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Two NYPD Officers Killed In Ambush; News Conference on NYPD Killings; North Korea to U.S.: Major Cyberattacks Coming; Rudy Giuliani Reacts to NYPD Cops Killed; Family of Police Officer Killed Speaks
Aired December 21, 2014 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye in today for Fredricka Whitefield. Police in New York are expected to give an update any moment now on their investigation into the death of two officers. We will bring that to you live as soon as it starts right here on CNN.
We're expecting to learn new details about the ambush that left two police officers dead yesterday afternoon. They were sitting in their police cruiser in Brooklyn when a gunman walked up to the car and simply opened fire. Police went chasing after the suspect who shut himself on a subway platform nearby.
And we're learning today that the violence started in Baltimore where the gunman apparently shot his ex-girlfriend hours earlier. We are covering every angle of this story.
Alexandra Field is in New York. Erin McPike is live in Baltimore where police say the suspect shot his ex-girlfriend and Michelle Kosinski is covering reaction from the president and his administration from Hawaii. So let's start with Alexandra who is at a growing memorial for the slain officers. Alexandra, you have been speaking to people gathering there. What are they telling you?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just an emotional day for this city. This is an attack that truly stunned people and (INAUDIBLE) into their core. It is hard to understand, hard to wrap your head around. What we have heard out here at the memorial though are calls for people to really take this moment and this time to honor the two fallen officers, the two officers who were killed in that brutal attack on the street corner.
We heard from some local city leaders, borough presidents who came out here who said this is a time to stand with the families of these officers to pay respects. These borough presidents also came out here and they sent a message to the public. They said they have been in touch with demonstrators and organizers and protesters who have been demonstrating in the city over the last couple of weeks, protesting certain police tactics.
They have asked these people to stay off the streets right now to allow the families of these fallen officers the respect that they deserve, to allow them to lay their loved ones to rest before any demonstrations continue, before there is any more of this kind of talk about how this city is policed.
We know that there has been a clash between the mayor and the police union, the leader with the patrolmen's union coming out and saying that there's blood on the hands of the mayor for having been supportive of protestors who have demonstrated about police. What we are hearing out here are people who just to take a moment to lay flowers, to light candles, to put out signs for the officers that were killed here. And they do not want to hear the more political conversations that we are beginning to hear between the mayor's office and the union. The mayor's office saying that they won't comment on this right now. They really do want to take the time to pay tribute to the victims. Randi.
KAYE: Alexandra Field, thank you very much for the update from there.
The violence did come to a head in New York but it may have started actually several hours away in Baltimore. The New York Police commissioner says Ismaiyl Brinsley shot a woman believed to be his ex- girlfriend. Erin McPike joins me live from that woman's apartment just outside of Baltimore. Erin, what are police telling you there?
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, police still don't know the motivation for why Brinsley shot Shanika Nicole Thompson. She is 29 years old. What they do know through some early interviews is that the two were believed to have a romantic relationship sometime within the last year. She lived here at this apartment complex but Brinsley has no other connections to Baltimore.
Police have established a timeline. They say he shot Thompson around 6:00 a.m. yesterday morning and neighbours alerted police. He stole her phone, they say, before he fled. And then a friend of Thompson's notified Baltimore police around 1:30 p.m. yesterday about some threatening Instagram posts made to Thompson's feed by Brinsley, they say.
And shortly thereafter, at about 2:10 p.m. is when Baltimore Police called the New York Police to warn them to exercise caution. They also faxed this wanted poster with Brinsley's picture on it. But as you know, the assassination of the two officers as they are calling it happened shortly thereafter. Randi.
KAYE: And what do we know any more about the warning that police sent them? We know that they faxed that. Did they make a call as well?
MCPIKE: They called around 2:10 p.m. and they sent that fax just around the same time. Police are also saying that they believe that Brinsley used the same 9-mm semi-automatic hand gun here that they later found in Brooklyn.
KAYE: And this isn't the first time this guy has been in trouble, right? He has some sort of criminal history.
MCPIKE: Randi, that's right now. Now again, he doesn't have any connections to this area other than this woman and all of these arrests or at least the bulk of them were in Georgia. Some nine arrests since 2004 including battery, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon. So a lot of different charges for him. Randi.
KAYE: All right. Erin McPike, thank you for the update from there.
Meanwhile, President Obama is on vacation in Hawaii but with the situation in New York it's obvious that the president is never really on vacation. We all know that. So White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski covering the president and joins us live now from Honolulu.
Michelle, I understand that the president has been working the phones there.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know when you think about how much the president and his administration jumped in and got involved in those cases where young black men were shot by police we knew they were going to respond to this and we knew they had to respond to this with equal commitment.
That's why we're saying the secretary of Homeland Security is in Brooklyn. The president made a phone call this morning to the New York City police commissioner, offering condolences and assistance. Saying the administration is monitoring this and was going to be talking with leaders from around the country in the coming days and weeks.
Also, a strong statement from attorney general Eric Holder. Saying he condemns the shooting in the strongest possible terms. Calling it an unspeakable act of barbarism, saying in his statement, "this cowardly attack underscores the dangers that are routinely faced by those who protect and serve their fellow citizens. As a nation, we must not forget this as we discuss the events of recent pasts. These courageous men and women routinely incur tremendous personal risk and place their lives on the line each and every day in order to preserve public safety. We are forever in their debt."
The president also put out a statement of his own a few hours after the shooting, saying "Two brave men won't be going home to their loved ones tonight and for that there is no justification. The officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day."
And the president urges Americans to reject violence and turn towards healing through prayer, patience, dialogue and sympathy for those involved. Randi.
KAYE: All right. Michelle Kosinski, thank you very much for sharing those thoughts with us in Honolulu. Meanwhile, as we're waiting for this press conference to begin, let me just bring back in Tom Fuentes, who we have been talking to this afternoon, to talk a little bit more about how this all works and these ambush killings. He's a CNN law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the FBI.
So Tom, we're waiting for this presser to start, the chief and detectives are expected to talk. I'm going ask you about this ex- girlfriend and what happened in Baltimore. How critical is it that piece of the puzzle? TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think Randi what that
shows is that he has socio-pathic tendencies and no if, (INAUDIBLE) or maybes will commit violence if given the opportunity so that the Instagrams that he's going to put two pigs in a blanket in New York is to be taken seriously. It's not just some idle chatter from a wannabe or somebody that's just goofy but not necessarily violent. He's violent and homicidal. So the threats that were issued on that Instagram were to be taken serious. They just were not received soon enough.
KAYE: And in terms of the ex-girlfriend, I mean, from what we know already, he shot her in the stomach, in the abdomen. She is expected to survive. What kinds of things would investigators want to know from her?
FUENTES: Well, they will want to know, you know, if possible if she knows what triggered it. You know, she may not know. We don't know -
KAYE: Like if he made any statements or anything like that?
FUENTES: Well, we don't know if he showed up on her doorstep and she answered the door and he shot her right there. She has no idea why. We don't know if they had spent the night together and somehow got into some kind of a dispute with each other and then he shot her. You know, they would like to know more about the circumstances that led to him wanting to shoot her. And if he ever expressed to her a desire to shoot police or shoot others or possibly be engaged in a conspiracy with other people that may have the same intentions.
That's the other issue in these kinds of cases. Is he just acting as the so-called lone wolf, lone nut or are there others that he has been talking to that have made an agreement with each other one way or another by phone or by social media that they should all fan out and kill police officers. So they would want to know that that this is part of a continuing conspiracy.
KAYE: And you mentioned a lone wolf. I mean, is that a situation that's even more dangerous than somebody who is attached to a group?
FUENTES: Well, absolutely because if you have a group, usually somebody cannot keep a secret. And eventually that gets to the authorities. Usually in time to disrupt the group and foil the plot but if you have somebody that is on his own, and hasn't told anybody that's the best way for anybody to keep a secret. Don't tell another human being what your intentions are or at least tell it so late that they can't stop it.
KAYE: Yes. Tom, let me just jump in here because the presser is underway. Let's listen in an we will talk to you after.
ROBERT BOYCE, NYPD CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: ... this case about 25 hours into it. (INAUDIBLE) squad Brooklyn north homicide and the major case squad and computer crime squad are currently involved working in conjunction with the intelligence bureau.
Just quickly about Ismaaiyl Abdulla Brinsley. Date of birth, 10-31- 86. He is a 28 year old male. He has 15 prior arrests in Georgia for assorted crimes, misdemeanour, assault, shop lifting, grand larceny and gun possession. He has four arrests in the state of Ohio. Those Georgia arrests were from August 2004 to June 2013. He was arrested four times in the state of Ohio. That's from May of '09 to September of '09. And it's robbery and misdemeanor theft.
His correction data. He had a two year prison term in Georgia from August 2011 to July 2013, and that's for criminal possession of a weapon, from what we can ascertain right now. He does stints in local jails in Fulton, Kalb and Dekalb counties four month, 30 days and eight months for various crimes.
His social media investigations we're looking at right now. His Facebook, Instagram, Gmail and two phones were recovered. If you remember in the investigation, he stole his girlfriend's phone. We have recovered that in and around Brooklyn and around Barclay Center. We're investigating that right now. We also have his private phone that were recovered in Baltimore County. All those are being investigated by the NYPD computer crimes.
Most of his postings and rants are on the Instagram account. What we're seeing from this right now is anger against the government. There is one where he burned a flag and made some statements. There is others with talks of anger at the police. He specifically mentioned Michael Brown and Eric Garner and other postings as well of self-despair, of anger at himself or over where his life is right now.
Right now we have no gang affiliation at all. Have you ever seen this man. He has no tattoos to suggest anything of it and he has no religious statements that we found on Instagram at all. None whatsoever. The time line of yesterday's events. At about 5:30 he enters his girlfriend's apartment down in (INAUDIBLE) Maryland with a key he's not supposed to have. They have known each other for about a year and have since broken up. She is confronted by his exgirlfriend and an argument ensues. That ex-girlfriend calls her mother on her phone and the mother hears part of the argument. The phone is then hung up and at about 5:50, calls come into 911 of shots fired at that location, a single shot fired.
The police arrived and the ex-girlfriend identifies Brinsley as the shooter and he takes her phone as well. You see the picture of the gentleman that we have, that we recovered from Georgia. At about 6:05 in the morning, he calls the mother on her phone, the girlfriend's mother on the phone and says he shot her by accident and that he hopes she lives. He then at 6:35 Baltimore County Police Department begins monitoring his movements and they have him tracked going northbound on i-95.
During this time, he calls his ex-girlfriend's mother several times and goes through and makes certain statements that we were able to find out where he was going. At about 10:50 in the morning he arrives in New York City. Apparently he took one of the Bolt buses to the west side. We have no video to - right now but we're seeking as well or anybody who could actually see this male who would help us out we would love to hear about it through the tips line. At 12:07 hours, he discards the phone that he takes in the Barclays Center. We later retrieved that during a canvas over that location. That's one of the things that we're investigating. At about 1:30 in the afternoon to 2:00, Baltimore County PD reaches out to the NYPD and we start putting things in motion. They faxed us a copy of events on this individual, and we start going through notifications process - contemporaneous to that, is when he commits the homicide of the two officers.
It should be noted that we are working very closely still with the Baltimore County Police Department. They have been excellent partners in this investigation. We started doing some background on Mr. Brinsley. We spoke to both his parents and two of his sisters as well as an ex-girlfriend. We are told by family members that he has never expressed any radicalization at all. This is a Muslim family.
His mother goes on to state he had a very troubled childhood and was often violent. Mother expressed fear of him and she says he has not seen him in one month. Brinsley attempted suicide in the past and attempted to hang himself a year ago. We are currently tracking his movements for the past week in New York and will continue to do that. It appears that he goes back and forth to New York.
Right now we don't have a residence for him. The residence in Florida, listed in Florida for him is - I'm sorry. Georgia. He has not been there in two years and is estranged from her. I will also tell you he is also estranged from both of his sisters.
The perpetrator's gun which you see here, the Torus, nine millimeters, Pt92 model. It was purchased at a pawnshop in Georgia in 1996, it is not recorded as stolen. It was purchased by a male who have the identity of '96, apparently it wasn't him. He was nine years old at the time but we have that person's identification. We're working with the ATF right now to find him and find out where this could have fallen into his hands.
Right now presently, shooting in the 7-9. We have identified 10 eyewitnesss and 35 earwitnesses to the suicide of Mr. Brinsley in the train station. We have 10 eyewitnesss and one earwitness. We have recovered five videos at the scene. Two pre, two post and one in the subway, none of which depict the double homicide. We have found on one of our videos two males who spoke with the perpetrator just prior to the event. He starts, begins the conversation with them, they start speaking and he asked him three things. He asked him for his gang affiliation. He asked them to follow him on Instagram and then he says watch what I'm going to do. He then walks northbound on Thompkins, passed the two officers in the car, circled back around, goes across the street and comes up behind the officers and that's where we are right now. Those individuals are at the 79 Precincnt. We're speaking to him now. We don't believe they had any thing to do with any thing but we'll cut that further as we go forward.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) questions about the investigation, answer them please.
(INAUDIBLE). BOYCE: No, that's being currently at the lab to be checked right now. That will take some time usually a couple of days. Sir.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Yes, we have two instances in New York 61s made by family members against him, (INAUDIBLE) aggravated arrest, that nature. He did eventually - he was born here in Brooklyn. He went to high school in New Jersey. He was going to have problems in his background. He was going back and forth to Georgia with relatives down there. Sir.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Is there any indication that he was in New York that he went to any protests or down at any other place?
BOYCE: That's still under review right now as I said earlier, we're looking back to see where he was in a week because we do believe he was in New York in a week and he apparently takes his bus line to and from the south. So we have nothing on that yet but that's still to be determined.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: You mentioned a -h
BOYCE: Four shots were fired at the officer. All the rounds are accounted for in the gun. So 15 loaded in the Torus, four at the scene. We have shell casings right there. We have another shell casing on the subway platform and another shell casing down in Baltimore where he shot his girlfriend. Sir.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: The bolt bus, did he take the bus from Maryland up here or drive -
BOYCE: I'm sorry. Say the last part again?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: The bolt bus, he took the bolt bus from Maryland up here or did he drive here and then get on the bolt bus.
BOYCE: No. He took the bolt bus from Maryland up here. That's preliminary right now. Just where we feel he was over the phone. I'm trying to figure out which bus he took and that's we will go forward from there. We do have him on the video at 42nd street near 8t Avenue, getting on the N train.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: We're still peeling this thing back and I think right now we're in October and November on that. So as we go forward we will go back further and further.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Does he have (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: He does.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Again we're tracking that right now. I can't tell you. It will take a couple days to get that information. We did recover two Metro cards from his person, on the subway and we're delving into that right now.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: In the Bronx, he has a sister. That was in 2011. In Brookly, he has a child with a lady we spoke to already and he is estranged from her.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: He has Brooklyn roots. He has family here. I think his dad lives in New Jersey but his mom lives in Brooklyn. So he has spent some time here. Not a lot. All of his trouble seems to be in the south, in Georgia and in Ohio for a short time. But that seems to be where he was staying with his other sister who is down in Union City, Georgia. I believe. Yes.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Of the three phones you have recovered -
BOYCE: Two phones.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Two phones. Do any of them have pictures or videos of the incident? Other than what we saw on Instagram?
BOYCE: We need warrants for that. We're doing that right now and in the process of acquiring that information. They are iPhones so we expect pictures.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: No. It's a great question. Time line is we're trying to get his movements and we can get most of his movements but we have a gap from about 12:07 in the afternoon to the time of occurrence which is 14:47, military time. It's that 2 hours and 40 minutes that we have not accounted for yet.
There's going to be some video collection and appeal to the public if anybody have seen this individual up here that we don't have a picture of what he was wearing. He was wearing a green varsity jacket with a red Indian logo up top here. So I put that out to the public, if anybody has seen him in the Bedsty area, we need to know that.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: After he shot the two officers he was pursued by other officers. Were they in the area or was this a 911 call that came in?
BOYCE: Again, we were able to identify 10 eyewitnesss. Two particularly courageous (INAUDIBLE) workers saw the event and chased him in their truck. They then alerted as they were driving westbound in Merrill, alerted two officers from the 75 precinct that were involved in that detail, that anti-violence detail. They alerted the 75 officers who then went down, pursued him down to the subway is when he took his life.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: When you say alerted, they just kind of shouted out?
BOYCE: Shouted out, wave, gun, that type of thing.
Again, can't thank those two individuals enough.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) is there anybody else he told about his plans?
BOYCE: That's to be determined as well.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Back to the two individuals he spoke to on the street, is there any one else he told about his plans?
BOYCE: No. I think you saw the Instagram message. I think that went out about 12:20, I believe, even before that. So that's the first time we have seen that.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: That's correct.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: There has been talk that he posted to the girlfriend's Instagram account.
BOYCE: It's his Instagram account, we feel right now he was accessing that account through her phone.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Sorry, I was going to ask he said in 2011 that he had mental health issues. Is it your sense that he committed this shooting one time and apologized for it. But then sort of at that point he grabbed on to something that he could build himself up with or for lack of a better word (INAUDIBLE) in his mind over the course of 10 hour (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: (INAUDIBLE) go to far into that. There would be a lot of conjecture on my part. So yes, he did apologize to the mother and that's the real act of violence we could find on his career. I'm not saying he didn't do anything (INAUDIBLE) but it's the only thing we find - we can't speak to -
UNIDENTIFED MALE: He only mentioned Eric Gardner in an hour before this act (INAUDIBLE) or any kind of political statements.
BOYCE: The only thing we can see as I said on the Instagram is where he rants, not so much to Facebook where he made some anti-government statements and some anti-police statements. That's all I have right now.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) that he was activated (INAUDIBLE) operating theory.
BOYCE: Again, pretty far down the road. Right now obviously he committed this act against the girlfriend and put him on this path.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Going back to the events in Maryland, could you (INAUDIBLE) that again just unclear, it was the ex-girlfriend, current girlfriend. BOYCE: Ex-girlfriend. They had known each other for about a year.
He had a key to the apartment that he shouldn't have had. He let himself in. She challenged him. And then right now we're speaking to her now. She has been intubated right now. My detectives on the case are speaking with her right now. We'll get a full statement.
She did tell responding officers that she identified Brinsley and he had her phone. She didn't want anything to do with him. That caused the argument.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Mother.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) mental illness. (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: She makes the statement that it's undiagnosed but apparently he had some issues as well. He may have been on meds later on in life but that's where we are right now, but not early in life.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) looking back, his history with the police department, has there been any determination that made by law enforcement or by officials that he has a mental history?
BOYCE: No. We just got that from his family. I have no reports of mental history yet from our investigation. That doesn't mean it won't come. Right now we queried Atlanta and Baltimore, and we have no information that he was (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: I don't have that yet. That's all I have is what is coming from family members.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Four shots. We recovered four (INAUDIBLE). I don't want to go into that.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Yes, there was.
All of those are accounted for. He fired one round in Baltimore, four at the officers and one to himself.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) from Baltimore and the facts (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: No. That's inaccurate. It's 1446 hours and a minute later was homicide. They engaged in conversation about 2:00 in the afternoon, 14:00 hours but the facts is not sent up until 1447.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: You know what we're still (INAUDIBLE) investigating that so I don't want to go too far into it. But we believe the time frame was all genuine and we're moving as fast as we can at that point. The PC alluded to smart phones to play things out. That's in the future. Right now we're working in the present. So that's where we're going to go. That's why - that's where we go but we're not there yet. At this point, it's really unfair to characterize anybody who thinks slow. We are still figuring this thing out that time.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) we're going to let the chief go.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Was there an Instagram post circulating around hundreds if not thousands of officers half an hour before this happened of the actual post that he had? That's what nobody was sent that to the officers?
BOYCE: No.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: The family of the victim, the girlfriend - I mean, the ex- girlfriend, I keep saying that ex-girlfriend, discovered that just prior to the phone call and notified Baltimore County. That's where that came from. So no one in the police had that prior to the conversation between Baltimore County and the (INAUDIBLE) precinct that they called.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Last one.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) anything about (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: I'm not going tell you what the conversations were but he called her several times as he was fleeing the state.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Yes, we have. Again that comes to the metro cards. We'll figure that. We believe he was here earlier in the week but that's still undetermined as we go forward.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Violence.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Again, we have got some stuff from his mother, from his family. I would rather not go too far into that because it has to be (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Thank you (INAUDIBLE).
BOYCE: Thank you, guys.
KAYE: All right. You have been listening there, getting an update from NYPD chief of detectives Robert Boyce telling us quite a bit of information. First of all, the suspect in this police shooting in Brooklyn yesterday has 19 prior arrests, much more, many more than we thought - 15 of those in Georgia, four of them in Ohio.
Let me bring back in Tom Fuentes from Washington, CNN's law enforcement analyst and a former assistant director of the FBI. We also have Gil Alba. He's a former NYPD detective and founder of Alba Investigations. Tom, let me start with you.
First of all, we heard from the chief of detectives saying that on the Instagram account of the suspect that he burns a flag in one Instagram posting and he specifically mentioned Michael Brown and Eric Gardner to very high profile cases involving police killings. A lot of anger, too. He was saying about, at himself on his Instagram account and where his life is right now. What does that sound like to you?
FUENTES: Well, Randi, it sounds like somebody that's really sick, you know, mentally and we see that with what he does to the ex girlfriend and why he does it the question, then is that obviously there is something in the back of his mind on a continuing basis about the police. About what the police did to Michael Brown or did to Eric Garner in his mind and a desire to get retribution for having done it.
KAYE: Again, let me ask you because they were talking about this iPhone that they have of his which he took from the ex-girlfriend as well and they need warrants for this phone in order to get in there. He's hoping to find some pictures. How does that work and how soon might we get some clues as to what might be on that phone.
GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, it depends on when they want to release that information. So I'm sure they have that information where he was. This is still in the investigation process. So the chief gave a lot of information about what is going on and what happened to him and where he was. Those two hours are really missing. But the phone information and the evidence and all that and that is going to come out, I think that's going to probably take a couple of day before they go through all that stuff and get all the information out on that.
KAYE: Tom, in terms of history, it sounds like he is estranged from his mother certainly, estranged from his two sisters. He used to live with a sister in Georgia. He doesn't have any contact with her anymore. The mother apparently telling police that he was never radicalized. What are your thoughts on that?
(CROSSTALK)
KAYE: Tom, why don't you take that one?
FUENTES: OK. I think what's interesting about that is, you know, he appears to have relationship problems no matter who it is. So you wonder now when he made all of these trips to New York in the recent weeks, where did he stay? Who was he with?
How did he afford to do it? How did he get there? There are a lot of questions about that that there must be other people in his life that the police are still trying to identify. KAYE: And Gil, to you now, I mean, there was some talk there at the press conference, the suspect called his ex-girlfriend's mother, had numerous conversations. He wouldn't say what was said exactly as he was making his way from Baltimore to New York.
How critical are those conversations and what do you make of that? Somebody who had just shot her daughter and was calling to say it was an accident.
ALBA: Yes. Because I'm sure -- she called police right after that. He must have been telling her that he's going to come up to New York or something and do damage. All of that information is really critical and will come out.
Questions have all of this evidence, but it's a little too late. But even with this information, and if we have his picture and we know where he is, we could have stopped him, we could have stopped that shooting if that was the case.
But here he is -- this is already premeditated. He's going to take his life and shoot two cops. He's going to take the easiest targets and sometimes these guys were just eating lunch there. Those are the easiest targets.
So even though we may have had all of that information, this incident may have had all that information. This thing -- this incident and this assassination may have happened anyway.
So all of this information is really good information to have for further information for other people who threaten to come to New York and shoot officers and I'm sure there's threats right now of other people coming up in New York and shooting. So this is all really good information.
KAYE: Well, let's talk about some of the protests that were happening following the Eric Garner case, the choke hold case in Brooklyn, Tom. They are now looking to see if maybe he was a part of those protests. They are trying to find video and see if maybe he was in the crowd, what would that tell them?
FUENTES: They want to know who he was talking to. Did he have another friend or group of friends with him? Did he express the desire even then of hate or attitude then of hatred and disrespect for police officers?
Did he throw rocks or bottles or do anything even during those protests? So I think that would tell them a lot about how long this has been festering in his mind to attack police.
KAYE: And ten eyewitnesses, 35 ear witnesses. Gil, are those just as important as the eyewitnesses?
ALBA: Definitely. All the witnesses are really important in this case, and you know, the chief almost identified every shot from the time he left Baltimore to the four shots in the car to the one for himself. You hear all the witnesses that were there. The people that heard the shots, all of that information and I'm sure the detectives now are canvassing the area looking for more witnesses and trying to find out more people and get cameras and see if they can get more video so there's a lot more investigation to be done on this case.
KAYE: Yes. It certainly sounds that way. Tom Fuentes, Gil Alba, thank you both so much for your expertise and for hanging with us on this one.
ALBA: OK, thanks for having us.
KAYE: At the top of the next hour, we are expecting a press conference from the family of one of the police officers killed yesterday in New York. We will have that live for you as soon as it happens.
The other top story is out of North Korea. The country is delivering a new threatening message to the U.S. We will tell you what they are planning to do to the White House and the Pentagon next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. North Korea is delivering a new warning to the U.S. over the cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Today, it claimed the U.S. government is behind the making of the movie, "The Interview."
In a statement released on state media, the communist regime says, quote, "The DPRK has clear evidence that the U.S. administration was deeply involved in the making of such dishonest reactionary movie."
And it warns of new devastating cyberattack saying this, "Our toughest counter action will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism.
The White House says they will not be commenting on every new statement from North Korea including today's message. CNN's Kyung Lah talked with our Brian Stelter earlier today about what the new threats might mean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I thought that the usual writer for DPRK has finally come back from vacation because we're seeing the typical rhetoric from North Korea. It is just like what we hear when North Korea attacks and lash out and they are at their very best here.
A couple of things to note, it came out a couple of hours ago late here in Korea. It is for America. It came from the national defense commission. This is the agency that as far as we know runs the military.
The Pentagon, if you will, speaking directly for Kim Jong-Un. The other thing that I really note about this is that they are trying to up the ante. North Korea craves attention and they are saying, OK, everyone is concerned about cyberattacks? We're going to make it worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Joining me now from New York to discuss is Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council and the author of the novel, "Genesis Code." Jamie, nice to see you. How do you take the new threats? Is it all bluster or is this the beginning of a more aggressive strategy from Kim Jong-Un?
JAMIE METZL, SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Certainly it's part bluster. But given the fact that they have had a very successful attack on a major United States and Japanese corporation there's a greater possibility that they can inflict real damage.
And from the U.S. perspective, we need to take that very seriously while at the same time not falling into a trap of getting into a tit for tat name calling with North Korea.
KAYE: So do you think that they might end up in a full blown cyber war?
METZL: Well, I hope that doesn't happen because we certainly have a lot more to lose than they have.
KAYE: Why is that?
METZL: We have learned through this that the United States and our corporations are really very vulnerable. We will continue but we need to be smart and strategic and at the same time, we need to recognize that we are very, very vulnerable.
Perhaps too vulnerable and need to ask ourselves what we can do to make our security systems, our companies and our infrastructure more secure.
KAYE: You mentioned the president, the White House is weighing its options on how to respond to the Sony hacking. President Obama talked about that attack with Candy Crowley earlier today. Take a listen to this.
METZL: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Do you think this was an act of war by North Korea?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No, I don't think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly and very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: What does that mean? How does the U.S. respond proportionally? I mean, is that economic sanctions or something more? METZL: Well, we already have economic sanctions. There are two things we can do and I think we probably will do. One is to put North Korea back on the terrorist list. They were taken off as part of a negotiation over nuclear issues.
We have sanctions on a bank in Macau that North Korea uses to essentially launder money in and out of the country. We can put sanctions back on those. But then also, we need to keep focused on one of the biggest issues with North Korea.
As important as cyber security, is it's probably third on the list. First is nuclear and North Korea is moving very likely towards another nuclear test and we're going to need to work with China and other to respond effectively to that.
And second, very critically is the human rights situation in North Korea. There is a resolution coming to the Security Council this week calling the North Korean government guilty of crimes against humanity for the absolutely appalling human rights conditions in North Korea. It's not just cyber. There are very big and serious issues with North Korea.
KAYE: Yes, as you mentioned the Security Council will take up the issue of human rights record tomorrow and on Thursday, the general assembly called for North Korea actually to be charged with crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court. Do you expect that this meeting escalate the tensions actually between Pyongyang and Washington?
METZL: It certainly will because the United States with Japan and others have been forcefully pushing forward this resolution. But the real test will be China because China even though China and North Korea have had their differences of late.
China provides the essential umbilical cord to the North. If China were to not veto this resolution and allow a referral to the International Criminal Court, that would be huge, huge news and a huge blow to the north. But I don't see that happening.
KAYE: Jamie Metzl, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
METZL: My pleasure.
KAYE: Still ahead, we saw Rudy Giuliani guide New York City through its most trying time after 9/11. His police department also lowered the crime rate, but was accused of racial profiling.
What does he say about the fatal shootings of the two NYPD officers? But first in December's "Ones to Watch" series, we're exploring the world of street art.
The subculture was once called vandalism, but that is changing. Meet a graffiti artist from Chicago, who is painting legally for the very first time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take every day simple basic throw away things and reposition them and put them back out into the world to try to communicate with people something much deeper.
I live half a block from the train and the train would rail my windows. The train line was sort of the main artery for the movement and art form that was being created. It's a really exciting place.
Being a young kid that had a need to express myself, graffiti was naturally captivating and consumed my entire life and took over my life from 12 years old on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): In 1993, Chicago's mayor, Richard Dailey, launched was called the graffiti blasters. Words were routinely painted over and a law was passed to ban the sale of spray cans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was always told no. I was always arrested and locked up or beat up by the police, very, very rough city, one of the most anti-graffiti cities that I have ever seen in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But things are beginning to change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look around and all the cool neighborhoods have street art in them. Graffiti co-exists in that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: And check out the full show at CNN.com/onestowatch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. We are expecting to hear from a family spokesperson. One of the officers who was killed and we are already hearing today from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as mayor from 1994 through 2001.
His police department was known for decreasing the crime rate, but was criticized for racial profiling blacks and Latinos. Now here is what he told CNN earlier today about the ambush killing of these two officers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: It's an overreaction for people to say that the blood is on the mayor's hands. That is not true. I have lost police officers, other mayors, have lost police officers.
It's a very damaging thing to say, exit shouldn't be said. Nor do I think that the police officer should turn their back on them. My heart goes out to Mayor De Blasio and Bill Bratton.
On his side, he should admit that some of his policies are wrong. And lack of support came from not understanding policing. This is enormously emotional. It's a horrible act and there is no way to explain the grief and maybe just maybe with all of this anti-police rhetoric are creating a misimpression and they are engaging in propaganda. They all realized that most of our police officers are not just good people, they are heroes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Former New York City mayor speaking out to CNN today. A reminder we will take you live to the press conference with the family of one of the police officers killed in New York. We'll take you there as soon it happens. They are expected to speak sometime in Brooklyn coming up here in about 10 minutes or so.
We are told this would be a family spokesperson from Rafael Ramos' family, one of the officers who were killed. You can see they are trying to frame up the microphones there as we wait on this. Once again it should be happening about 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Earlier today, we shared with you some of the comments that his 13- year-old son had put out on Facebook. The family is certainly struggling with this understandably. So we will bring that to you coming up here in just about 10 minutes. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. I'm Randy Kaye. I want to show once again here as we wait for this presser, which really could start any minute. They are calling it for 5:00, but this is someone from Raphael Ramos' family or spokesperson for the family or both.
Expecting to speak here just any moment now in Brooklyn, he was killed in that ambush shooting in Brooklyn. Once that starts we will bring it to you immediately live right here on CNN.
Meanwhile some other stories that we are following today, North Korea telling the United States more cyberattacks are coming and they warn the hacks will dwarf the attack on Sony Pictures.
In a statement released today on state media, the communist regime accused the U.S. government of being deeply involved in the movie, "The Interview." And while it still denies taking part in the Sony attack, it now vows to stage cyberattacks on the White House, the Pentagon, and the whole U.S. mainland.
A memorial to the Americans who served in World War I will be built. It was approved by President Obama and will be built one block from the White House nearly 5 million men and women served during the war. More than 100,000 were killed. A privately funded contest will be held to choose the design.
Also America's best skier had another fall this morning. Lindsey Von is back to competition after a serious knee injury. Today's fall happened at a World Cup event in France. The good news is that her knee is all right. Once again, we are waiting for this live press conference to begin just any moment now. The suspect has 19 prior arrests and certainly quite a bit of trouble with law enforcement. He had come to New York as far as the police tell us from Baltimore where they say that he shot an ex-girlfriend.
He managed to get a key, showed up at her apartment at 5:30 in the morning. It's unclear who is going speak at this presser. One of the officers killed, this is his family and possibly a spokesperson for them.
He was 40 years old. He had two children. His 13-year-old son as we were reporting throughout the day made some very emotional comments on Facebook. Let's listen to what they are going to say about Rafael Ramos and see what we can learn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you guys ready? Why you starting trouble? That's because they won't let you go down? All right, you guys ready? We say thank you very much for coming out. You know? This is a tragic time in our community and state to turn around and have to deal with this kind of senseless violence.
Not only are we losing people in the community but now we're losing police officers to the same stupid rhetoric that deals with guns. We stand here unified with this family, with the Ramos family. Our hearts are painstakingly crushed right now.
We are all ready to sit at the table to make sure that the relationship between the police department and community is rectified in a sense that there is a mutual respect.
I applaud him for the work that he is doing with his membership and I understand what he has to do. Now is the time for all of us to get to the table. Our elected officials, our community folks, and not just one particular person not just a community rep, everybody needs to be at the table.
So that we can generate the necessary information to move this community forward, that being said, I join my forces with my partner, John Rodriguez, who I'm standing with on a number of occasions not only with shootings in our community.
But also with regards to the shootings of police officers not far from here in Cyprus Hills, and also with our Officer Fogaski, we stood together and made the same commends. We stand behind our police department.
We support those members of our community that put on a uniform to go out there and do the job that needs to be done to keep us safe. I don't know who in the heck got the impression that this community is not behind their police department and then they think it enough to think that they can come in and take them out. We will not allow that to continue to happen. It's unacceptable.
Our police officers are the best in the city and this country and we will stand behind them 100 percent as we stand with the Ramos family whose son made the ultimate sacrifice to represent our community. That being said, I want to bring forward, John Rodriguez, who will take it from here.
JUAN RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT, 75TH PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Thank you, Tony. My name is Juan Rodriguez. I'm the president from the 75th Precinct Community Council. I am here today with the Ramos family to show our respects and condolences.
I'm also here with people from my community that I am paying. But we are here to support the police department and family as well. We don't want the city of New York to think that everyone is against the police department.
Everyone here with me tonight is with NYPD and that's a clear message that we are sending. This senseless killing that happened with the officer happened -- not just happened to be a police officer. He's a dear friend of mine for over 20 years. His family is here.
This is the house he was born and raised at. But basically what we want to get the message to his dad, we're here as one community and here to support our officers and work with them on all different levels.
Mr. Mayor, you need to have a sit down and you need to get everything corrected from the mayor's office down because this is wrong. We need you to work with the community and the police department.
