ABC News: FBI ‘Ruled out’ Gun Shot Damaged Amtrak Train Windshield

STEPHANOPULOS: “We move on to the latest on the deadly Amtrak derailment. FBI investigators have ruled out that gun as a cause for that damaged windshield raising new questions about the possibility that human error caused the crash. ABC’s David Kerley has the story.”

KERLEY (voice-over): “On the partially shattered windshield of Amtrak 188, that small circular fracture was not caused by a bullet. FBI forensic analysts now saying they found no damage that could have been caused by a firearm. This, after an assistant conductor thought she heard the engineer talking about being hit by a rock or shouted before the train derailed. But there were no recordings, no mention to dispatchers. This morning, the NTSB will determine if the windshield was hit by something else. Those investigators will also have to determine why the eight-car train accelerated to more than 100 miles an hour before the 50-mile-an-hour curve. We know that speed and applying the brakes at the last moment caused the derailment but why the sudden acceleration? The data recorder may reveal if the throttle was manually increased, possible human error. And experts will be going through the engine to look at the other prime possibility that the acceleration was caused by a mechanical failure. The NTSB says it could be up to a year before it can determine the probable cause of the derailment which claimed eight lives.

KERLEY (on screen): “It really is about the speed and that acceleration. That’s why investigators will now be poring through all that data. And the hope, Robin, is that the engineer, whose lawyer says he suffered a concussion, that some of his memory will come back as he heals from those wounds. Robin.”