Russia's
actions are unacceptable and there must be significant costs if they
don't change course," Cameron posted on his verified Twitter account.
Cameron also planned to talk with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Britain's Foreign Minister William Hague on Sunday arrived in Kiev where he will meet with Ukraine leaders.
Canada recalled its
ambassador to Moscow, while the United States and Britain announced they
will suspend participation in preparatory meetings this week ahead of
the G8 summit that will bring world leaders together in June in Sochi,
Russia. France said it made the same decision.
Harold Ramis, the actor, writer and director whose films include
"Stripes," "Ghostbusters," "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This," has died.
He was 69.
His death was caused by
complications related to autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a condition
Ramis battled for four years, according to United Talent Agency, which
represented Ramis for many years.
Ramis died Monday morning in his Chicago-area home, the agency said.
For more than 40 years,
Ramis was a leading figure in comedy. A veteran of the Second City
troupe in his hometown of Chicago, he was a writer for "SCTV" and wrote
or co-wrote the scripts for "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978),
"Caddyshack" (1980), "Stripes" (1981), "Ghostbusters" (1984), "Groundhog
Day" (1993) and "Analyze This" (1999).
The films often featured
members of his generation of comedy talents -- veterans of the National
Lampoon's recordings, "Saturday Night Live" and "Second City TV" -- most
notably Ramis' old comedy colleague and fellow Chicagoan Bill Murray.
"Harold Ramis and I
together did 'The National Lampoon Show' off-Broadway, 'Meatballs,'
'Stripes,' 'Caddyshack,' 'Ghostbusters' and 'Groundhog Day.' He earned
his keep on this planet," said Murray in a statement. "God bless him."
Ramis' directing credits
include "Caddyshack," "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), "Groundhog
Day," "Analyze This" and -- in a change from his usual comedies -- the
dark 2005 film "The Ice Harvest." He occasionally acted as well, most
notably playing Murray's friend in "Stripes," Dr. Egon Spengler in
"Ghostbusters" and a doctor in "As Good as It Gets" (1997).
"Deeply saddened to hear
of the passing of my brilliant, gifted, funny friend,
co-writer/performer and teacher Harold Ramis. May he now get the answers
he was always seeking."
Steve Carell, who worked
with Ramis on "The Office," tweeted, "Harold Ramis. Funny, gracious,
kind hearted. A joy to have known you."
Ramis directed several episodes of that TV series.
Ramis' films were some
of the most influential -- and highest-grossing -- comedies of recent
decades. "Animal House" remains a model for knockabout laughs and
gross-out moments. "Caddyshack" is eminently quotable. "Ghostbusters"
was the second-biggest box office hit of 1984, just behind "Beverly
Hills Cop."
-->
But though the movies
were full of silly moments, Ramis often tried to tap into larger themes.
Perhaps most successful was "Groundhog Day" in which Bill Murray's
cynical weatherman is forced to relive the same day over and over again
until he finally comes to terms with his life. The film has been used as
the subject of philosophical and religious discussions.
That intellectual bent didn't always go over well with studio bosses, Ramis observed.
In an interview with the Onion A.V. Club, he mentioned the studio for his 2009 film "Year One" was uncertain how to pitch it.
"When the studio said,
'Well, what is the movie about?' I said, 'The movie tracks the
psycho-social development of civilization.' And they said, 'Uh, that's
not going to be too good on a poster.' "
Ramis was also a mentor to several current comedy writers and directors, the Chicago Tribune noted in its obituary.
Judd Apatow, a fan, cast him as Seth Rogen's father in "Knocked Up."
Jake Kasdan put him in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (which was
co-produced and co-written by Apatow).
Ramis was usually a
good-natured presence, playing understanding characters -- often
doctors, of one sort or another. It was true to his personality, the
late Second City founder Bernie Sahlins told the Chicago Tribune in 1999.
"He's the least changed
by success of anyone I know in terms of sense of humor, of humility,
sense of self," Sahlins told the paper. "He's the same Harold he was 30
years ago. He's had enormous success relatively, but none of it has gone
to his head in any way."
Indeed, Ramis always seemed to find a way to laugh.
Asked by The New York
Times about the existential questions raised by "Groundhog Day" -- and
competing interpretations of the film's meaning -- he mentioned that he
didn't practice any religion himself.
''Although I am wearing meditation beads on my wrist,''he noted.
''But that's because I'm on a Buddhist diet. They're supposed to remind
me not to eat, but actually just get in the way when I'm cutting my
steak.''
Ramis is survived by his wife, Erica Mann Ramis, three children and two grandchildren.
An Italian appeals court convicted former exchange student Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on murder charges Thursday night.
Prosecutors said the couple had killed Meridith Kercher in November 2007. They were convicted two years later of murder, but those charges were overturned on appeal in 2011.
A judge said Thursday
that Knox, also convicted of slander, was sentenced to 28 1/2 years in
prison. Sollecito's sentence was 25 years.
Knox, an American, said her conviction would bring no consolation to the Kercher's family
"I am frightened and
saddened by this unjust verdict," she said in written remarks. "Having
been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice
system. The evidence and accusatory theory do not justify a verdict of
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. ...There has always been a marked lack
of evidence."
She called the legal proceedings a travesty.
"This has gotten out of
hand. Most troubling is that it was entirely preventable," she said. "I
beseech those with the knowledge and authority to address and remediate
the problems that worked to pervert the course of justice and waste the
valuable resources of the system."
It is unlikely that Knox,
who lives in Seattle, Washington, will return to Italy to serve
additional prison time because U.S. law dictates that a person cannot be
tried twice on the same charge, a legal expert told CNN. He believes
that if Italy were to ask for extradition, U.S. officials would deny the
request.
"She was once put in
jeopardy and later acquitted," said Sean Casey, a former prosecutor who
is now a partner at Kobre & Kim in New York. "Under the treaty,
extradition should not be granted."
Presiding judge
Alessandro Nencini has 90 days to write his arguments behind the jury's
ruling. Once that is out, lawyers have 90 days to appeal.
Kercher, 21, of Great
Britain, was found partially nude in a pool of blood in the house she
shared with Knox in the picturesque town of Perugia, where both women
were exchange students.
Knox has said she is afraid to return to Italy, where she spent four years behind bars.
"I will become ... a
fugitive," she told Italian daily La Repubblica this month, when asked
what she would do if she was found guilty in the second trial.
Italy's Supreme Court in
March overturned the pair's acquittals, saying that the jury did not
consider all the evidence and that discrepancies in testimony needed to
be answered.
The case was sent to a retrial in Florence.
Dressed in a purple
sweater with sunglasses nestled on his collar, Sollecito made it to the
tribunal for the morning session and was expected to return for the
verdict, but his attorney, Luca Maori, said that his Italian client
would not be coming back to court.
Ruling unclear
The retrial began in
September, refocusing international attention on the case that grabbed
headlines in Italy, Britain and the United States -- but neither Knox
nor Sollecito were present in court.
It has renewed questions
about the effectiveness of Italy's justice system, given widespread
doubts over the handling of the investigation and key pieces of
evidence.
Both Knox and Sollecito have maintained their innocence.
'Fugitive'
Knox, 26, and Sollecito,
29, were convicted in 2009 of killing Kercher, who was found with more
than 40 stab wounds and a deep gash in her throat.
Prosecutors say she was
held down and stabbed after she rejected attempts by Knox, Sollecito and
another man, Ivory Coast-born Rudy Guede, to involve her in a sex game.
Guede is the only person in jail for the murder, and many aspects of
the crime still remain unexplained.
Speaking on Thursday, Knox's defense team asked for an acquittal.
Knox has always denied murdering Kercher and has maintained she is not guilty in a written statement to the Florence court.
"I must repeat to you.
I'm innocent. I did not rape, I did not steal ... I did not kill
Meredith," Knox said in a lengthy e-mail presented by her lawyer to the
courtin December.
Sollecito was in the Dominican Republic at the start of the retrial but returned to Italy.
In November, he took to the stand to make a spontaneous declaration, saying the charges against him were "absurd."
"For me, it's a nightmare that goes beyond imagination," he said of what he's been through.
'No one remembers Meredith'
The case has dragged on
for more than six years, frustrating attempts by Kercher's family to
discover the truth about her death. The three trials have done little to
clear up mysteries surrounding the details of the murder.
"They are tired of this long trial and they want justice," Francesci Maresca, attorney for the Kercher family, said.
The Kercher family
welcomed the retrial ruling, Maresca said in March, adding they believed
the ruling that acquitted Knox and Sollecito was "superficial and
unbalanced."
They believe more than one person was in the room when Kercher was killed, he said.
"No one remembers
Meredith, while the two defendants write books, speak to the media and
earn money," Maresca told the court in closing remarks last month.
Ferguson advocates for Knox
One person who has been
advocating for Knox is Ryan Ferguson -- the Missouri man who walked free
last November after being imprisoned for nearly a decade. He was
wrongly convicted of murdering a newspaper editor, and a state appeals
court overturned his conviction.
"We kind of had this
connection in the sense that we've been through this justice system ...
It's relatively the same. We've been through this, and there's not a
whole lot of people" who've had the same experience, he told CNN's "New
Day."
"So it's cool and we can
kind of just talk to each other. She wanted to reach out and say if you
need to talk to anybody, if you need any help, I'm here for you. If
not, I completely understand. So that's how we began communicating."
Asked about Knox' current state of mind, he said she's staying positive.
"She seems to be doing
very well. I'm impressed with her. It's so daunting at this time," he
said. "Within 48 hours she should know her fate. You can't start living
life until they actually clear you and until you're free essentially. So
I'm amazed how she's doing. She's working hard on school and continuing
life the best she can. She believes the courts are going to do the
right thing based on the facts. I agree."
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Elizabeth Vargas, ABC's "Good
Morning America" co-host, said hiding her problem was exhausting.
Elizabeth Vargas spent several weeks in a treatment facility and is now
in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Morning TV host Elizabeth Vargas has publicly acknowledged that she's an alcoholic, and said it took her years to admit it.
In an interview aired Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," co-host Vargas said hiding her problem from others was exhausting.
"Even
to admit it to myself was admitting, I thought, that I was a failure,"
said Vargas, who noted that she had reported several "20/20" specials on
drinking yet couldn't acknowledge her own alcohol dependency.
She said she had suffered panic attacks since she was a child.
"I dealt with that anxiety, and with the stress that the anxiety brought, by starting to drink," she said.
Her
go-to drink was wine which, increasingly during her adulthood, she used
to manage her anxiety and stress. Her drinking "slowly escalated and
got worse and worse," she said.
Meanwhile, she tried to bargain with herself.
"I
started thinking, 'Well, you know, I'll only drink, you know, on
weekends,'" she recalled. "'I'll only drink, you know, two glasses of
wine a night. I won't drink on nights before I have to get up and do
"Good Morning America.'" But those deals never work."
She said her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, wasn't fooled.
"You
have a problem. You're an alcoholic," she said he told her, adding that
his words "made me really angry, really angry. But he was right."
Last
fall, Vargas spent several weeks in a treatment facility and is now in
Alcoholics Anonymous. She told "GMA" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos in
the interview taped Thursday that she's proud of confronting her
problem.
She
said she's "learning to accept that I'm human, that there's nothing
wrong with failing, that there's nothing wrong with feeling anxiety."
And she said she's ready to resume her duties Friday night as co-anchor of "20/20."
Vargas, 51, has worked in network news since 1993, first with NBC and then ABC, which she joined in 1996.
"Is it hard not to drink?" Stephanopoulos asked her.
"Yeah," Vargas replied.
Sphere: Related Content
David Roberts was finishing up a haircut at the Cavallaro & Co.
salon on the second floor of the Mall in Columbia when he heard the
first shot. He looked at another employee, wondering if they should be
concerned.
"When we heard the second, that's when we were like, 'We need to go,'" said the 46-year-old stylist.
Directly across from the salon, three people had been shot at Zumiez, a skating apparel store, he said. He initially shuffled employees and
customers out of the back of the salon, then came back for an employee
who was hidden under a desk, and saw three bodies on the ground.
"It was very obvious that they were deceased," Roberts said.
Roberts said he saw one body inside of the store, and two were laying out front.
At
an afternoon news conference, police said they do not have a motive for
Saturday's shooting and could not confirm the genders of the victims.
On
the other side of the mall, Meredith Curtis-Goode was with her mother
and young daughter, who was playing in a children's play area when
suddenly people started moving en masse toward the J.C. Penney store. Then she heard several distinctive shots.
Curtis-Goode
said she grabbed her daughter, pinning her to her side, and moved
quickly inside of the H&M Store. She then locked herself inside the
bathroom with another woman and child.
"My daughter is four, and
the other boy was three. We just wanted to make it not scary," said
Curtis-Goode, who is the communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.
People
at the mall rushed out so quickly, many of them left their belongings
behind and were unable to get home. Wanda Davila, 54, of Abingdon, an
area manager for a cleaning company that works at the mall, was meeting
with co-workers in the food court when she heard the shots coming from
upstairs. She ducked into the back area of a Chick-fil-A store, leaving
her coat and car keys behind and outside of the AMC Theater. She
wondered how she would get them back.
Similarly, Laura McKindles,
who works at a kiosk at the mall, fled into a perfume store after
hearing a "rapid succession of gunshots," and left behind her "house
keys, wallet, everything." She spoke to a reporter as she boarded a
school bus taking her and others to Howard County Community College.
Jennifer
Duchman Griffin, who works part-time at Sephora, on the mall's upper
level, said the store's staff kicked into action as soon as they got
word of the shooting.
"We got an alert saying the mall was on
lockdown," said Griffin, a local advertising manager at the Baltimore
Sun. Sephora had an emergency plan in place: "We shut the doors and
locked them."
She said she and about 14 other people went to the skin care section at the back of the store for shelter.
"Everybody stayed quiet," she said. "We were all reading our phones, texting... we stayed hidden."
When
police came to escort her and the others out of the store, "it was
hands in the air, stay to the left and walk out," she said.
"All I could think of is it's just like Columbine... this was the single scariest moment of my life."
Lauryn
Stapleton, 18, of Columbia, was preparing for another day at work at
Cartoon Cuts, a children's barber shop at the mall, when her boss asked
for her to get her food at McDonald's.
The first shot sounded like somebody had dropped something from the top level, "something like a brick or something," she said.
"And then I heard [someone yell] 'Shots fired.' …," Stapleton said. "It just kept going and going and going."
Asked
what she told the kids – there were 10 kids inside the barber shop --
when she got back to her job: "You've got to stay as calm as you can and
just tell them everything's going to be OK and hug them and keep them
safe," Stapleton said, fighting back tears.
Stapleton's mother,
Robin, had just dropped her daughter off at work when she received a
frantic call from her as she was barricaded in the mall.
"When you
first hear it, it's like you've lost your child," Robin Stapleton said.
"She was talking to me but you're fearful. You don't know what's going
on and she didn't know where the shooter was. … I thought I lost her
because I couldn't be there for her."
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