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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Gunmen Killed at Mohammed Cartoon Event; Baltimore Returning to Normal; Obama Seeking "Truth" in Freddie Gray Death; Nepal Earthquake Death Toll Rising. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 04, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:06] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: two gunmen killed after they opened fire on a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. That just outside Dallas this morning. We have the latest on this attack and why police were so quick to respond.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman. It is Monday, May 4th. Christine Romans is on assignment this morning.

And breaking overnight in Garland, Texas, serious questions and concerns. Two men pulled up outside a venue that was holding a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The men jumped out of the car and they started shooting. Now, an unarmed security guard was wounded before police officers shot and killed the gunmen.

CNN's Ed Lavandera in Garland, Texas, with the latest -- Ed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, law enforcement officials here in the Dallas suburb of Garland, Texas, say that the shooting erupted just about ten minutes before the art Mohammed exhibit and cartoon contest was supposed to be wrapping up. It's not exactly known if the organizers of this event were the ones that were being targeted. But that is clearly the suspicion that law enforcement is operating under.

This is an event that had been in the works for sometime. It had gotten a great deal of publicity, and because of that, there was also a great deal of law enforcement present surrounding this event. In fact, we were told in the back of the building, there was a SWAT team on stand by just in case anything like this was to erupt.

But we're told by law enforcement that the whole event lasted or the whole shooting took place in less than about 15 seconds. That there were two men who drove up to the civic center here in Garland, Texas, in the dark colored sedan, jumped out, started shooting. They were able to wound a Garland independent school district officer. That officer was released from the hospital. He will be OK. But those two suspects were gunned down in the parking lot of the civic center here in Garland, Texas. Law enforcement officials say they do not know the identities of these

suspects, but, obviously, FBI investigators are on the scene, beginning the process of trying to figure out what the motive here was. This was an event that was highly controversial. The organizers described it as a free speech event. But those critics of these organizers which also included a keynote speech by a right wing Dutch politician who has been on the target list of Islamic groups around the world, they say that this was nothing more than an anti-Islam event.

So, a great deal of controversy surrounding all of this and many law enforcement officials here in Garland had worried about, John, has taken place.

John, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Our Ed Lavandera in Garland.

And as Ed mentioned, those attending this contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, they claim it was not anti-Muslim. They say it was pro-free speech. Even so, local police they had officers and SWAT team at the event just in case there was violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORRIE O'BRIEN, ATTENDED EVENT: It is a pro-freedom of speech. Why would anybody have to describe it as anti-Islam? It's pro-freedom. That's what we're here for. We are freedom protectors.

JEFFERY MYERS, ATTENDED EVENT: This event was not anti-Koran. This event was not in any way disparaging of Muslims or the Koran, or Mohammed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, the keynote speaker for the event was a controversial Dutch politician named Gerth Wilders. After the shooting he tweeted thanks to police saying, "Thank God the heroes of SWAT team prevented the worst."

The mayor of Garland, Texas, tells CNN that most of the people at the event were from out of the state. We'll have much more on this, our breaking lead story.

But also new this morning, it is the first morning after the first night without a curfew since the violence broke out in Baltimore one week ago. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake lifted the curfew that she imposed following riots last Monday. You will remember all the unrest there stemmed from anger over the death of Freddie Gray.

What you are looking at right now is pictures of the celebrations outside city hall yesterday. It was a festive atmosphere as people celebrated really the lifting of the curfew and the announcement that the National Guard will now wind down its operations in the city. The mayor joined in the celebrating by reopening a shopping mall that

was closed in last Monday's looting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE: Right now, I'm confident. What we saw over the past few days is not just the resiliency of our city, but also, our community is coming together. We want to heal our city.

[04:05:00] We know we have challenges in Baltimore. We know that there is work to be done. But what you saw in these last few days with the peaceful demonstrations and people coming together to celebrate Baltimore is that will that we will get better, that we will get through this and we will do it as one Baltimore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Let's bring in Rene Marsh with the latest.

Good morning, Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Yes, you really do feel a bit of a shift here in the first night of that curfew being lifted, another night of calm. You talked about the National Guard and the drawdown. We know that that should take 72 hours to be complete because they brought in some 4,000 people. So, that will be underway this week.

And we are also beginning to learn a lot more or a little bit more about some of the six officers involved here. Some of the officers who have been charged.

As, you know, five men, one woman, three black, three white, some of these veterans, some of them new to the force.

Just yesterday, I spent some time in the neighborhood of Officer William Porter. He was hired in 2012. He is facing three charges, including involuntary manslaughter as well as second-degree assault. He is the officer who was called to the van to check on Freddie Gray. Freddie gray at that time called and asked for medical attention, but did not receive it.

So, back in the neighborhood, I met with a woman who is his neighbor and also a family friend. She has known him since he was 10 years old.

Here's what she told me about Officer Porter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGARET MUSGROVE, NEIGHBOR: Just a very polite , very sweet young man, very innocent really. So, when I heard it was his name, I was kind of in shock and deeply saddened because I don't know what's happened, and I guess I know the world doesn't know what's happened at this point.

MARSH: You said when you heard the news, you almost didn't believe it because it doesn't match up with the character of the man you know.

MUSGROVE: Absolutely does not match up at all. He wouldn't hurt a fly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, that from a woman again who says she has known this officer since he was 10 years old.

Just to give you an overview as to what things look like as far as arrests. Police telling us yesterday that since all of these protests began, some 486 arrests were made and 113 officers had been injured. Then just yesterday, we have been talking so much about the economic impact here. Not only with the rioting, but as well as with the curfews. The governor also said that some 200 businesses were lost in the riots.

So, even though the tide has started to shift here in Baltimore, with 200 businesses lost in the rioting, clearly, there is a lot of work to be done here -- John.

BERMAN: It will take time to recover.

Rene, the last night is the first night without a curfew. As far as you could tell, any incidents?

MARSH: No, again, it was relatively a calm night. And that is followed by several other calm nights.

So, you know, I did speak to the mayor yesterday after she made that announcement about lifting the curfew. And I asked her what was different today versus the day before where the curfew was still in place and she said after making the assessment, she decided that some of the bad actors causing trouble, that was no longer a factor. She went on to even say that she felt very confident in the current state of affairs here in Baltimore. But she did say there is still work to be done.

BERMAN: All right. Rene Marsh on the streets of Baltimore, and you can see people walking behind you, Rene. And just one night ago, this was still a curfew. So, that is a nice sight to see. Thanks, Rene.

MARSH: Yes.

BERMAN: Happening now, Israel is facing its own protests accusing police of racism. These protests were violent in Tel Aviv organized by Israel's Ethiopian Jews. Officials say 12 protesters injured, along with 57 police officers. This in an earlier peaceful protest in Jerusalem were sparked by a video showing police officers beating an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier for no obvious reason.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has the latest -- Oren.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, organizers of these large protests in Tel Aviv promised these demonstrations, the one here and the one in Jerusalem are just the beginning. So far, they have mended. There's another demonstration scheduled for right now in Jerusalem at a significant location since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with not only Ethiopian leaders, leaders of that community, but also the victim in this video that has gone viral and sparked this anger, this tension boiling up to the surface.

In that video, you see one Israeli police officer and then another walk up to an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier in uniform, and start beating him. That has sparked this anger.

[04:10:01] Ethiopians we spoke to would say, the bigger issue here is years, what they see as decades of discrimination at the hands of police and authorities.

The video is what sparked the anger to boil over. We had the protest in Thursday night in Jerusalem, the one last night in Tel Aviv. Organizers tried to keep it peaceful and it was for many, many hours. About 500 or 600 protesters blocked off some of Tel Aviv's main streets. And police said, look, if this remains peaceful, we're OK with it.

And for hours, it was peaceful. But as it got later, as the protests reached the seven and eight-hour mark, that's when it suddenly changed and became the violent clashes between police and protesters.

Police said there were a number of protesters damaged shop windows, damaged police cars, even damaged a police motorcycle as police tried to disperse the crowd. They used tear gas, they used stun grenades, water cannon, officers on horses, to try to break up this crowd. But even at that point, it still took hours.

The numbers as they stand right now: 56 police officers injured lightly, one injured moderately and 43 people arrested. What started as a peaceful protest became violent clashes. We will see what happens with another round of demonstrations from an Ethiopian community trying to break what they see as decades of discrimination here in Israel. Those meetings between the prime minister and Ethiopian leaders could be the beginning of change. That's what everyone is hoping for -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Oren, some dramatic pictures from Israel. Thanks so much.

Back here, Congress my reconsider a planned move to send weapons directly to Sunni and Kurds in Iraq. That is according to Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. He says Congress will try to find a way to insure that Sunnis and Kurds can still fight ISIS, but without undermining Iraq's Shia government, which is a big concern of Iraq's Shia prime minister. The Justice Department is launching a wide ranging review unto the

government's use of secret cell phone tracking devices. The FBI has been using the devices to find suspects by tracking their cell phones. But they can also be used to scan data from thousands of other cell phones belonging to every day Americans. The Justice Department says it will start revealing more about the government's use of tracking devices and how they are being deployed.

Time now for an early start on your money.

Cristina Alesci is here with that. Good morning.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Futures are kind of quiet this morning. I need things to shake up a bit. That's after the Dow gained 183 points on Friday. That popped help stem the loss for the week. Today, investors will be watching earnings from a host of companies including Comcast and Tyson.

But the real action will likely come later this week with economic releases and finally the jobs report on Friday. That's going to be big.

On a sad note -- Dave Goldberg, husband of Facebook exec Sheryl Sandberg, died suddenly on Friday. The couple was on vacation abroad, and the cause of death hasn't been disclosed. Sandberg called her husband a shrewd partner and said her career and marriage are intrinsically intertwined. A sad story.

BERMAN: Tragedy. He is known as one of the business sectors great feminists in a way.

ALESCI: Yes, he supported a lot of careers for women.

BERMAN: And very big in the tech sector, you know, in his own right. So sad.

ALESCI: Yes.

BERMAN: Our thoughts to that family.

Thanks, Cristina.

The race for president is growing this morning. A new candidate joined the field overnight as another gets ready to make her big announcement this morning. We have the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. The breaking story this morning, police in the Dallas suburb of Garland shot and killed two men overnight. The men drove up to a venue that was holding a contest for people to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

These men opened fire. They wounded an unarmed security guard. Police officers returned fire. They shot and killed the two gunmen. Organizers of this event claim that it was design to promote free speech, but critics called the contest anti-Muslim.

A lot of questions about this. We will get to that again in a little bit.

It will be an emotional day for Dr. Ben Carson, the 63-year-old former neurosurgeon. He will formally announce that he is running for president this morning at an event in Detroit. He tipped his hand overnight in a television interview. But just after the announcement in Detroit, Dr. Carson will travel to Dallas to be with his mother who is seriously ill. He had to cancel a scheduled campaign spot in Iowa.

Also, Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, she will join the 2016 presidential field today. She will be the first woman in the Republican race. After officially announcing her candidacy, Fiorina is suspected to take questions in a live online town hall event.

Hillary Clinton heads to Las Vegas today. The former secretary of state is holding a round table discussion with young people at a local high school. The focus is on fixing the nation's immigration system and strengthening families. More than 25 percent of Nevada's population is Hispanic. The state will be a hotly contested battleground in 2016 just as it has the past several elections.

President Obama will be in the Bronx today. He's launching a new independent non-profit organization. He's been talking about this designed to close the opportunity gap for young men of color.

Let's get more from Sunlen Serfaty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

President Obama will travel to the Bronx in New York today. He is relaunching his My Brother's Keeper initiative into a non-profit foundation. This is a program that was first started by the president in the wake of Trayvon Martin's killing, with the goal of trying to help support and empower young minority men. White House officials say the president will use this as contest to speak to the unrest in Baltimore and broader, systemic issues that are still in so many neighborhoods across the country like Freddie Gray.

As the charges against the six police officers were brought on Friday, the president said it is absolutely vital that the truth about Freddie Gray's death comes out.

Meanwhile, as the national conversation continues into this week, Speaker of the House John Boehner was asked on "Meet the Press" if he believes the nation is in a national crisis when it comes to law enforcement and African-Americans. Here's how he responded.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do. I think that if you look at what is happened over the course over the last year, you have to scratch your head. Public servants should not violate the law. If these charges are true, it's outrageous and unacceptable. SERFATY: And the move today by the president to launch the separate

foundation to help young minority boys. It's a big hint what he'll likely do after his presidency. White House officials do expect the president to be focused on this issue long after he has left Oval Office -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:20:00] BERMAN: All right. Sunlen Serfaty for us in Washington.

Again, the breaking news is a shooting in Garland, Texas, surrounding a context to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

We will have much more on that ahead. Plus, devastation in Nepal. One week after the catastrophic earthquake there. CNN cameras travel to areas hardest hit areas, people are still waiting for help.

We are live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. The breaking news overnight. Two gunmen were shot dead by police as they attacked an event in Garland, Texas. Police say the men drove up, jumped out and shot and wounded a security guard before police killed them both. This all happened in 15 seconds.

Now, one of the reasons this is all drawing alarm, the event was a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Organizers describe the event as a defense of free speech. Critics call it anti-Islamic and Muslim-baiting. It was controversial before it started, then you have the shooting there. No word yet on the gunmen who are now dead. There are serious questions this morning. Much more on that ahead.

A grim scene in earthquake-stricken Nepal. The death toll now topping 7,200. The largest airport in Kathmandu has been forced to turn away large planes. The runway just too badly damaged.

One bright note, though, the miraculous rescue of a 101-year-old man trapped under his collapsed home allegedly for seven days.

CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon has traveled to some of the hardest hit regions of that country. She joins us this morning from Kathmandu.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We actually spent the last few days getting to the earthquake's epicenter, the town of Barpak. The road leading there, the lifeline of what would have been a lifeline effectively blocked off by boulders caused by landslides. It took us a while to make our way. And we really got a sense of what it must have been like and just how difficult it still is for so many of these remote villages. While we were on the side of one of the mountains, we did feel a

significant tremor. It was absolutely terrifying, understandable why it is now that so many people, if their house is still standing, are continuing to live in tents. But the most disturbing thing throughout all of this was this severe lack of humanitarian aid. And one of the villages that we visited where just every single home have been leveled, only three tents had been air dropped.

In Barpak itself, the epicenter of the earthquake, where there is a helipad, where helicopters are able to land. There, too, aid has been very slow to arrive. The sound in the air there, the hammering of people trying to rebuild their lives. The hillside dotted with white stones with the graves of those who perished.

But very few are receiving the actual assistance that they need. We spoke to the country's minister of information, also the government spokesman about why aid is not reaching these areas. He said, look, the government is also a victim in all of this. Nepal is a resource poor country, saying that when aid was arriving, it was pushed out.

But, clearly, there is a logistical nightmare that is taking place, as well as bureaucratic hold ups. The only assistance that we saw over the five days in this particular area was that delivered by a local organization or by individuals who banded together with friends and decided to throw what they could in the back of the truck and get it out there.

Yes, the roads are difficult to navigate. Yes, it is quite a trek to reach some of these places, but it is doable. And there are people willing to give their vehicles. There are vehicles that can be rented, smaller ones to distribute the aid that is needed. So it's difficult to really understand, and understandably, too, that these villages are aggravated at this stage about why it is that assistance is not reaching them.

They have already been so much. There are ongoing torrential downpours, ongoing terrifying tremors. The children are so traumatized, John, that when they hear the helicopters landing because they shake the ground, that causes them, according to their parents, to burst into tears.

BERMAN: Arwa, it's a shame when the bureaucratic obstacles are bigger than the physical ones.

Arwa Damon for us in Nepal this morning -- thanks so much.

All right. The breaking news: two gunmen killed after they opened fire on an event in Texas. That event was a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. What we are now learning about the event, what we are now learning about the deaths of these two men and the investigation. We have new details right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)