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Two Window Washers Trapped On Broken Scaffolding 46 Stories Above Ground; The Precision Of A $27,500 Rifle; CIA Deputy Director Retiring

Aired June 12, 2013 - 15:29   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: If you're just joining us, we're following this breaking news, a pretty precarious situation for these two workers.

Look at this, as the cameraman zooming out. You see this beautiful tall glass building. You have seen it if you have been anywhere near Columbus Circle in Manhattan. This is the Hearst Tower. This is global headquarters for Hearst.

And as this cameraman on this helicopter with WABC begins to pan, you get a better perspective as far as how high up these two workers are. According to New York Fire, these two workers are trapped on this scaffolding. There has been some sort of scaffolding accident.

What exactly happened, we don't yet know. We're making phone calls. But, basically, you see this one person on the left, one person on the right, this scaffolding sort of forming this V-formation. And they are sitting there some 46 stories above.

So if you know the neighborhood, this is right around West 57th and Eighth Avenue, as I mentioned, near Columbus Circle. They are stuck. They are stranded. We're watching it. And, hopefully, they're able to get out of there as soon as possible.

I'm looking at you, Chad Myers. Do you know anything more?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, but I would assume at this point in time some traffic has also been rerouted down below them because they don't want anything to happen down here.

It almost seems like these two guys were either washing windows or something on the scaffold and all because this isn't a building under construction. It's been here for a very long time.

And so something happened to the two support mechanisms holding it, and they don't look like they're in any panic mode, either, so they're certainly strapped in.

BALDWIN: Do you think it would have been perpendicular to the ground and now that's the "V" because we just don't know?

MYERS: I think it was horizontal to the ground. And now it's the "V" kind of coming down at that point in time, right? I mean, there's the top of the ...

BALDWIN: So there we go. This is a better perspective.

MYERS: They must be hooked up to safety harnesses. And at this point in time they're hooked up even up above.

And I don't believe this is a life and death situation for these guys. Certainly scary for us to watch.

BALDWIN: It's scary. Look at this firefighter. Guys, drop the banner and you can see, two firefighters on their bellies over the edge of a 46-story tower in Manhattan. I have butterflies, and I'm not anywhere near this.

But to think they have -- you see the ropes, and somehow are communicating with these guys. At least they're not too far down, right, just a couple stories.

MYERS: Right. They're going to get hauled back up. It's just going to take some time. As we see it, it's a helicopter shot and we have -- our connotation, our whole mindset, oh, my gosh, look at these guys straight up there. That's what these guys do for a living. They're up 48 feet -- 48 stories all the time.

So here's this. One guy is hooked up. You can see he has the orange harness on, walking to a little bit of a higher ground. And, you know, they're going to get him out of there.

BALDWIN: You see there's a glass. If you can squint, there are these two guys with ties through the glass standing there, staring at them. I'm just looking at a much larger monitor here in studio, so you can see.

See the guys in ties through the dark glass of this Heart Tower? They're standing there. They're watching this whole thing. And so perhaps -- we haven't been watching every single second, but perhaps this bright yellow rope is what was dropped down.

I don't know. You would think, if you were a window washer, whatever it was they were doing, you would be secured, right? You would have some kind of rope holding you in. Even though you're standing on this trusty scaffolding, accidents happen.

MYERS: And you stay here. You do the news. I will go in my office and I will watch this live, and then I'll come back out here and I'll tell you what I see.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. Stand by. We'll come back to it. Fingers crossed, these guys will get up to the top of the building momentarily.

We're going to pull away for the pictures. We promise we'll come back as soon as we see any activity.

Chad Myers, go see what you can find. Meantime, next week, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to hold a gun control event that will likely reignite the national debate on guns, and this next story could definitely add fuel to that fire.

This is about this high-tech gun that turns any beginner into an expert sniper. And it's not just on the horizon. It's on the market.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good form. Really good form.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You just heard. This is a precision rifle made by a Texas company called Tracking Point. The firearm costs a pretty penny, $27,500. It allows a person to hit a target 10 football fields away.

And just to prove it can be done, Aaron Smith from our CNNMoney unit pulled the trigger himself. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON SMITH, CNNMONEY: So how easy is it, really?

The guys at Tracking Point say they've got a smart scope that does most of the work. We're at a shooting range in Liberty Hill, Texas. And I'm going to try to hit a target that's 1,000 yards away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's 10 football fields. It's a long way down there.

We're streaming now. You can see. If I lift the gun up, you can see what we're seeing right there. Want you to find the 250 yard mark.

SMITH: My hands aren't nearly as steady as I thought they would be. Is that 1,000?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's 1,000. I want you to shoot the target there on the far left.

Good tag. Solid tag. All right, let her rip. Squeeze and hold. Move it into the ...

SMITH: Three hits.

The Tracking Point guys judged the wind for me. The technology to call wind speeds isn't there just yet, but the scope did the rest.

I had never shot at anything that far away. I don't think it would be possible without using a scope like this.

But it made us think. If I could hit the target so easily, who else might want to use a technology like this? It basically turns your average Joe into a sniper, and some people might want to do more than shoot wildlife.

The Department of Homeland Security would not comment on concerns about this technology falling into the wrong hands. Neither would the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives because they don't regulate scopes, just guns.

While anybody buying this gun new would have to clear a background check, after the initial sale, under federal law, the gun owner can legally sell this technology to anybody without regulation or record.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice.

SMITH: Aaron Smith, CNNMoney, Austin, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, the CEO of Tracking Point, Jason Schauble. Also with us, Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Gentlemen, welcome.

Jason, I want to just begin with you first. I've read all about this gun. I understand your company is on track to sell 500 of these guns this year.

Tell me who's buying them.

JASON SCHAUBLE, CEO, TRACKING POINT: Well, normally, we have sportsmen and long-range target shooters who are buying them, guys who want to go on safari, guys who have ranches and have coyote or feral hog issues.

So we've seen a wide diversity in our initial user-base for sporting purposes.

BALDWIN: Josh, you hear that? It's for sporting purposes. Does it still make you nervous?

JOSH HORWITZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COALITION TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE: Yeah, well, look, I want to commend Jason on the great use of technology.

I just think the industry has been completely innovated for lethality, and this is one more example. And I wish they would innovate for safety a little more.

We just saw recently a 4-year-old shoot his father who was in the law enforcement by accident. I'd love to see some of this technology used to make safer, smarter, more protective firearms.

BALDWIN: What is the safety, Jason? I read about a password- protected scope. Tell me about that.

SCHAUBLE: So, you know, from a proliferation perspective, every owner when they store their firearm has the option to enter into a four- digit pass-code much like they would do on their phone if they don't want their phone to be used by someone else. So what it does is it locks out the advanced functionality. It's an option we give the user when he stores the firearm to make sure that that advanced technology, if a gun is stolen or somehow taken out of safe storage, cannot be used for purposes for which it was not intended.

BALDWIN: Here's one question. This is an argument we've heard pop up before, and as a -- you know, the issue of why should rifles like these end up somewhere beyond the battlefield.

You are a former Marine captain. I read that your right hand is partially paralyzed because you were hit by an AK-47 in Iraq. You've lost friends.

What are your concerns? Do you have concerns about this rifle?

SCHAUBLE: I mean, I don't. This rifle has a wide market. I mean, between a third and a half of Americans own close to 300 million firearms.

We have done nothing different to this firearm other than enhance its ability to be more effective and to change the shooting experience through streaming video, through allowing a guy to download his recorded videos.

And we have been talking with different government agencies and law enforcement agencies, but I mean, under the second amendment this is a -- this is no different than any other bold action hunting rifle that someone else owns for hunting or sporting purposes or that a police department would own for its own purposes.

All we've done is use technology to make it more effective and to increase -- basically enhance the shooter's experience when using that firing system.

BALDWIN: Josh, 30 seconds. I want you to get the final word in, final question if you have one.

HORWITZ: When you say more effective, that means more lethal. That means more killing ability. That means taking the average criminal and making him into a trained sniper.

If there's innovation to be done, let's use that innovation to make firearms safer and protect users in the general public.

BALDWIN: Jason Schauble and Josh Horwitz, thank you both.

Meantime, let's go back to the live pictures here as we're watching these two workers who are still standing there, who are still stuck high, high above midtown Manhattan here.

We're watching, getting some new information. We'll bring it to you after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: All right. More on these incredible, frightening pictures here. This is midtown Manhattan. This is the Hearst Tower, 46 stories, beautiful glass building.

If you've ever been, this is near Columbus Circle, but this is not the kind of thing you to be -- you want to happen to you because what you are looking at is these two workers. They were on this scaffolding. I don't know what they were doing. Maybe they were washing windows. We don't know.

What we do know is that they're stuck because there was some kind of scaffolding accident. And we've been watching, what, Chad, for the better part of the last half our or so?

MYERS: Oh, yeah.

BALDWIN: They've been sitting out there. What more have you seen?

MYERS: I have seen them wave at the helicopters.

BALDWIN: Get me out of here.

MYERS: And I've also seen Twitter feeds going, you wouldn't have to rescue me because I'd already have a heart attack and I'd already be dead. You know, really, I mean, these guys, obviously, this is what they do for a living. They're used to living 500 feet up above on a scaffold.

But still, it appears to me when I took a live shot, a wide shot from the WABC for a little bit ago that there are two almost arms holding up both ends of this scaffold. And the middle of the scaffold has collapsed in some way.

It appears that maybe this moves back and forth almost like a book, like the arms of a book. And so you can get closer to the windows because those "Xs" that are on the building keep the window washers a little farther away than they want to be.

So they have to slide this in to get closer to wash the windows. And so the middle seems to have failed at some point in time.

But they're just kind of just walking around, looking around. They are hooked up. They are completely hooked up. If this thing goes all the way to the ground, the men will be fine.

They may get hit by something up above as it comes down on them. But the men are attached to the top of the building on very large hooks and safety harnesses.

BALDWIN: I'll tell you. I have goose bumps watching this.

And just to look at these two men, my eyes are on both of them. Guy on the left has been drinking water, gesticulating. Looks like they're talking, carrying on a conversation. So that has to be a good thing. I think I would be standing there, paralyzed with my hands gripping the edge. There you see the firefighters, N.Y. -- the fire department, they are responding. And so as you point out, they're clearly connected with these ropes. And so we're all waiting for the moment, if and when, they begin this -- I don't know if it would be some sort of pulley system to bring both of them up and over this edge.

But perspective, you mentioned 500 feet. This Hearst Tower is 46 stories, 500 feet. What? You said a football field and a half?

MYERS: Right. A football field on its end plus another half of a football field on its end. And that's what you have dangling where you were working just about a half an hour ago.

And the funny part is, to me, is that, you know, these men are so calm.

BALDWIN: I tell you.

MYERS: They're looking at it. They're waving at the cameras. They're going, hey. They're looking at the firemen inside.

And the firemen inside, I noticed, have ladders. I don't know where the firemen inside are going. But it almost appears like maybe they're trying to remove a window or something from the inside so they can get in there.

I can only imagine why there are ladders on the inside with firefighters climbing up those ladders. That's all I could come up with is maybe one of those windows openable or removable from the inside so they can actually bring them in that way rather than have to hoist them all the way to the top.

BALDWIN: We're going to stay on this.

We have to get a quick commercial break in, and we're going to take you back live to Manhattan, these two workers trapped 500 feet above midtown Manhattan.

Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Back to this breaking news here. Fifty-six -- forgive me, 46 stories above midtown Manhattan, Columbus Circle area, you have these two workers who we have been watching trapped on this staff scaffolding.

And can I just point out, this guy on the left, we've been watching through the commercial break. He's on his cell phone. He's been looking up at the helicopter, WABC chopper. He's probably like, hey, mom, I'm that guy stuck on the scaffolding.

Here he is, putting the phone down.

Chad Myers, what do you think of this? MYERS: It's like me when I was chasing the tornado last week, going, hi, honey, I really am fine. I know the tornado is only half a mile away, but I really am OK. Trust me, I'm OK. Hold on. I've got to get back to CNN.

That's kind of what -- he was like so nonchalant about all this.

BALDWIN: So calm. So calm.

MYERS: Yeah. And this round part in the middle is kind of the hinge. That was the word I was looking for earlier. And as the hinge moves in and out, it gets them closer and farther away from the glass because of the way those supports kind of "X" across that building.

It's a beautiful building, by the way.

BALDWIN: It is gorgeous.

MYERS: You look at it and you go, wow, that was a great design.

BALDWIN: Hearst Tower.

MYERS: Architecturally just amazing, yeah.

BALDWIN: Beautiful. 57th and Eighth Avenue.

Our senior producer, one of them, Adam Reiss, is way down on the ground, on terra firma, talking to us now.

Adam, tell us what you're seeing from your vantage.

ADAM REISS, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (via telephone): (Inaudible) it's one of those New York moments where everybody's gathered round and just looking straight up into the sky.

Up in the sky, up top, I'm told there are 40 rescue workers taking part in this rescue, and if you know New York rescue workers, they're doing this very, very carefully, taking their time.

They want to get this right. They want to rescue these guys very carefully. So they're doing it by the book, 40 rescue workers.

We have fire, police, EMS are here. They're going to take their time. These streets, both Eighth Avenue at 57th Street and 57th Street going east and west, have been blocked off.

I'm kind of surprised there are a lot of emergency vehicles here at the base of the Hearst Tower. If this scaffolding were to drop, that would be a problem, obviously.

I guess they are secure in the idea that they have things under control, they will be able to rescue these workers going up as opposed to down.

Again, everybody looking up in the sky just waiting for this rescue to take place. BALDWIN: If I may, it looked like he just took a photograph. Did you see that, Chad?

MYERS: I did not.

BALDWIN: The guy on the left pulled his cell phone out again and took a photo, or what appeared to be a photo of his colleague on the right part of the scaffolding.

Adam, do we even know what happened to the scaffolding?

REISS (via telephone): No, I don't, but this -- it's not necessarily a common occurrence in New York, but, you know, we've got plenty of high-rise towers and there are plenty of window washers, so this does happen on occasion. I don't know what happened in this particular case.

BALDWIN: OK, and so, as you said, there are many people around you with their necks craning toward the sky, all sort of watching.

What's the sense on the ground?

REISS (via telephone): On the ground, let me talk to just one passerby here.

Sir, what do you think -- you're looking up at the sky. What are your thoughts right now?

What are your thoughts? What are your thoughts as you look up? What are your thoughts, looking up? What do you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): Scary.

REISS (via telephone): What's scary about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): Two people holding on for life, you know, that's pretty scary.

REISS (via telephone): Everybody's just waiting for this to -- this rescue to end.

And you can see one of the rescue workers. We're looking into our viewfinder here, and you can see him reaching up, as I'm sure Chad can give you a little better sense of what's going on from his vantage point.

BALDWIN: Yeah, actually, Adam, let me have you stand with me. We're going to stay on these pictures. Chad, stay with me.

Let's get another break in. Hopefully this rescue is moments away. Do not turn the channel. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. I'm going to take you back to New York in just a split second, but first some news out of the Washington. CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell is retiring. He was considered one of the leading candidates to replace David Petraeus when he left last year, but instead the job went to current director, John Brennan.

Watch Jake Tapper on "THE LEAD." He'll have much more on that news out of Washington in five minutes.

But I want to take you to breaking news as we have all been, I tell you, glued to this picture. This is -- we have got a helicopter in the air. I'm sure there are several of the New York City affiliates out there watching.

The situation is this. Basically on the edge of this beautiful Hearst Tower right there, the beautifully glass-paned building in midtown Manhattan, 57th -- West 57th and 8th Avenue, there are these two workers who are trapped on this scaffolding.

We've been watching this for it seems like over a half hour now, and they are still stuck there.

Talking to Adam Reiss, our senior producer on the ground, saying that he knows, you know, police, EMS, fire, they're all on the scene. Forty rescue workers are there.

And you'll see in a split second at the top of the building, the Hearst Tower, there are the firefighters, leaning precariously over this edge, hanging onto the ropes in which these two workers are attached.

I have Adam still on the ground with us., as he was describing everyone just sort of stopping and taking a deep breath, and looking up toward the sky as these men are hanging on for dear life, though as we've been watching, Chad and I, they seem to be pretty calm, if not on their cell phones and taking photographs from this perch 46 stories up.

We've been watching the -- tell everyone what you've been watching inside the building.

MYERS: There is a scissor-lift going up and down with firefighters on the scissor-lift. So this top couple stories, not just the 10-foot floor, this is many, many feet. It could be 30 or 40 feet, and this lift taking firefighters up and down. And they're wiping the window like maybe they were going to cut it from the inside out.

And it just seems like the shortest distance from between two points is to haul the guys to the roof, but maybe they're going to try to take one of these panes out and bring them in that way.

It's just -- it's a little bit -- you know, I don't know what's going on on the ground right there, but this was a lift that kind of had a hinge in the middle. It was -- it should have -- most of these things that they wash windows are straight across.

This would actually go in and go out to get closer to the window, farther away from the window, depending on how those Xs get in the way on that building. And the hinge in the middle is what has failed.

And so that's why these guys are hanging in this kind of this V- section, and they're taking it in stride from what I can see.

BALDWIN: They are.

More breaking news, these two workers trapped at the Hearst Tower, after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, not a dull moment for the lives of these two window washers here.

There has been a scaffolding accident on the Hearst Tower, the beautiful Hearst Tower at West 57th and 8th Avenue here in midtown.

You have these two guys, one on either side of the pieces of metal scaffolding. And they have been stuck there for over half an hour, at least, as they're waiting to be rescued, and so we have been watching.

We know that fire and EMS and police, they're all on the scene, as you can just imagine everyone down on the ground, looking up, craning their necks to see if these men -- when these men, I should say, will be rescued.

There is a presence among fire and first-responders on top this building as they are holding on. I should tell you these two guys are attached by ropes.

But the question is, how will they get to safety? We'll keep watching these pictures.

For now, I'm Brooke Baldwin here at the World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Let's send things to Washington. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.