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Nashville Police Give Press Conference About the Shooting in a Movie Theater; Phoenix Police Chief's House Raided. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 06, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And the communities are demanding accountability. And I think that's what is taking place here.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: And we have surveillance, videos.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Video, body cameras, dash cam, et cetera.

HOSTIN: Talk about it forever.

BALDWIN: Joey, thank you so much. Sunny, thank you as well.

Next, is giving new parents more time off the start of a new trend? Sunny says thumbs up, as a mom. Netflix did it. Now, another major company is following their path. How much time they are getting and will people really take it? We'll discuss.

Also, bounty hunters searching for a fugitive banging on the door of the police chief. How that could have happened? Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:34:56] BALDWIN: If only you could have heard this conversation at commercial break, we will make it happen for you on live TV. And I want you to weigh in. It looks like now Microsoft is following Netflix's lead sweetening the deal when it comes to paid leaves for new parents. Microsoft, for example, starting in November, new mom can take up to 20 weeks paid leave. This comes a day after Netflix offered unlimited paid leave off during the first year for new moms and dads and that includes having kids and adoptions.

So let's talk about this with our favorite resident moms here who has been going at it for the last four minutes together. CNN digital correspondent Kelly Wallace and CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin.

And so, OK. My first question, when I read all about this, and listen, I'm not a mom. Maybe, I hope to be one day, who knows. But, you know, when I think about unlimited leave, my question is will people really take it? Will people really say, OK, give me the year I want off?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, here is the thing. I believe if you build it, they will come when it comes to maternity and paternity leave. There is an issue, though, because people have been writing about it today that a lot of the tech companies have been offering unlimited vacation and people aren't taking a lot of vacation time. They are confused about what unlimited means. They wonder if they take six weeks vacation, are they sending a bad message to the boss. So there's a concern there. But I believe for this one, women and men --

BALDWIN: You weigh in and then I'll --

HOSTIN: And I think this is very different in the sense that, and I have my own personal experience. I was a federal prosecutor working for the federal government. I had a problem pregnancy, I had torn placenta. I had to borrow leave. Other prosecutors had to donate time for me so I could spend time off.

BALDWIN: That's insane.

HOSTIN: And I had to cobble together medical leave, short-term disability and all of this things and yet, and still, I only got after C-section three months off. I can tell you that with my daughter, and I was at a private firm as a partner, I got less time. You can't get that time back. You can't get the bonding time back. You're a nursing mother.

BALDWIN: You are still irked over this.

HOSTIN: I'm still upset about it because I really feel in terms of having a healthy relationship with your child and a healthy relationship with yourself.

WALLACE: Right.

HOSTIN: The mother's guilt that comes from having to leave your infant home with another caregiver or a daycare center when you would love to be there is -- it's a feeling unlike anything else.

BALDWIN: And I don't know what it is about the tech companies, the Netflix, the Googles and the Facebook and these are the kind of places. And I've been to some of these workplaces where you roll in, it's sort of, hey, show up wherever you want but they get their work done.

WALLACE: They get their work done.

BALDWIN: It's different.

WALLACE: It's different.

BALDWIN: It's not corporate.

WALLACE: It is not. And they believe in that's the best way that if it you have good work/life balance, guess what, you're going to come to the table, able to deliver, and innovate and have the ideas. And I feel like these companies are setting the stage. Hello, rest of corporate America.

HOSTIN: And hello America. We're way behind European countries in this. I mean, I think it's disgusting, quite frankly, that in our country today women who make up, you know, so much of the workforce have to sacrifice their bonding experience with their child to be a productive person in our society. I think it's disgusting. And I still think what the federal government, quite frankly, did to me when I was a young thriving prosecutor is despicable. It's despicable.

WALLACE: There is an issue about women. Companies want to attract women. The tech companies want to attract and retain women. Other companies want to as well.

BALDWIN: There you go.

WALLACE: This is the way to do it. Retain them and then get them back in the workforce when they want to be there anyway.

BALDWIN: I do also think though, you mentioned just briefly, and then we have to go, culturally, you know, in Europe, there, or Australia or wherever else, they take vacation and it's like nothing around here. It is sort of like, hey, I didn't take my vacation time, you know, leave this year. It's like it's perceived differently.

HOSTIN: Because we think as women we'll be penalized. We will be put on the mommy track as oppose to the --

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: That's a women and male thing. But I think it's changing. And I think these tech companies may be setting the stage that, you know, to innovate, to really come up with something great, you need some time away from your laptop.

BALDWIN: OK, Sunny and Kelly, thank you so much.

I could continue but we have to stop and pause and actually go to Nashville. There was a news conference happening on that shooting at the movie theater that happened around this time yesterday. Let's go.

DON AARON, NASHVILLE POLICE: He was told or she was told rather at that time, at 6:00 Monday evening, that Montano was not there and that the mission had lost contact with him in May. On Wednesday, yesterday, Montano was seen in the area of the Hickory 8 movie theater on foot. We have found no vehicle in that area linked to him nor is there any information that has come to the police department's attention that he was driving a vehicle yesterday or in the recent past. In fact, Montano does not have a Tennessee driver's license.

Our investigation shows that he arrived at the theater 20 to 25 minutes before the film began. He actually made a stop in the Dollar Store before walking over to the theater. He purchased a ticket to the "Mad Max" film, requested a cup of water and went into the auditorium.

In the minutes that followed, there were two women also seated in the auditorium. According to those women, Montano was staring them down. He was carrying a backpack, duffle bag as well as a backpack. At one point, he stood up, put the backpack on, the duffle bag on, went toward the women, suddenly put the bags down and sat back down. Ultimately, he gets back up, goes to the row where those two women are and abruptly and suddenly, without any provocation, begins dousing them with chemical spray.

The man seated with those women, who you all met yesterday, Steven, who spoke outside the theater, attempted to intervene on behalf of his family members. It was then that Montano used his ax/hatchet to cause a laceration to the man's shoulder. Those persons then fled the movie theater. Montano actually blocked one of the doors forcing those inside to go out the opposite door as they ran out.

As you know, officers were working at a crash nearby. The sergeant will talk about that in a moment. Individuals ran to those officers, police officers rushed to the scene. We'll talk about that in a moment as well. After Officer Frith's encounter and after he backed out, members of our SWAT team entered the theater. At that point, the movie had been stopped by a member of the police department. The film had actually begun when Officer Frith was in the theater but the film had been stopped by a member of the police department.

The theater at that point was dimly lit. The SWAT officers responded that Montano had moved to a position of recover. They gave him repeated bans to surrender himself which he refused. Montano kept putting his hand out from his cover, directed his arm towards the officer prompting and the officer to fire at him. Having heard from Office Frith that he did have a gun and Officer Frith at that point believed Montano had fired at him.

The officers reported - there is a lot of officers reported Montano was also hurling objects at them including canisters. Canisters of pepper spray. There was -- he was also carrying a canister of propane. Our close examination of that canister of propane shows that it was gashed probably by the ax/hatchet. He also had lighter fluid and a lighter. There's a great possibility that he intended on using this propane canister as some type of an explosive. However, when he gashed it with the cutting instrument, with the hatchet, all of the propane escaped, essentially rendering that propane tank useless as far as an explosive is concerned.

The SWAT team members continued to try to bring him into custody. Again, he refused all of their commands. Ultimately, he decided -- Montano decided to go to the rear door of the theater. Before he actually exited, he threw the gun he was carrying. It is possible that gunfire from SWAT team members damaged that gun.

As you have seen a photograph of it, it looks like it's a state of disrepair. It's possible that the gunfire from the SWAT team members as they were shooting back at his arm that he kept reaching around toward them actually damaged the gun.

When Montano came out the theater, out the rear door, he had a hand up underneath the duffle bag that he was wearing over his chest. The officers at that point perceived that he could have an explosive in that duffle bag. He was also carrying his hatchet or ax in the other hand. The officers deemed him to be an imminent threat and at that point opened fire on Montano and he was fatally wounded. The investigation is continuing. The officers who fired on Wednesday remain on routine administrative assignment as is practice in the department while the investigation continues.

Throughout this matter, we have talked to a number of people, a number of witnesses. We have yet to find anyone who had any dialogue with Montano other than the simple purchase of the movie ticket and the request for a cup of water when he entered the theater. We have yet to find anyone who engaged him in any dialogue. His motive for all this is yet to be determined although we know and you all know he has mental issues, he has been diagnosed apparently as a paranoid schizophrenic in the past. My understanding he was committed at least three times (INAUDIBLE) and I understand he has a committal in another state.

Our check of Montano's history shows that has visited or has been in a number of states in the eastern U.S. over the past several years. At this point, I'm going to ask Officer Frith to explain to you his arrival, what he encountered and what he saw and what he did. I want to remind you that the police department is making an exception to our policy, officers involved in critical incidents are not subjected to media interaction or involvement while the investigation is taking place. We're going to make an exception today but questions, if any, will be very limited. And the same goes for the sergeant -- Officer Frith.

[15:46:20] OFFICER JONATHAN FRITH, FIRST RESPONDER TO THEATER ATTACK: Good morning. Yesterday I was working in the area of the Hickory mall. Around 1:13 I heard over the radio that there was an armed suspect in the theater. I was in close proximity with another officer and we immediately responded. Myself and three other officers responded. We all arrived pretty much at the exact same time. At that point, I noticed there was two citizens that were possibly wounded immediately called for an ambulance and knowing that -- again, the information that he would be a suspect was still inside, immediately proceed into the theater to actively engage him. We were directed to the theater where he was at, which was theater four. I directed two officers to hold security on that -- on those two doors, and myself and another officer went upstairs into the projection booth where we tried to clear the theater as we could. We were unable to identify any civilians or shooter at that point. At that point we went back down to the entrance of the theater. And just by pure chance I went to the left and immediately upon entering the theater. I was engaged with what I perceived to be small arms fire from the small caliber handgun. To my right I heard three audible pops, from what I can recall, and I felt what felt like a discharge from a weapon, the pressure hit me on the right side of my face. At that point, I turned to my right and immediately engaged the figure because, as Mr. Aaron stated, the movie was still playing and all I could see was the silhouette of the figure. I engaged that figure with one shot with my rifle and immediately backed out and declared that we had a barricade suspect situation and waited for the extra officers to come and sergeant (INAUDIBLE), you can take it from there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had worked the accident just down the street and had just left that scene when I heard officer Arnett call for a man with a hatchet and a gun at the theater. So I started backing out. When I arrived in minutes, I encountered the two females and a male, the same victim that Officer Frith had encountered on the front sidewalk.

The females were covered in a dye that covered their shirt down. Then it was a red-colored dye and that's common in some sprays. And the man told me he had been hit with a hatchet. And I said where and he showed me the gash. From that point, within seconds of talking to them, I heard a gunshot inside. I knew they were inside clearing the building. I moved to the front door and could see them up the hallway, moved into the front door and encountered Officer Frith with his patrol rifle covering a doorway and I had asked him what happened. He said, the guy came to the door, he pointed a pistol at me and pulled the trigger. He said, I stepped back and shot. I asked Officer Frith, did you hit him? He said, I don't know. I shot center mass.

From that point, I directed them into a hallway of cover. Other officers into a hallway of cover. Other officers were arriving. We didn't know whether there were still folks in other theaters, so we took up positions to cover them, both sides of the hallway. Tactically cleared that, made it safe. Went into the theaters, actually two people had come out and tried to get out. We held them in place until we made it safe. Then we pulled them out and took them out under the cover of officers.

When we had that secured, we held what we had and checked on the ETA from our SRT or spot team. When SWAT arrived, they immediately came in with their patrol rifles. And the decision was made to enter the theater.

This theater is set up -- I don't know if you've been giving maps, but the theater is set up with doors that face each other and open out. A brief plan was made for use a flash bang when they entered that. So that was relayed down to the officers in the hallway. When they opened that door, the flash bang was deployed the SWAT officers went in and got behind the rightmost outer seats, rear seats, and took up a position there.

Within seconds, they encountered the subject at the far end of the theater and shots were fired. There were -- I would be afraid to say how many shots were fired, but several. There were two other three SWAT officers behind the seats and one standing.

What we also encountered was tear gas that was so dense that he had put into the air, I guess, with the canisters, and it made it nearly impossible to breathe. When you encountered it, it was real heavy, too. When that happened, I had taken up a position in the doorway where I could see what was going on SWAT and I could see the officers in the hallway. We radioed for a gas mask. All the patrol officers have gas masks to bring us some mask. We didn't realize it was going to be that heavy.

When they brought us masks, I saw the officers with masks, ran, got them, brought them back to the SWAT officers who were still in the theater engaged with the suspect. And when I say engaged, there were multiple engagements. There was one, stop, see what he's doing, he shoots at them some more, and he engages them again. I don't know, you may be able to tell me how many times that occurred, but gave the gas masks to the SWAT members. They suited up with those and were better equipped then to deal with the problem. From that point, that continued, I backed out and watched the outer perimeter until the suspect exited out the door where the officers on the outside dealt with the threat.

[15:53:25] BALDWIN: All right. You've been listening to quite the details here from these two Nashville police officers talking about what really unfolded bit we all watched it together this time yesterday, that active shoot situation in that movie theater in the national area. It's noteworthy that, you know, they said that they essentially breaking protocol and talking to members of the media, and talking to the public and explaining what exactly happened. I think one of the takeaways too, we knew about these bags that that gunman had. They were really worried because of the propane and gases there could have been a planned explosion. Again that suspect David Montano is dead.

Next, bounty hunters surround a home where they think a fugitive is hiding. But when that door opens, it's the police chief. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:56:16] BALDWIN: Instead of busting a criminal, a bounty hunter became one when he tried to raid the wrong home. And not just any home, this was the home of the Phoenix police chief, Joseph Yaner (ph). The cell phone video shows Tuesday night attempted raid at this police chief's house. Eleven bail bondsmen were part of this whole operation. And the owner of one of these two bail companies involved is charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. Phoenix investigators say the bondsmen were working off a tip from social media.

With me now Wendy Fordin, vice president of Empire Bail Bonds here in New York. She has been in the bail bonds business since she was 17.

So great to see you. Thank you so much for swinging by CNN.

WENDY FORDIN, VICE PRESIDENT, EMPIRE BAIL BONDS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: When you first heard about this, and from what I've read, we will get into the social media angle of this in just a second. But when you first hear about this, all these people swarm into this home. It is a big oops moment. There was sort of one guy standing. Everyone else realizes this is the police chief and they had to sort of pull the guy away and tell him where he was. Were you worried about this? What's your first reaction?

FORDIN: My first reaction is these are cowboys from the Wild Wild West. We here would never do anything like that. We have licensed and bonded, insured investigators, get some background check. They, you know, check every lead that we have. They wouldn't just go off of some sort of social media and break into a house looking for, you know, a criminal.

BALDWIN: That's what I was left wondering. Because apparently this tip came from social media. And I'm curious, just the process of -- I imagine, you know, you all get a lot of tips at any given time. How do you vet them?

FORDIN: We investigate them. We do title searches of the property. We investigator the person that is giving the tip. We, you know, we use all of on you resources. We have a lot of retired police officers working for us, as you know, licensed investigators. All our guys are bonded, insured, so they have a lot of information that they have access to that the general public doesn't.

BALDWIN: What is a bail bondsman? And how do you make money?

FORDIN: Well basically people bail is set by a judge. People can't afford to pay cash bail. So what they'll do is they will hire a bondsman. They will pay us a premium, which is a nonrefundable fee, (INAUDIBLE). They'll pledge collateral. And when the case is over, the collateral returns. And if the defendant does not appear up in court then we released bondmen for the investigator to find the person.

BALDWIN: OK. I know that Phoenix police point out that several of the people who tried to raid the police chief's home, they had handguns. And the job has serious responsibilities, but when you look at sort like the laws and the policies, when you say this would never happened here in New York, you know, but it's different, right, Arizona compared to New York.

FORDIN: Basically in Arizona, all you have to do is present your fingerprints to the state with the picture, and you become licensed. In New York, you have to have training, you have to have schooling, you have to take classes, you have to take courses, you have to be fingerprinted, background checks done on you. So it's an expensive process to get actually a license in New York to be a bounty hunter.

BALDWIN: You've been doing this since you have been 17.

FORDIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: What is it, in the 30 seconds I have with you, what it is about it that this line of work you so enjoy?

FORDIN: It basically is what we do as a family. So, it's all I know. It is all I've ever done. It's a family-run business. We've been doing it for 25 years, and we're the best at it. We're the elite.

BALDWIN: Betting the tips to come in. And so, you all would say you would never go off something off of social media.

FORDIN: Absolutely, we will never go on something on social media.

BALDWIN: OK. Wendy Fordin, vice president of Empire Bail Bonds in New York, thank you so much for swinging by. I really, really appreciate it.

FORDIN: Thank you. BALDWIN: And that's does it for me here in New York. I'm Brooke

Baldwin. I hope you wake up nice and early with us. I'll be filling in tomorrow morning on "New Day" starting at 5:00 eastern, 5:00-9:00. We will be post-gaming tonight's big debate in Cleveland.

In the meantime, let's go to Washington, D.C. "The LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.