'This Week' Transcript: After the Tragedy

WASHINGTON, Jan 16, 2011 — -- AMANPOUR: We thank the congregation of St Odilia for hosting us... It is the home parish to two of those lost in the shooting. 9 Year old Christina Taylor Green had her first communion here...and Judge John Roll grew up in the parish as well.

What I want to ask all of you first is, by a show of hands, to tell me how many of you were either involved at that fateful place at the Safeway, or whether you were involved at the hospital afterwards, or in the immediate aftermath, or whether you know anybody who was involved in that tragic shooting. Show me by a show of hands. So practically the whole room. This whole community has been so touched.

And I think I want to ask you, Bill Heilman, what is the lasting impression that you will take away from that day your wife had brought 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.

HEILMAN: Indeed, she had. She wanted to show a little girl something that she felt had not been possible in her generation by introducing her to Gabby, and let her know that that opportunity was there for her, too. And it was just a perfect event for that, to do that.

AMANPOUR: And how is your wife coping?

HEILMAN: The emotional side of what's occurred is still sinking in. The extent of the tragedy only really seems to get addressed in very Quiet moments when there aren't audiences around. We had our first psych consult yesterday to start dealing with the ramifications of this, and we feel very well supported and appreciative of the hug that America is giving my wife.

AMANPOUR: Daniel Hernandez, you rushed to Congresswoman Giffords as she was lying bleeding. And by all accounts, you really set the stage for saving her life. And a week later, do you think about what it took for you to run towards her even as there was gunfire?

HERNANDEZ: No, because I think, really, had it been someone else, I would have done the same thing. Although Gabby is someone who I've admired for years and I consider her a friend, I think at this point, anyone would have done the same thing for anyone, because it's a human being, and you need to make sure that you help those in need.

AMANPOUR: Patricia Maisch, you knocked the magazine out of the gunman's hand, out of Jared Lee Loughner's hand.

PATRICIA MAISCH, HELPED RETRIEVE WEAPON: That's a little bit of misinformation.

AMANPOUR: You prevented him from reloading.

MAISCH: I managed to grab the magazine.

AMANPOUR: What do you remember? What is your lasting memory?

MAISCH: That first shot. And I knew -- I'm not a gun person, but I knew it was a gunshot. And just that tiny, tiny space between the first shot and the rest of the shots, just in my head. And then deciding to drop to the ground instead of running, expecting to be shot because the woman next to me was the last one to get shot. And instead, having Bill and Roger, my guardian angels, knock the guy down right in front of me. You know, I owe them my life.

AMANPOUR: Colonel Badger --

COL. WILLIAM BADGER (RET.), WRESTLED GUNMAN TO GROUND: Yes?

AMANPOUR: You've got your arm around Patricia. You did something amazing that day, leaping and tackling him and getting him down so that he couldn't get up again.

BADGER: Well, you know, the thing that I get out of this is the fact that -- how quick everybody bonded, and just like Patricia and myself bonded as a result of this. But it will be something that will haunt me the rest of my life.

AMANPOUR: I'd like to go to Mrs. Bowman and Dr. Bowman in the front row, here. You were just in the area, in the Safeway, and you heard the shots. And your reaction was to rush out to them instead of stay hidden. What did you do and what will you remember?

BOWMAN: We had just passed Congresswoman Giffords and gone into the produce aisle, which is not my favorite section, and had not been in more than two to three minutes when the shots rang out, very quickly, all of them. It was over with probably less than three, four seconds, and just done, it seemed. As I got to the front door, a couple people ran in, one gal screaming, they're shot her, they've shot Congressman Giffords! And she had blood on herself running into the store. So, I stepped through and stopped behind a pillar.

There were no more gun shots, an old' badger had already done his thing by the time I looked around the corner and I - the first thing I saw was Daniel with Congresswoman Giffords and that's, sort of, where go in automatic mode started.

And I looked back after just two or three minutes and realized I had left my wing man, she wasn't there. She hadn't heard me. And they sort of swept her to the back of the store and she came out very quickly. I looked back and she was working with Judge Roll and that was the first time I felt calm, maybe. Because somebody showed up and was helping and the more I looked, everyone was helping everyone.

AMANPOUR: And you were barking out orders, weren't you? You came and really got into the first aid the triage and were giving orders who somebody who you didn't even know, who's not even a medical professional.

NANCY BOWMAN: Well he was the one barking out the most of the orders. He went from the very beginning of the line, all the way to the end, assessing everybody one by one. Those that he felt could be saved and had to come to terms with those that couldn't be saved. I came out and immediately started CPR on Judge Roll.

And as I was doing CPR, a bystander, a stranger to me, steps up and says, I can help. Tell me what to do. And, I guess, that's when the barking started. I told her to start to take over the chest compressions that I was doing. I started mouth to mouth on Judge Roll and then David came back to us after he had made his initial assessment of everyone and said, Nancy, you need to stop. There's nothing that can be done. So, I just looked at Judge Roll, and I said, I'm so, so sorry. And David said, you need to go over and take care of this woman over here, she's awake, she's conscious, she's breathing, she needs your help.

AMANPOUR: When we return, we'll hear from the woman at Gabby Giffords' bedside when she opened her eyes and a husband who became a human shield to protect his wife from a hail of bullets. Amazing stories of survival and hope as our American conversation continues

ANNOUNCER: This Week brought to you by Chevron.

(Commercial Break)

AMANPOUR: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, you are a good friend of Gabby Giffords. And, in fact, you were down here, this week. You came when the President came. What is your lasting impression of what happened?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), ARIZONA: My lasting impression is that out of an evil act, we have had an opportunity to see the overwhelming goodness that exists in this country. And as horrific as this act and tragedy has been, the opportunity that we have had, this week, to see how many incredible people there are in our country. And having been here a number of times to campaign for Gabby and having talked to Gabby about the pride that she has in representing Tucson and the Eighth Congressional District, every ounce of that pride was evident and warranted, this week.

AMANPOUR: How is she doing? You're going to see her, again. You've seen her once.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Yes, yes. You know, she's doing better every day. Wednesday was just a miracle to witness, myself and our good friend Senator Gellibrand and Leader Nancy Pelosi were able to be by her side with Mark and her parents and have her open her eyes, you know, just in our - as a result of, we hope are urging her on to come back to us and rejoin the activities that girlfriends do together.

AMANPOUR: some of these incredible people here saved, not only other people's lives but your friend's life, as well, and we've heard a lot from them, that they feel they were doing what they had to do as people and they don't feel they were heroes. Do you think they're heroes?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: There's no question that they are heroes. (applause)And, I think, every one of us hopes that our immediate reaction would be the selfless response would be to spring into action to help someone else. But, I guess, you really never know until you're faced with that opportunity.

AMANPOUR: Dr. Bowman, I know that you're not comfortable with the idea of being called a hero.

BOWMAN: That's correct. And I don't think any of us are including Daniel, I think there were --

DANIEL: I agree.

BOWMAN: I think that there were maybe heroic things done by normal people. That means we're human beings and I think that's, to me, one of the most lasting impressions is to see what people were doing for someone else. Injured people helping someone else more injured. Not concerned about themselves and not screaming and not yelling, "Medic! Medic!" Helping the person next to them.

It gives you a lot of hope that we're doing it the right way somehow.

AMANPOUR: But nonetheless, if I might, I -- I've covered a lot of war, a lot of tragedy and certainly, I know that one tries to hide and -- and tries to get out of the bombing situation or shooting situation.

And you did run towards it. You did -- Patricia, you did what you had to do in that circumstance. And yet you're uncomfortable with the idea of having the hero label attached to you.

MAISCH: I am. This is the hero. He's -- if I'm a hero, he's a super hero. My son says that I should just say thank you, that the community needs heroes right now. But it's still hard to do.

BADGER: I did what anybody else would do.And I'm just so glad that I had the opportunity to do what I did because after seeing the people killed, you know, right there beside me. If he'd have got another clip in that gun, why, it would have been disastrous. At the time I did not know that he was reloading his gun when he went by right in front of me. But when I responded, why, there was an opportunity there because somebody picked up a folding chair and came down on the back of the gunsman's (sic) head and that gave me the opportunity to grab his arm, you know, come up like this and push him down. I got a choke hold on him. Roger had his knee on the back of his neck. And every time he would move, I would tighten my grip and Roger would push down more on his face. He was laying like this, you know....