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Turkish Warplanes Bomb ISIS Targets; Louisiana Theater Shooting; Interview with Mayor Bill de Blasio. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 24, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:33:14] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turkey is taking aim at ISIS: for the first time the Turkish warplanes bombing a trio of ISIS targets inside Syria today. In what could be a game-changer in the fight against ISIS, Turkey is also giving the U.S. and coalitions allies more access to Turkish air bases. Nearly 300 terror suspects are also now under arrest. Turkish authorities rounded them up in this massive raid.

CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling joins me now. Good morning -- General.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So what took Turkey so long?

HERTLING: Well, I think they weren't feeling the pain of the attacks until the recent attack against their citizens with the suicide bombing and some of the shooting across their border. So I think this is a critically important decision.

I also believe that we have to thank General John Allen who has been going around various countries in the Middle East trying to persuade countries to join the coalition. All these are important factors in this.

COSTELLO: So tell us specifically what Turkey is now allowing the United States to do.

HERTLING: Yes, well, there's a couple of things. First of all, the strikes this morning by Turkish aircraft on Syrian targets, they claim they were conducted from within Turkey's boundaries so it was an over the boundary shot on some of the ISIS targets.

It's critically important that they're getting their own F-16s into the fight. But even more importantly, they're allowing potentially -- they haven't announced this officially yet and the U.S. government is waiting for Turkey to announce this but all indicators are that they're going to allow U.S. forces, aircraft, to use both Incirlik and Dar al-Bakr (ph) air bases which means that airplanes are going to be about 200 miles away from targets in northern Syria.

That's critically important because it allows for more loiter time, time over the target, but also, the ability to strike and react faster from a closer distance so you don't lose some of those targetings that you might get if you're sending aircrafts from 1,500 miles away and it's more than an hour flight time.

[10:35:13] COSTELLO: General Mark Hertling -- thanks for your insight as usual. I appreciate it.

HERTLING: Thank you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come -- you're welcome. Still to come in the NEWSROOM last night's shooting in Lafayette came nearly three years to the day after the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado. Could this be a copycat?

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COSTELLO: We have new details and chilling new images of last night's shooting spree inside a Louisiana movie theater. This is exclusive video capturing the immediate aftermath. It was shot on a cell phone, obviously. It shows a police officer and a couple of civilians rushing to help one of the victims.

Also, these are the two women who were shot to death inside that movie theater. Mayci Breaux on the left was 21 years old. Jillian Johnson on the right was 33. Nine other people were wounded, one of them critically.

[10:40:05] And police say this is the man responsible, 59-year- old John Russel Houser. He is described as a drifter who was staying at an area hotel. Police say he killed himself as police closed in but apparently he had plans to escape.

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CHIEF JIM CRAFT, LAFAYETTE LOUISIANA POLICE: We found wigs and glasses and disguises basically in his room. His vehicle had a switched license tag on it. It was parked right outside an exit door of the theater. It is apparent that he was intent on shooting and then escaping. What happened is that the quick law enforcement response forced him back into the theater at which time he shot himself.

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COSTELLO: For more on the investigation, I want to bring in CNN contributor and forensic scientist Lawrence Kobilinsky. Welcome -- Lawrence.

LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Pleasure.

COSTELLO: This is such a strange case. Not that any shootings like this make sense but he chooses a comedy to go to -- right? Stands up 20 minutes in. Opens fire on the people directly in front of him. Fires off 13 rounds.

And then, you know, all chaos breaks out. He tries to blend in with the crowd. He gets outside. Spots police. He turns around. Goes back in and then he shoots himself.

KOBILINSKY: There's nothing funny about this and obviously I don't think he ever intended to shoot himself. I think he intended to commit this crime and escape in his vehicle. He had changed his plates so he wanted to evade detection. He was going to go back to his hotel room. Get his disguise, put on and then flee probably back to Alabama where he came from.

And I just think that there are too many similarities to the Aurora shooting with James Holmes where 12 people were massacred and 70 people were injured.

Here it's a gun. There were, again, mass casualties. This person came in there for no understandable reason and that's critical. We need to know the motive. But he came in with this 40-caliber gun, a semiautomatic. Fired multiple shots. I don't know whether he used one magazine or he had reloaded with a second magazine. Some magazines would hold only 10 rounds. And he fired 13, he may have changed magazines. We don't know that yet.

But it seems to me pretty clear that he meant to commit this crime and flee and escape. When he saw the police --

COSTELLO: Supposedly it was 20 minutes in just like the Aurora shooting.

KOBILINSKY: Yes. Too many similarities. This sounds like a copycat. I think that there are unstable people who have access to guns that think they will now go down in history for committing a crime like this. It's heinous.

COSTELLO: Well, I did talk to the parents of one of the victims of the Aurora shootings and they said, they believe it's a copycat -- right. And they say we should not show this man's face on television. We shouldn't mention his name because all too often these mass shootings happen because the shooter wants notoriety.

KOBILINSKY: Well, I would agree, but you know, the media has an obligation to inform the public because why are we doing this? We are doing this not just because people need to know, but we need to know how to prevent future incidents like this. If there's something that we can learn from doing this entire investigation, there may be some change of policy, perhaps involving gun control, perhaps putting metal detectors.

COSTELLO: But there have been so many -- Lawrence. What have we learned? They keep happening.

KOBILINSKY: I think we have to keep the battle up because although the Second Amendment protects gun privileges, we don't want guns in the hands of unstable people. I don't think -- responsible gun owners are not going to go around shooting people. But these people sometimes the straw that breaks the camel's back or they're emotionally disturbed -- something triggers them and we have a situation like this and --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: But there are instances where supposedly stable people have opened -- like the Florida movie theater shooting. That guy was a police officer. He wasn't mentally ill.

KOBILINSKY: Well, not every case is somebody who's mentally ill. Sometimes it's a perfectly normal, stable person and something incites them and they can't control themselves. And unfortunately, if they have got a gun, they could use it.

I mean look, if somebody wants to kill somebody, it can done with other kinds of weapons, it doesn't have to be a gun. But the fact is that there are too many shootings in this country and it's very unfortunate because innocent people are suffering every day, every hour, every minute. And we have to do something about it.

COSTELLO: Lawrence Kobilinsky, thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio talks to me about Hillary Clinton, climate change, the Vatican, the Pope and more.

[10:45:00]What he had to say, next.

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COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton is in the news again and not in the way she would like. The Justice Department is being asked to investigate whether sensitive information was mishandled while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. Perhaps that will add to her falling favorability ratings but maybe those favorability ratings are falling because of other issues.

I sat down with New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio who has supported Clinton in the past to ask why he's not thrown his full support behind Clinton's presidential run.

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MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: I think she's done a great job of portraying the outlines of a vision for change. I thought her last speech on the economy was very, very strong. So I'm optimistic about where she's going. What I've said is there's still some issues that I think a lot of us need to hear more on.

COSTELLO: What does she need to say to win you over?

[10:50:02] DE BLASIO: I think the fact is she's put forth a very broad outline and a very appealing one. There's some specifics that have to be understood obviously -- more on her position on trade, more on the specifics around progressive taxation and how she intends to get it done.

A lot of us think that it's a matter of skill and ability and experience. I have said many times I think she is more experienced and more able than the vast majority of people who have run for the office of the presidency. We happen to be at a national crossroads where we must address income inequality. I think if we don't this country becomes literally destabilized. By the way, that phrase was not used first by me. It was used first by Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs who said income inequality is destabilizing this nation. That's how serious the problem is. Even business leaders acknowledge that we are on the wrong path.

So when I look at what she said I'm encouraged. What I'd like to see and I think a lot of Democrats and progressives like to see is a clear road map to those changes.

COSTELLO: Have you talked with her lately?

DE BLASIO: I talk to her team a lot. And I look forward to talking to them more.

COSTELLO: The tabloids say that she's now dissing you and then you're dissing her.

DE BLASIO: I think that's wrong. I have tremendous respect for her. And there's been a running dialogue between me and her team throughout. And look I think we have to remember we're still in 2015. Election happens in 2016. And a lot of us rightfully are saying, given the severity of the challenges we face, we need answers. That's a fair thing to ask of any candidate, even a candidate you like.

COSTELLO: You have expressed admiration for Bernie Sanders.

DE BLASIO: Yes.

COSTELLO: Would he make a good president?

DE BLASIO: Bernie Sanders has done an extraordinary job talking about where we need to go as a country.

COSTELLO: He calls himself as a socialist.

DE BLASIO: He calls himself a Democratic socialist. And I think that's an honest estimation on his part of his values. I admire that.

COSTELLO: Does that mean you're the same or you're different?

DE BLASIO: I think there's a lot to like in that title. But what I'd say is this. He has offered a critique of what's wrong that's very powerful. He has offered a set of ideas about the changes we need to make and it's helping to drive a national discussion.

Candidates are supposed to do that. Now, some candidates who don't prevail still have a very big impact on the debate. And so I think right now he's playing a very, very productive role.

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COSTELLO: Now Mayor de Blasio just returned from an environmental summit in Rome hosted by Pope Francis. The mayor told me he was inspired to see the Pope bring together 60 mayors from all around the world all with the common goal of saving the planet.

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DE BLASIO: I went to Rome having already announced New York City would reduce our emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050. We're taking very aggressive actions to go there. But based on the gathering in Rome, coming up, I got together with my staff we are going to retrofit all our public buildings. We're going to guarantee that private buildings in the city are retrofitted either voluntarily or by mandate. We're going to use more electric cars.

COSTELLO: But all these things cost money, too, don't they? Is there any price tag that you have in mind?

DE BLASIO: Sure. For example, to retrofit all our public buildings over the next 10 years is over a billion dollars and we put that into our budget. But I'll tell you, the fate of the earth is something that should be paramount by definition.

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COSTELLO: Mayor de Blasio says he has an aggressive plan for New York City to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050.

You can hear more of my interview with Mayor de Blasio. Let me know your thoughts. Facebook.com/carolCNN. I'd love to hear from you. I'll be right back.

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[10:57: 47] COSTELLO: Checking some other top stories for you today at 57 minutes past.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter makes a surprise visit to Iraq to take on ISIS. Carter landed in Erbil early this morning. He was expected to meet with Kurdish officials to discuss ways to defeat the terror group. He met with U.S. troops and Iraqi government officials on Thursday.

Texas authorities say a preliminary autopsy confirms Sandra Bland committed suicide. Questions surrounding Bland's death surfaced after this video of here arrest during a traffic stop went viral. Prosecutors say she hanged herself. They say she did not have any injuries on her hands to suggest any kind of struggle. Defensive injuries there are typical of violent homicides.

This week CNN's "THE HUNT" heads to Oregon where John Walsh is looking for a man accused of kidnapping women off the streets and then torturing them.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 11:30 at night I was working as a patrol officer on the night shift. I received a call of a kidnapping assault that had occurred at the area of 37th and Olympic here in Hillsboro. When I arrived on the scene, I saw a young lady who was covered

with cuts and bleeding. She told me that she had been kidnapped from Portland. She wasn't even sure what city she was in. She asked me several times where we were and I did tell we were in the city of Hillsboro, outside of Portland.

ANDREA HOOD, OREGON: In 1990, I just turned 17. I typically would wake up and go work the streets to get enough money to buy drugs to last me -- I would try to get enough money that will make it last all day.

It was pretty early in the morning, like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. A little pickup truck pulled over. Before I knew what was even happening, I was in the back of the truck chained to the bed of the truck and with a pillow case on my head and duct tape on my mouth.

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[11:00:02] COSTELLO: You can check out "THE HUNT" for Paul Jackson this Sunday 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

And I'd like to thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.