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Three Americans, Brit Thwart Terror Attack; Standoff in Korea; Heroes Talk About Dramatic Train Takedown; Dow Plummets 531 Points; President Obama Approves Emergency Declaration; Baylor Orders Inquiry Into Sex Assault Case. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired August 22, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

CHRIS NORMAN, SUBDUED GUNMAN ON TRAIN (through translator): All I want to do is go home now. In fact frankly what do I want to do is go home and spend some time with my family.

I didn't hear him asking for his weapon back. I was just -- what I did hear was Alexander telling him to stop fighting. And until we got him to quiet down, we got him on the floor and I tied him up while Alexander went to look for other terrorists. I tied him up with a tie.

No, but apparently he's going to contact us and now, I've not spoken to the French Prime Minister. I think that he will come out this evening. He was operated on his hand. Yes, we had him on the phone yesterday. It was mainly his friends. I was there.

I don't know the three others, but obviously since we met in this context we are now kind of friends.

I was born in Uganda. I grew up in Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa -- south of France. I was at a business meeting in Holland. Actually my job is to help African entrepreneurs look for financing in Europe and in the world finance. And so what I was doing in Holland is I was looking for export credits for one of my clients.

I did not wake up this morning because -- I did not wake up this morning because I haven't been to sleep yet.

What it is, is that I think that it was good to save lives. I'm very happy and on top of that, I'm very happy that the person who was wounded is going to -- is ok. He's going to -- well, I don't know how well he is, but he is not in a critical condition.

For me, how could I say what I'm feeling. I'm beginning now to realize what we've done, but I'm very happy for everybody who was in the train and that we managed to overcome this person without loss of life. And excuse me, I think I'm going to go now.

I do have family in Britain. I spent four years in England. Which part of Britain? London and Reading. I went to University in Reading. I have two children, one is in the French navy.

Not really. I feel like anybody else who faced with the same things I think might actually act in the same way. And I think if you'll excuse me, I think I'd like to leave it at that. Ok -- guys. Ok -- thanks very much.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, extraordinary detail there.

Hello everyone -- I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the NEWSROOM now. You were just listening to a British national. His name is Chris Norman. He was describing the account of what happened on this high speed train going from Amsterdam to Paris and how three American young men -- one an active duty U.S. Air Force member, another is an inactive National Guardsman, and then a third who is a civilian -- all three of them really good friends. They go back to their middle school days.

But they, along with this man right here Chris Norman ended up tackling and taking down a suspected terrorist. Someone who had a Kalashnikov, someone who had a pistol, as well as a box cutter. Someone who was likely to cause great harm there on that high-speed train.

And they talked about how -- he talked about in a coordinated effort taking down this gunman and then tying him. You heard Chris Norman say he actually used a tie in which to do that. And he helped hold down this suspect so that everyone on board that train could still be safe until this train could be encountered by law enforcement -- anyone who could come to their aid.

Incredible story. We're also expecting to hear from those three young men: Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos. At some point they will be emerging, as well, and giving us their live accounts of all that took place. It's been an incredible morning of detail.

All this taking place late last night. You've heard from one of the young men's dad earlier on our air talking to Victor and Christi earlier saying that these young men go way back.

[11:05:01] You're seeing a picture right there of two of the Americans and Chris Norman there.

And it's expected that also they will be meeting up with the French Prime Minister Hollande later on today.

Nick Valencia has also been following this for us. It's an incredible display of events that have taken place. We're getting a little bit of detail here and there, now from Chris Norman and then we hope to hear from the other three as well.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For as extraordinary of an achievement this was to stop this suspected gunman, they were incredibly casual about it when they first spoke to the media. They had a press conference earlier this morning after being hailed as heroes.

Let's take you back to Friday when this incident happened. These three Americans were sitting on a train when they noticed a conductor run frantically through the carriage of the train, emerging behind that conductor, a shirtless man with a rifle hanging over his shoulder.

That's when these three Americans say their instincts kicked into gear.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY SADLER, SUBDUED GUNMAN: I came to see my friends on my first trip in Europe and we stopped a terrorist. Kind of crazy.

VALENCIA: Crazy is one word for it. Heroic seems to be a bit more fitting. American Anthony Sadler sitting next to his friend and another witness describe what happened during their trip on a high speed train in France on Friday.

NORMAN: I looked up, I saw a guy carrying an AK-47, or at least I assumed it was some kind of machine gun anyway. I ducked down in my seat. Alek got up -- Alek actually looked at what was happening, Spencer looked at what was happening. Alek said to Spencer "go get him".

VALENCIA: French authorities say the suspect had fired several gunshots as a French passenger tried to tackle him. That's when the Americans sprang into action. The struggle was brief, bloody and chaotic.

NORMAN: The guy actually came out, he pulled out a cutter and started cutting Spencer. He cut Spencer behind the neck, nearly cut his thumb off.

VALENCIA: American Spencer Stone, seen here in the middle, would eventually subdue the suspected Islamist with help from his friends Sadler and Alek Skarlatos. Stone, a member of the U.S. Air Force, was hospitalized and is recovering.

ALEK SKARLATOS, SUBDUED GUNMAN: We called him, he's doing great.

SADLER: He's in good spirits.

VALENCIA: His friend Alek Skarlatos, a National Guardsman, said few words speaking to reporter, but seemed to say it all.

SKARLATOS: Relief. Relief that nobody got -- nobody actually killed.

NORMAN: And it could have been a real carnage. There's no question about that.

VALENCIA: The three Americans hailed as international heroes but they know it easily could have ended much differently.

SADLER: Really proud of my friend that he just reacted so quickly and so bravely. He was really the first one over there. Even after being injured himself, he went to go help the other man who was bleeding also. Without his help, he would have died.

VALENCIA: And most certainly many others on that train would have too.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VALENCIA: Those men truly incredible. When asked what it felt like to know that their son was an international hero, the parents of one of Americans said he knew what he had do.

WHITFIELD: It's an incredible story and we can't wait to hear also more of the firsthand accounts from those young men.

VALENCIA: Those details -- absolutely.

WHITFIELD: That was a press conference earlier where they made themselves available. And now we're expecting at any moment now they, too, will be going live and we'll of course take that -- Nick.

VALENCIA: Can't wait -- we can't wait to listen.

WHITFIELD: Incredible. All right Nick -- thanks so much.

You referred to the parents talking about these young men. Well, earlier we heard from the father of one of these incredible heroes, Tony Sadler, the father of Anthony Sadler. He spoke to our Victor Blackwell just moments ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SADLER, FATHER OF ANTHONY SADLER: He called me very early on either from the site, the train site or from the police station. And the initial response was surprise and shock. And after that, disbelief and gratitude that our son was ok, that he wasn't killed or hurt during this encounter.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: In terms of the conversation that you had with him last night, is he doing ok? What did he tell you about the incident itself and how he's feeling now?

T. SADLER: It was still settling in with him as far as the reality. What he shared was that it just -- just didn't seem real. It was totally unexpected. It wasn't on any of their radar. They were just out touring Europe and having a great time together for the past week and a half.

The armed gunman came out of the bathroom to the rear of the car that he was in -- him and his friends were in, and garnishing the automatic weapon. And as the one I believe conductor engaged him, he was not able to subdue him and that's when Spencer, his friend Spencer first went into action and charged the assailant. And Alek and Anthony came behind him.

[11:10:06] And between the three of them, they were able to disarm him, get him to the ground and with the help of a fourth man get him tied up. The assailant was yielding what's similar to a box cutter the whole time. That made it a little difficult for the three young men to get control of him. And Spencer did wind up getting cut a few times by this man with that box knife, but thank God they were able to get control over him before he was able to seriously hurt anyone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Well, incredible account. Again you were listening to the father of one of those three Americans that helped take down that suspect. And that was Anthony Sadler talking about his son Anthony Sadler and talking also about relationship between those three young men who were touring Europe when all of this unfolded right before their eyes and they jumped into action.

So the suspect on this train, the one that you saw in that video being held down, according to European officials, was linked to Belgian investigations into radical Islamist networks.

We're going to talk with our terror analyst Paul Cruickshank to make some sense of all of this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. We've been covering that thwarted terror attack on a train in France. This video right here says it all. You are seeing a bloody scene there after three Americans and a British national actually helped take down a suspect who had a Kalashnikov, a pistol and even a box cutter. It's very bloody there because one of the Americans was seriously injured while trying to hold down that suspect.

[11:15:04] And really everyone on that train, a very crowded train with many cars -- up to 500 people on it. Many people in this car in particular, tried very hard to hold down that suspect, physically tying him up with a necktie until they could get to assistance and law enforcement.

So let's talk more about the continuing threat not just in Europe, but really worldwide. Let's zero in on what is happening there between Amsterdam and Paris, which the route of this high-speed train.

Let's bring in CNN terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank. So Paul, this suspect according to European officials was linked to Belgian investigations into radical Islamist networks. But talk to me about this continuing threat. It's not just Belgium but France as well, many European nations really have their radar up and they're seeing regular activity if not attempts and they're seeing many -- a lot of activity in terms of the planning stages of terror attacks.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Fredricka, this is a time of unprecedented threat in Europe. I speak to European security officials on a regular basis. They have never been more worried and much of this is due to the conflict in Syria and Iraq, the rise of ISIS, the fact that up to 6,000 European extremists have traveled to Syria and Iraq, the fact that hundred and hundreds have returned to Europe. The fact that it's impossible to monitor 24/7 all but a small fraction of these returnees.

They are overwhelmed right now. They're worried that this is the new normal, this kind of attack -- attempted attack that we saw on the train yesterday. There have been a string of plots and attacks in recent months of course in Paris in January, but also in Belgium in May 2014 there was that attack on the Jewish museum by a French fighter who had connected with ISIS and come back. There had been other plots.

President Hollande of France saying that French authorities are learning of terror plots every week. Very, very worried in France by the level of terrorist activity right now. A lot of concern that ISIS itself, the terror organization, the leadership, pivoting towards telling recruits to come back to Europe to launch attacks.

WHITFIELD: And this happening not many months after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack there in Paris. So I wonder Paul, in this case we still have not heard from counter terrorism or law enforcement officials there in France as it pertains to what happened last night. And what they have since learned. But that there is this one suspect that we have seen this video being taken down.

Is there a feeling given the kind of armor that he had that this is typical of what has become kind of that lone wolf attack? Or if there is a resumption or feeling that there may have been others on the train but because this was thwarted, they just didn't carry it out?

CRUICKSHANK: I don't think there is any indication there were any other terrorists on the train itself. But they're still looking into whether this was a lone wolf attack, somebody inspired by the al Qaeda or ISIS ideology. Or whether this was somebody who traveled to Syria and Iraq and actually managed to connect with the organization over there, perhaps learn how to fire a Kalashnikov. They're looking into that at this point.

WHITFIELD: How difficult or easy do you think that is to establish?

CRUICKSHANK: It's sometimes quite difficult because some of these extremists, they travel to Turkey and then the trail goes cold and it's difficult to know whether they actually managed to cross the border into Syria or not. So they're going to be scrambling on this. They're going to be contacting their intelligence partners in Turkey but also bringing in U.S. capabilities, very significant U.S. capabilities in this regard to try and figure out if he did connect in some way with a terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

But there is also a middle road where ISIS is sort of instigating directly these kind of attacks over social media, fighters in Syria and Iraq, operatives there connecting with radicals in Europe but also in the United States. And encouraging them to launch attacks.

We saw that with the attempted attack in Garland, Texas in May against a meeting there. And that is becoming increasingly prevalent for ISIS to be instigating this kind of stuff over social media. They're using encrypted communications, online messaging to try to get this message out. Just in the last six months, there have been 16 Americans involved in ISIS-inspired plots in the United States. So this kind of thing can happen in the United States at any point, as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Cruickshank -- thanks so much. I know we're going to talk with you again because at any moment now, we do expect to hear from those Americans.

[11:20:01] There were three young American men right there who were all involved. They spotted something wrong on this high speed train from Amsterdam to Paris and they took action taking down this suspect. And it was quite the heroic act.

We'd heard from British national Chris Norman earlier. We hope to hear from these young men at any moment. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

A real act of heroism: three Americans helped take down a suspected gunman on a high speed train from Amsterdam to Paris. You're looking at the three Americans right there. We heard just moments ago from a British national who also helped hold down this suspect until they were able to get help.

At any moment now we expect to hear from any number of these three Americans live and of course when that happens, we'll take their story as it happens.

All right. Meantime, concerns over an all-out war between North and South Korea may be easing. North Korea had given the South an ultimatum to stop its propaganda broadcast by today. Well, now both sides are holding talks. But North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un still has his front line troops in what is being called a war time state.

Earlier in the week there was an exchange of artillery fire over the DMZ, the heavily fortified area separating the two. U.S. And China are urging both sides to take a step back.

[11:25:02] Bruce Klingner joins me now. He is a former CIA deputy division chief for Korea. He is joining us from Washington. Good to see you.

BRUCE KLINGNER, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIVISION CHIEF FOR KOREA: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. So threats and brinkmanship are nothing new between the two Koreas but this seems unusually tense. Is this North Korea trying to position itself for new demands from the South or is there something else going on here?

KLINGNER: Well, we woke up this morning expecting to see the results of the ultimatum North Korea had given, but instead we had a surprise meeting on a very senior level. So it appears North Korea may have stepped back at least a little from the edge of a crisis.

That said, there is still elements in place that could lead to increasing potential for another tactical clash. North Korea continues to threaten, they have increased their military training right along the DMZ. South Korea has vowed a stern response and they vowed to expand the propaganda broadcast which is what triggered the most recent provocation.

WHITFIELD: And you were planning to head to South Korea tomorrow I understand. So what is your expectation of what you'll learn once on the ground there?

KLINGNER: Well, with North Korea, we never know if we're on the on- ramp or off-ramp to tension. So this coming week it's still a high level U.S.-South Korean military exercise that goes on which in the past North Korea has said was a prelude to an invasion, a declaration of war and would justify any kind of North Korean attack. So we could have an increase in tensions and other confrontation along the DMZ which could escalate. Or conversely this unexpected senior level talk could lead to a diffusion of the tension.

WHITFIELD: So what is different this time because these military exercises happen annually -- at least once a year.

KLINGNER: Right. Well, North Korea sometimes will ratchet up tensions. The last time in March and April of 2013, it was threatening nuclear war against the U.S., was threatening tactical level attacks again South Korea in the West Sea along some disputed islands, the site of two attacks in 2010. So sometimes they raise the tension during these military exercises. Other times they don't. This time is more like that April of 2013 when there was growing concern.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bruce Klingner -- thank you so much from Washington. Appreciate it.

KLINGNER: My pleasure -- thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. The Americans involved in thwarting that terror attack in France are expected to speak at any moment now. And when they do, we'll take that live as it happens. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An extraordinary heroism, three Americans and a British national who stopped what could have been a massacre on the high speed train in Belgium are telling their story now, how they took down a gunman on the train even hogtying him.

You you're looking at exclusive new video from inside the train. Just a short while ago, we heard from Chris Norman describe all of this as it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS NORMAN, SUBDUED GUNMAN ON TRAIN: I heard some glass breaking and then I saw somebody running down the aisle to the front of the train. I was facing towards the back. I then stood up to see what was happening. I saw a man with what I think was an AK-47.

Anyway, it was some kind of a machine gun or submachine gun. My first reaction was to sit down and hide. Then I heard one guy, an American, say go get him and I heard another American say don't you do that buddy or I think that was it.

So then I decided that perhaps it was really the only time or only chance was to act as a team and try to take over the terrorist, I suppose he's a terrorist. So what I then did, I jumped up and I was actually the fourth person to begin working on the terrorist.

The other person who was there before me was Anthony Sadler, who is the student. I clarified Alexander Skarlatos is from the National Guard in the United States and Spencer Stone is from the U.S. Air Force.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

NORMAN: Was I train for that? No, no, no, not at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw people running the other way. What made you decide to take on the gunman?

NORMAN: I think it was actually very rapid reasoning. He had (inaudible) he had a magazine full. I don't know how many magazines he had. My thought was, OK, I'm probably going to die anyway. So let's go. I'd rather being active than simply sit in the corner and be shot. (Inaudible).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: You're listening to British national, Chris Norman, there describe how he says he was the fourth person to help hold down this suspect on that high speed train. The three Americans that he overheard saying go get him.

Don't do that buddy, talking to the gunman once they spotted the Kalashnikov that he had as well as a pistol and ultimately a box cutter, too. So Chris Norman spoke outside of the hospital.

One of the Americans has been hospitalized because he did get severely cut up. You saw some of the video on the train earlier. You saw there was one person laying down who was kind of bloodied up. That was one of Americans after helping to take down the suspect who had all that weaponry.

And then ultimately you see right there hogtied apparently Chris Norman described earlier in that press conference how he used his neck tie or someone's neck tie to actually tie up that suspect. There is one of the other Americans bloodied up who has been hospitalized.

We're waiting right now outside of that hospital in France for any one of the three Americans who helped take down this suspect to emerge and of course, when he or they come out, we'll take that live. We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:38:43]

WHITFIELD: All right, investors are reeling from an extremely rough week on Wall Street. The Dow Jones plunging 531 points on Friday and racking up its worst week since 2011. Analysts are now wondering if the bad news will continue, when a new week of overseas trading begins tomorrow.

CNN Money chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is joining me now. Good to see you, Christine. This was a very quick and it was a very steep drop, left a whole lot of people very nervous. So what do you attribute to all of this too?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's a reminder that stocks do go down, they haven't gone up basically for six years, right. Stocks do go down. There are three things that really bothered people this week.

One, China's growth is slowing pretty dramatically and that affects the whole world. Number two, oil prices crashed below $40 a barrel. That is really unsettling for investors, who might have exposure to those energy stocks that are declining rapidly.

And number three, the fed will raise interest rates maybe in September, maybe in December, but that will affect every single American. Fredricka, I have two charts I want to show you.

First one just shows just the week how ugly it looked, I mean, really ugly for the week, a 1,000 points down on the Dow. Here is the perspective. Take a look the Dow since 2009. You can barely see last week's blip. You can barely see it.

That shows you a market that has gone straight up with hardly any corrections. So it looks like now we're getting that correction in the Dow -- Fredricka.

[11:40:08] WHITFIELD: My goodness, in other ways how might people be impacted by this, not just the investor, but is it by way of the gas prices, oil impact?

ROMANS: That's a good question. I think you will see $2 gas by Halloween. So the crash in the commodities market and oil prices is good for consumers, but it's unsettling for investors who might have exposure to those companies.

So it's bad for your 401(k), but very good for your monthly budget. The Federal Reserve will raise interest rates eventually. We don't know when exactly. We think September, maybe December. That will affect every single person because it means your variable interest rate, credit cards will go up, any car loans you have, a new car loan will cost more. A mortgage will go up.

So if you have to refinance a mortgage or you're getting a mortgage, please do it right now. So there is a lot in flux with your money right now -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And as it pertains to the 401(k)s, just hold tight and hope that it will get better.

ROMANS: Close your eyes. Make sure you're balanced properly. On your birthday look at your allocations and make sure they're appropriate and that should be good enough.

WHITFIELD: OK, and then breathe. Thanks, Christine. Appreciate it.

Raging wildfires have prompted an emergency declaration by President Obama. We'll go live right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:54]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. The three Americans who stopped what could have been a massacre on a high speed train in Belgium are expected to talk very soon. We look at this video, however, they tackled the gunman, even hogtying him in this dramatic takedown.

You can see as it's moving around, you eventually see one person laying -- that's the suspect that apparently one of the British nationals who also helped the Americans take the suspect down said he used a neck tie to help hog tie him and the other person without the shirt is one of the Americans, one of the three Americans who helped take down the suspect.

He got injured and he remains hospitalized. Our Nic Robertson is in France, which is where the hospital is located where the one American is still being treated and we hope at any moment now right, Nic, to hear from one if not two, maybe three of the Americans?

Not a good sign. You're not able to hear Nic. We need to get a better signal and when we do, we will redirect with Nic Robertson to give us more.

Meantime, let's talk about out west, hundreds of wildfires burning throughout the damaging flames so severe that President Barack Obama has signed an emergency declaration to send aid to places like Washington State. And that's where we find our Stephanie Elam. She's following the latest developments. So Stephanie, what is happening there?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're talking about a great swathe of the western region burning, Fred, and you have 17 states that have fires burning and some of them are categorized as large, about 66 of them as large. And because of that, resources are being depleted throughout the area and including here in Washington State as they battle these blazes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): Across the country, more than 250 wildfires that are burning in 17 states.

JOHN PELISSIER, OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY: They are all extreme. They are all big, really bad and all over the place.

ELAM: In hard hit Washington State, 390,000 acres are on fire. More than 3,000 firefighters and 26 planes are battling the flames.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all hands on deck, as you can imagine with so many fires, it's tough. ELAM: On Friday President Obama signed an emergency declaration allowing federal resources to move in. As firefighters work to save homes and evacuate residents from harm's way.

TODD PECHOTA, OKANOGAN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: They are committed. They are tired, they are working long hours. They are not getting sleep. They are getting chased from one house to another. But they are giving it their best and are doing a great job.

ELAM: In Okanogan County, what was once a three-story home is left smoldering and reduced to ashes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't ever remember something like this and I've lived here my whole life.

ELAM: Some of the evacuees are camped in a Home Depot parking lot.

SANDY TUMBLESTON, EVACUEE: It's so sad because I love where we live. I love the grandeur, the beauty, the wildlife.

ELAM: With resources stretched thin, about 200 active duty soldiers from Joint Base Lewis McCord are joining the fight against the fires. The situation is so desperate the state is now asking volunteers to help dig fire lines. And these residents help knock down flare ups close to their homes with boots and shovels.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything is stretched thin around here. This is what we do, we go out to protect our own, our friend, everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all come together when we have to.

ELAM: The state is mourning the deaths of three firefighters who died earlier this week in Twisp when flames over took their vehicle after it crashed. Four others were also hurt, one critically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know the danger is always there. You just hope it never happens and when it does, it's tough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[11:50:03] ELAM: And part of what is the problem here besides the fact that there have been stiff winds in the area, there is also pact that Washington State has also been plagued with a drought much like California which makes this very dry brittle tender which makes it easy for the wild fires to spread and so much that they're asking civilians to help out and fight the fires -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Stephanie, what about the residence that says that they have been there all of their lives and nothing like this has happened. When will they get a chance to access the damage of their homes?

ELAM: It depends. It's case by case. Every two hours they're letting residence come in and see their house to a point. If you're past the other point, you don't get to go and see your house. They line up, and this is where the road is closed and they have to be escorted up there and make sure that everything is safe. They have to burn down any possible fuel that could be up there and spark any larger wild fire. Until they have that all controlled, they're keeping if residence contained as they make their way back to the houses to make sure that everything is OK.

WHITFIELD: All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And we will have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories now, two people are in jail after a peaceful protest turned violent in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[11:55:03] Protesters were outraged that a jury could not reach a verdict on charges against Officer Randall Kerrick. He was on trial for voluntary manslaughter after he fatally shot Ferrell then times.

The officer said that he feared for his life and had no choice, but to fire when he ran towards him. The jury saw the dash cam video, but the shooting occurred off camera.

Police are investigating a deadly shooting at a federal building in lower Manhattan. Officials say 68-year-old Kevin Dawning, a former federal employee, walked up to the metal detectors and then shot a guard with a handgun. He then turned the gun on himself. There's no indication the incident was linked to terrorism.

And Michael Jordan in Houston winning on the court, but now he is winning in court too. The former NBA mega star being awarded $8.9 million. This after a grocery store chain used his name without asking back in 2009.

Here is the ad that started it all. This was featured in "Sport's Illustrated" congratulating Jordan on his induction in the Hall of Fame and then offering a $2 off coupon for steak. He says that he is going to donate that money to a charity of his choice.

All right, moving on to politics. "Juno" actress, Ellen Page went head to head with Ted Cruz at the Iowa State Fair on Friday. Page says the Republican presidential candidate discriminates against the LGBT community. Cruz says Christians are being persecuted for believing marriages between a man and a woman.

Well, during the exchange Cruz is seen with Page who was wearing a hat and sunglasses. Here is some of the back and forth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What she could not be doing is persecuting people who follow their faith. One of the couples that's going to be featured tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the --

CRUZ: Well, what we're saying right now is actually we're saying that bible believing Christians so for example --

I am happy to answer the question but not to have a back and forth debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, that exchange went on for 5 minutes with Cruz eventually cutting off the dialogue and simply walking away.

All right, Baylor University has ordered an internal investigation into the sexual assault case involving an ex-football player. The 22- year-old Sam (inaudible), the one-time all American was sentenced on Friday to 180 days in jail and ten years' probation for sexually assaulting a former female Baylor soccer player back in 2013. CNN's Nick Valencia has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sam (inaudible) sat quietly in a Texas courtroom this week as a jury convicted him of a sexual assault. The explanation for the scandal lies partly in his past.

Early 2013, he a freshman all American is dismiss from the Boise State football team after a confrontation with a girlfriend. In May of that year he transfers to Baylor University nearly 1,700 miles away in his home state of Texas.

His head coach says that he knew nothing of the problems of his past. It's an issue that would surface less than five months after his transfer when he is accused of an on-campus sexual assault against a Baylor soccer player.

ART BRILES, BAYLOR HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: He never played a down for us. It's a very unfortunate situation for all concerned. That's all that we have to say about it.

VALENCIA: Baylor University is accused of mishandling the rape investigation. They did investigate it, but suspended the case without looking at the medical evidence and the victim's rape kit.

In a statement to the media Baylor University said, quote, "After consideration of the preponderance of evidence, a decision was rendered to move or not move forward to a full disciplinary hearing.

In their investigation the Waco police detectives said there was not enough evidence to make an arrest. They sent their report to prosecutors that brought the case to a grand jury.

He was finally indicted in late June of 2014 eight months after the incident. Speaking to reporters before Friday's practice, Baylor's coach, Art Briles, said he followed protocol.

BRILES: Nobody is going do that with a prior conviction or a really an allegation. Like I said we made our decision on the knowledge that we had two years ago. VALENCIA: Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, we have so much more straight ahead in the newsroom, and it all starts right now.

All right, hello and thanks again for joining me.