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Standoff in Road Rage Manhunt; Minnesota Teen Charged with Providing Support to ISIS

Aired February 19, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here on this Thursday.

Got some developments just in to us here at CNN, in this fight against ISIS, right here on the homefront. The FBI says a Minnesota teenager was stopped at New York's JFK airport. They say he was leaving the United States to try to go join the fight in Syria with ISIS.

Our justice correspondent, Evan Perez, is following these developments from Washington.

And, Evan, what do you know about this young man?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, this case is exactly what the White House and what the FBI has been warning for some time and what this entire conference in Washington that we have been talking about, which is the threat of these young people who are being lured to go fight overseas with these groups, including ISIS.

In this case, Hamza Naj Ahmed is the name of this young man. He's 19 years old. He was detained, along with a couple -- with three others. They're all from Minnesota. And the allegation from the FBI is that they were on their way to Turkey and eventually over to join these extremist groups.

In the case of Hamza Ahmed, who is charged with providing material support to ISIS, the allegation here is that he was helping these others travel, Brooke. We expect that there's going to be a lot more information on this case, simply because the -- all the facts have not been released by the Justice Department, which indicates that there's still some more investigation to be done, perhaps more people that could be involved in this.

And Minnesota has kind of been a hotbed for some of the recruitment of extremists both in Shabab a few years ago in Somalia and more recently the people going to Syria, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And so as we're talking, absolutely, and we're talking about this one young man, but there were several, right, who came from Minneapolis to New York. This one you're talking about was the only one who actually boarded the flight.

PEREZ: Right. Right.

BALDWIN: Who were the others? PEREZ: Well, the Justice Department is not identifying the others by

name. They're only identified by initial. And what they're doing is still doing some more investigation to try to figure out perhaps if there's a recruitment circle, perhaps some kind of group that's perhaps providing the money for these people to go to try to join these extremist groups.

There's a lot more investigation to be done here and it looks like this case is going to get bigger before it's all over.

BALDWIN: All right. Evan Perez, thank you so much. Appreciate it in Washington.

PEREZ: Thank you.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Want to move along because we're getting some breaking news here in this case of road rage out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

I have got Sara Sidner standing by. And this is the case in which we just learned the new twist yesterday. This involves a mother, a young daughter. The daughter was driving, right, taking her around. They come in contact with a man who they honk at. Fast-forward to the going back to the home, picking up the son, who was armed, and ultimately back at the home, where the mother loses her life.

Sara Sidner, what's the news?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, we are literally one street away from the Meyers family, where there's a bullet hole in the wall from what happened just a week ago where the mother of four, Tammy Meyers, was shot and killed, shot in the head after a road rage incident between her and there were three people in the car.

The driver of that car, police have said, is the suspect. Let me let you see what's going on just a street away. What we do not know yet if these two are related, but we do know there is a standoff going off one street away in the same neighborhood where this shooting happened.

And we have seen the SWAT team go in. We can hear the police saying to someone inside one of those houses down there to come out with their hands up. We watched the SWAT team go in. Police are crouched down behind a couple of these cars. Clearly, a couple of them are undercover vehicles. And then they do have a marked police canine vehicle.

We are, again, one street away. The Meyers family has come out and talked to us saying they had heard nothing about whether or not there was an arrest that was imminent it in this case. There is a lot of confusion in this neighborhood, people coming up to see what happened. This is the second time that one of the neighbors told us that they have ever seen police in this neighborhood.

The first time was when Tammy Meyers was shot and killed after that road rage incident. This case, of course, getting a lot of attention, not just because of the killing of Tammy Meyers, but because of what police revealed after that, that Meyers may and her son may have helped escalate the situation when Meyers and her son got in the car and tried to track down the suspect who they had just gotten into a big argument with over a traffic incident.

And her son was armed. They then returned home and that is when the suspect returned and ended up shooting and killing her. No matter what happened and no matter who escalated what, obviously, no one should have died for such a trivial thing, an apparent traffic accident that just turned deadly.

But right now, police are still here. They are still in the area just trying to get someone out of the house just one street down from the Meyers family. The neighbors here are afraid.

BALDWIN: So hang on, Sara. Let me just stop you. I want to stay with you and I want to just try to understand exactly what's happening. I know there's a lot of activity behind you. And just to be crystal clear, we're talking about this one family, the Meyers family, in which this mother lost her life, but where you're pointing out, where the standoff is under way, this is a separate house, this is one street away, correct?

SIDNER: That is correct. This is a different house.

It is right down the street. We are one block from where the Meyers family lives, with police who are crouched down and calling again and again on the loudspeaker for someone to come out with their hands up. We also know that there is a helicopter that has been circling for some time and this literally just happened about four or five minutes ago.

We noticed it. The neighborhood, we noticed that there was activity. We were next door trying to talk to the family and suddenly police show up and this unfolds. We are still trying to get details as to whether this is related to what happened to Tammy Meyers. We have not been able to get that confirmed, but certainly there's more police activity in this neighborhood than there ever has been before.

I also want to read you real quick, Brooke, what we just got from the family, who texted our Steve Forrest back there in New York. He said basically Robert Meyers, who is the father -- and I can tell you right now -- will you, John, turn your camera to the right?

Robert Meyers is now -- who is Tammy's husband, and another family member are now coming down the street to see what is going on over here. You can see Robert Meyers there. He is clearly trying to figure out what is going on and this family wants to know if this has anything to do with the person who killed wife Tammy Meyers.

You see him walking there. He is going towards the scene, but police are calling him back. Obviously, emotions are high. You can see that he is angry. Let's listen in. Again, that is Mr. Robert Meyers, who is obviously distraught.

Mr. Meyers... ROBERT MEYERS, WIDOWER OF TAMMY MEYERS: Are you all happy? You made my wife look like an animal and my son. There's the animal a block away! Are you happy?

SIDNER: Obviously, very angry what has been happening, what people have been saying about the Meyers family, blaming them for this tragedy.

And they have said over and over again that, look, you know, she was scared, she was angry, she went out because she wanted to protect her daughter, and emotions obviously spilling over, a very, very tense scene here.

He clearly believes that this person may have something to do with the incident that left his wife dead, but police have not confirmed that in any way, shape or form. I want to make that clear, but you heard him there. He is extremely emotional, as anyone would be when they lose the love of their life, his wife of four children -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. Let me just remind our viewers all this obviously playing out in real time. Sara Sidner is there in this Las Vegas neighborhood. Just a block away lives the Meyers family. They just lost this wife, this mother who was shot and killed in her front yard, in her driveway by -- in the midst of a shoot-out. We know her son had a gun.

And so what we just witnessed was -- and your heart absolutely goes out to this father, this husband. What we don't know -- and I think it's incredibly important and you pointed it out, let me just underscore it, you know, that the location of the individual who ultimately took this woman's life, we do not know where he is. I mean, that's clear, correct, Sara? We know that he was in the neighborhood.

SIDNER: That is true.

BALDWIN: We know that this mother came home with the daughter, after they were doing the driving lesson, the son comes in the car, the son has a gun, and they go out in the neighborhood. And do we even know if that individual lives in the neighborhood?

SIDNER: We do not know that.

And we have not been given that information and, of course, police have been looking into this. They have been trying to figure out who this person is, trying to track him down. But they have not confirmed that the person that they're trying to get to come out of that house has anything to do with the shooting of Tammy Meyers.

We do know though that there were at least three instances where the family the Tammy Meyers and Tammy Meyers herself and the suspect and two others in the car did end up seeing each other and having some sort of confrontation. That last confrontation left Tammy Meyers shot in the head. She died on Valentine's Day.

There's still a very active scene here, the helicopters still going, and the police telling us that we need to move back now. Obviously, if this person is armed, this is a dangerous situation for all the neighbors here. They are already scared after hearing a gun battle between the son and Tammy Meyers' killer.

We have talked to some neighbors who said they heard those gunshots. They never want to hear that sound again. But if this doesn't go well, they may. So, we're going to back up a little bit for you, Brooke.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes. Let me give you a beat. Sara Sidner, I appreciate all your reporting there in Las Vegas. Let me give you a minute.

I want you to move out of the way, obviously listening to what law enforcement are telling you to do.

As you do so, let me just bring in Danny Cevallos, one of our legal correspondents -- or legal analysts here at CNN.

And so here is now this whole entirely new twist in this Las Vegas neighborhood, a street away from the Meyers home. We don't know if this is at all related to this road rage incident we have been covering the last couple of days. Obviously, the missing variable is the driver who ultimately shot and killed this mother. Watching all of this play out, what are some of your questions?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is really interesting because originally this case could have been a he said/she said, but one side of the narrative was totally absent. And that's because the drivers of other car, the driver took off and we don't know what their version of the story is. We may never know.

But the important thing in cases like this is the law regarding, say, self-defense. Where someone is the initial aggressor, if they want to make a claim of self-defense, they have to completely retreat, essentially bring themselves back to zero. And that may have been what mom and son were to go.

But, remember, in this case so far, the only narrative that we have heard has come from the Meyers side. I promise you that if we ever get the other side of the story, it's not even going to resemble remotely the version that the Meyers have told so far. It is interesting.

I think a lot of people want to know what those people in the car had to say before they took off, but, by fleeing, by engaging in a standoff, they really undermine whatever veracity they may bring to the table.

BALDWIN: Danny Cevallos, stay with me. We also have Sarah Sidner and crew in Las Vegas.

Got to get a quick break in. Stay with me, breaking news here on CNN. A standoff is under way, massive presence of police. The helicopter, you could hear it overhead here, a standoff under way just a block away from where this family lives. The mother is now gone in the wake of this road rage incident.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN here.

And we're following breaking news out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Here is the situation. And we're not showing you live pictures at the moment because we're having to move our truck because this is such a fluid situation.

But what we have been looking at is a massive police presence, law enforcement on the ground and also in the air. A standoff is taking place. Here you go. Here are some pictures perhaps from a moment ago. Why is this significant? Because the house in which the standoff has been occurring is just a block away from really what was the ground zero of this road rage, this fatal road rage incident from a week ago in which a mother, a wife was shot and killed in her front yard.

That all stemmed from when Tammy Meyers, is her name, she and her daughter went out to do a driving lesson. At some point, they encountered a driver. And there was some sort of altercation. The daughter reaches over, honks the horn. Something happens around there. The something, I'm purposely being nebulous. We don't entirely know.

Mother and daughter go back home. The son comes into the car. The son has a gun. They return looking in the neighborhood for whatever reason and then that car and the other driver return back to the this home a block away from where we're looking, and this mother -- there is a shoot-out back and forth, and the mother is shot and killed.

Whether or not particular situation that we have been watching the standoff is at all connected that is question number one. Let me just look down at my e-mail. We're hearing now Las Vegas police is currently in the tactical phase of taking the suspect into custody in the road rage homicide investigation.

So perhaps they have found this individual. I say perhaps. That's just what I'm getting from P.D. in Las Vegas.

I have got Nancy Grace with me. I have got Danny Cevallos with me and we have Sara Sidner and crew somewhere in this neighborhood in Las Vegas. We will check in with her momentarily.

But, first, Nancy Grace, to you.

When you hear the tactical phase, taking the suspect into custody in the road rage homicide investigation, does that tell you they have got this guy?

NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Yes, it does.

But I want to tell you another thing. Right before this went down about 10, 15 minutes before you put this banner up on your screen, I was on the phone with the father, Robert. And he was telling me what happened at the initial incident. And what he described to me was that they had this altercation with the shooter, that then the mom gets scared, she races home, she says to the girl, go in, I love you, baby, stay in the house, let's get the car away from the house.

At that moment, they felt that the perp had already been following them. The son runs out. They take off. They're getting the car away from the house. This is what the father has just told me. They're out. They feel the guy is in their neighborhood. They see him. And at that time, the guys start shooting at them. They at that time do not fire back.

They race back home. The guy follows and that's when the mother gets shot. That's what the father has just told me.

BALDWIN: OK. So just to be clear, it wasn't this notion that this mother and son had gone out with this gun to find this driver in the neighborhood. According to the father, they were trying to get out of there.

GRACE: Yes, to get the car away. They leave the little -- the girl there. They get the car away from the house. They feel the guy is following them and this is what the father, Robert, told me.

Fifteen minutes later, I look up and I see your banner and hear what you said. I had just hung up with the father 20, 15 minutes before this standoff is going down. It's very odd. This means that they're right. If these reports are true, the shooter is in their neighborhood and was trying to find their house.

BALDWIN: Yes. I want to play you something. I don't know if you saw this since you were on the phone with Mr. Meyers and put the phone down. We have just turned around -- this is when he happened to walk out and our camera caught him. Take a look at this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEYERS: Are you all happy? You made my wife look like an animal and my son. There's the animal a block away! Are you happy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clearly distraught. He's lost his wife days ago.

GRACE: So upset.

BALDWIN: Absolutely upset, but when he says the animal is right over there, it makes me wonder if the suspect -- did he say anything to you? Does the suspect live in the neighborhood?

GRACE: He said the mom was afraid. This is according to the son and the girl, the little girl. They were afraid he lived in the neighborhood, that he was in the neighborhood.

And when he was on the phone with me right before this whole thing went down, he was saying they're treating my son and my wife like they're dogs, like they're animals. They didn't do anything wrong. My wife would never have gone looking for trouble. Never. She wanted to get the car away from the house and leave the girl, the little girl, there.

BALDWIN: Sara Sidner, I understand we have you on the phone now.

Sara, can you hear me?

SIDNER: Yes, I have got you.

BALDWIN: I understand that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department now have this suspect in this road rage incident investigation in custody. Can you confirm that?

SIDNER: I cannot confirm that. I can tell you right now what we're going told is that they have pushed all of the media back. They have still an active scene. There are still officers who are down on the ground.

We just saw the mother of whoever was in that house. She came by us and she said, that's my son in there. He is threatening to do something to himself. She was very emotional. She walked by us. She kept walking down with the detective down toward the house, which has been surrounded by police, the SWAT team on the scene trying to deal with this situation.

I cannot confirm to you right this second at that they have definitely gotten this particular person in this particular neighborhood one street away from the Meyers' house, whether that person is indeed the suspect of the road rage incident that ended up leaving that mother of four, Tammy Meyers, dead.

But I can tell you that we have seen the mother of the person who is inside that house, who is distraught herself, worried about the safety of her son, of course, and really desperate to find out what is going on. I see detectives who have come up. We're going to try to get some more information from them, but this case is one thing after another.

It's happening so quickly, and clearly the father of the -- sorry -- the husband of Tammy Meyers believes this has something to do with her death, something to do with that road rage incident. He is beside himself with grief and anger and frustration. As you might imagine, this family has been destroyed by this.

No matter who escalated this situation, when you look at this family and how close she was with her four children and her husband, it is heartbreaking, no matter what the circumstances are. Yes, police say she may have had a hand am escalating the situation because her and her son jumped back into a car after they had left the suspect. They came back, they went to find him, the son was armed, but they returned home, nobody was hurt.

They got back towards their house, and that's when the suspect came up, shot, and killed Tammy Meyers. There was firing back by the son. Just a tragic case all around.

BALDWIN: Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking for everyone involved, now that we're hearing a mother is concerned that her young son who is inside this home could harm himself.

Sara Sidner, I'm going to let you go talk to some of those detectives and connect some more of the dots, as I bring in Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI.

And, Tom Fuentes, just help us understand -- and I am looking at this e-mail, this is directly from Las Vegas P.D., saying they are currently in the tactical phase of taking the suspect into custody in this road rage incident. Tactical phase, tell me what that means.

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What that means, Brooke, is that they believe they have the suspect in that home and that since he's already -- they're already believing that he shot and killed this woman, that would mean that he's armed and potentially very dangerous and may not want to be taken into custody.

So they're in a tactical status of not just walking up to the front door and knocking and asking if he's home, but being prepared for the possibility that he may open fire on them as they approach the house.

BALDWIN: He -- this young man, again, according to Sara, the mother is worried that he might harm himself. She's -- that's her concern. He has to know because he's hearing all this activity buzzing around, we're looking at these pictures from moments ago, cars, law enforcement, you know, SWAT team en route, you have the helicopter above.

How -- if you are on-the-ground law enforcement, Tom Fuentes, how are you trying to communicate with this individual inside not to harm himself, but to come out peacefully?

FUENTES: Well, they will try to communicate. I mean, it can be everything from calling him on the phone if they have his cell phone or home phone number or got his number from a neighbor or somebody else, all the way up to, like you see in the movies, calling out on the bullhorn to please surrender, please come outside.

The issue with someone who has gone back to their own home is that when he shot the woman in front of her home, you know, that was one weapon, but when he goes home, he may have an arsenal in that house that they're not aware of. They don't know if he's got shotguns, automatic weapons or what they might be up against.

They would rather preferably get him to surrender and come out of the house by himself unarmed, hands in the air, and take him into custody peacefully for his own sake and for the sake of anybody else that may be in that home. You know, they don't want to have what might happen is a barricaded subject or someone at home that's barricaded and maybe using his own family as hostages or human shields.

So the potential here for danger is a lot and they will be trying to get this guy to cooperate and scale it down if he's home, assuming he's definitely in the house.

BALDWIN: Right. Tom Fuentes, stay with me. I have got Nancy Grace with me and also Danny Cevallos.

Let me just pause just read something. This is a statement from Robert Meyers, again, who Nancy Grace said she spoke with just 20 minutes ago who we saw. This is the husband of Tammy Meyers, who was shot and killed, all a part of this road rage incident.

Let me just read this statement from this husband. "My daughter was dropped off. Look at the footage. Bad guys were right behind. My wife and son drove away from home, bad guys following. She lost them. And upon coming home turned on the street, bad guys are right in front. After that, bad guys opened fire, different location. My wife got home, told her son to take cover. And after he saw his mom shot, he opened fire three times, maybe four. Yes, maybe in a make-up world, she would have stayed home. Please remember statement from this animal. 'I'm going to kill you and your daughter.'

"These guys will get away with murder now. No one gets it. These people came to my home. My son never shot until then. If it was the way media is pitching it, then why did son not shoot when they turned the corner if he was looking to shoot when he had his chance?"

Nancy Grace, to you. You just spoke with him 20 minutes ago. Remind us. When the father says that the statement from the suspect, "I'm going to kill you and your daughter," when did that happen?

GRACE: Yes. I'm going to tell you that happened right at the beginning of the entire incident. And I agree with the father. I am sick, sick about the way the media has treated this mother and her son and her daughter and the father and the son watching the mother get gunned down in the front yard.

When they first started off, the mom's teaching the daughter how to drive, how to parallel park on private property at a school about a half-a-mile from the home. So this car -- they're leaving. A car comes speeding by them. The little girl, the 15-year-old, toots the horn. Her mom is driving. She leans over and toots, hey, you're going too fast.

The guy slams on brakes, gets out of the car, comes up to the mom. He's got the mom -- he's right in front of her, so she can't really get away that quickly. And he has a verbal altercation. Somebody gives the finger and he says, "You know what, I'm going to kill the two of you."

Goes back to his car. At that moment, the mom peels off. She's afraid he's following and she was right because he's right there in the neighborhood looking. He didn't know exactly where, but knowing they're in that neighborhood. She puts the girl in the house, gets the son out and off they go. That's what he told me.

BALDWIN: Danny Cevallos, you're watching all of this. Your thoughts.

CEVALLOS: Well, the narrative seems to be changing. And ultimately the question is going to be, what did the mom and son exactly do?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let me stop you right now. Forgive e. We have a live news conference going on in Las Vegas. Let's take you to that live.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the homicide of Mrs. Meyers into custody at this point.

As you can imagine, this is a tactical situation. It is an active, ongoing situation. There won't be much information that we will be able to provide from this point forward. Once more information becomes available, we will be able to release that to you.

So, just, again, right now, we are in the tactical phase, attempting to take a suspect into custody who we believe to be involved in the homicide of Mrs. Meyers.

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: This is Sara from CNN.

Can I just quickly ask you, is it the person you think, you believe shot Mrs. Meyers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is. It is.

BALDWIN: OK.