Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Serial Crimes?; U.S. Soldiers Charged; Multiple People Trapped Inside Building in New York City

Aired July 10, 2006 - 08:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kareen Wynter, in Phoenix, Arizona, where police may be searching for as many as three serial shooters. Do they have any leads? I'll tell you coming up.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jamie McIntyre, at the Pentagon. Just ahead, I'll have the latest developments in two major military investigations in Iraq.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleen Koch, at the White House. The U.S. is putting pressure on China in hopes of resolving the North Korean nuclear standoff. I'll have more coming up.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken, in Washington. He died in combat and received the Bronze Star, but he is not able to get his religion's star insignia on his memorial.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: ... yesterday, but that weather has moved to the east from Wichita to Kansas City, back to Amarillo. More weather coming up today. Maybe more flooding, as well.

All that on this AMERICAN MORNING.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Melissa Long, in today for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Melissa normally on Pipeline.

Good to have you with us this morning.

LONG: Nice to be here.

And in case you're not familiar with Pipeline, it is a great resource if you need to be in the know all hours of the day.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

LONG: CNN.com/pipeline, it's a great new service from CNN.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely. I use it all the time.

Police in Phoenix working around the clock to try to solve a recent wave of unprecedented crimes. Thirteen people shot, apparently randomly, but police now believe it is the work of a serial criminal. But that isn't the only serial crime spree going on there.

CNN's Kareen Wynter live now from Phoenix with more.

Good morning, Kareen.

WYNTER: Miles, good morning to you.

Investigators say time is critical. There's just no telling when this criminal or criminals could strike again. This latest round of shootings which began in May, there were actually two shootings over the weekend not far from where I'm standing, Miles.

One person shot in the head. Another in the back. But this shooting spree began in April. Thirteen incidents so far.

Police say they have now been able to definitively connect those based on forensic evidence, but they do believe there could be a link because of the manner in which these crimes are being carried out. People targeted very late at night, or in the early morning hours while they are out walking or even riding a bike.

Detectives are also working two other investigations possibly linked to serial criminal activity. Let's start with the investigation that started last August, August 2005.

At that time -- from that time to where we are now, police say there have been about 19 incidents, five definitively connected. And a few months earlier, another bizarre crime spree began in May. Twenty-five incidents in total, four definitively connected.

We had a chance to hear from Phoenix Police Sergeant Andy Hill earlier on this -- on AMERICAN MORNING, and he described just how these criminals may be operating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. ANDY HILL, PHOENIX POLICE: Of all of these three series, the thing about them all is that all the victims have been random. And this last series that you asked me about, the victims are random. They are people that are alone, walking by themselves, standing, riding a bicycle, pushing a bicycle in the late hours of the night between 10:00 at night and 3:00 in the morning. We believe that the suspect or suspects who may be involved in these shooting are driving in a car and shooting the victims from a vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: Sergeant Hill says they have taken many proactive steps, increased man power. Also, the patrol. We've seen so many police cars just patrolling this strip where we are, Miles, all morning long. But he really thinks that it's going to take some tip from the public to crack this case.

And they've provided a tip line anyone out there with information can call into. It's 602-261-8600 -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kareen Wynter in Phoenix.

Thank you very much.

Got some pictures coming into us now. A little bit of breaking news.

The east side of Manhattan, New York City, 62nd Madison is the location. Reports of an explosion and building collapse. You can plainly see the remnants there. 62nd and Madison the location.

These pictures coming to us from our affiliate WNYW. We thank them for that.

And there you see firefighters obviously going through the wreckage there. Still a lot of flames, and we are -- very little information, but obviously reports of multiple people trapped inside the building, which is why the firefighters are trying to get in there.

Once again, an explosion and tremendous building collapse there in the east side of Manhattan in New York City, 62nd and Madison the location. We'll get some more details for you and bring them to you -- Melissa.

LONG: And now to Iraq today. New attacks in the spiral of sectarian violence.

A car bombing in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad today killed five, and police are investigating militia fighting outside of a Sunni mosque today as well. Both incidents follow the slaughter of more than 40 unarmed Sunnis in western Baghdad yesterday. The victims said to have been dragged from the homes and killed in the streets. Now, this cycle of violence was apparently triggered by the bombing of a Sunni mosque Friday, followed by the bombing of a Shiite mosque Saturday.

Five U.S. soldiers in Iraq have been stripped of their weapons and are constantly followed by guards. The Pentagon is charging them as suspects in the rape of an Iraqi teen and also her murder and the murder of her family. A discharged soldier is facing the same charges in a civilian courtroom.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre is live this morning at the Pentagon with more.

Good morning, Jamie.

MCINTYRE: Well, good morning, Melissa.

Over the weekend the U.S. military announced that charges had been filed against five additional soldiers in connection with that March 12th incident in Mahmoudiya, the alleged murder and rape of an Iraqi female and then the murder of her entire family, three other people. Today, we learned the names of those who are facing charges.

They include Sergeant Paul Cortez (ph), Specialist James Barker, Private 1st Class Jesse Spielman (ph), and Private 1st Class Brian Howard (ph). They are all charged in connection with the allegation of rape and murder that occurred on March 12th. In addition, another U.S. soldier, a Sergeant Anthony Irby (ph), was charged with having tacit knowledge of the event but failing to report it.

Today, this military spokesman in Iraq, Major General William Caldwell, stressed that while the U.S. takes these charges very seriously, the investigation is just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: This investigation is ongoing. These are alleged charges, and at this point, again, everybody is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But the charges have been read against them at this point.

So he's number five. There's four others that are associated with the incident in the vicinity of the house that day.: PFC Spielman (ph) -- and again, he, as along with the other three, have been charged with multiple offenses from conspiracy to commit rape and premeditated murder to conspiracy to obstruct justice, violation of a lawful general order, premeditated murder, rape, arson, house break in, indecent acts, and obstruction of justice, all of which carry a maximum penalty of death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now, we learned a lot more about the specific charges in this case from the civilian court documents filed against former private 1st class Steven Green, who is no longer in the Army. He'll be facing charges in federal court.

According to those charging documents in that case, the allegation is that these soldiers spotted this young Iraqi woman, that they left their checkpoint, changed clothes, deliberately went to the house to rape and murder her and murder her family, and then tried to cover it all up. That's the allegation -- Melissa.

LONG: Jamie McIntyre, live from the Pentagon this morning.

Jamie, thank you.

Now, the trial of Saddam Hussein has just adjourned for the day. The closing arguments for the defense began today, but most of the defense attorneys boycotted the trial. They are protesting the killing of one of Saddam Hussein's attorneys. The former Iraqi dictator and seven of his close advisors are on trial for war crimes.

O'BRIEN: The latest chapter now in that standoff, missile standoff with North Korea. A lot of diplomatic activity today in Seoul, Pyongyang, and Tokyo. U.S. envoy Christopher Hill is in Tokyo trying to build support to pressure North Korea to halt its missile tests. Meanwhile, a Chinese delegation is in Pyongyang trying to urge some calm.

CNN's Atika Shubert joining us live now from Tokyo with more -- Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Christopher Hill met with Japan's foreign minister earlier this morning. And he also had a chance to talk with reporters briefly, and he called for North Korea to return to the six-party talks.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HILL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: North Korea has a choice before it, a choice of whether to go for a continued isolation or to join the international community. And I hope they will make the right choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now, Japan is taking the toughest stand on North Korea, pushing for U.N. sanctions. In response, North Korea threatened to launch more missiles, and that has prompted a discussion here in Japan of whether or not -- what the legality is for Japan to carry out a preemptive strike if the country ever came under imminent missile attack. Now, that's still under legal theory and discussion, Miles, but it would clearly stretch the limits of Japan's pacifist constitution.

In the meantime, Japan is pushing to quicker develop its missile defense capability with the United States. Over the weekend, the USS Mustin arrived at a U.S. Navy base just outside of Tokyo. It is equipped with the Aegis tracking system. That's an integral part of the missile defense shield. However, the ship's commander has said it has no particular mission connected with the North Korean missile launches, that it's just part of a routine deployment of the U.S. Navy base's turnover -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Atika Shubert in Tokyo.

Thanks very much.

Diplomacy in the region, diplomacy at the United Nations here in New York as well. An upcoming U.N. Security Council move toward a resolution on North Korea expected.

CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House with more on how they view it all there.

Kathleen, good morning.

KOCH: Good morning, Miles.

And yes, the White House does believe that it has the votes to pass that Security Council resolution despite the fact that Russia and China still certainly oppose economic sanctions. There is talk that those two countries may end up abstaining from the vote.

The U.S., though, is applying very heavy pressure on China to use its leverage to persuade North Korea to come back to international disarmament talks. China, of course, provides food, energy and more to its neighbor in hopes of keeping the regime stable, stopping a flow of North Koreans across the Chinese border. So the U.S. does believe that if North Korea will listen to anyone, that it would be China.

And, of course, as you mentioned, China this weekend sent its own delegation to North Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS BURNS, UNDER SECRETARY, POLITICAL AFFAIRS: We hope very much that the Chinese government, which has some influence in Pyongyang, will now use that influence and exert some pressure on the North Korean regime to get it to come back to the six-party talks and end these missile tests that have been so disruptive and, frankly, so irresponsible over the past week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, if China does not support the U.N. resolution, does not apply that heavier pressure on North Korea, there are some lawmakers who are insisting that China itself could pay a price. A couple of very powerful Republican lawmakers over the weekend hinting that China could find that diplomatic and trade relations with the U.S. could become quite strained if it does not step up to the table right now.

Back to you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: And -- OK, thank you very much.

CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House.

We just learned that the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has arrived Tajikistan. A previously unannounced visit. We're told he's there for two days. We don't know much more about what he's doing there, but we will keep you posted as soon as we have more details.

Let's get you back to that building collapse, upper east side of Manhattan, 52nd and Madison. A dramatic rescue effort under way by New York's finest as they try to do what they can to remove what is presumed to be several people trapped beneath the rubble, the three or four-story building that exploded and collapsed there. And among the witnesses to the scene there is our own Larry King, who happened to be nearby and has seen a fair amount of what happened there.

Larry, what did you see?

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Well, Miles, the first thing is what I heard. I have been in town for a week. I head back to L.A. on Wednesday.

I was in my hotel room, which is on the 15th floor, and it sounded like an earthquake. What a blast.

And I didn't -- so I ran right down to the lobby and they sent me right around the corner. And this is right around the corner from my hotel. I'm standing right there now at the corner of 62nd and Madison.

There's a lot of smoke, an awful lot of New York City police, fire, New York Hospital, New York Presbyterian medical service, stretchers. They've got people roped off. You can't get through at all on 62nd Street between Madison and Park. Traffic is tied up for blocks.

This happened right at the worst possible time, which is -- I think it was about a quarter to 9:00 on a Monday morning. People going back to work after the weekend.

The building went right down, apparently. There are people trapped underneath. I'm about a third of a block away.

O'BRIEN: Larry, what do you know about the building? I hear it's a three or four-story building. Is it an apartment or office, or do you know who was -- who were the tenants?

KING: I'm told it's an apartment building with some doctors offices in it. This was told to me by someone who lives next door.

And he was worried about the people underneath. He says there's a parking garage underneath, and he was worried, are they getting to the parking garage?

They've got the hoses now to put out the -- put out the fire. There's a lot of smoke.

The good part is it is a clear day, so visibility is clear for them to get through. There's no blockage of any kind. They've got the streets roped off.

You know, New York City is very quick to reacting to this kind of thing. And the first thing you think of is, since 9/11, that's what you think of. And someone said something about a water tower coming down, but all that, of course, was speculation.

I will tell you this, Miles, I've never heard a sound like that.

O'BRIEN: So, your best guess that what you heard was an explosion which caused the collapse, or did you just hear the sound of the explosion? Do you have any way of knowing?

KING: No, I have no way of knowing. Except I heard it would have to be the sound of an explosion.

O'BRIEN: You think so?

KING: It sounded like -- it sounded like a bomb. I haven't heard -- my connection with bombs would be in movies.

O'BRIEN: Right.

KING: It sounded like a bomb. O'BRIEN: All right. The scene -- it looks like a tremendous scene there and a desperate effort to find people. But given...

KING: As I'm looking down the block now, you see a lot of smoke, ambulances crisscrossing, people coming by with stretchers. I haven't seen anybody on a stretcher yet. A lot of police.

The public is being very good about this. The bystanders are cooperating with the police. There's no one trying to get beyond the police "Do Not Cross" yellow lines, which are familiar to people.

A lot of cops. A lot of emergency people. A lot of rescue workers covering both Park Avenue and Madison Avenue.

O'BRIEN: And just to sum up, you said -- we're told it's a three or four-story building, or was, and that there is a parking garage beneath. And that's part of what they are after, to see if there might be people trapped there?

KING: That's what the man -- a man said to me. He lives next door and he was concerned about the parking garage. He was saying, "Do they know that there's a parking garage, and do they know that there are people possibly trapped underneath?"

That's, again, possibly. This is very early in the event.

O'BRIEN: All right. Larry, why don't you stay there and keep us posted as this progresses. We're going to send some more troops that way, of course. But thank you for phoning in.

KING: Sure. OK, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Larry King, a witness to this -- what he described as what sounded like a bomb blast, and then the terrible destruction there of a three or four-story building there in New York City, the upper east side of Manhattan. Obviously New York firefighters desperately trying to go through that rubble to see if they can save anybody who is trapped beneath that fiery and smoky wreckage.

We'll keep you posted. As we get more information on this, we'll obviously share it with you.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Live pictures now. This is from the roof of our building. We're at the southwest corner of Central Park. This is four or five avenues to the east.

Madison and 62nd the location. You can see the smoke as it envelops a good chunk of the east side of Manhattan.

Firefighters desperately searching for victims beneath that pile of rubble. It's a three or four-story walk-up building there at 62nd and Madison, now considered three alarm response by FDNY. The firefighters there going through. There apparently was a parking garage beneath, according to at least one witness who spoke to CNN's Larry King, who himself was a witness to this, heard the explosion and has been on the scene this morning. And there's a possibility that some of the fire might be spreading, and that's obviously what firefighters are concerned about as well, secondarily from the search for victims as well.

So we have -- it's a three-alarm fire, apparently an explosion. That's how Larry King described it. But it could have been just the sound of the collapse itself.

His description was fairly distinct, though, that it sounded like an explosion leading up to the collapse. And we're watching it very closely to see what success firefighters have there in trying to find victims who might be underneath that pile of rubble.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: So how did a California teenager become the face of al Qaeda? Adam Gadahn resurfaced last week in an al Qaeda video released on the anniversary of the London bombings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM GADAHN, AL QAEDA SPOKESMAN: They're the ones who started this dirty war and they're the ones who will end it by ending their aggression against Islam and Muslims, by pulling out of our region, and by keeping their hands out of our affairs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Brother Haitham Bundakji was the imam of that mosque where Gadahn worshipped in the '90s. He joins me from his home in Westminster, California.

Brother, good to have you with us.

HAITHAM BUNDAKJI, ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: He came to the mosque in the 1997-'99 time frame. Was he sort of radicalized at that time? Or did that sort of happen before your very eyes there?

BUNDAKJI: Well, I saw him coming when he embraced Islam in 1997, and I was a witness of him accepting Islam at that time.

O'BRIEN: And what was he like at that time when he approached you? Did he speak of -- was there an anti-American sentiment that was at the heart of it? Or did that come later?

BUNDAKJI: Oh, no, not at all. Actually, he came just like anybody else that wanted to embrace Islam, and we were happy to see that. I welcomed him, along with other people that were there, and he would come and worship five times a day. He was there all the time ever since he embraced Islam.

O'BRIEN: So he embraced it and seriously embraced it. You say he was there five times a day.

BUNDAKJI: Yes.

O'BRIEN: When did you notice things taking a turn?

BUNDAKJI: Well, actually, within six months I noticed that this gentleman started grouping with five, six, seven guys, maximum eight, and they would have a circle. And they would come and sit down and talk before prayers and after prayers. And, of course, I thought that they were, you know, just studying Islam together. No more, no less.

And I saw him very interested, very serious about what he was doing. And I thought that was excellent. It was great.

We did not know of any hidden agenda of these people surrounding him. I didn't even know whether they had any hidden agenda or not at the time.

O'BRIEN: And so, in retrospect, do you think that that group is what became kind of the core of the anti-American sentiment that he is espousing?

BUNDAKJI: Unfortunately, yes.

O'BRIEN: You had an interesting experience with him in this time frame where he became upset with the way things were going at the mosque. Tell us about that.

BUNDAKJI: Well, I was the president of the Islamic Society at the time, and I -- you know, my policy was to build bridges between the Muslim community and the non-Muslim community, and particularly the Jewish and Christian community for -- if you will. And this group didn't care about that because I invited rabbis, I invited priests, I invited people from all denominations to come to the Islamic Society, and these people were not pleased about it.

And they used to make negative remarks to me about that. And I would explain to them that we, as Muslims, have to let people know what we really stand for. They didn't care for that.

O'BRIEN: Well, what did Adam Gadahn do, though? He did something very specific, too. He confronted you, didn't he?

BUNDAKJI: Well, Adam Gadahn, I think he was used by these people and influenced by these people. And he came one day charging into my office, calling me infidel, calling me a Jew, calling me atheist -- not atheist, I'm sorry -- hypocrite, and called me other names I don't remember. And then he slapped me across the face.

Two people were standing there and they held him back. I did not try to attack him back. And I just called the police department and they came and arrested him.

Now, I did not go to court to press charges against him and go with the case. I feel sorry for this young man.

O'BRIEN: You do still? Do you still feel sorry for him?

BUNDAKJI: I really do, more than any other time. I think he's lost. I think he's in the wrong hands. And it's very, very sad.

And I wish and pray that I was able to embrace him myself and bring him to the right direction before these guys got into him. Even after the altercation that he had with me and the sad incident when he came and slapped me, he came back to the Islamic Society, and I tried to welcome him back and accept him back, but he kept on avoiding me.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this. It sounds like you have a few regrets in the way you handled this. Are you -- are you doing anything different? Are you more vigilant about what is going on inside the mosque now?

BUNDAKJI: Well, yes, I am. We all are. The whole country is. The whole world is vigilant, because we all were together innocent about these incidents.

We didn't know anything before 9/11. We all were innocent, including our law enforcement agencies.

Today, much more equipped, much more educated, much more vigilant. And at the Islamic Society, we definitely check everyone that comes in that we don't know of.

We do not allow any flyers to be passed on, and we don't allow any assembling after the prayers. And when people assemble, other than the organized assemblies, we look into their agendas and what they are doing, unlike the past, when we were innocent and naive about what was going on.

O'BRIEN: Brother Haitham Bundakji, thank you very much for your time.

BUNDAKJI: You're very welcome. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: We're going to take a break. When we come back we're going to bring you up to date on a developing story, breaking news in the east side of Manhattan.

There you see the smoke. Live pictures from the top of our building here, just about a mile or so away, as firefighters there battle to go through the rubble of a building collapse, perhaps preceded by an explosion, looking for people who may be trapped beneath.

Stay with us for details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com