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Lost and Found in the Rubble; Suspected Terror Attack in London; Tornado Survivor: "I Just Got Lucky"; NBA Star Gives $1M to Relief Effort; Kemp Pledges $1,000 Per Home Run; Accused Bombers' Friend Killed in Shootout; Rubble Where School Once Stood

Aired May 22, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm just curious. How much success have you had so far? I mean, have you had people say, that's my photo?

LESLIE HAGELBERG, STARTED FACEBOOK PAGE FOR TORNADO VICTIMS: Many. I would estimate in the higher hundreds to maybe 200s now. Originally, we set it up a lot of the documents from like Shawnee, Carney, Dale, Little Ax, Bethel, some of those items, they were set up to basically, you know, put them on there, if you locate them, and get in contact with who they go to, take them off.

So a lot of them have been removed. We're not doing that any longer. We're kind of leaving them there because it is hard to manage, but there are some that aren't even on the page anymore that have been reunited. So it is pretty amazing. It is very heart warming. It just started out really small and something I was trying to do in my area and it just kind of -- everybody has kind of caught on and wanted to help.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Leslie. We appreciate what you're doing and I'm sure you'll have --

BALDWIN: Everyone else does too, yes. It is the little things. It is the little things. Want to get you back to this breaking story here that we have been digging on, this story out of London, Atika Shubert joining us now. Atika, what do you know? What happened about the suspected terrorist there?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPENDENT: Well, basically, what we know from both eyewitnesses and police is that it happened a little after 2:00. According to eyewitnesses, a car basically tried to run over a man who was on the sidewalk. Once the two men in the car hit that man on the sidewalk, they then got out and began hacking at him with knives.

And the description from eyewitnesses is they used a meat cleaver and a machete, then dragged the body out into the middle of the road and what is incredible is that they apparently hung around for quite a bit after the attack. In fact, ITV News has video of one of the attackers apparently taken by one of the people that happened to be there at the scene and you can see him with blood on his hands, carrying what appears to be a meat cleaver.

He also put out a statement on that video, apparently, saying, quote, "The only reasons we killed this man, this is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." That's what we got from that video that was put out by ITV.

So a gruesome, grisly attack, the two attackers were shot by police, injured and have now been brought to hospital. As you point out, Prime Minister Cameron will be holding this emergency meeting with his staff. Government sources tell us they're clearly treating this as a suspected terrorist attack.

TAPPER: What are you learning about these two suspects as of now? Do we know anything about who they are, their motive, their condition in the hospital even?

SHUBERT: We do know that they were very seriously injured. In fact, initially a number of eyewitnesses told me they thought that the two had died, but in fact they were only seriously injured and they were helicoptered out to the hospital. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they come from.

There was no claim of responsibility or video that has been posted. What is interesting is that immediately after the attack, they appeared to be filming each other and as we see from the ITV video, they actually went to people and asked to be filmed.

And you can see in some of that video, the victim actually lying in the middle of the road. So we don't know who these men were or why they did what they did. We only have this video where they apparently make the statement.

BALDWIN: So Atika, we're looking at this video, and if you could just sort of walk us through, we see him addressing the camera, I don't know if he's wielding a -- what is that -- is that the meat cleaver or something in his left hand, getting in the middle of the street. What is he doing?

SHUBERT: Yes. What appears to have taken place is that they already dragged the victim, an off duty British soldier into the middle of the street. He then approaches this person with a camera of some sort and you can see in that video he has what looks like a meat cleaver and his hands are full of blood.

He's just dressed in a hoodie and trainers, but he seems to be making a statement and then he returns back to the scene and talks to another man who appears to be crouching by the victim. So it is an incredible grisly scene and what makes it even more shocking is the fact that he was asking to be filmed, wanting to make this statement. The fact that it does seem to be a political statement clearly goes into what the government is considering that this is a suspected terrorist attack.

TAPPER: Atika, if you can read that statement for us. We have a graphic ready if you could -- what is the statement they were talking about?

SHUBERT: The full statement that he reads into the camera is, "We swear by almighty Allah. We will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. The only reason we killed this man, this is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

He then goes on to say, "We apologize that women had to see this today, but in our lands our women would have to see the same. Your people will never be safe. Remove your government. They do not care about you."

I mean, these are incredibly chilling words and the fact that it could happen, you know, a little bit more than 100 meters from here, this is a working class neighborhood of Southeast London, right next to an Army barracks, the Royal Artillery Barracks, and appeared to have specifically targeted an off duty British soldier. It is -- it is really one of the most grisly murders to have happened here. It really is shocking.

BALDWIN: Incredibly gruesome, Atika Shubert, for us in London on this suspected terrorist attack. As soon as you get more information, we'll come back to you there in London.

Meantime, Jake Tapper along with myself here live in Moore, Oklahoma. As these stories start to emerge in the days after Monday's tornado, I want to introduce you, coming up next, to this guy, Josh Hines.

I talked to him this morning. He was walking through what was left of his home, absolutely levelled by Monday's tornado and we'll share our conversation. He chose to ride the whole thing out in a closet. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I wanted to share just another survivor story with you today. I met a man this morning who rode out Monday's tornado in his home. His name is Josh Hines and he has always lived here in Moore. He says he's not leaving. He plans to rebuild. Here's his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH HINES, RODE OUT TORNADO IN CLOSET: You can see right there where the wallpaper is, there is a closet right there.

BALDWIN: The wallpaper right here?

HINES: Yes. Right here on this sheetrock, right up there in the corner is the closet. I was at the bottom of the closet when it ripped through.

BALDWIN: How were you just like?

HINES: I actually saw it -- you know, watched the news and saw it was coming. I put on steel toed boots. I filled up my green bag with some clothes. I hopped in the bottom of the closet. That's my front porch. My truck was in the garage, but I was on the front porch looking west, and, you know, it was probably 30 feet in the sky, in my point of view.

BALDWIN: Yes. HINES: I just went inside, locked the door, hopped in the bottom of the closet, pressed my feet against the wall and my shoulders at the bottom of it, and had that bag in my lap.

BALDWIN: What did it sound like?

HINES: Just a freight train, like you say, but it wasn't as loud as you would think. And then it was pitch black in the closet. I started seeing daylight and sheetrock being pulled off the side of the wall from where I was at.

BALDWIN: And you're seeing that. Are you immediately regretting staying?

HINES: I don't have a scratch on me, nothing.

BALDWIN: How do you explain that?

HINES: Luck. I lucked out, did laundry that morning. All my stuff was in the dryer. Dryer still in the house, got all clean clothes out of it.

BALDWIN: Do you regret riding it out? Do you feel like you just got lucky?

HINES: I just got lucky. I should have left.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I just got lucky. Here's what he told me later. I'm sure you've talked to people who sort of said the same thing, you know. He didn't have a storm shelter. Tarami who we talked to earlier with her little boy didn't have a storm shelter. I was on a plane with a woman. She has been here for 44 years. She was like an afraidy hole, a storm shelter.

It's part of the mentality, but at the same time, after this past storm, both of them told me absolutely. When they rebuild in that exact same neighborhood, they will absolutely have shelters.

TAPPER: As many of our viewers know by now, the geology of Oklahoma makes it very, very difficult to build a cellar, build a shelter. They're very expensive to build. The people in each neighborhood know who has one.

I spoke to a guy yesterday who his wife and kids ran to the neighbor's shelter. Thank God because they would not have made it. We spoke to another guy yesterday, in his business and two minutes before the tornado hit, his -- the mall, the strip mall where his store used to be.

He decided -- he heard a meteorologist on the radio say if you're above ground, get out of there, get below ground and he got in his car and zoomed down the road and went to the target, ran to the freezer there and rode it out in the freezer of the Target, made it but --

BALDWIN: In the freezer of the Target.

TAPPER: It didn't always work out that way.

BALDWIN: That will be on "THE LEAD" the story?

TAPPER: Yes.

BALDWIN: It doesn't always work out, but for a lot of cases, thank goodness, it did. Now here is a basketball star for the NBA team in Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant just made a huge move for his community right here. We'll share his story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here in Oklahoma, sports stars are now coming forward to help the victims and survivors from the tornados.

TAPPER: Most notably, of course, NBA star, Kevin Durant, who pledged $1 million to the Red Cross disaster relief effort. Durant, of course, plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN DURANT, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: It is devastating. Natural disaster is something we can't control at all. To have it hit so close to home, you know, I call Oklahoma City my home now. It is tough to go through, but we're a city that comes together. We'll bounce back from this and, you know, it's tough. It's tough right now, but the sun is going to shine soon. So we just got to stick together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The sun is shining. A beautiful blue skies here in Moore, Oklahoma, today. We should tell you Los Angeles Dodgers star, Matt Kemp, who grew up in Oklahoma City area has pledged $1,000 for each home run that he hits during -- I should say during -- not during, until the all-star break.

TAPPER: Back to our special coverage in a moment. But first, rather bizarre development in the Boston bombings investigation, a friend of the suspects, the Tsarnaev brothers, was killed in a shootout with the FBI. But it is not clear whether he had a link to the terrorist attack. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back. I'm Jake Tapper alongside Brooke Baldwin, back to our special coverage here in Moore, Oklahoma in just a moment. But first, another big story that we're following here at CNN.

BALDWIN: A friend of the accused Boston marathon bombers killed by an FBI agent in a shootout in Orlando, Florida. This is Ibragim Todashev. The FBI had been investigating him and his friend for a possible connection to the bombings a month ago in Boston. Now, this man's friend told our affiliate Central Florida News 13 that he had no idea what the Tsarnaevs were up to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHASUEN TARAMOV, FRIEND OF IBRAGIM TODASHEV: The older brother, knew him back, like, two years ago, back when he used to live in Boston. He knew him and he didn't -- he wasn't, like, real close friends with him, just happened to know him. And I guess, it was his fault, mistake, but he had no idea that they were up to something like that, like bombing and everything. Just like us. It was complete shock to us, you know, just like for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's John Zarrella is covering this story for CNN obviously in Orlando. John, what happened? What led to this shootout?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, you know, as you guys can see, they're keeping us well away from the scene, probably a couple of hundred yards away. You can't even see the apartment where it took place, but apparently they were actually interviewing Todashev late last night, early this morning.

And during the course of this interview, Todashev apparently according to the FBI became very violent, and at that point a confrontation ensued. And the FBI agent apparently, according to the Fbi, shot Todashev. Now, we know that since the Boston bombing, the FBI has been looking for anyone who may have known the Tsarnaev brothers and trying to question them and to talk with them.

So what sources are telling us is that Todashev lived in Boston a couple of years ago, and on his phone, cell phone, they found Tamerlan Tsarnaev's cell phone number, one possible link. They also say that both men were attended the same martial arts studio in the Boston area, back a couple of years ago. They were both very much into mixed martial arts.

But, again, none of that says that there is a direct link between Todashev and the Tsarnaev brothers. That's what the FBI was trying to determine. So at this point we certainly don't know that. One other piece of information we do know is that Todashev was granted political asylum here in the United States back in 2008 and he had come to the United States some time prior to that -- Jake, Brooke.

TAPPER: All right, John Zarrella in Orlando, Florida, thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Thanks, John. It is a tough sight. A school here in Oklahoma totally flattened. Coming up next, hear from a student who was inside the building before, thank goodness, escaping to safety.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One of the most heart breaking scenes here in Moore, Oklahoma, is the rubble now of where Plaza Towers Elementary School once stood. TAPPER: It is heart breaking to think of. The school day was almost over. Students were zipping up their backpacks and then sirens wailed. A tornado was barrelling down upon the town. Terrified children huddled in hallways and classrooms. The roof and walls caved in. Seven students were killed. Teachers tore through the rubble to rescue sobbing children. One student described her ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERCEDIE VERGES, STUDENT AT PARK TOWERS ELEMENTARY: The sirens kept going off. We he had to go to the boy's restroom and duck our heads and put our bags over our heads. Things were falling on my head. A brick hit my back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Plaza Towers Elementary did not have a storm shelter. Some people in this area say that has to change. Right now, only Oklahoma schools built after 1999 are required to have storm shelters.

BALDWIN: We will take you back to our special coverage here in Oklahoma in just a moment. But first, we're getting a lot of new information about the suspected terror attack in London including this gruesome video of a suspect, knives, looks like a meat cleaver in one hand, bloody, talking into the camera.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin in Moore, Oklahoma. We have special coverage of the rebuilding and the aftermath from the fatal tornado on Monday. So we'll do that for you in just a moment.

Want to let you know at this hour, we are watching two breaking stories, one out of London, the suspected terror attack. We have just gotten in this new video, it is gruesome stuff of the suspect, bloodied, wielding some sort of knife, and addressing the camera.