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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Military Reserve Center Shooting. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 16, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is an active shooter situation. A shooting incident at the Navy Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And as we heard from Gina right there, she says she saw the shooter. She says it was a white male in a silver Mustang who opened fire on this Navy Reserve Center, firing off multiple shots. Others said that they saw him reload and continue shooting. And then, according to Gina, this witness, he then sped off.

We don't know the status of trying to track this person down or the status of any injuries or fatalities. Much more to cover on this breaking news to come.

Thank you all so much. We'll be right back.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We begin with breaking news. I want to update you on what we are just learning.

There is an active shooter. An active shooter incident in the Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This comes to us, according to Chattanooga's fire chief.

You're looking at a picture of the scene. As you can tell, media being staged. They've closed down part of the road there. There is a flurry of emergency response vehicles there. Police, patrol cars, also ambulances leaving the scene.

We also know at this hour that the main campus of Chattanooga State is on lockdown. Students and staff are being encouraged to stay inside and to close their doors.

You're looking at a tweet there from Mayor Andy Berke there of Chattanooga tweeting, "horrific incident in our community. We will release the details as they are confirmed. Prayers to all affected."

Again, I just want to reiterate, this is very early on. We are just getting these reports into us here at CNN. Let's talk about what we know as we try to get more information to pass on to you.

On the phone with me, CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck.

Harry, thank you for being with me. Again, what we know is that there is an active shooting situation at the Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, right by Chattanooga State. That university on lockdown right now according to their Twitter account. Walk me through what the officers on the scene are doing at this hour in a situation like this.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Well, first of all, as soon as they arrive on the scene, they want to make sure that the - that the shooter's nowhere in the area. So they have to be very careful. Second of all, there - see if there's any injuries at all. There's several shots fired into that center, to make sure that nobody's seriously injured. And I believe one person has been shot and get EMS in there (INAUDIBLE).

But at the same time, they have a description of the vehicle and a description of the shooter who we believe has fled the scene. So, what I'm - once the crime scene has been set up there and the wounded have been taken care of, the police are looking for witnesses and I'm probably thinking that there are helicopters in the air looking for that vehicle from the air and that the police department has multiple road blocks, you know, within probably several miles of the area, see if they can somehow, you know, find that vehicle.

HARLOW: All right, I just want to be very clear for our viewers, you said some things that we just don't have confirmed yet, such as a shooter may have left the scene. We at CNN do not have that confirmed yet ourselves. Again, we want to get you the most accurate information we can.

I do want to tell you that one of our affiliates there, WRCB Television, is reporting that this is potentially an officer-involved shooting there at the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center. Early reporting that they have is that potentially one Chattanooga police officer may be down. Again, we are trying to confirm that ourselves.

Harry, walk me through a bit of the protocol. When you're - when you're dealing with an active shooter, who may or may not have left the scene, right, it changes everything in terms of how these police respond to protect the public but also to take care of themselves.

HOUCK: Right. Exactly. The most important thing is to try and eliminate that threat. Police aren't worried about anybody else when they get to a scene like that. The threat has got to be eliminated first. So, they have to be very careful. And the new active shooter protocols that have been put together now, you know, indicate that police will go right into the shooting incident themselves instead of sitting and waiting for, you know, coordination with different teams. So, with that protocol, I'm sure the police directly went into the scene, to the area, cleared it, and to make sure it's safe, have a safe zone set up and then the police will be looking outward to find out where the shooter might have been.

Now I believe there was one witness on the show earlier who said that she had heard that the shooter had fled and that one person was shot. Like you said, we - you know, we can't confirm that. But it appears by, you know, what I'm looking at here, is that the shooter might have actually fled the scene.

HARLOW: Yes.

HOUCK: He fired several shots and, so, now they're actively looking for him.

HARLOW: Yes. I just want to be very careful, again, we don't have that reporting ourselves, so they're treating this as an active shooting situation. Obviously, we're trying to get some of the officials there on the ground on the phone with us, but they're very focused on what's happening, of course, right now.

[12:05:03] Talk to me about people in the area. We've heard that people there at Chattanooga State are being told to stay in there, you know, the facilities, close the doors. The campus is on lockdown. What is the protocol and what should people maybe in the area who are watching right now, what should they be doing?

HOUCK: Well, basically, you know, like I said, we don't know exactly where the shooter is because, you know, there is a possibility he is still in the area. So when the police tell you to do a lockdown, they tell you to get in the house, lock your door and wait until you hear from us and let you know that the area is clear. And people have to understand that they have to actually listen to that. The last thing police want is people running around out there on the street looking to see what's going on out there, all right, because it's very - it can be very dangerous.

So we have to be very, very careful about that. And people should, you know, the police are actually going to go around and do what's called a canvas of the area for any witnesses. Do we have any people that have any video from their cell phones or anything like that, that will be able to help us in the investigation? But the lockdown is very, very important. No one should be around the scene. If you live here, stay in your house, keep your doors locked and if you see anything suspicious, call the police.

HARLOW: Absolutely. So, as well as the Chattanooga Police, who we know are on the scene right now, what other law enforcement agencies would be helping on the ground there at this point?

HOUCK: Well, I'm sure that they've called in the state police to help out because, you know, we are looking for a vehicle on the highways if - if - if the shooter is no longer on the scene. I'm sure the federal authorities have been called in. The joint terrorist task force. I mean I'm not saying whether this is a terrorist attack or not, I've got no idea, or whether it's a lone shooter or not, this could be just a criminal. But the fact that somebody was shooting at a military installation -

HARLOW: Right.

HOUCK: Makes you kind of think that, you know, what was his specific target and why did he shoot at that installation.

HARLOW: What do authorities do to prepare for a situation like this given that we have seen tragedies occur at military installations before? It makes me think back to just a few years ago there at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. How do - do horrific incidents like that help teams prepare for something like this and change their protocol?

HOUCK: Well, you know, every time there's an attack, we learn something. I mean, no matter how many times this happens, you know, we're not going to be complete experts on this. We learn something every time an attack occurs or something like this occurs, all right? We go back after a while and say, OK, what were the mistakes that we had made? What can we do to better protect the base and better protect the people in the area of the base?

All right, so they'll go back and they'll do a complete research and everything that happened and then they might have to change the protocols. Just like I said, the protocols when active shooters first came into existence was the fact that police would wait, all right, they would - they would organize and they would go into the active shooter incident. That - when that occurs, something like that, the people are actually inside getting shot and maybe dying and being injured. So they finally decided that the new protocol now would be to go directly in after the shooter as soon as there's a police response.

HARLOW: All right, Harry Houck, thank you very much for your analysis. Please stand by with me.

I do want to bring our viewers a little more information that we're just getting as we report this breaking news of an active shooter incident at the Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Very few details released at this point in time, but here's what I can tell you. A witness there in Chattanooga, Tennessee, telling us here in CNN that she saw a man with a, quote, "high-power rifle" fire multiple shots at her store from a silver Mustang." That witness is Gina Mule.

She goes on to tell us she heard something that sounded like a pow, pow, pow around 10:50 a.m. Eastern Time this morning. So, just a little over an hour ago. The mayor there, Andy Berke, of Chattanooga, tweeting earlier, "it is a horrific incident," saying that he is going to, of course, bring information to us as quickly as they have it. But, again, this is an active shooter situation there. A witness saying they saw a man with a high-powered rifle firing multiple shots.

We're going to get a quick break in here. We'll be back with much more of our breaking news on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:12:59] HARLOW: All right, welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

We're continuing to follow the breaking news out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where there is an active shooting situation at the Naval Reserve there in Chattanooga. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker just tweeting this from his account. "My prayers are with those affected by the ongoing situation in southeast Tennessee. I have spoken with state and local officials and am continuing to monitor the situation."

Joining me on the phone, Gina Mule. She is a store owner there who heard shots fired.

Gina, can you hear me?

GINA MULE, WITNESSED SHOOTING AT MILITARY RESERVE CENTER (via telephone): Yes, I can.

HARLOW: Gina, thank you for joining me. Are you and everyone around you all right?

MULE: We are.

HARLOW: OK. Tell me - tell me where you are calling in from exactly.

MULE: I work at the - I'm just a server at the restaurant connected right next door to the Armed Force recruiters.

HARLOW: OK. And what did you hear?

MULE: Well, I was, you know, trying to get the store opened, back and cutting lemons, and then I heard loud noises. It was pow, pow, pow really loud. So I ran to the front of the building to see what was going on. And when I looked out, I just seen this guy - this white guy in a drop top silver Mustang and he was pulled - I mean he was literally like 10 feet away down - because they're right next door - he was pulled directly in front of the building and he was opening fire. He had a big, big high-power rifle and he was opening fire on them.

HARLOW: On who? Who, Gina, was he opening fire on?

MULE: It was the Air Force Marines and Navy offices.

HARLOW: So he opened fire on what you're saying is a group of - a group of officers. A group of members there of the - that are on the base, is that right?

MULE: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear what you was saying.

HARLOW: I'm so sorry about that. You're saying he opened fire on a group of people, right, a group of people that serve - serve in the military.

MULE: Yes. Well, everybody - there was nobody outside fortunately, you know, thank God, but he pulled up outside of the offices and started firing into the buildings themselves.

HARLOW: Started firing into these buildings. Can you tell me about these buildings? Are they office buildings? Are they connected to the restaurant where you are?

[12:15:02] MULE: Yes, they're recruiter - they're recruiter offices and they're directly, you know, next to each other. You have the National Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, right next door to each other and I believe he shot at three separate offices, the Marines, Navy and Air Force.

HARLOW: So he shot at three separate offices, Navy, Marine and Air Force. Are all those offices connected to each other in one building?

MULE: They are.

HARLOW: Or did - did he drive along and shoot at different buildings?

MULE: Um, they're - I mean they're like a - they're all connected. So if he pulled up, you know, he was right there. He could have shot into two without even having to move. I can't talk, I've got to work. Yes, and I'm -

HARLOW: Was he -

MULE: Actually going to have to get off this phone. I've had a million phone calls. I've got people coming in my restaurant. We're still open. My dining room is packed out now, as you can imagine, and I've got to tend to the customers.

HARLOW: OK. Thank -

MULE: But, yes, I hope everybody's OK, because we know these guys. They come in all the time. They're all good people. Thank God nobody was seriously (ph) hurt over here.

HARLOW: Of course. And, Gina, before I let you go, thank you so much for talking to us. Did you see anyone hit? Was anyone injured that you saw?

MULE: I believe one guy was shot in the back of the leg over here. They took him. They transported him in the ambulance. I believe he was shot in the back of the leg.

HARLOW: But was alive when he was transported, is that correct?

MULE: Yes, he's fine.

HARLOW: All right, Gina, thank you very much. You take care, everyone there. A horrific, horrific incident. I'm glad you and your loved ones and your co-workers are all right. Gina, thank you very much.

And just to report for you, I was just getting some information from the control room. Guys, what was that again? I can also let you know that the mayor of Chattanooga is telling one of CNN's affiliates, our local stations down there, that an officer was involved in this shooting incident. One officer is down. Now, I want to be very clear, we do not know what that means, if the officer had just been injured or if the officer has been killed. But again, the mayor of Chattanooga telling one of our affiliates there in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that one officer is down.

Again, just to reiterate for you what we just heard from Gina Mule, she is a server at a restaurant right next to this - right next to this Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She said that she saw a man this morning around 10:50 a.m. pull up to a building, a building that houses these recruiting offices, not only for the Navy but also for the Air Force, multiple divisions of the military, and saw this person pull out what she described as a very large firearm and shoot multiple shots at that building. She also told us that she believes that one person, at least, was hit. One person she believes was hit in the leg, was alive when they were transported by an ambulance and we're being - the mayor is saying to our local affiliate that there is an officer down.

Authorities right now investigating an active shooter incident at the Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That's according to the fire chief, Randy Jackson. The mayor there in Chattanooga tweeting, "it is a horrific incident in our community. We will release details as they are confirmed. Prayers to all of those affected."

We're going to take a quick break, gather more information. As soon as we have it, we'll bring it to you on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:21:49] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow. We're continue to follow the breaking news of an active shooter investigation in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I can tell you that it's taking place right around the Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Let me set the scene for you. What we know from one of the witnesses who called into us is that she says she saw a silver Mustang, a drop top as she described it, pull up to Army recruiting offices there right on the base and to shoot multiple shots at multiple offices. So, recruiting centers for, she said, the Navy and author parts of the military. She said that one person she believes was shot in the leg and transported by ambulance. Also the mayor of Chattanooga telling one of our affiliates on the ground there that - I'm going to let you listen to right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ANDY BERKE (D), CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE: We've got - we've got an officer down. We've got some - we had somebody out there shooting at our Army Reserve Center. This is one of the - this has been a very, very terrible situation and we need to go figure out how we can - we can handle it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Again, a tragic situation. The mayor there saying one officer down. We do not know the condition of that officer.

Also getting reporting that a local mall nearby, Bradley Square Mall, is closed, just as a precautionary measure. No one injured there.

We're just also hearing that Lee University is currently on lockdown, tweeting out, "Lee University currently on lockdown. Please stay inside until further notice." Obviously, everyone taking extra precaution here.

Pamela Brown, CNN justice correspondent, working her sources at the FBI. What are they saying to you right now?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, bottom line, it's so very chaotic, Poppy. I think folks in the FBI's office, ATF, and elsewhere really trying to gather the pieces of the puzzle here, see what's happening.

But what I can tell you is that teams from the FBI's Knoxville office are responding. So they are en route to Chattanooga right now to respond to this. I just got off the phone with someone from ATF. We're still waiting for confirmation if ATF will be responding, but that is the presumption at this point because what happens in these active situations, active shooter situations, is that law enforcement from this unified task force, so it's a task force of law enforcement from all different agencies, they respond. This is what they drill for, these active shooter situations.

So what's going to be happening here are these tactical teams are going to go in and try to secure the situation. First and foremost, with an active shooter situation, they want to find the shooter or shooters and mitigate the threat there. Take care of that. Secure the scene. So they're going to get there. They're going to go room to room, secure the scene, make sure that people are safe, evacuate the premises and take those sort of steps.

But again, we know the FBI is responding and likely the ATF and other agencies.

HARLOW: Right.

BROWN: We know local law enforcement's there, as we see in the pictures here, Poppy.

HARLOW: Well - right. And I think, Pamela, when you think about a story you covered, right, the Navy Yard shooting a few years ago -

BROWN: Uh-huh.

HARLOW: You have to be so, so careful, especially places that, unfortunately, can be targets. And it's the early going. We don't know what the motivation was here, but the witness telling us, look, this man she says with a big rifle pulled up and shot seemingly indiscriminately at these multiple recruiting offices.

[12:25:01] We're learning a little bit more about what the Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga does. This is basically a support center for all those brave men and women who volunteer in the reserve forces in this country. It says that - I'm going to read you their mission statement for what this facility does. It says, "the mission of the Navy Reserves is ready now anytime, anywhere. The Chattanooga mission is to support this goal, providing training and readiness for our reserve component personnel, to enable them to support the needs of the Navy at any time."

Let's remember, Pamela, these are oftentimes civilians who give of their own time to serve and to protect this - to protect this country.

BROWN: And, frankly, military centers are considered among law enforcement one of the top targets for several reasons. Of course, there's a terrorism threat with ISIS, you know, over the last year of pushing out there on social media to go after the military. We don't know if this had anything to do with terrorism, but that is a concern among law enforcement. And we've seen similar shootings in the past. You mentioned the Navy Yard. Also at Ft. Hood, Poppy.

HARLOW: Right.

BROWN: We've seen two shootings there, frankly, in the last several years and at other military bases in the U.S. So this is - this is something that, you know, law enforcement is concerned about. Something like this happening at a military center. And, of course, we're still waiting to find out what the motivation is.

HARLOW: Right.

BROWN: And right now I'm being told it's very chaotic. It's sort of the fog of war right now.

HARLOW: Well, like -

BROWN: They're trying to figure out what's going on here.

HARLOW: And where this shooter is, right? We don't know, from our witnesses yet, whether they saw that shooter flee or not. So, stay with me, Pamela, as we talk to Erica Wright. She is a witness.

Erica, are you with me?

ERICA WRIGHT, WITNESSED SHOOTING AT MILITARY CENTER: Yes.

HARLOW: Erica, thank you for being here.

Erica you work, I'm told, at a hair salon nearby. Is that correct?

WRIGHT: That's correct.

HARLOW: Are you OK?

WRIGHT: Yes, we're OK.

HARLOW: OK. I can imagine how frightening it is. Tell me about your location and what you saw today.

WRIGHT: The salon is two doors down from the Army recruiting place.

HARLOW: OK.

WRIGHT: We heard one pop - a really loud pop. So we went to the door to see what it was. And as soon as we got to the door, there was just several other pops after that. And we looked down, two doors down and we saw a guy in a silver Mustang just unloading on the naval recruiting place.

HARLOW: Unloading. Was this a, and I ask because I believe from our guest before it was a sort of a - was it a car without a top? Was this a convertible? Was he standing -

WRIGHT: Yes, it was a convertible. It was a convertible.

HARLOW: OK. OK. Was he standing up and shooting out of it? Was he seated? I'm just -

WRIGHT: No, he was sitting down.

HARLOW: OK.

WRIGHT: And just shooting, shooting. He loaded, I think, once or twice, and just kept unload - you know, kept going until he unloaded again.

HARLOW: OK. What could you see of this person? Were you able to see his face?

WRIGHT: No, I wasn't able to see his face at all. I do know he was - he wasn't black. He was either white from - or another nationality.

HARLOW: So you could see some of his skin, is that right? Maybe his arms then or his legs if you saw him from behind.

WRIGHT: His arms.

HARLOW: You saw his arms.

WRIGHT: Arms and barely part of his face.

HARLOW: OK. Was he alone?

WRIGHT: Yes.

HARLOW: OK, he was alone. And did - what happened after he shot. Tell me about for how long you saw him shooting. Are we talking about five seconds? Longer?

WRIGHT: Probably longer, 20, 30 seconds.

HARLOW: Wow.

WRIGHT: And then he backed up and shot in another spot of the naval recruiting and then he pulled back up again and started shooting again. And then he finally pulled off.

HARLOW: So he backed up to shoot at another location in the same office complex?

WRIGHT: Right. Right.

HARLOW: OK. And then after he backed up and kept shooting, then did you see him eventually flee? Did he drive away?

WRIGHT: He - at that time we were running to the back of the salon to kind of take cover and get our phones to call 911 and about that time he was pulling off.

HARLOW: And can you tell me how he - did he - did he speed away, as one might expect, and in what direction did he go?

WRIGHT: He sped away, but not - not in too terrible - too much of a hurry, but he did, you know, drive away pretty fast, but not as fast as you would think he would have. And he went like towards 153.

HARLOW: And for people that aren't familiar with the area, you say he went towards 153. So what - what direction would that be in?

WRIGHT: We're right off of the expressway of 153 and so he went towards, you know, he crossed the expressway and got on the expressway on to 153 going north.

[12:30:01] HARLOW: All right, we're also just learning, stay with me if you could, Erica, we're also learning ATF agents from the national field division there are responding to the scene. That's according to a local law enforcement official coming from Pamela Brown and our team here