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Nine Killed In South Carolina Church Shooting; Prison Worker Warned Husband About Murder Plot; Pope Francis Addresses Climate Change; Greece Central Bank Warns Of Doomsday Scenario; Hong Kong Divided Over China-Backed Election Plan; Police Release Enhanced Mugshots Of Prison Escapees; Druze Villages Caught Up In Syria's Civil War. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 17, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks so much for joining us.

CHURCH: We are following breaking news in the U.S. from South Carolina where several police agencies are searching for a gunman who opened fire at a church in Charleston.

BARNETT: Now the police chief says the white suspect believed to be in his early 20s shot several people at the historic African-American church on Wednesday night. At this hour, nine people have died from this incident.

Earlier Charleston officials held a news conference asking for unity as they continue their investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY G. MULLEN, CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE CHIEF: What we need right now is we need everybody to come together and pray for these families and we need them to come together and help us find this person so nobody else is hurt.

And what we need is for the community to look at this and say we have had enough of this violence and if we stand up together we can stop this violence and that is what we need the community to do.

JOSEPH P. RILEY JR., MAYOR OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: We are all in this together in this community to help those who have lost a loved one get through this time and give them our love and support and encouragement as we bring this awful person to justice as soon as humanly possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: And it's certainly understandable why people in Charleston will be so full of fear at this hour as law enforcement responded to the chaotic scene of the deadly shooting, people did this. They gathered nearby to pray.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest black church of its kind in the southern U.S. People in the community say they are outraged that this violent act can happen in a house of worship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You tell people to go to work, do right, go to church. These people were in church -- and they violated the sanctity of that. The ramifications are way beyond just what happened tonight. This is just unacceptable. This is unacceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are communities trying to live and survive. Why do we have to live like this? We don't need more. We need peace. We ask you in the community to stand behind that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Looking for peace there. And South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has voiced her condolences with the statement on Facebook, and here's part of her message.

She says, "While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we will never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another."

BARNETT: Now CNN producer, Ashley Killough, is on the scene there in Charleston and can join us I believe over the phone with some of the latest information.

Ashleigh, we have been talking to you all night as we have been getting updates from the police officials there. What new information have you been able to pull together?

ASHLEY KILLOUGH, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): We have not seen the police for the last couple hours. We hope to get an update in the coming hours, possibly at 7:00 a.m., is what we are most recently hearing. There are a lot of details that we still need to know.

But most importantly the suspect is still at large. They are urging caution. They haven't given specifics into what -- where people should go and not go. There is still a lot of information needed on that.

CHURCH: Ashley, that is the problem, there are so many gaps here, aren't there? We thought that we would hear from police this hour in fact. Now they delayed it for perhaps another four hours or so.

But earlier when they were describing the suspect, they were specific in his age, 21 rather than early 20s, very specific. Talk to us about what we're supposed to make of that, whether they have any idea of who this young man is.

KILLOUGH: Correct. We don't know why they know or how they know that detail. They didn't want to comment too much on the investigation, but they are thinking about offering a reward and asking the community to help find this person. So we don't know how they know that information, but hopefully they can get some more details to us on that.

BARNETT: And while we await into tomorrow, what will likely be happening there when the sun comes up and when tomorrow arrives? Do you feel that the streets around the church will still be closed? I know there is some kind of prayer vigil planned for the larger community as well.

[03:05:07] KILLOUGH: Right, there is a vigil planned. Some of the activities here have died down. There were a few dozen people who gathered to pray in large prayer circles. They were singing worship songs asking for peace and calm. A lot of them have left now.

But we expect there will be more of a sense of community tomorrow. We might see more of that especially as they are waiting to hear if the suspect has been caught yet or if he is still out there.

BARNETT: Yes, everyone seems to agree this was an outrageous act and it's concerning that the suspect is still at large at this hour. Our CNN producer, Ashley Killough, live for us there in Charleston, South Carolina. We'll continue to talk to you throughout the morning. Thank you.

CHURCH: Yes, and we do want to add this, Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, has cancelled a planned event in Charleston today, we should say. Thursday is now upon us. His campaign says his thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy.

BARNETT: And of course, we will have more on this breaking story throughout the hour. And a reminder, you can always when you are away from your television check CNN.com for the latest developments on this and other big stories around the world.

CHURCH: For now, though, we want to turn to upstate New York for the latest on the manhunt of those two escaped killers. Authorities admit that Richard Matt and David Sweat could be anywhere after more than 12 days on the run.

BARNETT: Certainly a scary thought. The police have said that they have more than 1,400 leads and are shifting their search area now for these fugitives across the U.S. border into Canada. Jason Carroll has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanted posters of the two escaped killers are now being handed out along the Canadian and Mexican borders. This as the search is expanding and shifting to other areas surrounding the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

Officials admitting today the hunt for Richard Matt and David Sweat, at least, at this point is not promising. CAPT. ROBERT LAFOUNTAIN, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: I can tell you right now as well that we have no information that they have been able to leave the area. That being said, it doesn't mean that they haven't been able to escape this area, but we have no information.

CARROLL: But there is new information about the woman who allegedly helped them escape. Joyce Mitchell, the 51-year-old prison employee warned her husband, Lyle, also a prison employee, that the two inmates had planned to kill him.

Joyce Mitchell's attorney telling me his client knew of the plot, but was not be part of it herself saying, quote, "Just because she heard something does not mean she was going to act on it."

While Lyle knew about the plot to kill, his lawyer says, he was apparently unaware his wife was having a sexual relationship with at least one of the inmates. A source tells CNN Mitchell had sex with Matt in the same tailor shop where Mitchell and her husband worked. The Clinton County sheriff talked about her demeanor now that she is behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's probably a little bit early for that. There's an awful lot going on around her just with the media attention. I think she is still consuming that and absorbing that to be able to express too many feelings.

CARROLL: Mitchell's attorney says he has only had one opportunity to speak to his client face to face since her arrest and that was on Monday, the day of her court appearance. As for her husband, there are questions whether he knew about the escape plan.

ANREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: As of today, we have no information whatsoever that he had prior knowledge of the escape or that he participated or actively assisted in the escape of the two inmates.

CARROLL: Those two inmates still very much on the run. Every lead being followed, searchers waiting for the one that leads to them. Jason Carroll, CNN, Dannemora, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And NBC News anchor, Brian Williams' future has been in question for months.

BARNETT: Now he was suspended in February after admitting he incorrectly claimed to be on a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq. Things seemed to just unravelled from there.

Now there is word that Williams and NBC have reached a tentative agreement. He will stay on at the network after his suspension ends in August, but not as anchor of "The Nightly News." Sources indicate he will have a role at the cable channel, MSNBC.

CHURCH: Pope Francis is weighing on climate change. In just a few hours from now, the Catholic leader will release a long awaited and highly controversial public letter called an encyclical. But what exactly is this document and why is it so significant?

BARNETT: For answers, we cross to our Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[03:10:00] DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's called praised be on the care of our common home. Pope Francis' encyclical on the moral aspects of climate change and protecting the environment.

Church leaders say that this is the first time the release of a papal encyclical has been so anticipated. A Brazilian climate change group even created an epic theatrical trailer for the pope's words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us, time to take out the trash.

ANNOUNCER: A pontiff fighting for God's creation.

GALLAGHER: But what exactly is an encyclical? It's the most authoritative teaching document a pope can issue and signifies a high priority issue for the pope. It is usually written for Catholic clergy and lay people although Pope Francis have said that his encyclical is addressed to everyone, religious or not.

Encyclicals are not infallible, but they are not just the pope's opinion either. And Catholics are called to take them seriously. Pope Francis is not the first pope to express concern about the environment.

Pope Paul VI back in 1971 talked about the exploitation and degradation of nature by man. John Paul II and Pope Benedict have added their voices to the topic. But Francis is the first pope ever to dedicate an entire encyclical to ecological concerns.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or from my pope.

GALLAGHER: A move which has worried conservatives who feared it will be seen as an endorsement of a liberal agenda on climate change and population control and be bad news for big business and oil.

As the first pope from the developing world, Pope Francis' emphasis is on the connection between the destruction of the earth's resources and its impact on the poor.

The timing of the document's release is also significant coming the same year as the United Nations climate change conference in Paris this December.

With the pope's popularity, this encyclical will be a milestone that places the Roman Catholic Church at the forefront of one of the major scientific and moral issues of our times.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Delia Gallagher reporting there. We'll take a very short break. But still to come, a historic Charleston Church comes under attack and a stunned community responds with prayer. We will have the very latest details coming up.

BARNETT: And also Greece, the country on the brink of financial disaster, what may happen next if the country fails to strike a deal with creditors by the end of this month.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:16:38]

CHURCH: Returning now to our breaking news coverage of the mass shooting at a predominantly black church in South Carolina. Police say that a white man walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and opened fire. Nine people were killed. The gunman is still at large. Church leaders are calling for prayer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORVEL GOFF, PRESIDING ELDER, AME CHURCH CONFERENCE: We want the entire community to pray for safety for our people and that we would hope that this person who has committed this heinous crime, which is a hate crime be brought to justice. We stand in solidarity, but we also solicit your prayers for the family members who have lost loved ones here tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: We will keep you posted on the search for the suspect throughout the day here on CNN.

Now to another story we are following, the Greek Central Bank is warning of a doomsday scenario if the country fails to strike a deal with creditors by June 30th.

CHURCH: Greek officials will meet with European finance ministers in the coming hours, the talks seen by many as the last chance for a deal.

BARNETT: Now Greece's prime minister has balked at its creditors' demands for more austerity and he is not alone. On Wednesday take a look at this, thousands of anti-austerity protesters filled the streets there in Athens to show their support for their leaders. Some protesters waved banners in front of the parliament reading our lives don't belong to the lenders.

CHURCH: So let's turn now to Nina Dos Santos in London. She has been following this developing story and joins us now with more. So Nina, where do these talks stand right now? It sounds as though even the central bank in Greece is turning against the government.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, yes. It was a strongly worded statement released about 24 hours ago, Rosemarie. And when we saw the central bank of this country's own country going against its government, going against Athens here warning that Greece could not fall out of the Eurozone if it failed to reach an 11th hour agreement with its creditors, but that it could exit the European Union as a whole.

That is also very sensitive because remember Greece joined the E.U. back in 1981. That was seven years after the country returned to democracy. The theme of democracy has been running through these talks left, right, and center.

Why? Because the Ciriza-led (ph) government of the far left says it has a democratic mandate here from the Greek people to make sure that they scale down on austerity. They were elected on a platform of rejecting the very austerity that these international creditors want to see implemented if they are disperse the next chunk of money that Greece so badly need.

Greece needs about 7.2 billion euros to be dispersed within the next couple of weeks before the June 30th when its international bailout runs out. So what we have here is the Greek Central Bank being pitted against the Greek government and the Greek Central Bank very much taking the stance of the international creditors.

Now this comes just one day after the European Central Bank decided to extend liquidity provisions, so loans to Greek banks. That was a very nervous time, but today we have a key meeting of euro zone finance ministers taking place in Luxembourg and a whole series of meetings coming up that could decide Greece's fate whether it stays inside the Eurozone for the next 10 days or not.

CHURCH: And Nina, we have heard so much about deadlines. Which date is the most important one coming next?

DOS SANTOS: It's getting awfully confusing, isn't it, Rosemary. Let's remember that on June 30th, the end of this very month, Greece will run out of its last bailout money.

[03:20:11] But even before then people are getting very concerned that if we don't see the finance ministers reaching some kind of agreement and by the way, I might point out that the Greek finance minister has been quoted this morning saying that he doesn't see a deal being struck over the next two days at this Luxembourg summit.

The French finance minister echoing those statements. These two saying that we could see a catastrophe for Greece if it doesn't manage to capitulate to sign on to this set of conditions to get this 7.2 billion that it needs.

Well, that leaves us with potentially Eurozone summit that could take place over the next week or so, those could be emergency summits, but the leaders of these countries will only meet if the finance ministers managed to agree in theory to some sort of framework for money to be disbursed.

There is a big concern here as we head into this very weekend that with the Central Bank of Greece pitted against the government with other Eurozone finance ministers pitted against the Greek finance minister that we could see potentially even a run on banks before June the 30th and that means imposing capital controls.

It took Iceland, remember, seven years to get out of that situation and nearby Cyprus also had a very painful experience with this so this weekend will be crucial.

CHURCH: Absolutely. And of course as we were talking, I want to bring up these pictures of German Chancellor Angela Merkel talking there before the German parliament and she is talking about the situation in Greece, a lot of concern and particularly there in Germany. Nina Dos Santos, many thanks to you for bringing us that live report from London.

BARNETT: Now we are following a developing story out of Hong Kong. Lawmakers there, just a few hours ago, rejected a plan for electoral reform.

CHURCH: Yes, it is a victory, of course, for pro-democracy supporters if it had passed. The proposal would have let people cast votes for Hong Kong's next leader in 2017, but only if China had vetted the candidates first.

BARNETT: For more let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, who joins us live now from Hong Kong with more on this. Ivan, it's a victory for those who want more autonomy from Mainland China. How did the votes fall today?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it ended up as expected. There was not the two-thirds vote needed to pass this system of rules that was endorsed by the central government in Beijing for organizing elections for Hong Kong in 2017.

What was not expected was that Beijing's allies here in the legislative council that they tried to stage a walkout in the middle of the vote apparently in an effort to deny a quorum for the vote to go past, but apparently not all of the pro-Beijing legislators got the message.

So some stayed behind and there was a quorum reached so in the end, instead of a majority of lawmakers showing their support for the law that had Beijing's stamp of approval on it, instead of that you ended up having 28 so-called pan-democratic lawmakers voting against the law and eight voting in favor of it and some pro-Beijing lawmakers that had embarrassed looks on their faces.

Meanwhile, the so-called pan-democratic faction, they came out celebrating. Take a listen to what one lawmaker had to say to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT CHAN, HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE MEMBER: All kind of things in China is safe. So we don't have -- we don't want to have the democratic system in Hong Kong. We want to fight for gender and democracy, but we will not accept such type of arrangement especially from people using such dirty tactics.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WATSON: You had some real role reversal here, Errol. The pro-Beijing camp is supporting a law that would allow the people of Hong Kong for the very first time in their lives to elect their chief executive in 2017. They are calling this one man, one vote.

They were saying this would be a more democratic system and you had the group of lawmakers who traditionally oppose the Communist Party in Mainland China who claim to spouse freedoms of expression and speech and press saying that this system is not going to be democratic enough and they led the charge to vote against it.

Now one of the top administrators here in Hong Kong, the number two official here, she knew that this was going to get voted down. This is what she had to say in the assembly chambers moments before the very strange vote took place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:25:05] CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE MEMBER (through translator): At this moment, now the reform proposal will soon be voted down. I'm sad. I'm disappointed. I don't know when democratization can be taken forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now there are calls to ask the pro-Beijing legislators why they walked out in the middle of the vote and why they didn't show their support for a law that their camp had drawn up in the first place and those questions perhaps will need to be answered in the days to come.

In the meantime this has proven to be a setback for the administrators here in Hong Kong and for the ruling Communist Party in Mainland China. Several times now, sectors of Hong Kong society, theoretically, in principal, a Chinese city, have said no to the Communist Party and no to Beijing. That's something that the central government in China is not accustomed to seeing -- Errol.

BARNETT: Precisely. Ivan Watson live for us in Hong Kong. It will be interesting to see if and how Beijing responds, but it's certainly bad for the status quo, but good for those in Hong Kong, who want more autonomy and independence. Ivan Watson live for us, thank you.

CHURCH: A U.S. community is in shock and disbelief after a mass shooting at a police of worship and a suspect is still on the loose. The latest on the Charleston church shooting.

BARNETT: Plus after two weeks on the run, police say two escaped murderers may have altered their appearance. We ask a forensic artist how the fugitives might disguise themselves. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:11]

BARNETT: You are watching continuing breaking coverage here on CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for staying with us. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. Our breaking news this hour, a tragedy that no community should have to experience, that is how the Charleston police chief is describing a mass shooting at a predominantly black church. Nine people are dead. The suspect described as a white male in his 20s is still at large at this hour and the community there is reeling from what is being called a hate crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You tell people to go to work and do right and go to church. These people were in church and they violated the sanctity of that. The ramifications are way beyond what happened tonight. This is unacceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are communities trying to live and survive. Why do we have to live like this? We have enough issues here now in Charleston. We don't need more. We need peace and we are asking you to stand behind that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now authorities have not identified any of the victims just yet. Charleston mayor and police chief will hold their next media briefing at 7:00 a.m. local time. The video you see here is from a prayer circle from earlier.

CHURCH: And this video taken just two weeks ago inside of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that's where this mass shooting took place just a few hours ago. We don't know exactly where in the building the shooting took place.

You can see the rows of pews inside this historic church, which was formed back in 1816 and during the time of slavery in the United States it was an important point in the underground railroad helping the slaves find their way to freedom. It is in downtown Charleston. That's where thousands of tourists visit during this time of year and throughout the year.

BARNETT: This kind of gives you a sense of the history of the church. This is a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Emanuel AME Church. They tweeted its support for the congregation and for the community. They said we have to be conscious how a social media response can cause unrest will be detrimental. It urged their Charleston police to be vigilant in apprehending the person or persons responsible.

CHURCH: And our CNN producer, Ashley Killough, is tracking the developments and she joins us now from the scene with the very latest. So Ashley, of course, there was a hope that we would hear from the police in this hour, in fact.

But now we are hearing it won't be until 7:00 a.m. that's about three and a half hours from now. It is 3:32 in the morning right now. But talk to us about the scene where you are right now, what is being said, and if there's any indication that police are closer, perhaps, to tracking down the killer.

KILLOUGH: Sure. I'm on Calhoun Street, about a block from it. I can see the church. Earlier a large part of the street was blocked off. Now they opened that part up and we're also to walk down closer to the church again, but they are still being cautious. They still don't want a lot of people out and around the area.

Earlier there was a bomb threat going on. That is one of the reasons they closed down this perimeter. They are not worried about that bomb threat any more. But the suspect is still at large and so they are still looking for him.

CHURCH: And there was also word when we heard from the mayor and indeed the police chief a few hours ago, there was word of a possibility of an announcement of a reward to entice people to come forward with more information to try to track down the suspect, any more information on that?

KILLOUGH: No more information about the reward. They did release a description of what he looked like, a white male in his young 20s and a description of his clothes. They are asking the community to be on the lookout for this person, but as of -- in terms of the victims as of an hour ago they are not identifying any of the victims.

And so there is a lot of anxiety. People are still wanting to know who was killed in that and they are just waiting to tell all the families before they get that out publicly.

BARNETT: Hi, there, Ashley. It's Errol Barnett here. The leader of the church is one possible victim, but we don't know yet because the officials have not confirmed who the nine deceased are.

[03:35:05] Right now, we are looking at live images from downtown Charleston. We see a bit of police presence and some of the road closed off. But considering this suspect who has already killed nine people is still on the loose, do you get any sense that the police know which way he went let alone where he is?

KILLOUGH: No specifics. They just said that he is dangerous and that's all we know in terms of his stance of his mission right now. So we are trying to get those answers. There is anxiety in the community. There are a couple of bars that closed down earlier in the night after they heard what happened.

So people are feeling a little bit more scared than usual. I talked to a couple of taxi drivers, who said they always feel safe in this neighborhood. But tonight they are feeling a little bit more scared. But they said they are not running away afraid.

BARNETT: This is a place that attracts tourists from all over the U.S. and the region, and the church has been an institution there for a long time. Understandable why this has been met with so much shock and anger and the police chief saying this was in fact a hate crime.

And the mayor saying there is no other reason someone would walk into a church during regular prayer sessions and do such a thing. That is our CNN producer in Charleston. And we will continue to check with her throughout the morning as things unfold.

CHURCH: Yes, and of course, if anything more comes in, we will share it with our viewers.

But we do want to move to another story, police in upstate New York have released enhanced mug shots showing what escaped prisoners, Richard Matt and David Sweat, may look like after nearly two weeks on the run. Authorities have expanded their hunt for the fugitives and are handing out wanted posters across the U.S. border.

BARNETT: Dan Simon sat down with a forensic artist who shares a few ways the killers may have changed their appearance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagining what the fugitives might look like after more than 10 days is the job of a forensic artist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking at what I consider immediate ways to disguise a face.

SIMON: Gil Zamora received training from the FBI and has been doing these kinds of sketches for 20 years.

(on camera): You're a former police officer and a forensic artist. When you look at this case in New York, do you think that these guys have totally altered their identities?

GIL ZAMORA, FORENSIC ARTIST: Well, I would say that that's probably a very good possibility. My experience has been that when they're out and they're trying to get away they're going to do everything they can to disguise themselves and make sure that nobody recognizes them.

SIMON (voice-over): Zamora is not involved with the New York case, but we asked him to come up with additional ways that the fugitives might have changed their appearance. First Richard Matt, here is the original and the altered creation.

(on camera): This person could probably evade capture?

ZAMORA: I would at least initially, definitely. I gave him what I considered a full beard. There's a possibility he could be dyeing his hair.

SIMON (voice-over): And with some eye wear, it's clear the public would have a difficult time recognizing him.

ZAMORA: Well, I think they would think twice. I wouldn't say they would immediately pick him out.

SIMON: Now David Sweat. This is the original mug and this is how Zamora imagined what he could do.

ZAMORA: Changing the clothing and extending the facial hair, and then also adding also some eye wear to kind of distract people from looking at their eyes as well.

SIMON: Hair on both the face and head, he says are the two main ways in which men could change their appearance. Just like Harrison Ford did in "The Fugitive."

(VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: These real life fugitives could be doing simple things to their faces and it's possible that no one would spot them at least immediately. That's why these photos could be instructive or maybe instrumental in cracking the case.

ZAMORA: I think anything that keeps the public aware and keep this case alive for people to be on the lookout is extremely valuable.

SIMON: Dan Simon, CNN, San Jose, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Still to come for you here on CNN, ISIS takes deadly aim at Yemen's capital. Next, the toll taken by four car bombs in Sana'a.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Back to our breaking news in the United States now. Police in Charleston, South Carolina say nine people are dead after a white gunman opened fire at a predominantly black church. The shooter is still at large. Police say he is in his early 20s and was wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans.

The police chief says he believes this was a hate crime. The shooting happened Wednesday night at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. And this video shows people praying outside the church after the shooting. A vigil for the victims is also planned hours from now at another Charleston church.

BARNETT: Now to other stories we are following, ISIS is claiming responsibility for four car bombings in Yemen's capital. In an online statement, the militants said they targeted pro-Houthi locations in Sana'a. There are conflicting reports on how many were killed, but the health ministry says at least five people died.

CHURCH: Syria's civil war is posing a growing threat to people who live in neighboring countries. In the Golan Heights, the Druze are an ethnic and religious minority that have been caught in the middle as wayward rockets and mortars fly over the border. CNN correspondent, Oren Liebermann reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Smoke rises from a Syrian town less than a mile from Israeli frontier. The militant, Al Nusra Front controls the town and the region they are taking fire from the Syrian regime.

As we watch the fighting one shell hits near a Druze village of 2500. For the Druze the war in Syria has just come a little closer. The Druze is an ethnic and religious minority, (inaudible) secretive spread throughout the Middle East. Most are in Syria, some in Lebanon and Israel. On Tuesday smoke billowed, but the Druze refused to flee.

MONDI SAFADI, ISRAELI DRUZE: We want to stay in their houses and their place.

[03:45:06] LIEBERMANN: Mondi Safadi, a Druze from the Israeli Golan says he has spoken to the Free Syrian Army as he tried to keep the fighting away from Hadir. Druze in the Golan, many of whom are loyal to the Syrian regime and have families in Syria have rallied for the Druze in Syria after a video claimed to show Druze sheikhs killed by Al Nusra in Syria, which CNN could not independently verify.

A member (inaudible) Israeli Druze says the community in Israel has pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Syrian Druze as they face threats from Al Nusra and ISIS known here as Daesh.

MK AYOOB KARA, ISRAELI DRUZE: They need supporting machines and system to fighting. They need medicine, other things, but they are not need people. The Druze going to prepare 100,000 soldier now to fighting Daesh. It's a big army. They are going to prepare it.

LIEBERMANN: Israel has military vehicles near the frontier fence and a field hospital to help injured Syrians, but the military faces a dilemma, how to help the Syrian Druze without getting pulled into the conflict?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Oren Liebermann reporting there and he joins us live now from the Golan heights. Talk to us, Oren, about the fighting today on this day right now.

LIEBERMANN: Rosemary, we have heard sporadic firing of mortars and off to my left near the Syrian Golan, a small town there that's the center of the fighting today between the Syrian regime and rebel forces.

What's so important about this area is the mountain behind me, the highest mountain here, it's a strategic outlook, it looks over Southern Syria. On a clear day you can see Damascus and the village at the base of the mountain came under fire a couple days ago.

There is a working agreement to stay away from that village. But the Syrian civil war that has been raging for years, difficult to predict how it goes and the Druze watch this very carefully.

CHURCH: They certainly do. Oren Liebermann, watching it very carefully too there from his vantage point in the Golan Heights. Many thanks to you.

BARNETT: Now Pope Francis is bringing climate change to the forefront. Coming up next, a look at the controversial letter that has the world talking.

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BARNETT: Pope Francis is weighing in on the global debate over climate change. The Catholic leader will release a long awaited and highly controversial public letter called an encyclical in a few hours from now.

CHURCH: Drawing his weekly audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, the pope said the planet is being ruined and it's everyone's duty to protect the place we call home.

BARNETT: For more on the story, let's bring in our Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher, she joins us live from St. Peter's square this morning. And Delia, Pope Francis is expected to talk tough on climate change. How seismic and powerful a statement is it that he is dedicating his entire encyclical to this one topic?

GALLAGHER: All right, well, that is the key, the fact that, you know, he could have written about anything, he chose to write about the environment and he chose the use the highest teaching document available to him, the encyclical.

So clearly he means it to be a top priority and wants everybody to listen. As you mentioned yesterday here in St. Peter's Square, he already gave us a preview of what we might expect from the document when he said that climate change is affecting everyone but especially the poor.

So from that we can assume that the pope, who has already been a champion of the poor is going to draw the lines between climate change and the responsibility of individuals, of big business, of governments and finance to take care of the environment for the effect that climate change can have on the economies of poor countries -- Errol.

BARNETT: And the truth is when you look at what the climate change panel at the U.N. has said about projections these next 50, this next 100 years is that as sea levels rise low lying areas, particularly developing and poorer nations will be most at risk. They make their livelihoods off the water and have few resources to move. Why was that version of this encyclical leaked early? Some see that as a poke in the eye to the pope.

DALLAGHER: Well, in reality, I think that was part of what happens here at the Vatican sometimes as we know, documents get leaked but without, in this case, a kind of conspiracy theory behind it. If one wanted to damage the pope, that wasn't the way to do it because it had the effect that we have been talking about since Monday so it's actually getting more attention possibly than it would have.

But I also want to point out to your point about the controversy that the pope is going to have to address and that is that many within his own catholic church are wondering why the pope is choosing to ally his name with the U.N. experts.

The U.N. has been at odds with the Vatican over some issues. How does the pope address that? There are climate change skeptics who say the science is still shaky. So there is a bit of controversy going in here and people will be watching closely what the pope says about it.

BARNETT: If you think back to what the pope has said and done already he feels it is a moral issue. It is not political or to pick a side it's something that is good for all of us. Delia Gallagher at the scenic St. Peter's Square this morning. Thanks for your time.

CHURCH: Before we end this hour, we do want to recap our top story breaking from Charleston, South Carolina. Police say nine people are dead after a white gunman opened fire at a predominantly black church. This happened just a few hours ago.

[03:55:06] One other person was injured and is now in the hospital. Officials have not yet released the names of the victims. Police Chief Greg Mullens says he believes this was a hate crime. Authorities are searching for a white man in his early 20s.

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is said to be the oldest AME church in the southern United States. Slaves would go there for refuge as they fled north to freedom. This story is touching the world of politics as well. Jeb Bush cancelled a scheduled town hall in Charleston on Thursday due to this church shooting.

And you have been watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. We will see you here next week. But do stay with CNN, our coverage will continue with "EARLY START" for those of you in the U.S. and elsewhere, CNN NEWSROOM continues after the break.

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