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Colorado Wildfires Still Threatening; Santa Monica Shooter Left Note Before Rampage

Aired June 14, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A charity that helps kids with cancer gets millions, but gives kids very little. You're about to hear the CNN investigation that will make you absolutely furious.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): In Santa Monica, the shooter dressed in black and armed for war left behind a note before his deadly rampage.

The pain of memories. You're about to hear from the parents who lost children six months ago today in Newtown.

Plus, the jailhouse video showing Ariel Castro's brothers furious with the alleged Cleveland kidnapper.

And how close is too close? American Airlines getting ready to add more seats, which means less room for you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And we continue on. Good to be with you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we begin this hour with just the pain of not knowing for thousands of folks in Colorado. It is watch and wait for people in the path of those massive wildfires raging there. So far, two people now have died trying to escape the flames. It is an incredibly dangerous situation there on the front lines. And we have some incredible video to share with you.

An audiovisual specialist with the Colorado Springs Fire Department gives us a play-by-play as firefighters stand guard as the fire approaches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SCHOPPER, COLORADO SPRINGS FIRE DEPARTMENT: There's a lot of heat being blown in towards that firefighter.

As the fire and the heat are coming to him, he has his personal protective equipment on. He also has a heat shield, a face shield, that is on his face to help filter out the smoke and the hot gases that are coming to him. He's saving all his resources here. What we're trying to do is allow the fire to burn out all the fuel around the house and let it blow right on by. And then we don't have to worry about that reigniting. So, we're saving our water resources for when we really, really do need them. And we're just protecting the deck here and making sure that this fire doesn't get into the mulch.

Now, you see that the fire is trying to travel up the trees. But the homeowner did a good job of trimming those trees back up to about 10 feet, so the branches don't catch on fire, the low-hanging branches. Managing the trees like this will keep the fire from spreading into the crown of the trees, which is very bad.

And now the fire is starting to burn up toward the mulch and then lots of smoke starting to be produced. I'm taping this from behind the hot tub on the back of the deck, trying to keep myself from having to be subjected to too much heat, and mostly my camera.

And the smoke comes, and it's pretty much a whiteout. Now, this is looking on the other side of the hot tub. I decided to move out of the way here. The firefighter is now applying a small amount of water right where the fire has met up with the mulch. The fire has now passed through and has done exactly what we wanted it to do. And that is burn around the house and leave the house intact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And how about that? That is just one home.

Here he is in Colorado Springs, George Howell.

And, George, I understand there has been a shred of good news today. What's that?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, yes, so the good news. And then we will get into sort of the bad news.

But the good news, we have got a little cloud cover you can see. That's great. It keeps the heat down. Also, we know that the winds, not too bad, but the winds are picking up. And later in the evening, we expect thunderstorms to roll through here. The lightning is the bad part. That could cause obviously more problems as firefighters try to deal with the fire that's already there.

But if there is significant rainfall, that can be helpful. You know, here's what we know so far. At this point, at least 16,000 acres have been burned. We're talking about some 38,000 people who've been evacuated. And, as you mentioned, you know, it's the pain of waiting, the pain of not knowing.

They're just waiting to see what happens to their homes. Many people know that their homes are still standing. They go and check the list every other hour to see if their home is still there. And for many people, you know, it's just a matter of watching and waiting hour by hour. Listen to this couple and how they're dealing with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Are you worried?

CAROLYN SELVIG, RESIDENT OF COLORADO: You know, concerned, of course. How could you not be? Things are out of our hands. It is what it is. Yes, I guess I'm more worried than I allow myself to think. My mouth is dry a lot that water doesn't seem to quench.

HOWELL: But I guess you're here. You're able to watch these guys.

SELVIG: They're phenomenal. And our sheriff is wonderful.

I mean, the coordination they put to use what they learned last year to make some things be improved.

For instance, having a list of the houses, whether they're standing, they're damaged or they're OK, or totally gone, that's wonderful. That brings comfort. You say, OK, I -- rather than, like, well, I don't know. I don't know. Where is it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: People out here, they're just putting their faith in these firefighters, these officials who are working.

And, Brooke, it is a coordinated effort. We're talking about the police department working with the county, the sheriff's deputies working with the National Guard, working with firefighters. They're all jointly working together. Some are inside the fire itself trying to secure, trying to save these different structures, these homes.

Others are on the perimeter trying to hold the line. Brooke, at this point, we know that the fire is still 5 percent contained. But they did tell us yesterday, the officials -- or rather they told us that yesterday they did hold some ground. And that's good news, that they were able to hold ground on this big, big fire.

BALDWIN: That is some good news. I'm sure the people there will take any bit of good news they can get.

HOWELL: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: George Howell in Colorado Springs, George, thank you.

He was dressed in black and armed to kill. And today, one week later, chilling new details about the man who went on that shooting rampage in Santa Monica, California, one week ago today, including what he left behind and how he got his gun.

John Zawahri killed his father, his brother, then headed straight to Santa Monica College, killing three strangers before he was gunned down by police in the school's library. Well, now authorities tell us that the killer had many weapons and he left a note apologizing for shooting his father and his brother and saying goodbye to some of his friends.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUELINE SEABROOKS, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, POLICE CHIEF: We know that Zawahri possessed an array of realistic-looking replica firearms and several zip guns capable of firing live ammunition.

We know the antique black powder firearm which he had with him had been converted to a revolver capable of firing .45-caliber ammunition. We know that he left behind what can be called a farewell note in which he expressed hope that his mother would be looked after financially, even as he said goodbye to his friends and expressed remorse for his actions in the killing of his brother and his father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me for more from Los Angeles is Kyung Lah.

And hearing her, Kyung, talk about he's apologetic and hoping his mother is taken care of financially, tell me more about this note.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we know about this note is this is something that was actually found on his body.

He was carrying it with him, handwritten, three to four pages in length. And what police are saying is that it was a conversational note. They took great pains. You hear the police chief there saying that it was a farewell note. They're not characterizing it as a suicide note. That remorse that he expressed about his father and brother, almost more brief mentions.

He took lengths and lengths to say farewell to his friends, Brooke. That's how police are characterizing it. A disappointment for investigators, though, is that it doesn't reveal as much as they had hoped as far as his motivations.

BALDWIN: What about -- Kyung, what about the gun? We're learning he built this gun. How did he do this?

LAH: Well, this is certainly going to alarm a lot of people, especially here in the state of California, where the laws are considered to be quite tight, especially when we're talking about these type of weapons, what you're looking at right here.

Take a listen to what one of the investigators told the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEABROOKS: What I'm saying is you can buy legally certain parts. It's called an 80 percent. You can guy those parts and you can buy an under-receiver, the over and the under. You can put them together with a trigger group. And you can manufacture your own gun if you make some adjustments.

In this particular case, the weapon that he ended up with ultimately is one that by definition would be illegal to possess here in the state of California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: The police say that he basically was able to buy these component parts through various magazines, via the Web, and the components themselves are legal. That 80 percent gun is legal. But once you assemble it, there is a way to make it illegal in California, where you can hurt so many people.

One other thing we should mention, Brooke, is that in 2011, Zawahri had tried to purchase a full gun. He couldn't. He was rejected on the background check, the Santa Monica police estimating that that's because of some prior connection, some prior contact that they had with him in 2006, a man who should not have had a weapon still able to buy the component parts and build something that could kill people in America.

BALDWIN: Kyung Lah, thank you.

Coming up, brand-new video just into us showing Ariel Castro's brothers furious with the kidnapping suspect in the jailhouse. We will show you the whole thing.

Plus, a shocking CNN investigation. If you have ever donated money to a charity, you have to see this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: If you were asking us for money, what would you say you did with your money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We help children with cancer.

GRIFFIN: How do you do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Millions of dollars donated, but charity owners getting lavish salaries, all the while, these kids getting very little. CNN's Drew Griffin chases down answers. And you will not believe what we he discovered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you donate your hard-earned money to charity, you will want to hear the startling details here of this next story, because CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin, along with "The Tampa Bay Times," investigated this Tennessee family that controls five cancer-related charities.

And these charities promise to use your money to help people, kids with cancer. But after learning the people who run the charities make six-figure salaries, we found out just how much of your money is going to help these patients.

Here's Drew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Drive down these country roads outside Knoxville, Tennessee, and into this small industrial park, and you will find the headquarters of a family conglomerate of cancer charities that return lavish salaries to their owners, but according to their own tax records, donate very little to dying cancer patients, and the last thing the people running this charity want to do is answer questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't -- don't turn your camera on me. OK?

GRIFFIN: Across the country, in Mesa, Arizona, another outpost of the conglomerate, it's called the Breast Cancer Society. Its CEO and executive director, the man escaping in the truck, James Reynolds Jr.

(on camera): Excuse me, sir, Mr. Reynolds. Hey, excuse me, Mr. Reynolds, right here, buddy, Mr. Reynolds. Hi, hi, can you stop for a second? No, where you going Mr. Reynolds? Mr. Reynolds.

(voice-over): Back in Knoxville, there is another cancer charity, the Children's Cancer Fund of America, and this one run by yet another member of the family, Rose Perkins.

(on camera): Hi. Is Rose Perkins in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's not available and she's not doing any interviews.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Why wouldn't she do us any interviews? She's running a charity here for kids with cancer. Right? That seems like a good idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is. That's what I have been just told to tell you she's not doing interviews.

GRIFFIN: Can you tell us what you guys do, any positive things you do with the money you collect?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can send your questions to her e-mail.

GRIFFIN: OK. What is that e-mail?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we will answer it.

GRIFFIN: If you were asking us for money, what would you say you did with your money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We help children with cancer.

GRIFFIN: How do you do that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean how do we do that? We help children with cancer.

GRIFFIN: Yes, how? In what way?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We provide them a financial assistance. GRIFFIN: Financial assistance?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you have any questions, please send them to her e-mail.

GRIFFIN: OK. My question...

(voice-over): Rose Perkins did e-mail us and tell us her charity has a clear conscience "because we feel we are making a good difference in people's lives," but also told us an interview is "not something we can consider."

That may be because of the questions we'd like to ask her and the other members of her extended family, who are essentially making a living on your donations.

Rose Perkins, the CEO of the Children's Cancer Fund, is paid $227,442 a year. Her ex-husband, James Reynolds Sr., is president and CEO of Cancer Fund of America. He gets paid $236,815. And James Reynolds Jr., president and CEO of the Breast Cancer Society, has a salary of $261,609.

It's money that comes from donors like you who in 2011 sent these three charities $26 million in cash. How much of those donations actually went to helping cancer patients? According to the charity's own tax records, about 2 percent in cash.

Example, the Cancer Fund of America raised $6 million through its fund-raising campaign in 2011 and gave away just $14,940 in cash. But that is not what you would hear from the telemarketers hired by the Cancer Fund of America run by James Reynolds Sr.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. How much of my $10 will go -- who is this to?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cancer Fund of America support services.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One hundred percent of your donation goes into the fund where we purchase medical supplies for these cancer patients. We also do the hospice care for the terminally ill and we supply over 600 hospice offices with medical supplies all over the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. But how much of my $10 will go...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It goes 100 percent towards the charity itself. I'm calling directly from the charity, and not a telemarketing agency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, well, that's great, then.

GRIFFIN: According to the Iowa Attorney General's Office, which gave us these recordings, those phone call statements are one great big lie. The callers were telemarketers being paid to make the call. The state of Iowa fined the telemarketing company $35,000 for making false representations.

As for donations to other charities, the Cancer Fund of America claimed on its 2011 tax filings it sent $761,000 in so-called "gifts in kind," not actually cash, to churches, some hospitals and other programs around the country.

When we called or e-mailed those other charities to check, many of them said they did get something, things like these supplies. But several of the groups told us they never heard of the Cancer Fund of America or don't remember getting a thing.

The cancer fund also takes credit for serving as a middleman, brokering transfer of another $16 million worth of gifts in kind to individuals and other charities, many of them overseas. Those contributions double up both as revenue and donations on the same tax forms.

Back at the Cancer Fund of America's corporate office, even the chief financial officer, who by the way, has a salary of $121,000, couldn't explain what was happening.

(on camera): We just have all these -- Mississippi North Medical Center, never heard of you. Yolanda Barco Oncology Institute, nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if that's one of the ones we looked up, but again, you would have to talk to him.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The "him" is James Reynolds Senior, the founder, who finally told us in an e-mail, his boy thought it unwise to talk to CNN. Even though in a different e-mail he called the news of phantom donations, quote, "most disturbing."

As for his son, James Reynolds Jr. and his charity in Arizona.

(on camera): Hey, how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The camera needs to stay outside.

GRIFFIN: Can he stay right there? Is Mr. Reynolds here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, he's not in right now.

GRIFFIN: The public relations officer for the Breast Cancer Society, Kristina Hixson, who by the way, is married to James Reynolds Jr., sent us e-mails telling us the Breast Cancer Society's "guiding mission is to provide relief to those who suffer from the effects of breast cancer" and that "we've made a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of men and women." But declined our request for an on- camera interview.

And when our camera found James Reynolds Jr., he made sure we got the message with a single-finger salute.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Knoxville, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Drew Griffin, thank you.

Coming up: anger spilling over, new video into CNN showing the brothers of Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro taking out their frustration in the middle of a police station.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: New video obtained by CNN shows just how frustrated those two brothers of Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro were when they were arrested and initially tied to his alleged crime of raping and holding three women captive for 10 years.

Here they were.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police officers whose faces were blurred by City Hall hauled the three Castro brothers to booking about six hours after the missing women were found safe; 52-year-old Ariel Castro stood between his older brother, Pedro, and the youngest of the three, Onil. Ariel stood in place for the most part, while Onil appeared to be the most visibly upset.

He appeared cold as ice, turning his back to Ariel and not saying a word. Suddenly, without warning, Onil takes off and runs into a glass wall deliberately. He smacks his head into the glass, not once, but twice.

Ariel doesn't flinch until cops move in to restrain Onil. Pedro and Onil were later released on unrelated misdemeanor charges. Ariel Castro hasn't tasted freedom since the day he was taken into police custody. He's being held on $8 million bond. It was just a few days ago he was taken off suicide watch and moved to isolation among the general inmate population, where he's allowed to watch TV for the first time since he's been locked up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And now, in this exclusive interview with CNN's Martin Savidge, the two brothers who were released say their brother is nothing short of a monster. One says he hopes his brother rots in jail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO CASTRO, BROTHER OF ARIEL CASTRO: If I knew, I would have reported it, brother or no brother.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is your brother to you now?

ONIL CASTRO, BROTHER OF ARIEL CASTRO: A monster. Hateful. I hope he rots in that jail. I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail. to the last extent. I don't care if we even feed him, for what he has done to my life and my family's. P. CASTRO: I feel the same way.

SAVIDGE: To the both of you now, he no longer exists?

P. CASTRO: Right.

O. CASTRO: Yes.

SAVIDGE: He is gone?

O. CASTRO: He's a goner.

SAVIDGE: Almost as if he were dead.

P. CASTRO: Yes.

O. CASTRO: The monster's a goner. I'm glad that the -- he left the door unlocked or whatever he did. Whether he did it on purpose. Maybe he wanted to get caught. Maybe time was up. Maybe he was inside too much. He wanted to get caught. But if he did it that way, he shouldn't have went to mama's house and picked me up and put me in a car if he know that was going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Martin Savidge with that interview.

The pain, the memories now six months later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL HESLIN, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: There's no words. There's nothing to make you feel any better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the words of parents and classmates and teachers of those killed in Newtown, Connecticut.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)