’60 Minutes’: Anderson Cooper Gets Emotional Talking About Families of School Shooting Victims

Anderson Cooper struggled to hold back tears on Sunday’s (November 23) 60 Minutes as he interviewed CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman about the upcoming Netflix documentary All the Empty Rooms.

The documentary, which lands on Netflix on December 1, follows Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they visit the rooms of children killed in school shootings across the United States. These rooms, which have been left untouched, have become a way for parents to hold onto the memory of their children.

“It’s such a reminder that while everybody else moves on from what is a story to them, the families never move on,” Cooper said on Sunday’s 60 Minutes.

“That’s part of the reason the families did agree because it’s very frustrating for them when the country moves on,” Hartman explained. “And they certainly haven’t moved on and will never move on.”

“They can’t surrender the rooms, because you surrender the rooms, and that’s just another piece of their kid that’s gone,” explains Steve Hartman, who has been documenting the rooms of children murdered in school shootings. Many have been untouched for years.… pic.twitter.com/42PBnSHMmE

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 24, 2025

As Cooper continued, he became visibly shaken. “I think there’s such weight for these parents in being the holders of the memory that they are the only ones who remember,” he said, pausing while he choked back tears. “Excuse me,” he added.

“What are you thinking about?” Hartman asked.

“Whew,” Cooper continued, sharing, “I’ve been in a lot of these rooms as well, and there’s such sadness in being the last ones left to remember everything about this child.”

“I wanted to shake people out of this numbness that I was feeling whenever there was a school shooting,” says CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman. Over the course of seven years, he traveled the country with photographer Lou Bopp, documenting the empty rooms left behind by eight… pic.twitter.com/Pj5XwHF57L

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 24, 2025

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Hartman explained that’s a significant reason why the parents “can’t surrender the rooms,” noting, “Because you surrender the rooms, and that’s just another piece of their kid that’s gone.”

With the documentary, Hartman is hoping to “shake people out of this numbness that I was feeling whenever there was a school shooting.” He added that at one time, a school shooting was big news, and now, it gets coverage “for a day or two.”

As for why he visited these bedrooms, Harman explained, “When you go into a kid’s room, you see their whole history, you see every dream, every desire, everything they value. It’s all there on the walls and sitting on the shelves… or scattered on the floor in some cases. I don’t think there’s really a better way to get to know a kid and to remember a life than to look around that room.”