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Terror in Tunisia; Caroline Kennedy Facing Death Threats. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 18, 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: First, we begin with this manhunt still under way here. This is Mesa, Arizona, where police are searching for a gunman they say who has shot at least four people.

We're told the shootings happened across at least five locations, including a restaurant. Law enforcement are giving a news conference right now. Let's listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally, our thoughts and prayers go to the victims and their families, and we hope for a recovery for them.

We hope that we can have a positive outcome of this incident, but, as I said, this is a work in progress, and so I don't have any more specifics to offer to you.

I know Chief Meza has a few comments, followed by Detective Flores.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, I just want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with those victims of this morning's tragic incident.

I just wanted the public to know and rest assured that the Mesa Police Department is using all of its resources as we look for this suspect. This is not just Mesa P.D. This is all of our regional partners. We have help from Arizona DPS. We have help from Tempe P.D., Gilbert P.D. The FBI is in our TOC center, so we have all the resources available to us as we look for the suspect.

And I want to commend our officers and men and women of the Mesa Police Department. This is what we train for. This is what we're at our best, and we will find this suspect. Public safety obviously is the number one thing, and I assure you that we are we're going to work diligently to capture this suspect.

I also want to ask for the help of the community. I thank the media. We need the eyes and ears of everybody out there until we resolve this situation.

Detective Flores is going to get into some of the more details and we will be giving you more a little bit later. Thank you.

QUESTION: Question, are you looking for Ryan Jerome (ph)? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have not released the name yet. We're

still looking at and confirming the suspect. And now I will let Detective Flores ask you -- answer the specifics.

ESTEBAN FLORES, MESA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good afternoon. Detective Esteban Flores, Mesa Police Department.

As Chief Meza said, we're still looking for the suspect, but let me give you some updated information on what happened this morning. At about 8:40 a.m., we received emergency calls of a shooting here at the Tri-City motel at 1504 West Main Street. Shortly after that, we received another call from the EVIT school off-site restaurant, which is actually called the Bistro 13 right across the street.

East Valley Institute of Technology, one of their students was shot there as well and ran across the street to receive attention from the paramedics who were arriving at the first incident shooting. At the first shooting, we had three victims, one confirmed deceased, two female victims that were transported to a hospital and one male victim who died at scene.

The second -- or the third victim which was at the Bistro restaurant who was a student is an adult who ran across the street. He was transported to the hospital and he's going to survive as well. And after that, we began to receive information of additional shootings after a carjacking attempt at the Bistro restaurant, and we did have a vehicle that was description given out, and it was a gray Honda Accord which was carjacked at the Bistro restaurant from one of the teachers at the scene.

The suspect fled in that vehicle to an area around 900 South Dobson (ph). There was an apartment complex there where a home invasion took place. During that home invasion attempt, another victim was shot by the same suspect. That person is going to survive. And it was a male victim at that at that location. And once we received that call and that information, we received another call or there was some radio traffic from an officer who found another victim at 1800 West Emelita, which is another apartment complex right next the first one.

There was another victim there who was shot and who is in critical condition and that's a male as well. So, so far, total, we have six victims, one of whom is deceased. At this time, our tactical units, along with our other agency partners, are assisting us in the manhunt.

We do have a suspect description. We cannot confirm the identity. We have had a bunch of different -- a bunch of different information come in. We still need to follow up on that information before we can confirm the identity of the suspect.

[15:05:02] But he is a white male in his late 30s, early 40s, bald head, and he does have tattoos on his neck and also on his face. The last -- the last time, we gave the information of a gray shirt, black pants or shorts. We have confirmed that it is black shirt, black shorts at this time, but just remember, he could change his clothing at any time.

But we're seeking the help of the public at this time to assist us in searching for this suspect. If they see someone matching this description, please contact 911 immediately, and we will have those tactical units in the area as soon as we can.

BALDWIN: All right, let's pull away from that, this news conference under way here in Mesa, Arizona. I think it's fair to call this now really the shooting spree.

Paul Vercammen has been following this with us as well.

Multiple locations, at least five, six locations and beginning at this Institute of Technology, Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. Actually it began at a motel first, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK.

VERCAMMEN: That's where three people were shot, including two females, and then you may have heard him say that a male at that hotel, Tri-City motel, was fatally injured in that, and the two women were transported to a hospital.

He then moves down the street. And that's where he comes in near that East Valley Institute of Technology and an off-site restaurant. This is a school that has a culinary arts program. There is a confrontation there as well. And then he moves on to two apartment complexes, five locations in all, Brooke, and six people shot, one fatally.

BALDWIN: Stay on it. They're looking for him. Paul Vercammen, thank you so much for now.

Also happening, a manhunt entirely in a separate part of the world here, this manhunt for three terrorists accused in this mass killing. These people here on stretchers leaving this museum, these are those fortunate enough to survive the shooting rampage, but at least 19 others, most of them tourists, unfortunately did not.

It was a siege that unfolded at this museum in the capital of Tunisia. These people were visiting the Bardo Museum. You see on the map how close it was to the parliament building here in the capital. And 22 others were wounded in this shooting. Two gunmen were killed by police, but three other terrorists are on the loose.

Tunisia's prime minister is calling this assault -- quote, unquote -- "cowardly," targeting not just lives, but Tunisia's economy. These images show these museum visitors running from the shooting scene here, a man here coming up the stairs clutching a young boy. Lawmakers were working nearby when the gunfire erupted. In fact, one spoke with CNN by phone explaining that the gunman first tried to enter parliament, got into a shoot-out with security and then headed for the tourists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we just heard gunshots and then we -- people, workers from the administration in the assembly told us, came to the -- and told us that we had to stop our work because the parliament was attacked from its main entrance.

And then the information that they had is that we -- the tourists went first to the main entrance of the parliament building, and then when there were some gunfights between them and between the officers who were in the entrance. They came back. They went back to the museum and at the entrance to the museum, they shot a bus of tourists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank.

A lot to unpack here, Paul, including let's just begin with -- you were saying to me this is the worst attack on tourists in this part of the world since 1993.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Since 1997, that awful massacre in Luxor, Egypt, where up to 60 tourists were killed in November 1977.

This is the worst loss of life since then. I think the death toll is likely to climb, unfortunately, in the hours ahead, three gunmen potentially still on the loose being searched by Tunisian authorities, two gunmen believed to have been killed inside the museum. This was a sophisticated pre-planned attack.

We don't know who was responsible yet. There's been no claim of responsibility. But it could be ISIS because up to 3,000 civilians have gone over to Syria and Iraq. Many of them have joined ISIS over there, and about 500 have come back. It could be Ansar al-Sharia, be a radical jihadist group which is indigenous to Tunisia with up to 40,000 followers in the country. They have been responsible to attempted suicide bombings on beach resorts in the last few years.

It could be any number of jihadist groups in Tunisia. But the fact was sophisticated, preplanned points to a group like ISIS or Ansar al-Sharia.

BALDWIN: Which is something because it would again give an example of a presence in Northern Africa, which we have seen before with the beheading of the Christians in Egypt, Libya.

[15:10:11] The follow-up would be then, why? When you look at Tunisia, it is a small country here in the northern piece of Africa just next door to Libya. Why? I think of Tunisia, I think of the beginning of the Arab spring and I think of hope, though it's tough economically speaking right now. And would that be a motivation for these young people looking for direction, jobless?

CRUICKSHANK: That's absolutely right.

They have got a lot of the politics right in Tunisia. They have had free elections. There's a secular president, a secular majority in parliament, an Islamic opposition which is very pragmatic and believes in democratic principles. But you have had a lot of economic problems still in Tunisia, a lot of unemployment.

And that's created significant frustration among young people and some of them have looked for answers in radical Islam, and those that have, many of them have seen ISIS as something that they should support, this caliphate, something they should support, it's their religious duty. So you have seen all these thousands of young men and also young women leave Tunisia to go to Syria in Iraq.

(CROSSTALK)

CRUICKSHANK: About 500 have come back. There are also Tunisians who have gone and trained in Libya, ISIS no operating a number of training camps in Eastern Libya between Derna and Benghazi, a significant number of Tunisians believed to have the trained, some of them coming back to Tunisia as well.

And then this indigenous sort of Salafi jihadi movement, a little bit like we saw in Libya with Ansar al-Sharia, where there is a sort of sister organization. In Tunisia, they were responsible for trying to storm the U.S. Embassy in Tunis a couple of years ago.

BALDWIN: In the post-Gadhafi area, the fears were what would happen to the vacuum. It seems we're seeing what has been happening. Paul Cruickshank, thank you very, very much.

Again, three people still on the loose with terrorists on the run in Tunisia.

Let's move on.

Caroline Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, JFK's daughter and U.S. ambassador to Japan, is reportedly receiving death threats, all of this happening just a couple weeks after the U.S. ambassador to South Korea was slashed. We will talk about that, security, what's happening ahead.

Also, the millionaire star of HBO's "The Jinx" is accused of murder and now we're being told he is at risk of suicide behind bars. Hear where they are putting him.

And Syria claims it shot down a U.S. drone as the Pentagon gives a pretty interesting response to that. Are U.S. secrets possibly at risk here? You're watching CNN.

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[15:16:41] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

She grew up in a family of political icons and the fatal dangers that followed them. Now the daughter of JFK is reportedly facing threats against her own life. Caroline Kennedy is the U.S. ambassador to Japan. She attended public events today in Tokyo and also back on Tuesday and showed no signs that she knows what local media is reporting, that Tokyo police are investigating threatening calls made last month to the U.S. Embassy.

Reuters is reporting that a U.S. consul general in Okinawa was also targeted and the caller who made those threats spoke English. Today, the U.S. State Department would not confirm the reports of these threats, but its spokeswoman did say this.

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JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: We take any threats to U.S. diplomats seriously. We take every step possible to protect our personnel. We're working with the Japanese government to ensure that necessary security measures are in place, which is something we would do and continue to do around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey. He's now a distinguished visiting fellow at the Washington Institute.

Mr. Ambassador, wonderful to have you on. Welcome.

JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Before we talk specifically with Caroline Kennedy, let's talk you, sir. I understand with your post you were targeted multiple times. Tell me some stories.

JEFFREY: Like almost all our top leadership in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were targeted attempts, mainly bombing attempts on me, by both al Qaeda elements and Shia elements, but, again, our own security forces in every case and the U.S. military were successful in fending them off.

BALDWIN: Were you ever -- did you ever have any close calls?

JEFFREY: Oh, yes, along with many others.

BALDWIN: Can you be specific?

(CROSSTALK)

JEFFREY: An al Qaeda suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked our convoy as I was leaving a compound in West Beirut in early 2005.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I just can't but help look at you and you're telling me all of this with such a straight face. I suppose this is all part of the job, but years later away from the post, do you sometimes sort of pinch yourself that people were out to kill you?

JEFFREY: I was a soldier in Vietnam, and I have had many dangerous posts, as have many Foreign Service officers.

BALDWIN: Got it.

JEFFREY: This comes with the territory.

When Caroline Kennedy, to her credit, signed up, she joined our ranks. And she's at risk like the rest of us.

BALDWIN: Got it, sir, loud and clear.

How about the fact though that with the threats against Caroline Kennedy, we know what happened with the U.S. ambassador to South Korea recently slashed, and when you look at these countries, South Korea and both Japan, these are considered low-risk countries. What kind of security do ambassadors travel with or surrounded by day by day?

JEFFREY: We don't get into the specifics usually, Brooke, for obvious reasons.

The primary responsibility is the host government, for obvious reasons. We're guests in their country. Nonetheless, our diplomatic security in the State Department will provide one or another sort of security detail or team with us depending upon the threat.

In a country like that, it will be limited in numbers unless there is credible evidence of a threat. From what I'm hearing from the State Department, there's enough evidence to enhance her security significantly, both with the Japanese and with her own people.

BALDWIN: Do you think security would have been enhanced with the first lady now in Japan today, in the wake of what's happened with Caroline Kennedy?

[15:20:02] JEFFREY: Absolutely, but first ladies are always well- protected.

BALDWIN: OK, OK.

Ambassador James Jeffrey, thank you so, so much.

JEFFREY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Insight was invaluable. Thank you, and thank you for your service.

Coming up next, an Air Force veteran accused of trying to join ISIS faces a judge today in a New York federal courtroom.

Plus, was it shot out of the sky? We're getting a look at the wreckage now on the ground of this American Predator drone the Syrian molt claims to have shot down. Might this change how the United States handled -- handles the Assad regime? Stay here.

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BALDWIN: The Air Force veteran from New Jersey accused of trying to go to Syria and join ISIS appeared in federal court in Brooklyn just a couple hours ago and pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.

Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh is not only a veteran. He was also an airplane mechanic. So when Turkey stopped him back in January, you would think that might have raised some flags, but Turkey didn't hand him over to the United States. Instead, they sent him back to Egypt, from where he traveled.

[15:25:13] Then Egypt sent him back home into the arms of the FBI. Here's part of a letter federal investigators allegedly found on Pugh's laptop. Quoting here: "I am a sword against the oppressor and a shield for the oppressed. I will use the talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic States."

Let's bring in CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier.

Kimberly, here's the thing. When I was talking to a veteran yesterday on the show about this, he wasn't actually as alarmed by the fact that this is the first known veteran to try to go join ISIS. He was more alarmed by the fact that this guy had knowledge of planes, worked with a major airline. That was curious, and, number two, wondering about monitoring someone going from U.S., Kuwait, Egypt, Turkey, alarm bells.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Brooke, I would have to agree with that veteran, because this man had been part of the Air Force pre-9/11. A lot of procedures have changed and a lot of the air frames have changed, so his military experience is probably less important.

But he did have knowledge of aircrafts. He had information, according to investigators, photographs on his plane of airplanes and things like airplane bathrooms and the spaces beneath the seats, as if he was planning an operation.

And the other concern is, yes, Turkey spotted him, but this shows the uneven relationship that U.S. and Turkish counterterrorism officials have. They didn't alert U.S. officials right away. They sent him back to Egypt. Now, Egypt has a much stronger relationship with U.S. counterterrorism officials and reached out -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Isn't that a problem? We have talked about this before about frustrations with Turkey in all these people who are flying from Turkey into Syria. Why did Turkey not reach out to the U.S.?

DOZIER: Well, it could be a couple of different reasons.

It could be just the bandwidth, the capabilities of the Turkish security services on the ground. Perhaps connections weren't made between one arm of security vs. another. And the easiest thing to do was just to send this guy back to Egypt.

But it's something that U.S. and Turkish officials have been working on.

BALDWIN: OK. Let's pivot, you know, to talk about the U.S. military drone that Syria says it shot down. Now we have pictures and we have some video from Syria reportedly showing pieces of this drone.

My first thought was reverse-engineering. I mean, is it possible that, you know, classified technology here could be divulged?

DOZIER: I would be less concerned about the Predator air frame itself. It was made in the mid-'90s. It's been around for a long time.

It's the stuff that's attached to a Predator, the observation balls with infrared cameras, technology that sucks up everything from radio to cell phone frequencies. Now, does Syria have the capability to reverse-engineer that? Probably not, but they could be handing that over to their allies, Iran, Russia, and that could be of great use.

BALDWIN: And what about -- final question on this drone, you know, what about the fact that this was the first time the Assad regime, as they claim, has taken down a U.S. aircraft? How would this change U.S. relations with the Syrian government?

DOZIER: Well, look, they haven't been good. Syria hasn't responded well to Secretary Kerry's overtures to include them in future talks.

But the fact of the matter is taking down a drone -- drones crash, Predators crash a lot. It could have been mechanical failure, and they are just trying to make a P.R. point by claiming to have shot it down. Predators are also slow. They only go 135 miles per hour. It's easier to take them down than a U.S. jet. When we see Syrian air defenses targeting manned American jets, that's when you really have to get concerned.

BALDWIN: OK. Kimberly Dozier, thank you.

DOZIER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, more on our breaking news, at least 19 people killed in this popular museum here in the capital of Tunisia. Multiple gunmen stormed this building today. Christiane Amanpour will join me next to talk about what this means as thousands there leave Tunisia to join ISIS.

Plus, the New York millionaire, the star of HBO's "The Jinx" behind bars, is now officially on suicide watch -- more on Robert Durst coming up.

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