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Shooting Inside Louisiana Movie Theater; Bobby Jindal Talks Shooting; Reaction to New Shooting; Excitement in Kenya Awaiting Obama; Trumps Predicts He'll Win Latino Vote, Visits Texas; Trump Encounters Critics in Texas. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 23, 2015 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:30] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We continue to follow this breaking news out of the U.S. state of Louisiana. I'm George Howell.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: Hello. And hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. The shooting took place inside a movie theater about 7:30 p.m. local time in the city of Lafayette, New Orleans. Two people were killed and the shooter then killed himself, seven are wounded. Three of them are in a critical condition. And just last hour, we heard a teacher helped to save some of those lives pulling the fire alarm when the bullets began to fly.

HOWELL: An amazing story of heroism. We will talk about that I'm sure more during the hour. Police say the shooter though is a 58- year-old white male and that he apparently acted alone, shooting people at random.

Multiple agencies including the FBI, are on the scene at this hour. The bomb squad, right now, is checking the suspect's vehicle. One witness described the screams that she heard coming from the theater. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whenever a whole bunch of girls started screaming, and came out of the movie theater saying someone got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: After that, what did you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know what happened yet. So then we -- the guard or something came to us and told everybody to get out. So we ran outside. And they had this lady right there and she was in a dress and there was blood everywhere and that's when we realized what was going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Just a short time ago, officials in Lafayette held a news conference where they talked about the course of the investigation. KINKADE: That's right. We also learned more about some of the heroic

efforts inside the theater when the shooting took place. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CRAFT, LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA POLICE CHIEF: Additional information regarding the persons who were injured. We have nine, total of nine persons who were injured and transported to various hospitals, and we have two confirmed fatalities and the suspect is a confirmed fatality.

Earlier, you probably saw a little bit of excitement on the parking lot and people moving back and you guys had to be moved back. We located the suspect vehicle, or what we think is the suspect vehicle. There was a suspicious package inside. And as a result of that, we had to stop all processing work and all investigation. We have backed out of the scene. The Louisiana state police bomb squad is now in charge of the scene and has a robot out and they are going to deal with that. So for now, our investigation is on hold until we are absolutely sure that the scene, both inside and outside is safe.

MIKE EDMONSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: They he indicated a car of the individual, of the alleged shooter whose now deceased at this time. Saw some stuff in there. A dog actually hit on three different locations of the car. So out of an abundance of caution, we brought in the bomb squad. They are at the car now. They see some stuff in there that looks suspicious. That's all it does is look suspicious. And we are also we want to get in to the trunk. What you are going to hear -- and we moved out of abundance of caution we moved people out of the area just to make sure the scene is safe. Officer people safety, people safety, probably that is our most concern at this point. But we are going to mingle into the theater itself.

Now, keep in mind that is a crime scene. We still have bodies in there, OK. The shooter is still in there and at least one other person. So we need to get back in there, make sure that is completely clear. There are a couple of optics in there. There are some dogs hit on earlier. We are going to go in there. We are going to check those packages out. We are going to x-ray them, make sure there is nothing that concerns us in there. And then once we get that cleared, and hopefully that will take maybe another hour or so to do that. But here's the deal as long as it takes it will take because we want to make sure everyone is safe.

So we are going to do that and once we secure that scene then the next step will be to bring the crime lab in there. Because there is a lot of information there that we want to make sure that we get accurately and plus, we want to make sure we can get the coroner in there to actually do the job that his office with will need to do.

So that is going to be part of the next couple of hours or so. And you heard the chief a few minutes ago. There is information though that people are putting out on the shooter himself. Here's the bottom line on that. Why would we want to put the information out about that individual until we get all the things that we need from him. We need to make sure we check his place out, we talk to his friends. Because if there are other concerns there, all you are doing is put somebody else's life causing in danger. So that's why we want to make sure that we get accurate information to you. We are going to release it as soon as we can. We will verify, the information we have, we will verify the deceased names. We are trying to talk to the families now. We owe them that respect to actually talk to the families and let them know what happened. And then we will systematically work with the chief's office and his tactics to find out, hey, what happened? What brought the guy in there? Why did he go in by himself? Why did he go to the theater and why did he decide to pull out a weapon and to harm individuals and actually kill two individuals? We need to find out it. But it is going to take time to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:05:54] KINKADE: Let's bring in Lanie Lee Cook on the phone now. She is a reporter with Academia reporting from the scene.

Lanie, we just heard some of the press conference talking about the gunman and suspicious vehicle and the package. What can you tell us about the victims? I understand they range in age from teenagers to people in their 60s.

LANIE LEE COOK, REPORTER, LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA (via phone): Right. At this point, that's all we know about the victims, except that one of them was the gunman who is dead. The victims, at least two of them were teachers, but other than that we have not received confirmation, other than speculation throughout social media. We have not received confirmed information about those who are dead besides that they range from young to old. Nine were injured. Last we heard one was in surgery, in very critical condition but we haven't gotten updates on those victims.

HOWELL: Lanie, are you near and I would imagine you are, but near the suspect's vehicle? We understand from investigators that at some point people nearby should hear some sort of detonation. Are you nearby and have you heard anything to that effect?

COOK: Well, actually about 15 minutes ago, they did detonate the suspicious package. We heard a medium explosion. The suspect's vehicle is on the opposite side of the vehicle -- the parking lot, excuse me. And as soon as a police officer found it, they shoved the media away from the scene. We are over at a nearby coffee shop now as a precaution. But they have since detonated that. And from what I understand they halted processing the crime scene until that was done. So now we can assume they have returned to processing the crime scene where apparently the bodies of two victims and the shooters are still inside.

HOWELL: Have you heard anything more about what might have been in that vehicle?

COOK: We have not heard anything more. Apparently there were three things the dog touched on. You heard that in the interview, the press conference. We do not know anything more than that. But police say they are not going to give another official update until the crime scene is completely processed. So it could be a while.

KINKADE: And we do know the gunman obviously was a 58-year-old white male. Police believe they acted alone. But do you know what weapon he used?

COOK: We do know that he used a handgun. We do not know any more information about that, whether there was any other weapons found on the scene. We don't know how many shots he fired. Although police say they are processing that still.

KINKADE: OK. Lanie Lee Cook, we appreciate that update live from the scene. We will talk to you soon. Thank you very much for joining us.

COOK: Thank you.

KINKADE: And Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal rushed to the scene of the shooting. And he, of course, is asking for prayers for the community there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: Whenever we see these or hear about this senseless acts of violence, it makes us both furious and sad at the same time. I think I speak for every mom and dad out there, every parent out there, who wants just to go and hug their kids. When this just seemingly act of random violence, and again, as Mike said, there are still -- they are doing their investigation. They will get to the bottom of this. When these kinds of acts of violence happen in a movie theater. When there is no good reason why this evil should intrude on the lives of families who are just out for a night of entertainment, I know a lot of us are horrified and shocked. The great thing about America is when any of us suffers whether one family or one community we all suffer. This is a time for us to come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: When this shooting happened, the movie blockbuster "Trainwreck" was playing. The movie star has now reacted on twitter.

KINKADE: That's right. Amy Schumer tweeted this a short time ago. She said my heart is broken and all of my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Louisiana.

HOWELL: And our thoughts are certainly with those families that are learning tonight that, you know, they have loved ones who will not be coming home from a movie. You know, a place where you go, just innocent people to watch a film.

KINKADE: As the governor said, go home and hug your children like it is really bit of a reality check for people that -- I don't know. Something like this happens out of the blue and you go along for something that you think will be a nice night out and then --

[01:10:13] HOWELL: Yes. And I'm reminded again, just short time ago we were talking about a similar situation in Charleston, South Carolina. People at a bible study. You know, and then someone walked in and opened fire.

Let's bring in our law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander who has been here on set with us discussing the various angles that investigators are looking in to.

And the first thing I want to talk about, Cedric, is the fact that we hear from Lanie Cook on the scene that she heard what seemed to be a detonation. Again, officers were concerned about that vehicle. Talk to us just about that. And would you suspect, would you expect that the crime scene will now become active again and they will get back to that search?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, you can't rule out anything this early in an investigation. Here you had someone go to a movie theater, shoot and kill innocent people and injure innocent people as well, too in a vehicle that has been identified, possibly his. That may have some suspicious package inside. So therefore, law enforcement have to move carefully, very methodically in order to make some real determination as if that vehicle, the package in it could be some threat.

KINKADE: As George said, we saw the shooting recently in the church. We have seen shootings, massacres in schools and massacres in cinemas. President Obama has said that he struggles with the gun control law unless the U.S. And the fact there are so many unwilling to change those laws. He spoke to the BBC on Thursday and he admitted this was the most frustrating part of his job. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The one area where I feel that I have been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America, is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings. And you know, if you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it is less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it's in the tens of thousands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: That's right. The tens of thousands. We know that 30,000 Americans die from gun violence every year. At least 10,000 are murdered. Others are accidental shootings, suicides. What will it take, do you think, for the U.S. to reassess gun control laws?

ALEXANDER: Let me say this to tell you, Lynda. Being a law enforcement official myself here in DeKalb County, Georgia where I'm responsible for 700,000 citizens over a thousand police officers that go out and do their job every day and certainly we do believe people should have the right to exercise the right to bear arms. But as the president has indicated, there needs to be a revisiting of the conversation around gun control laws in this country. Not to take away the right of good, innocent gun carriers, if you will but how do we begin to look at in a way, how do we better protect innocent people in this country and keep guns out of the hands of those that should not have it.

KINKADE: One thing is a background check. It surprises me that so many states will sell a gun to someone with no background check whatsoever.

ALEXANDER: Well, that maybe the case here again. There may be some gun laws across this country that need to be tightened, but there needs to be further conversation on both sides of the aisle in terms on how to address the issue. But I think the American people as well too are going to have to stand up and demand more from government in regards of having this conversation.

We want the rights of those who carry guns legally and who exercise that constitutional right that they are born with to be able to have that right. But at the same time, we have to make sure that we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.

Here again, this conversation needs to be revisited and it needs to be revisited very soon as well too. So the president's frustration is actually the frustration of millions of Americans across this country. There just needs to be some conversation on the hill in regards to how we are going to work through this very complex and convoluted issue of gun control.

HOWELL: And again, you know, as we talked about Charleston and Chattanooga, you know, just recently, you know this issue of how to protect these soft targets or these places where innocent people go and find themselves in these terrible situations from a law enforcement perspective. I mean, can you really protect these soft targets?

ALEXANDER: Well, it is certainly is a challenge. And I think we have each one of these events, we just can't continue to talk about them. We really have to take some really measures, some different types of measures in order to protect our citizenry. I mean, you take the case more recently here in Chattanooga where we had five U.S. servicemen killed and were not able to protect themselves or protect each other. Very soft targets there at the reciting site (INAUDIBLE).

Here we are looking at another soft target. Someone who yet to be determined who that individual is, what was his reasoning behind it, but what we are seeing, George and Lynda, on a regular basis is the continuing types of gun violence that is -- that is occurring in this country. And it is becoming more and more frequent, it appears each day, each week, each month in this continue and that's alarming and we're going to have to have real serious dialogue and conversation about this.

[01:15:52] KINKADE: And just explain what the open carry policy is. I understand it exists in Louisiana, the same law which exists here in Georgia.

ALEXANDER: And some other states as well across the country and exactly that open gun laws.

KINKADE: What does it mean for our international viewers? ALEXANDER: What it means is that you can carry a weapon up on your

person openly, virtually in any environment except where it is designated that you cannot. And I am not going to contest that law. What I am going to say is that we need to have further conversation around gun laws in this country and how do we better protect citizens in this country, but also making sure that legal gun owners, law- abiding citizens in this country, have an opportunity to exercise their right, as well, too.

KINKADE: I'm sure we will continue this conversation.

Cedric Alexander, thank you very much for joining us.

ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.

HOWELL: We'll be right back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:46] KINKADE: Hello everyone. Time now to the breaking news from Lafayette, Louisiana where two people are dead after shooting inside a movie theater. Police say the gunman killed himself after opening fire at random during the showing of the movie "Trainwreck." At least seven people are wounded.

HOWELL: Investigators are not releasing the name of the shooter, but they say he has a criminal history that dates back several years. Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal is asking for prayers for the Lafayette community.

A man who was inside that building and across the hall from the movie theater where the actual shooting occurred talked to us about exactly what he heard. I want you to listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIFER SANDERS, WAS IN THE THEATER ACROSS THE HALL (via phone): We were sitting in a movie, it hasn't started and the alarm came on saying to evacuate to the nearest exit. So we did. And when we evacuated we came on the front. I seen a wounded lady laying on the cement shot, waiting on the ambulance to get here. And then I spoke to another guy who was actually in the movie theater that the shooting happened. And what he said was they were sitting down right before the movie started. It was quiet. There was no argument, nothing. Nothing going on at all and a guy just stood up and opened fire. And everybody scrambled and the guy was just kind of at ease just standing there just shooting, never really attempting to leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: So within the last hour the investigators were focused on the suspect's vehicle. They suspended the investigation until they could determine the nature of a suspicious package in that vehicle. We understand that here within the last 30 minutes or so officers detonated that and now the investigation continues and we will continue, of course, to follow events in Lafayette. But now, other breaking news that we are following, Turkey's air force

has bombed ISIS targets inside of Syria. The Turkish official says fighter jets three ISIS locations in a village, one kilometer or less than about a mile away from the Turkey-Syria border. The official says militants have been gathering weapons and explosives in that area.

KINKADE: The U.S. is now close to getting access to new locations in Turkey to launch air strikes against ISIS. Senior U.S. officials say discussions have been going on for months and the countries have just struck a final agreement. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr as the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials say there's now a hand shake agreement between the United States and Turkey for the U.S. and the coalition to have access to bases in Turkey from which they can launch airstrikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Key on the list is access to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. If this can be worked out, if the deal can be finalize, this would cut down the time essentially for U.S. warplanes trying to strike targets in northern Syria and ISIS stronghold. It would be a much shorter flight time than the current one they have to have from Iraq or the Persian Gulf, the only places that they can fly these lethal missions from in to targets in northern Syria.

But the deal has to be finalized. Both militaries have to work out all of the details, how it will happen, what kinds of missions will be flown, whether the U.S. will be able to fly missions in support of the Kurds that that consideration troubles the Turks quite a bit, we are told. So still not a final deal. The ink is not dry on all of this. There could be changes, but if it can all be agreed to, it is a significant step forward, officials say, for the coalition effort against ISIS.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: And now it has been determined that ISIS is now a bigger threat to the United States than Al-Qaeda. That is according to the FBI director James Comey.

KINKADE: That's right. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Comey compared ISIS militants to needles in a hay stack and says the terror group provokes attacks through social media in a way that Al- Qaeda never has.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Is that now a bigger threat to the U.S. homeland than Al-Qaeda?

[01:25:00] JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Yes. Yes. The threat that ISIL presents poses to the United States is very different in kind, in type, in degree than Al-Qaeda. ISIL is not your parents' Al-Qaeda. It is a very different model. By virtue of that model it's currently the threat we are worrying about in the homeland most of all.

BLITZER: Why is ISIS so powerful?

COMEY: Well, they have adopted a model that takes advantage of social media in a way to crowd source terrorism. They have vest invested about the last year in pushing a message of poison primarily through twitter but other parts of social media that is a siren song with two dimensions. They are preaching through social media, to troubled souls, urging them to join their so-called caliphate in Syria or Iraq or if you can't join, kill where you are. And twitter is a valuable enterprise because it works to sell shoes or to sell ideas. It works to sell this message to troubled souls.

If you had to consume their propaganda you had to go find it somewhere on the web, you would read their magazine. If you wanted to talk to a terrorist you might send an email in to their magazine and hope somebody answers you. ISIL has changed that model entirely because ISIL is buzzing on your hip. That message is being pushed all day long. And if you want to talk to a terrorist, they are right there on twitter direct messaging for you to communicate with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Still to come, screams were heard coming from a Louisiana movie theater when a gunman opened fire on Thursday night.

HOWELL: We will have more information, more details from the shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana. The breaking news as this broadcast continues worldwide on CNN international and CNN USA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[01:30:] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We continue to follow the breaking news out of the U.S. state of Louisiana, a shooting inside of a movie theater where three are dead including the gunman. Police say he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: They say the shooter was a 58-year-old white male and they say he acted alone. At this stage they are not releasing more details. A bomb squad and K-9 unit have been searching his car and have detonated a suspicious package. Seven moviegoers are wounded and are at the hospital. The first call came in 7:30 p.m. local time. The shooter is identified as a 58-year-old white male. Seven are injured, three are dead, including the gunman.

HOWELL: Police say the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We are hearing three of the victims are in critical condition.

KINKADE: Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal spoke earlier about the people taking cover during the shooting and he met with some of them at the hospital. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOBBY JINDAL, (R), GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: Today is a day that not only angers but saddens all of us. This we never imagined would happen to anyone. Never imagined would happen in Louisiana or Lafayette. We are a resilient community.

I want to share a story about heroism, an example of happened in the theater. I was visiting with several family members and friends, a couple of teachers in the theater tonight. One was shot and one released tonight. Her friend literally jumped over her. In her account actually saved her life. If she hadn't done that, her friend got shot, the fellow teacher got shot she believed the bullet would have hit her in the head. The second one, whose life was saved even though shot she had the presence of mind to full the fire alarm to help save other lives. As we learn more about the details tonight we will hear about acting of selfless heroism people trying to help each other and save other lives. These are two teachers to watch a movie during the last few days of summer we'll be right back, getting ready for the new semester they never imagined their outing would be interrupted by this senseless act of violence, this awful tragedy. Say saw family members hoping for the best. They were waiting for information on their loved ones. They believed they would be able to make recoveries. Right now they want to know and they are waiting for the doctors to tell them that. They are praying, fearful, anxious. The best thing we have heard from folks all over the country, literally all over the country, now is a great time to send your thoughts, prayers and love. This is a resilient community, Lafayette will come together. I can't name every individual and folks here, but we have been joined by federal, state, local folks and I want to close by thanking our law enforcement officials. You heard me say this earlier tonight. They ran toward danger, not away from it. The first officers could hear gunshots and still ran toward that theater. They do an amazing job protecting us every day. I'm grateful for their heroism in this. I think we will hear other stories from folks inside the theater as those details come out. Keep those family members in your thoughts and prayers. I know there is a lot of anxiety in the emergency room and a lot of folks waiting to hear good news about their loved ones.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: But this night, we are hearing about a shooting inside of a movie theater and the governor there describing these acts of heroism that played out. Keep in mind, we have heard this before. Almost three years ago to the day, a similar deadly shooting in of a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

KINKADE: Back then 12 were killed, 70 wounded when a gunman opened fire at a crowded screening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises."

We spoke to our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, about reaction to the new shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Obviously, whenever something like this happens at a movie theater, it does affect the industry and creates concern in the industry, questions about security. You were describing Aurora three years ago. It has become one of those atrocities are you just say it with one word, Aurora. It really shocked the conscious of the country three years ago because so many were killed in such a usually happy, you know, entertaining place. I think that is what so unique about a crime that is committed in a movie theater. People go there implicitly believing they are safe enough to sit in a dark theater with strangers to be entertained. To in some cases see violence on the screen but know they are safe there. I think once again, people will in the coming hours and days wonder if they are safe when they go to the movie theater. The short answer is yes. Obviously for the most part when we see crimes like this, they are obviously the exception, not the rule. Certainly in the aftermath of the Aurora massacre, we did not see a big downturn in ticket sales or a dramatic change in people's movie-going habits. There were changes in security in the wake of Aurora and maybe we will hear about that again in the wake of this mass shooting in Louisiana. For example, there were more guards in some cases, more security checks at theaters, but we have not seen a real change in the way movie theaters operate. Many of the security measures that were implemented were implemented quietly. There wasn't a lot of publicity around them. Movie theaters didn't want to publicize them. At the moment, I have a feeling we will see the same reaction to this most recent tragedy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:35:] HOWELL: At this hour, this investigation continues. Investigators taking inventory of the crime scene, and tonight making death notifications.

KINKADE: We know that local police, state police, FBI are at the scene and will continue to work through the night combing that crime scene. We understand two of the victims plus the gunman's body is still inside the movie theater.

HOWELL: It's an active scene for sure. We will bring you details as we get them.

We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:39:42] KINKADE: Welcome back. U.S. President Barack Obama is on his way to a country eager to welcome home its so-called son. He is traveling to Kenya, his father's homeland where he still has family.

HOWELL: He will be speaking at the global entrepreneurship summit. Although he has been there several times before, this is his first trip as the president of the United States.

KINKADE: Excitement for this historic visit can be seen just about everywhere. Shops are filled with colorful T-shirts, the picture of the president can be found just about ever where the capital.

HOWELL: Joining us now is Jeffrey Smith, an advocacy officer with the RFK Partners for Human Rights.

Thank you for taking time with us.

JEFFREY SMITH, ADVOCACY OFFICER, RFK PARTNERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Of course.

HOWELL: As President Obama visits this country, talk to us, first of all, as he arrives in Kenya, there's concern about his security and we know there are many things in place. What do you make of this?

SMITH: That is certainly a concern when that news broke that the president's travel plan had been leaked and was open to the public, particularly given the precarious security environment that is in Kenya. We are familiar with the Westgate Mall attack, which the mall just recently reopened in the past week, the attack at the university. Cause for concern.

HOWELL: At the same time, the president's officials are saying they are not concerned or changing their plans.

SMITH: I don't think there is reason for serious concern. I think the president's entourage has everything under control. I don't think there is any cause for serious concern about the president's safety. I think he will be safe.

HOWELL: It's obviously -- this is a country that's dealing with al Shabaab just across the border. In the name of terror tracking down on terror you see what many say is a crackdown on civil liberties.

SMITH: Yeah, absolutely. There's been a massive crackdown, particularly over the past year under the guise of the war on terror in Kenya. That's indisputable. For instance, the government recently deregistered 500 non-government organizations in the country. They have frozen the bank accounts, for instance, of two prominent human rights organizations, Muslims for human rights and hockey Africa, two organizations with an impeccable standing that have no ties whatsoever to terrorism. Also you have, you know, impunity for much of the crimes that have been committed by the security forces. Impunity prevails. There's no independent oversight mechanism in the country to deal with that. And yeah, it's a serious concern. It is also not entirely surprising if we harken back to Kenyan president's speeches when he was running for president, he signaled this and said there would be a crackdown on civil society and followed through on that.

KINKADE: U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump predicts he's going to win the Latino vote in the 2016 election. He visited Laredo, Texas at the U.S./Mexico border on Thursday.

HOWELL: His trip follows controversial comments about illegal immigration and border security. Sporting a white cap emblazoned with "Make America great again," the U.S. tycoon insisted Hispanics, quote, "are going to love Trump."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP GROUP: I think I will win the Hispanic vote. I have thousands of Mexicans and Hispanics. And I don't know if you saw the poll, but they just did a big poll in Nevada, the state of Nevada. I'm way ahead. More importantly, as far as I'm concerned, I'm way, way ahead with the Hispanics, well in to the 30s and I think second is like 11. I have a great relationship. Over the years, thousands and thousands of Hispanics have worked for me and now work for me and the relationship is very good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Despite that prediction, Candidate Trump is not sitting so well with some Mexican-Americans in Laredo.

KINKADE: As CNN's Gary Tuchman discovered the outspoken, controversial tycoon encountered plenty of critics during his four- hour border visit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Donald Trump walked through the airport at Laredo, Texas, there were supporters --

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: -- but also many detractors.

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: The city, after all, is 95 percent Hispanic. Many came to the airport chanting in Spanish, the people united can never be defeated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you tell Mr. Trump when he was here standing in front of me and I said, look, I have a lot of chosen words for the man but cannot say them on camera. But one thing I would tell him is get the hell out of here.

TUCHMAN: The Republican presidential candidate hung around, visiting the nearby Mexican border, a few weeks after offending many with his broad statement about undocumented immigrants being rapists and criminals.

ELIA MENDOZA, TEXAS DIRECTOR, LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN-AMERICAN CITIZENS: We will not tolerate offensive remarks that Trump has made.

TUCHMAN: Elia Mendoza is the Texas director of LUAC, the League of United Latin-American Citizens.

MENDOZA: I think he needs to apologize or withdrawal his nomination as president.

[01:45:10] TUCHMAN: Many protesters wanted to demonstrate at the border where Trump was paying his visit. (on camera): This is where you show your documents to U.S.

authorities when you cross in from Mexico. The signs say "open" but it is not open. Look at the road. It has been shut down to traffic because of Donald Trump's visit.

(voice-over): That security move stopped demonstrators from showing up and further angered some of them.

Meanwhile, although they are in the minority, there are Mexican- Americans here who support Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: The woman in this white who got in to arguments with others today is Rosa Panlacias (ph).

ROSA PANLACIAS (ph), TRUMP SUPPORTER: I like what he is doing. I love what he will be doing. I hope he gets his intentions. I'm praying for all of his intentions. What he is talking about, of what he is going to do. I hope they go through.

TUCHMAN (on camera): You like Donald Trump?

PANLACIAS (ph): Yes, sir, I do.

TUCHMAN: You are Mexican-American.

PANLACIAS (ph): Yes, sir, I'm Mexican-American.

TUCHMAN: Which when he talks about undocumented immigrants being rapists and criminals.

PANLACIAS (ph): Not at all. He is talking about the truth.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But in over parts of Laredo, like this restaurant, which is very well known in town, it's hard to find similar sentiments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what people are upset. He is trying to get support. He came to the wrong place.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Laredo, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Earth is a little less lonely.

KINKADE: We will tell you why NASA researchers are saying that. Just ahead, stick with us here at CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:50:33] KINKADE: Welcome back. We want to update you on a shooting inside of a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. Officials say three are dead including the gunman. Police say he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

HOWELL: They say the shooter was a 58-year-old white male. They believe he acted alone. Seven moviegoers, we understand at least seven, are wounded at a hospital. A bomb squad and the K-9 unit have been searching the suspect's car and have detonated a suspicious package. We will have more on this breaking news story next hour.

NASA's Kepler Space Observatory has spotted what it calls earth's bigger, oldest cousin.

KINKADE: It's the first planet that's about the size of earth, found inhabitable zone, and a star similar to our sun.

And for more on this interstellar discovery, here's Joel Labi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL LABI, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Hello, earth. This is your long lost cousin. In a search for a world like ours a breakthrough from a galaxy far, far away. This is Kepler 452B. Not the spitting image of planet earth, though. This distance relative, larger, 60 percent bigger to be exact and more than a billion years older.

But it's the distinct similarities between the planets which have NASA scientists extremely excited. It's located within the so-called habitable zone. Just like our planet, Kepler 452B sits in an area around a sun-like star where water can exist on a planet's surface. The year, 385 days long, 28 days more than ours. And NASA says there's every chance its surface is rocky. All of these qualities adding up to a potential recipe to broad life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 20, 30 years from now, we will tell signatures of life and atmospheres of these planets.

LABI: As for getting anywhere near this potential earth 2.0, probably not in our lifetime. 452B is 1400 light-years away and while the Kepler project discovered some 1,000 planets so far it is coming at a cost of $600 million.

So for the time being, this discovery may very well be just like the long, lost cousin who lives a little too far away from everyone else.

Joel Labi, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Joel Labi put it bests, just a little too far away.

(LAUGHTER)

KINKADE: For more on this, we will bring in Meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

How far away is the planet? Could we visit soon?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't think it will happen anytime soon. You heard Joel say it was 1400 light years away. This is the distance that light travels in one year, which is roughly six trillion miles. If you times that by 1400 it's just too far.

(LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM: But we did.

KINKADE: One day.

VAN DAM: Lynda and George, we had a lot of fun. The producer and I doing these mathematical calculations because we love to do this stuff. We are scientists. We took what is the average male, let's call him frank. Here he is on the screen. He weighs about 175 pounds or 80 kilograms. We determined on Kepler 452B, the new, quote, unquote, "habitable planet," he would weigh roughly two times what he would weigh here on earth because gravity is about two times as strong. With all of that gravity weighing down on him it won't take long for him to walk around the planet and shed that weight.

This particular planet is fascinating because it's so far away. But it's also met unique criteria being similar to earth. That is it is similar to earth's size. It rotates around a sun-like star and it's located in what is known as the habitable zone, the, well, the sweet spot we'll call it. The NASA world they call it the goldilocks zone. It is around a sun or star like in our solar system that is just right for us to have what is life-giving substance, that being water on the surface of the planet. Earth fits that. If we are too close to the sun it is uninhabitable or too far away it is simply too hot. You can see why it is so important to have that perfect distance from light radiating source that being the sun. We found several other earth- sized planets outside of the within the solar system. Kepler has been successful in doing this. This particular one has been unique. To put it in to context for you we have had roughly four planets within our galaxy here. That's, quote, unquote, "are habitable." It is how do we get there when they are so far away? 1400 trillion mile -- 1400 light years away.

[01:55:47] HOWELL: Do we want to get there? We weigh twice as a much, right?

KINKADE: There's a lot of problems on this planet. We might need a back-up option.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN DAM: Kepler 452B, that's where I will meet you guys next.

KINKADE: Thanks, fascinating.

(CROSSTALK)

KINKADE: Thank you, Derek.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

HOWELL: I'm George Howell. We'll be right back after the break. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)