Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Las Vegas Shoot Out Leaves Three Dead; Severe Winter Storm Pummels Midwest; Wal-Mart Reports High Earnings, Low Projections; No Decision on Pistorius Bail; Arias, No Memory of Stabbing

Aired February 21, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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


CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": And hello, everyone, I'm Christine Romans in for Ashleigh Banfield.

The Las Vegas Strip, one of the most famous streets in the world, shut down early this morning following a shooting and a fiery crash that left three people dead and mangled cars everywhere. Several other people were wounded.

Moments ago, CNN spoke with a spokesman with the Las Vegas police department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE HERNANDEZ, LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Approximately 4:20 this morning, two vehicles were northbound, Las Vegas Boulevard at Flamingo, when one of the vehicles described as a black Range Rover Sport fired shots into a second vehicle, a Maserati, striking the driver and the passenger of that vehicle.

This caused the vehicle to go out of control, continues through the intersection, striking a cab which subsequently catches on fire and then striking four additional vehicles.

As a result three of the -- three of those occupants of the vehicles were transported for injuries, and the cab driver and the passenger were trapped inside the vehicle.

At this time, we have three confirmed deceased, two of those being the cab driver and the passenger, and the driver of the Maserati. One of the occupants in the Maserati was wounded from the shots.

Right now, what we're asking is that anyone that has information regarding this black Range Rover Sport to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. It's described as having large black rims and has some sort of dealership advertisement plate on it, and occupied by what we believe is black males.

Remember that this vehicle is armed and dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A rolling gun battle, essentially, on the Las Vegas Strip. Still looking for the black Range Rover Sort. People in the Maserati and the SUV, this gun battle down the street, a taxi struck. The taxi driver and a taxi passenger and the driver of that Maserati, all killed.

We are efforting a reporter on the scene there for you. We'll bring that to you as soon as we can.

A potentially crippling winter storm is pounding the nation's midsection today. Snowplows are out in force across the Great Plains, trying to stay ahead of a huge system being felt from California to Wisconsin.

Whoa, slick roads caused numerous wrecks last night on Interstate 15 in Southern California. The highway was briefly shut down there.

And that's Kansas. Across parts of the state, it's been snowing about two inches per hour, faster than the snow can be plowed.

The intensity of this storm even brought lightning and thunder. Can you hear it?

CNN's Erin McPike is in Wichita right now. Erin, so, how much snow do you have and is more coming?

We've got Karen Maginnis, also, in the Weather Center. We're going to go to her real quick.

But what do you see there, Erin?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, right now, we think we have about eight inches. I'll show you here. We have a ruler.

So, yep, that's looking like about eight inches, but the snow stopped a couple of hours ago, so now we have the effects of it, which if you want to look over here, we've still got somebody digging out his car, and we're going to try ...

(AUDIO BREAK)

... you can see that snowplows have come by. We basically made a median with the snow out of this road. There's some big heaps of snow.

So, it has piled up one, but the effects now we've got to tell you about, there are some power outages in the southwestern part of the state, so people need to be aware of that.

There have been no fatalities yet, so that's a great thing. Everybody should stay off the roads.

All major universities, school districts and the government is closed. Basically, the business of Kansas has shut down today. The governor, Sam Brownback. declared a state of emergency.

We think snow might be over. We might get more tonight, but for the rest of the day, the snowfall has stopped.

ROMANS: All right, Erin in Wichita.

Let's go to Karen Maginnis in the CNN Weather Center.

The big storm, what, Karen, is the greatest threat here?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It looks like the ice is going to be the most problematic.

Yes, certainly, heavy snow, but a lot of people are very prepared for five, 10 inches of snowfall. Some of these areas may see a foot-and- a-half of snow, but the ice is going to be very problematic.

Right now, the estimate is about 60 million people are impacted by this system.

But take a look at this. This is across the Ozark region into northern sections of Arkansas, into southern Missouri. They're saying half an inch, maybe up to an inch of ice.

You get that on those weakened branches or the power lines, you're going to lose power. The wind starts kicking up and then we start to see things really begin to escalate.

Here's what's happening. This area of low pressure has moved out of the Southwest. You may remember yesterday, just to the north of Tucson, Arizona, they saw a little bit of snowfall.

Well, now, this is making its way across the Central U.S. Out ahead of it where that warm air is coming up from the south and cold air wrapping around that area of low pressure, that's where we're looking at those two areas right around Kansas, also into Arkansas and Missouri. That's where the ice is going to be the most intense.

Here's the water vapor. Here's our storm system. You have a little bit of dry air trying to seep on in.

But for Kansas City, right now, the snow is quite heavy, but watch out, the big thunderstorms are triple threat. Could see some thunderstorms erupt along the Gulf Coast and the Southeast the next several days.

Christine?

ROMANS: All right, Karen Maginnis. Thanks, Karen.

Let's go back now to the Los Angeles Strip. We've been telling you about this rolling gun battle, three fatales along basically one of the most well-known road, streets in the world, the Strip.

Michelle Velez of affiliate KSNV joins us now from the scene. Walk us through what happened here. You had a black Range Rover, a Maserati, a taxi and other cars caught in the crossfire. Walk us through what police say happened.

MICHELLE VELEZ, KSNV CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, you mentioned that police said that this was a rolling gun battle. That's what they told us when we first arrived here on the scene around 4:30 this morning, but that story has since changed.

Here's what we know. They say that right around 4:30 there were reports of shots fired and a car explosions. Well, they say that black SUV and a Maserati were stopped side-by-side at a red light

They were at Flamingo and Las Vegas, which is right in the smack- center of the Las Vegas Strip when the occupants inside the SUV started firing into the Maserati.

At that point, both vehicles accelerated into and through the red light, and that is when the Maserati crashed into a cab. That cab was carrying one passenger and the driver. It exploded. Both of those people were killed instantly.

The explosion caused a chain reaction involving at least three more cars. That injured at least three more people.

Now, we also know in addition to the two people that were killed inside the cab, the driver of the Maserati was also killed, that death coming by gunfire. He was also carrying a passenger in the car. That person was shot, that person taken to a local hospital. At this point, no information on the condition.

Now, the black SUV involved in this took off and fled the scene, so police right now have launched a manhunt looking for the occupants inside that car. They have no suspect identification, so we don't know what these people look like, or description rather.

They also don't know how many people were inside of that car, Christine, but they are calling them armed and dangerous and they're asking anybody who sees this black SUV -- and they've given us a vehicle description. It is a black Range Rover Sport, fairly new model with black rims.

Anybody who sees that car is urged to call 911. We asked them, do you know if these were local people inside of that car? Did they have local plates? They said they do not have that information.

What they're doing right now, Christine, is viewing video from all of the surrounding hotels, trying to get a better idea and piece together exactly what happened.

The worst part about this story, two innocent bystanders caught and killed.

So, at this point, they say they're going to be out here for several more hours, and as your mentioned at the beginning of this report, closing down the most populated and popular street in southern Nevada, not something we see every day in Las Vegas.

I'm Michelle Velez, reporting from the Las Vegas Strip. Back to you in studio.

ROMANS: All right, thank you so much with our affiliate KSNV. Thanks, Michelle. Walmart is bracing for headwinds as consumers start to feel squeezed, but the world's largest retailer, it came through the holidays OK and the first month of 2013 just fine, thank you.

This morning, they reported fourth quarter earnings of $5.6 billion. That's up almost eight percent from a year ago.

The business world was holding its breath, though, because some initial breathless, internal e-mails had found their way to Bloomberg a few days earlier, one executive at Wal-Mart wondering in these e- mails, quote, "Where are the customers and where's their money?"

Another warns, quote, "In case you haven't seen the sales report these days, February sales are a total disaster."

I want to bring in my colleague Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Certainly, people watch Wal-Mart because it has its pulse on the paycheck-to-paycheck consumer.

If people aren't feeling good about their prospects or don't have the money in their pocket, they spend less at Wal-Mart.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.

As far as investors go, especially when those e-mails came out, you know, sure, they're always a crowd-pleaser when they get out and they're not supposed to, but we certainly did see shares of Wal-Mart take a real big hit last week.

Shares are rebounding right now, up about 3 percent.

The reality is, you look at this company, its fourth quarter earnings, they did beat estimates, Christine. That's important.

And its forecast? Sure, it wasn't great, but it still was within the range of its earlier estimates.

And, as far as Wall Street sees it, it's all about expectations, so Wall Street was expecting worse, it got better. So, the stock is higher.

Christine?

ROMANS: Well, what's Wal-Mart so concerned about, about future spending? What has Wal-Mart so worried? I have to imagine that gas prices is one of the things on that list.

KOSIK: It is. And we got some of this, some of the detail, from the actual earnings report.

Wal-Mart was especially candid in its earnings report, candid for a company that, you remember, a couple of years ago just stopped reporting its sales numbers every month. It wanted to keep its books closed, only for quarterly earnings reports.

And there are three factors, Christine, that are hurting sales. Let me first start, though, with a biggie. That's the end of the payroll tax holiday, and that's taking money out of everybody's paycheck, but it really hurts the typical Wal-Mart shopper.

And then, yes, what you mentioned, higher gas prices. We've been talking about that all week, gas prices up 48.5 cents a gallon in 35 days.

And then, finally, there was a delay in tax refund checks going out. That was a really big part of this. It took so long for Congress to figure out what tax cuts would stay and which would go.

So, all that hits lower-income people harder, takes money out of their pockets, especially since those tax refunds, they didn't come in when they usually do.

Christine?

ROMANS: All right, Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange, thank you, Alison.

Meantime, the lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius case, suddenly off the case in another day of uncertainty and surprises in court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he's not guilty of bribery, money laundering and other charges. He faces federal charges of accepting more than $200,000 in bribes and gifts. Nagin's out on bond and a trial date is set now for late-April.

A new twist and more uncertainty in the Oscar Pistorius case, French press agency AFP is reporting there is a new senior detective on the case, and it's one more day of uncertainty for Pistorius since the judge did not decide today if he should get bail.

We'll have all the details for you in a moment on that, but, first, I'd like to play our Piers Morgan's exclusive interview with the victim's cousin. He asked Kim Martin if she believes Oscar Pistorius' version of the killing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM MARTIN, REEVA STEENKAMP'S COUSIN: We were all in shock that Reeva died the way she did. You know, for us, we are just coming to terms with the fact that she's not here, and the fact that she died so horrifically and so tragically is a big shock to all of us. We can't understand how this happened.

I don't want to think she was scared or frightened, or that she was fearful for her life; I don't want to think that. I just -- I -- that is my wish that that is the truth. But at the end of the day, we'll find out the truth, and I believe Reeva's life and her death is not in vain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It was a very moving testimonial from her cousin, Reeva Steenkamp's cousin.

Now back to the new developments in the Pistorius case. As we mentioned, there is a new senior detective on the case. That's because the former lead investigator is under investigation himself. Hilton Botha is facing seven counts of attempted murder for allegedly firing at a minibus full of people back in 2009. In 2011, this case first came to light.

Robyn Curnow joins me now from Pretoria. These are startling revelations, Robyn. Fill us in on the details here.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Again, more twists and turns, more sort of bizarre revelations. Now, this was the investigating officer who yesterday took to the stand and who perhaps left the state's case looking a little bit red-faced, losing a little bit of credibility, because he essentially said on the witness stand yesterday that he didn't see any inconsistencies in Oscar Pistorius's statement. And then of course we hear this morning that he was facing charges of seven counts of attempted murder.

The state has moved swiftly to sort of get him out of this case. He's been replaced, as you said, by the South Africa's top detective. And I think this is all about saving face; it's about the credibility of this case. And I think now that that particular investigating officer has nothing to do with the way the investigation is going to continue, I think Oscar Pistorius will continue to face some serious questions from the state's prosecutor.

ROMANS: So the prosecution, Robyn, said that, today, that Steenkamp locked herself in the bathroom with her cell phone in fear. Tell us about what they're saying about her cowering in the bathroom and what she thought was happening around her.

CURNOW: You know, I spent the whole day in the courtroom and it was riveting, and it was riveting because it kind of ebbed and flowed between what happened and what didn't happen. You still, by the end of the day, couldn't get a clear sense because of course each side is presenting their own version of events.

So it's still unclear, but essentially what is very clear is that the state's prosecutor really ripped into Oscar Pistorius's affidavit. He said, for example, if Reeva had got up middle of the night, as Oscar alleges, to go to the bathroom, why would she have taken her cell phone with her? Now, there was a gun and two cell phones found on the floor in the bathroom.

Also talking about trajectories and the positioning of the cartridges. Oscar Pistorius alleges he shot from outside, but the cartridges were found inside, say the state. Again, some sort of inconsistency that they pointed out.

There was a whole list of things they kept on just hammering at. So it was quite startling evidence, I must say, because they really did take apart what appeared to be quite a strong case yesterday from Oscar Pistorius's legal team. They also ended off by saying things like this, "Oscar Pistorius was willing, ready to fire, to kill." They said he shows "a total lack of insight and realization into what he's done."

ROMANS: Wow, certainly so many twists and turns, and this is only the bail part of these proceedings. Really fascinating. Robyn Curnow. Thank you, Robyn.

Just ahead, our legal dynamic duo, Jeffrey Toobin and Joey Jackson, are going to discuss this case. Then, tune in tonight at 7:00 as we hear from Reeva Steenkamp's best friend tonight. It's "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" tonight on CNN.

To another murder case, Jodi Arias testifying about the day Travis Alexander died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JODI ARIAS, DEFENDANT: I was in the bathroom. I remember dropping the knife and it clinked on the tile; it made a big noise. And I just remember screaming. I don't remember anything after that. Not immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We break down her testimony and memory lapse, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Any moment now, Drew Peterson could learn if he gets a new trial or gets prison time. A jury convicted Peterson last fall of the first degree murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. She was drowned in a bathtub. Peterson is also a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy.

After days of detailed testimony, yesterday was supposed to be the climax in the Jodi Arias trial. She finally testified about killing her boyfriend. But some say she wasn't so forthcoming, telling jurors she has no memory of stabbing him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: It's confusing. There is like a huge gap. Like I don't know if I blacked out or what. There's a huge gap. And there -- the most clear memory that I have after that point is driving in the desert. But there are certain little things that have come back, like pictures in my mind that have come back since then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Following the trial for us, Beth Karas, correspondent for "In Session" on our sister network truTV, and defense attorney and "In Session" contributor, Joey Jackson.

Beth, let me start with you. How do you think her lack of detail played with the jurors? I mean, for days, they've been hearing all kinds of incredible detail about her life and now she doesn't remember stabbing him. BETH KARAS, CORRESPONDENT FOR "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Well, I'll tell you, Christine, it was very anticlimactic in that courtroom. The most anticipated day of her direct examination, day eight on the stand, and she couldn't even recall driving that knife into him once, let alone 29 times?

That was an issue. It was a real problem, because her memory was so good for the first seven days on the stand. She could remember innocuous details of what she ordered at Starbucks on a particular day two years earlier, but she couldn't remember this killing. That is probably not sitting well with the jury.

ROMANS: Joey, what do you think? Do you think, from a defense position, she doesn't want to be up there talking about I do remember details of the stabbing after, oh yeah, by the way, I did grab the gun and shoot him.

JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, "IN SESSION" CONTRIBUTOR: Memories of convenience, and that's what this is about. Two issues, Christine. The first is that we commonly see this in the courtroom. Whenever there's something that assists the witness and their testimony and their case, they'll remember chapter, verse, height, weight, length, width, everything. But what when it comes to things that detriment you, all of a sudden, "I don't remember, I don't recall."

So it was very problematic, Christine, that she remembered nothing regarding the shooting. But even more problematic was what she did remember did not make any sense from the beginning to the end, regarding going to a closet, getting a gun that just happened to be laying there, happened to be loaded in a room where he has roommates, right? When the police came in, they don't have any bullets there, anything else. She gets the gun and after she shoots him, he continues to come at her and continues to call her nasty names.

I mean, everything about her testimony just led one to wonder, hmm, is this the reality or is this a fabrication?

ROMANS: So there were a few bombshells yesterday, including she had plans at one point to kill herself. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: I was on the fence about suicide. I wanted to kill myself, but I also knew that if I don't kill myself, I'm going to get arrested, so it's one or the other. So I decided to move - I was going to move back to Monterrey so that regardless of which one came first, it wouldn't have to be in (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Beth, does that help her?

KARAS: You know, she thought about killing herself, slitting her wrists. She had taken a whole bunch of Advil, two bottles, knowing that it could be fatal if you take a lot at once. And this was when she was first arrested, before she was extradited here to Maricopa County, Arizona. So she was in a little county jail where she lived, near the Oregon border in California, and she said she did one little slit on her wrist with that razor blade and it hurt too much.

You got to wonder if jurors are asking themselves but you drove the knife 29 times into Travis Alexander, including slitting his throat ear to ear? Back to the spinal cord, almost decapitating him? One little sliver on her hand hurt her too much, so she stopped.

ROMANS: We'll have to see what the prosecution makes of that, because the prosecution is next. It's been all these days now. We'll see what the prosecution has to say. We'll just leave it there.

Joey Jackson, Beth, nice to see both you. A reminder, you can watch the Jodi Arias trial this afternoon on our sister networks HLN, truTV's "In Session", or on CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back. Near Augusta, Georgia, the crash last night of a small private jet left five dead and two injured. A spokeswoman for the FAA said the Beechcraft jet ran off the end of the runway after arriving from Nashville.

Seems Laura Bush does not approve of a same-sex marriage ad that includes her own supportive remarks from 2010.