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Charleston Church Massacre; Escaped Killers on U.S. Marshal "Most Wanted"; Friend: Roof Wanted To "Do Something Crazy"; Church Invested In Security After Shooting; Judge Was Reprimanded For Racist Remark In Court. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired June 20, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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


[11:00:12] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for spending your morning with us. We hope you make some great memories today.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: There's a lot ahead in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. We turn it over now to our colleague, Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Hey, Fred.

PAUL: Hey, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you guys. Appreciate it.

PAUL: We do.

WHITFIELD: I know Victor, you will be heading to Charleston --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- tomorrow morning so safe travels there.

BLACKWELL: Thank you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Good to see you both.

All right. It is the 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

NEWSROOM starts right now.

All right. Devastated by violence and united by grief, you are looking at live pictures right now out of New York. Right now, demonstrators there are rallying to pay tribute to the nine victims gunned down in that brutal church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina.

We've also just learned that gunman, Dylann Roof is now on suicide watch. All of this, as we learn chilling new details about that horrific attack. According to affiliate WBTV Roof appeared quote/unquote, "remorseful" after finding out that he had killed nine people. The gunman's family offering now their condolences saying this, quote, "Words cannot express our shock, grieve and disbelief as to what happened that night," end quote.

On Friday, forgiveness, not anger, filling the courtroom as Roof made his first appearance.

NADINE COLLIE: You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again but I forgive you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. President Barack Obama now renewing the call for tighter gun control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every country has violent, hateful or mentally unstable people. What's different is not every country is awash with easily accessible guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, we are learning new details about the Charleston judge who asked the court to give sympathy to the shooter's family. Judge James Gosnell was previously reprimanded for using the "n" word in court in 2003 according to a judicial disciplinary order.

Let's bring in CNN's Martin Savidge from Charleston. So Martin, so much outpouring of respect and of grief. What is the mood in the community this morning the day after that bond hearing that really sent waves of emotion just nationwide.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is no way to really express how impactful that -- what is usually a very simple proceeding became something quite extraordinary.

You can see behind me here the Emanuel AME church. And the crowd continues to grow here today as does the memorial of flowers and other things that are done to dedicate the lives that were lost inside.

I think shock is still the word that is used. The grief, of course. There is still a great deal of shock. I think that's why many people are still drawn here. They have to see it for themselves. They have to participate as a community in the grieving process.

But going back to yesterday's hearing, it is the words of the victim's families and how powerful they were that many people are talking about and clinging to today. But surely, the most powerful had to come from Felicia Sanders. Because when I listened to her there, you realized that, wait a minute, this is not just a person who lost someone. She lost her son. She was there. She was in the room. And I can't tell you the feeling you get with that realization.

Here is some of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FELICIA SANDERS: We welcomed you Wednesday night in our bible study with open arms. You have killed some of the most beautifulest people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts. I will never be the same.

[11:04:53] Tywanza Sanders is my son. Tywanza was my hero. Tywanza was my hero. But, as we said in the bible study, we enjoyed you but may God have mercy on you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Tywanza sanders jumped up shortly after Reverend Pinckney had been shot and pleaded with the gunman to stop. The gunman did not and shot and killed him as well. While he jumped in front to try to protect his great aunt who was also killed inside that church. The heartbreak is immeasurable -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it really is. And we are looking at behind you a huge number of people outside that church. What is planned there today or has this simply become a place where people are paying tribute? They are meeting. There are a number of church members who have been saying they want to know when they can all return to the sanctuary, to the church there. What is happening there today?

SAVIDGE: Yes we will look on that too. I think that question is still on the lips of many people. Will there be service tomorrow in some way here, whether it be inside or outside the sanctuary.

People are here for a lot of reasons, mainly I think it's just to bear witness. You have people that will get up and speak and those who pray. There are times where you hear hymns break out and songs. Last night especially The street was closed down, the crowd was significant. And I think that this is where people feel at this moment the place as a community to try to come to grips with the horror of this terrorist attack that has occurred in a church in Charleston in the most sacred of places -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Martin Savidge, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

In fact, across the country today people are coming together to show their support for Charleston. In New York, a rally by members of the AME churches just got underway there. The goal to stand in solidarity with the victims' families.

CNN's Christina Alesci joins me now from Queens. So Cristina set the scene for us. What's happening there? What is planned?

CHRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, right now, a rally just got underway in one of the largest AME churches in the country. Over 22,000 members at this church alone. Mostly African-American.

And you can feel the grieving and the pain. A lot of the church leaders are talking about that today. And people are just beginning to file in. There are about 200 people here already. We are expecting church leaders to speak. We are expecting elected officials to talk. Just before, there was a prayer service and what the minister was saying in that case was, we don't feel like this was just a racial attack. We feel like this was an attack on our church, which is something new that I haven't heard before.

But from here, what's going to happen is that there are more speeches to come. Then, everyone is going to walk from the church about four blocks away where there will be another rallies with more speeches. The church expects about 3,000 people to attend and Mayor de Blasio -- New York City Mayor de Blasio will also be here in a show of solidarity as well as the New York city police commissioner.

So it is going to go on until about 2:00 today and we expect people, at least the church officials are telling us, they expect the crowds to build -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Cristina Alesci -- Thank you so much from New York.

And we'll be back in a moment, first, we want to remember and take pause for all of the victims of the Charleston church massacre.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:12:40] WHITFIELD: This morning we have breaking news in the two- week-old search for a couple of escaped killers who got out of a maximum security prison in upstate New York Clinton Correctional Facility has placed a corrections officer on leave as part of the ongoing investigation but it won't identify that officer.

Prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, is in jail, charged in connection with the two inmates who escaped. And then, there is this. New York state police are investigating two new possible sightings of the convicts, Richard Matt and David Sweat, near the New York/Pennsylvania border.

Jonathan Gilliam is a former FBI special agent and police officer joining me from New York City; and CNN's Sarah Ganim is in Dannemora, New York. So Sarah you first. Tell us about these reported sightings?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Fred. Yes, these new developments happening as the search enter its third week for these the two escaped convicted murderers.

The first of the sightings we're just learning about these today. They happened last weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, both in two separate towns about 350 miles away from here near the New York border with Pennsylvania. The first one on Saturday happened in a town called Irwin near some train tracks. And then the next day, a town just south of there a little bit closer to the border called Lindley.

Now, State police telling me this morning that they actually have surveillance tapes from one of those two towns from a business that show these two men, both spotted by two different people walking nearby. The surveillance tape wasn't good enough for the police to determine if it was Richard Matt or David Sweat who were walking near this business. They have now sent that tape to a crime lab for further analysis and hope to get some better pictures of those two men this weekend so they can determine if this was an actual sighting. However They are taking it seriously. They went down there, spent the week interviewing people. That's how they learned of this surveillance video. They do continue their search mostly in this area. There have been increased patrols down by the border of state police but of foot searches continue here, more than 600 miles of trails have been walked by state police and More than 200 unoccupied or camp-type homes have been searched -- Fred.

[11:15:01]WHITFIELD: And so Jonathan these two escapees, now we understand they are on the U.S. marshals list of 15 most wanted fugitives. How might that change the dynamics -- the search here?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI AGENT: Well, Whenever somebody gets put on one of these like the FBI's "ten most wanted individuals as well.

What you'll see is a shift in assets or allocations of money that actually go towards in search for these individuals. I think there's not much more that they can do right now, searching for him. So I think basically right now they're just being added for awareness purposes. But definitely it showed you the importance of this because the marshals are searching every day for a fugitive. It showed you how important it is to criminals actually are.

WHITFIELD: And then Sarah any additional information about this corrections officers who's been placed on leave -- the circumstances why.

GANIM: Yes, authorities aren't giving us much detail. We do know that it's a man and we do know that last week when we were talking to the district attorney, he left open the possibility that the were other people involved in this plan to escape.

We know Joyce Mitchell, the prison seamstress who's now behind bars herself. Is charged with helping them by providing tools. But the DA always had said that there's always a possibility that other people were involved. This was very elaborate. And he said if of one person was manipulated by these two men. It's very possible , it is very possible that more people were also manipulated.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sarah Ganim, keep us posted. Jonathan Gilliam thanks so much for joining us as well.

All right. Still ahead, one of the state senator, Clementa Pinckney's trusted confidant reflects on the loss of an incredible life of his friend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: As families and friends get ready to say farewell to the victims killed in that church massacre the South Carolina shooting, we are learning more about them.

CNN's Athena Jones shows us who they were and how much impact they had on their families and their communities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: from the heart of the tragedy in South Carolina --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hope is in god.

JONES: To the historic walls of The Ebenezer Baptist Church in Georgia, thousands came to mourn nine of Charleston's most prominent educators and religious leaders killed inside Emanuel AME Wednesday night, including four beloved reverends. Among them, 74-year-old retired reverend Daniel Simmons, who attended the church every Sunday.

49 year old Reverend Depayne Middleton, doctor, who served her community in the learning center of Southern Wesleyan University, 45- year-old reverend Sharonda singleton pictured with her son on mother's day coached at a local high school.

And the distinctive voice of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, leader of the Emanuel AME church was silenced, gunned down as he preached.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To see him die, face down in the ground --

JONES: As state senator, Reverend Pinckney became the youngest African-American ever elected to the South Carolina legislature. After the shooting of Walter Scott by police. He stressed the need for police body cameras in South Carolina using powerful language.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A badge and a gun does not give someone superiority or will trump their constitutionally protected privileges and rights in South Carolina.

JONES: Friends and families are struggling to cope with the loss of so many inside a place of worship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Athena Jones reporting. Talking to me about who some of these people were, particularly the state senator. Hiram College Political science professor, Jason Johnson, you were Pinckney's campaign manager and good friend. He really was a mentor for you. You wrote so eloquently an op-ed on MSNBC's website.

You talk about how much he helped you in dealing with obstacles that you confronted as his campaign manager. So this is a very, very difficult and tender time for you. I know.

JASON JOHNSON, HIRAM COLLEGE: This is the hardest hit I have ever done in my life. I tell people all the time that this is -- it is the difference between talking about 9/11 and having lost somebody in one of the towers.

Clem was one of the most I influential people in my life. We spent months together. When I was talking a couple of years ago going an update of my book. He was a man of tremendous love, of tremendous compassion, tremendous compassion Tremendous caring from his community. He came from little or nothing. There is not a lot of people who come from the environment he came from that want to stay in South Carolina, that want to serve, they want to commit.

That's what makes us a tragedy. It's not just a spiritual loss but it's apolitical and cultural loss for the entire state.

WHITFIELD: And what in your view was it about South Carolina, the low country, that he felt he had a duty, he had a place, his leadership was committed to this region and the people of that region? What was it about that calling?

JOHNSON: It wasn't just a spiritual calling it was a personal calling. We used to talk about this all the time. I was like, why are you staying here? We would be driving around. I say this all the time. This is pre-Internet. When you are in the car, your just driving for hours on end and talking about race, culture, class. He said, "I love these people. I am these people. This is why I am here, Jason". He always spoke with this love and this compassion no matter what kind of idiotic, incompetent violent racism that people encountered. He didn't say it was ok. He didn't say we're going to be fine with it.

He said, I am a man of faith. And through our faith and our commitment we will this survive and we will still be victorious. That's something I learned from him. I didn't believe that until interacting with a guy was only 23 years old and had that belief system already.

WHITFIELD: And you didn't believe it because you weren't someone who was from that region. You weren't exposed to this. He called you "city boy" affectionately. But this opened your eyes even as you write just simply as looking out the window and wondering, what is that fog? What is that stuff out there? And he's like that's the cotton field. That's what you're looking at right now.

JOHNSON: Yes, exactly.

WHITFIELD: But this was an educational kind of passage for you too. And it was (INAUDIBLE) political passage. One of the things that I saw about how Clem always served, he never forgot the importance of the community. And the interesting thing is lot of politicians, specially once they get to a certain position of power, they were like, I am looking for the next job. He wasn't talking about taking Clyburn's seat. He wasn't talking about running for governor.

He was talking about, let's make sure we can feed people. That's where we can serve people. and that's why I think it's so critical --

WHITFIELD: That explains being a pastor. Simultaneously being a pastor in that church in Charleston. That says a lot.

JOHNSON: And that's why the attack is so key because this wasn't just an attack on faith. It was an attack on black political infrastructure. We can't forget that. WHITFIELD: What are your hopes in how this moment that the nation is recognizing that the pain is in Charleston, and beyond you personally. What are you hoping this will fuel in terms of change, in terms of tolerance, in terms of unity?

JOHNSON: We need to have a candid conversation in this country, not about race -- that happens every day. We need to have a candid conversation about stability. We're responsible for acknowledging this for what it is. This was white supremacy, this was terrorism, this was an attack on black --

WHITFIELD: Responsible for recognizing it and doing something when you see it.

JOHNSON: Exactly.

We can't just sit by and possibly -- this is terrible. It's time to heal -- no, you can't heal when you can't agree on what made you sick to begin with. And we have to come to an agreement. This kind of belief system has to be rooted out. This kind of attitude, we can't just call this jokes by a bunch of frat boys in Oklahoma, anymore because this is what it leads to. That responsibility and accountability is what I hope comes out of this tragedy.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jason Johnson. Thank you so much. And again our deepest sympathies on your loss and the loss of so many in Charleston and beyond.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, warning signs missed. This is exactly what Jason was talking about. Dylann Roof's friends and family telling CNN that the Charleston shooter talked about sparking a, quote/unquote, "race war". Many said they didn't take him seriously. We'll talk about that next. What do you do with that kind of information?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI STEPHANIE ALEXANDER, KAHAI KADOSH BETH ELOHIM: It is just heart wrenching to know that this same hate that murdered four African- American girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama is the same hate that has murdered nine African-American men and women praying and studying in their own church here in Charleston 52 years later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Good morning, again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We are following the latest on that Charleston, South Carolina church massacre. We have just learned that gunman, Dylann Roof, is now on suicide watch. We are tracking stunning new details about Roof including that he had seven ammunition magazines when he gunned down his victims. According to a CNN affiliate, WBTV, Roof told authorities that he thought about not opening fire after he got to know the people in that bible study because they were so nice to him. And that he was planning to go to Nashville following the attack, because he had, quote, "never been there before."

In the meantime, the nation continues to grieve. Today rallies are unfolding across the country like this one in New York. All of this as questions continues to emerge about whether signs were missed by those who knew the gunman. People who knew Dylann Roof say that he talked about sparking a race war and wanted to bring back segregation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY MEEK, FRIEND OF DYLANN ROOF: He was saying he wanted segregation. He wanted a race war. He wanted white with white and black with black.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say when he said that?

MEEK: I didn't agree with his opinion at all. We just argued about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So joining me to talk about all of this is former FBI agent, Michael German, who is now a fellow for the Brennan Center for Justice Liberty and National Security Program. Good to see you, and Jeff Gardere, psychiatrist and professor of behavioral medicine at Touro College, good to see you as well.

All right, so Gentlemen, you know, we keep hearing words like wakeup call after this and other tragedies here in Charleston, South Carolina. We have heard it in Newtown, after Aurora. Aren't there red flags before someone does something like this?

So, Jeff, what are the flags that people really need to pay attention to and then be proactive and do something and say something to someone?

JEFF GARDERE, PROFESSOR, BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE, TOURO COLLEGE: Well, there are a few things, and we see this in the profile of shooters and certainly in this shooter isolating oneself and not having many friends, but this overreaching anger, a hate of others whether it's a hate of humanity or in this case, a hate for black people.

So all of that is part, I think, of the red flags that were missed here that people saw that was happening and did nothing about it. Throw in the mix that there might be some sort of opiate addiction and other behavioral issues.

WHITFIELD: Michael, the friend we just heard, he even went on to say that he was worried about Dylann and what he could potentially do. He knew at one point he had a gun. The friend said he retrieved the gun and hid it, but then hours later, he had second thoughts and decided that he better return it because the last thing he wanted to be was to be accused of stealing someone's gun.

He admits he was thinking about himself, but then he also says, you know, he wishes that more could be done. What does a person that is torn, your friend or family member, you recognize something weird but you are not quite sure what to do? We keep hearing that repeatedly.

MICHAEL GERMAN, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: So the white supremacist movement in the United States is fairly large. There are hundreds of people involved in it probably, you know, far more people who have a racial view. So we have to be careful not to association the racial views directly with the violence.

[11:35:02] But clearly where someone has made a specific warning and if they have made a specific warning and have weapons to carry out that threat, obviously that's something that somebody should take seriously and report to authorities.

WHITFIELD: And then Jeff, you know, as we, you know, look at photographs of Dylann Roof, people have made observations, whether it is the flag of Rhodesia. You know, statements, outward statements, even if it is not verbal, but perhaps it is something that someone is wearing that one would think, I think these are the conversations happening everywhere.

When we think that a family member, a friend, somebody would say, what does that mean? If you're unfamiliar with it, what does that mean, and then you hear what the definition is or the motivation behind what someone is wearing or the message that they are trying to send, that it could be a prelude to something.

We heard from Jason Johnson a moment ago. He talked about the hope is that maybe some personality responsibility would come from tragedies like this. What is the personal responsibility that all of us have to act upon something when we think something is awry?

GARDERE: Well, first and foremost, there have been too many of these cases where people thought, well, we weren't really sure. We knew this person was angry. We didn't want to get them in trouble. Certainly, we want to respect the civil rights of every single person.

But our responsibility really is to talk to other people within that person's sphere and see whether the dots are connecting here. This is a term that we call triangulation, being able to share information so that we can see whether something really is amiss, whether something is bubbling up and is about to boil over.

And so it is important that we begin that conversation with people around us and if we really do fear that a person may act out for the safety of the public but even for the safety of that individual, we should contact authorities.

Because at the end of the day, there may be a real mental health issue in this case mixed in with some very hateful racial views, which is that recipe for disaster.

WHITFIELD: The notion of a lone wolf acting out or the influence that is inspiring this lone wolf to act or whether this person is associated with a group.

GERMAN: Obviously, this has been a persistent problem. One of the major problems in our inability to understand it and to develop effective methods of preventing it is that we don't do accurate data collection. The federal government hates crimes data is woefully inadequate.

A National Institute of Justice study in 2005 suggested that the data that the FBI collects and publishes on hate crimes is up to 15 times less than the number of actual hate crimes that occur. So before we can really understand a problem and address it effectively, we really have to have accurate data collection.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michael German, Jeff Gardere, thanks so both of you, Gentlemen. Appreciate your insight.

Coming up next, how the Charleston massacre is putting renewed emphasis on church safety? A Texas church sharing its story now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": So we are back in Beirut. I have a lot of history in this town, a lot of it bad but most of it good, but I keep coming back at any opportunity. It's all the good and all the evil in the world in one awesome place. It makes no sense at all in the best possible way. You should come here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Charleston massacre brings to light many serious issues for churches across the country. How to keep members safe while opening the doors to everyone? It is an issue that hits close to home for one church in Texas after it faced a similar tragedy. Here now is Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He pulled out a 9-millimeter and shot me twice.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just like that?

(voice-over): The moment is crystal clear for Jeff Lasster. In September of 1999, a gunman walked into the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas with several hundred rounds of ammunition and a pipe bomb and killed seven people. Lasster was the first person wounded that day.

JEFF LASTER, CHURCH SHOOTING SURVIVOR: He did ask me, is this where the religious meeting was being held? He didn't give me a chance to answer he just said it as he was firing. He pulled it out and shot twice sideways. Hit me once in the stomach and once in the arm.

LAVANDER: For Laster and the congregation of the Wedgewood Baptist Church, the horrific shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, brings back the haunting memory of that day. Wedgewood's pastor says, here, they understand the pain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I were to go there today, all I would do to begin with was just weep with them because they are not in a place right now where they can receive truthers, they are numb, they are in shocked.

SAVIDGE: The Wedgewood Church shooting came shortly after a shocking series of school shootings in the late 1990s, just months after Columbine. Here the gunman targeted a teenage prayer rally inside the church sanctuary.

[11:40:06] LASTER: He went into this door, here in the worship center. He came in. He opened it up and he fired a shot from here down through that door on the right and the bullet hole is still in there. With all of the ammunition he had with him, he could have easily just walked down the aisle and shot them like ducks. They were just laying in the pews.

LAVANDERA: That moment changed this church forever and today the signs of that change are everywhere. Outside the memorial to the seven victims, but the church has invested in an elaborate security plan, dozens of security cameras.

(on camera): These are all cameras that were not in place here back in 1999? This is all --

LASTER: Correct.

LAVENDERA: So you have really good views of basically everywhere from the parking lot all the way into the inner parts of the building, right?

(voice-over): Doors that lock during the day, there are evaluation plans in place, background checks for new church members and here is a twist. Jeff Laster now helps run the church's security plans.

(on camera): Sixteen years later, you still come to church here.

LASTER: I do.

LAVANDERA: Obviously, you feel safe. You work security?

LASTER: Well, I am. I was on staff then. I am on staff now. The church is supposed to be a warm, open, inviting place. We want people to feel comfortable coming here. You want people -- our normal worshippers feel comfortable here. It is home to them. You want it to be open and inviting to somebody who doesn't belong here.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But here at Wedgewood, they have learned a painful truth, sanctuaries are not safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no place in American society or in this world where a terrorist can't come in and start fighting away. It knows no borders. It knows no sanctuary.

LAVANDERA (on camera): This seems to be a safe you grew up thinking this was a safe place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes it a shock. In the house of worship, how can they do that?

LAVANDERA (voice-over): It's happened again, and this congregation's heart aches for them. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Fort Worth, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Coming up in our 2 p.m. hour, we'll talk to an expert on church security about what measures can be taken to keep parishioner's safe.

Also straight ahead, charged with nine murder counts, what's the legal path forward for Dylann Roof? We'll talk about that and the judge and the magistrate whose comments have stirred more in the case. Legal analyst, Joey Jackson, joins me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:25]

WHITFIELD: The South Carolina magistrate who presided over the bond hearing of church shooter, Dylann Roof, sparked a firestorm of controversy with comments he made asking for sympathy for the killer's family. Listen to that he said right at the beginning of the proceedings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE JAMES GOSNELL JR., CHARLESTON CHIEF MAGISTRATE: We have victims, nine of them, but we also have victims on the other side. There are victims on this young man's side of the family. Nobody would have thrown them into the world wind events that they have been thrown into. We must find it in our heart at some point in time not only to help those that are victims but to also help his family as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, meanwhile we're learning about that magistrate's past, documents showing that South Carolina Supreme Court publicly remanded Judge James Gosnell Jr. for making racist remarks during a hearing in 2003.

The comments were made towards an African-American defendant where Gosnell said, quote, "There are four kinds of people in this world, black people, white, red necks and the n word."

The judge defended himself saying he was trying to encourage the defendant to change his ways by repeating a story told to him by a sheriff's deputy. All right, let's bring in HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson. All right, Joey, good to see you.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Fredricka. How are you?

WHITFIELD: I am doing good. Let's begin with what the magistrate said yesterday and the appropriateness of saying that at the beginning of a bond hearing. How unusual is that?

JACKSON: It's highly unusual, Fredricka, for the following reasons. Remember the forum that you're just in that you spoke to. You're in a bond hearing. As a judge and there are very few mechanical things about law, but this is one of those things that are mechanical.

When you have attorneys in the courtroom, and they were not yesterday, but when you have attorneys, those are the advocates and making presentations to urge the court to adopt reasoning, you know, to not do certain things.

When you're a judge, you're a referee and preside over that. When you're presiding over a forum like this, your job is one fold and to set bail if it's appropriate. Now, we do know that there's no bail set as to the nine murder counts. There will be no bail. That will be taken up at another court.

But he'll remain in custody and the judge set a $1 million bail on the possession of a firearm charge. That's what you're there for. You're not there as a judge and judicial official and officer to give opinions or make recommendations or talk about forgiveness. It's not your role.

I am not sure how to judge got sidetracked on that, but certainly the job of a judge is to do just that and to make recommendations regarding, you know, whether there should be bail or not bail or break rulings on that, but not to be asking for forgiveness for anyone's family.

WHITFIELD: I heard at least one attorney, Mr. Garrett Gauze saying that he thought there was choreographed for television and it's this kind of laying out of a bond hearing really was intentional for publicity.

JACKSON: You know, the only thing that I can think of, Fredricka, as I process what the judge did was, you know, I get that the judge potentially could be concerned that there could be retaliation or a retribution, and so you know, therefore was he saying it on that basis so that people wouldn't go after?

[11:55:02] So far as we know, you know, these are God fearing people in that community who welcomed this killer into that service with open arms, and so certainly you would not expect that from them or anyone associated with them.

But that's the only thing I do as I try to rationalize why the judge could have done that. Otherwise, I am not sure, but it does not fit in a judicial context like this when you're setting bail on someone to be saying remember the victim and the family. Not to mention the poor taste that it's in.

There are nine people that will not be coming home. Nine people who, you know, have families and people who love them so dearly that will not have them any longer. I think that's really the focus and not on the person who killed them and that person's family at this point.

WHITFIELD: All right, Joey Jackson, thank you so much.

JACKSON: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: We will have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Checking our top stories now, a Cincinnati police officer is dead. Gun downed down by a man who police say called 911 pretending to be a witness. The 21-year-old was also killed by other officers who responded to the call. Friends say the man sent messages on Facebook saying he planned to, quote, "commit suicide by cops."

And an Ohio man is behind bars for allegedly pledging his support to ISIS. According to the FBI, Amir Algazi, was arrested yesterday outside of Cleveland when he tried to purchase an AK-47 from an undercover agent. He also reportedly tried to make propaganda videos for ISIS.

We have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.