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Cop Killed in Illinois. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 01, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here we go. Breaking news here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And this is our special breaking news coverage. This massive manhunt underway right now in the Chicago area after this police officer was shot and killed. Three suspects are on the loose after the shooting. This is a northern suburb. We're told the officer was just out on a routine patrol. He radioed in that he was going to check on some suspicious activity early this morning. And then moments later, he was, as they say, on foot pursuit. He was walking to determine what was going on. Then apparently the radio communication just totally cut out.

When his backup did arrive, they found this particular officer shot and stripped of his gun. He died at the scene. A local high school is on lockdown. People in the area are being told to stay locked in their homes, in their offices. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. CHRIS COVELLI, LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, SHERIFF'S SPOKESMAN: We have numerous K-9s on the ground checking for scents. We have numerous helicopters and aircraft in the air. We have a large number of officers on foot conducting searches of the area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, with me now, I have CNN national correspondent Deborah Feyerick. Also with me in New York, former NYPD detective and law enforcement consultant Tom Verni and Ryan Young, who is near the scene there.

Let's just be precise, this is Fox Lake, Illinois. This is a community, I'm told, where a lot of people have second homes. A wooded area. So, Ryan, I'm going to come to you in a second.

But, Deb, let me turn to you because we have now determined the Fox Lake police officer killed was a 32-year veteran of the force.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. So this is a man who knew how to police, knew what the protocol was in terms of giving chase to an individual and it appears that at about 8:00 this morning, he encountered three people. It's not clear whether he stopped them, whether he saw them and then began chase, but he did basically begin running after them.

He radioed dispatch. Dispatch knew that this was going on. And then communications ended. It is not clear whether he fired his weapon or whether the suspects turned and fired theirs first. We do know that authorities are now looking for two - well, three individuals, two of them white, one of them black. They are believed to be armed and they clearly are believed to be dangerous.

Now, this happened right - you can see the major highway there. That is U.S. 12. And U.S. 12 essentially runs through the Chicago metropolitan area. So it's not clear whether once they sort of ran, that they were able to access a car, either their own or someone else's, and whether they were able to get onto that highway and got away.

But right now this search is being conducted in the immediate vicinity. The homes, Brooke, as you say, they are believed to be many vacation homes. But the area is in lockdown. There are schools, children were attending those schools. Those are being locked down. Everybody being told to shelter in place while authorities search for these individuals.

This is not just the police that are handling this. This is now the sheriff's department, FBI, U.S. Marshals, ATF. So everybody in the area, because it is a small community and because clearly this has affected them so deeply, everybody's swarming to that area to find these three suspects.

BALDWIN: All right, Tom, so law enforcement protocol in a situation like this, I have to imagine they're setting up a perimeter. We know we've seen helicopters, we've seen dogs on the ground kind of going door to door. What are the first couple of steps in finding the three?

TOM VERNI, FORMER DETECTIVE, NYPD: Well, like the experience with the prison escape up in New York state, they're going to throw out the widest net they can. And then - and then rein it in from there because this - a lot of this area seems to be wooded and suburban. That's going to make it more difficult for them to do that.

BALDWIN: Why?

VERNI: Well, just because of the terrain -

BALDWIN: Easier place they could hide?

VERNI: Just because of the terrain itself. You know, the fact that it is daytime is going to give them the advantage having helicopters in the air. I guess once nightfall comes in, they're going to have probably heat seeking on the - on the helicopters as well, along with night vision, which will aid them as well. But here in the daytime, it's going to be a lot easier for people to actually see what's going on, even just local residents who can call 911 if they see something suspicious and hopefully they will get that information to the police as soon as possible and try to catch these guys.

Listen, if these guys shot and killed an officer, took his gun, they're obviously armed and dangerous and they should be a threat to anyone that's in this immediate area within probably a 50 mile radius until they're - until they're reined in.

BALDWIN: Ryan Young, tell me how far away you are from Fox Lake. And I hear you say, Tom, nightfall. Let's hope it doesn't go into nightfall. Let's hope they catch the three of them before the sun goes down. But, Ryan, tell me what you're learning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, we're in the community right now. And, in fact, we've been able to get out of the car and walk around just a little bit. I can tell you that there are different pockets of perimeter set up all throughout the area. Brooke, I won't give away the streets where I see officers set up because obviously I don't want anyone watching this to give away the positions of the officers, but there are certain areas in this town that you can see officers in large numbers kind of coordinating their efforts and walking through.

I see some in camouflage. I see some from different jurisdictions. And we have seen some of those K-9 officers. The helicopters, there's been more than one buzzing over our head. There are some places where they seem more concentrated.

[14:05:12] But when you think about this, this is a city of about 10,000 people. And as you go through that, there are neighborhoods where - there are some homes that are obviously where it looks like they're vacant. There are some homes where people look like they may have gone to work, but they have to work their way through these neighborhoods. In fact, we've passed a marsh area where we saw one helicopter doing some low flies to see what was going on in that area.

You talked about the officer's gun being taken. One of us was wondering whether or not maybe his badge was taken. What kind of identification was taken from that officer? These are questions that, of course, we'll have to try to get answered. But we're watching all these officers in large mass kind of coordinating their efforts from all different kinds of jurisdictions.

BALDWIN: To that point, Tom, I mean, what if - and we don't know. But we know he - they apparently took the officer's gun. Who knows - and there's gear that they could have taken.

VERNI: Yes.

BALDWIN: A badge they could have taken.

VERNI: Uh-huh.

BALDWIN: So knowing that, as you're processing this, if you're on the ground here, if you're FBI, U.S. Marshals, you know, sheriff's deputies, what do you - how do you take that?

VERNI: Well, again, for the simple fact that this officer was shot and killed, we don't know if he was shot and killed with his own weapon or another weapon. Either way he was killed.

BALDWIN: Yes.

VERNI: So these guys are clearly dangerous. And the people who shoot and kill police officers are an immediate threat to anyone else. If someone doesn't have a reservation to kill an officer, they're not going to have any reservation killing anyone else. So that should put everyone in a state of alert until these mutants are caught. So, you know, people should be on the lookout for this guy or a couple of guys who we're looking for. I believe it was three.

BALDWIN: Three.

VERNI: If I'm not mistaken. So, you know -

BALDWIN: Are they all men, do we know?

FEYERICK: Yes, they are.

BALDWIN: All men.

VERNI: Yes.

FEYERICK: Yes.

VERNI: It's - it's a disturbing trend that we're seeing. We have - we have a deputy sheriff who was just doing nothing but pumping his gas. We have another officer here who's actually taking police action. So it doesn't really seem to matter what the police are doing these days because they're clearly targets. And people should be really concerned about that, that police are being targeted just because they are police. And that is extremely disturbing. And people should really be aware of that and hopefully, aside from the - the police manhunt that's underway, I'm hoping that local citizens are taking to assisting in whatever way they can.

BALDWIN: On - just on the motivation note, and I talked to a lot of law enforcement here as well, and I know there is a frustration and a fear over this. We don't know with regard to the deputy who was shot in Harris County, Texas, over the weekend, we don't know the motivation. I know that the sheriff there specifically his belief is that it was because he was pumping gas in his uniform -

VERNI: Right.

BALDWIN: But we do not know definitively.

FEYERICK: You know, one thing you have to also think about is the mindset of these three individuals and whether, in fact, they're simply hardened killers. That this is sort of the world that they live in so that there's no problem with them opening fire on a police officer or whether, in fact, it was some sort of a desperate move in order to get away.

BALDWIN: Right.

FEYERICK: So you have to look at the psychology - BALDWIN: Great point.

FEYERICK: Of what's going through their mind because the question is, is, do they stay in that area or do they try to use time to their advantage and get as far away as humanly possible? There had been initial reports, not confirmed yet by CNN, that perhaps the officer had motive to stop these individuals because of some sort of a traffic violation. Not clear whether that's true. But what it does do is it injects the presence of a car, which means if they did have a vehicle, then they were able to get away. These are -

BALDWIN: To your point about Highway 12, right there.

FEYERICK: Exactly. So these aren't - these aren't the sort of prison escapees who did not have access to a car ultimately.

BALDWIN: Right.

VERNI: Right.

FEYERICK: These are people who were in that area -

BALDWIN: Cell phones. Car.

FEYERICK: Exactly. Exactly. And if they acted the way they did, because they were stopped or confronted or approached by this police officer, there may have been something going on that they had to be concerned about - fearful about that if caught they would be in even more trouble. Now they killed a police officer and so they - they've - technically you could argue they've (INAUDIBLE) -

VERNI: It can't get any - in much more trouble than that. I mean it's, you know, regardless of what they thought they were going to get caught for, if they were wanted on a warrant perhaps. And a lot of these - a lot of these guys are desperate because they have been, you know, more than three-time loser and they've gone to big boy jail and now, if they get caught for this last warrant, that they might go away for a long time. So they really have nothing to lose at this point. That's why, again, you know, people need to be very concerned about this. I don't want to panic people, but I want to put people on alert.

BALDWIN: Absolutely.

VERNI: That they - they need to do whatever it is they can safely by assisting law enforcement, by catching these mutants before they wind up hurting another citizen or another police officer.

BALDWIN: Tom, stay with me. Deb, stay with us. Ryan Young in the community, he'll be with us as well here as we continue our breaking coverage of a 32-year veteran of law enforcement in the Fox Lake, Illinois, area, murdered this morning. Police looking for the three suspects. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:55] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. BALDWIN: All right, this is CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

If you're just now joining us here, we are reporting that a 32 year veteran of the police force in the Chicago area, to be precise, this is at Fox Lake, in Illinois, has been murdered this morning. He was out and about doing his job. Reportedly he saw some suspicious activity. He wanted to follow up on it. Radioed back in, in communication, said he was pursuing them, walking toward some individuals. What they were doing, we don't know. Communication was lost. And ultimately backup arrived on scene and found this officer who was shot and killed on the scene and reportedly - reportedly - his gun and gear taken from him.

Police are looking for three individuals. One African-American, two white, all men.

I have Tom Verni with me, former detective, New York City Police, law enforcement consultant, Deborah Feyerick, one of our correspondent, Ryan Young, one of our correspondents who is there in the community.

Quickly first, just, Deb, to you. You were on the phone in commercial. What more have you learned?

FEYERICK: So, here's what we've got.

[14:15:01] So the police officer saw these individuals. They appeared suspicious. He began to go after them effectively. It's not clear what the circumstances leading up to the confrontation were. The officer was able to radio dispatch to ask for help, to ask for officers. The responding officers, we are now told by a source that's on the ground, were the ones who actually heard the shot -

BALDWIN: Oh, they heard it?

FEYERICK: The shot fired at the police officer. Not clear, Brooke, whether in fact it was the gun by one of the suspects or whether it was the gun that was wrestled from the police officer. Not clear. All of that's under investigation.

But what we do know is this 32-year-old veteran, as you say, saw these individuals, believed there was reason to chase them while asking for backup and then he was shot and killed. The three suspects now at large.

BALDWIN: So just to follow up, we don't know what the suspicious activity was. We don't know how close to the lake or the wooded area it was, whether or not it involved a car. That's all TBD.

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. That's - all of that is under investigation. I'm told that the circumstances leading up to the confrontation are now all under investigation.

BALDWIN: We got it.

FEYERICK: All they know is that this is a chase that began and ended on foot. BALDWIN: Got it.

Ryan Young, to you, in the community. I have you on phone. Hopefully soon enough we'll be able to get a live picture from you. But as you pointed out, rightfully so, we're not giving away the street names where you are. Also, by the way, a lot of what we're showing you live is not entirely live. Some of it's on delay so as not to divulge any information as part of this investigation for police tracking down these three individuals.

That said, Ryan Young, tell me, paint the picture, tell me roughly what you're seeing.

YOUNG: Well, Brooke, that's a good point, we're not saying the street names where we are or showing where officers are sort of staging. But we are in an area now near some train tracks where we've seen seven or eight officers and a K-9 unit sitting here and kind of going through the area. We've seen officers with AR-15s working throughout the community. We've seen some in camouflage and some in uniforms. I mean, obviously, you can't miss the air presence here. That's a Huey helicopter that's in the air. They're all flying very low, especially over the marsh areas.

Now, we've talked about the wooded areas. There are several neighborhoods here that have such thick brush. You can tell someone could easily hide in that area and that's why they're working and coordinating their efforts go back in different directions to make sure no one has run back in those areas. But you can see all of us here, obviously, as we are paying attention to some of the grass areas where the officers are working their way through to try to find these suspects. Once again, the one black male, the two white males. Not sure if they have a better description because obviously with the officer being on foot patrol, did someone call something in? How did he first get alerted to it? These are all questions that hopefully we'll get answered at some point. But, obviously, something very scary at this point with the idea that they may have taken this officer's gun and his gear and they are on the run at this point.

So, right now, we're in the city of about 10,000 people. Some homes are vacant. Some homes, obviously, are occupied. There's not a lot of traffic in this area. We've seen more officers than people as they work their way through the area here.

BALDWIN: Ryan Young, stand by as we're looking at pictures again. Regional SWAT, FBI, ATF, U.S. Martials, local law enforcement all working together to find these three individuals.

I have Katie Dahlstrom on the phone now. She is a reporter with "The Northwest Herald."

Katie, you know this area better than any of us. Tell me roughly where you are and tell me about Fox Lake.

KATE DAHLSTROM, REPORTER, "THE NORTHWEST HERALD" (via telephone): Well, I'm on Route 12 in Fox Lake right now, near the scene. Fox Lake used to be a resort, get away community for people from the Chicago area. Back in the day, there was, you know, thoughts that gangsters would come out here. Maybe even Al Capone. Now it's middle class. A lot of those vacation homes have been converted into year-round residences. Not a lot of crime in Fox Lake. This is - this is not something that I think anyone in Fox Lake expected.

BALDWIN: Do you have any more on what happened this morning with this officer and whatever it was the suspicious activity that was reported?

DAHLSTROM: What I learned from one of the Lake County sheriff detectives was that the officer initiated the stop himself. He noticed something that appeared to be suspicious. Again, what that suspicious activity was is unclear. But it was something that the officer initiated himself. These three male, two white males, one black male, were on foot and then the officer radioed in to say that he was in a foot chase. And then he lost connection with dispatch.

[14:20:02] BALDWIN: When you say initiated a stop, Katie, were they all just walking along the road somewhere in Fox Lake?

DAHLSTROM: That is what it appears to be. Again, the details of it are not clear.

BALDWIN: OK.

DAHLSTROM: But from what Lake County sheriff's detectives are telling us, the officer noticed these individuals who were walking and made contact with them.

BALDWIN: Understood. Understood. Kate Dahlstrom, thank you so much. We're going to stay in close contact with you. A reporter there on the ground in this community in Fox Lake, Illinois. She's a reporter with "The Northwest Herald."

Stay with me. We have to get a quick break in. When we return, more information here on what is going on as I speak here in the Fox Lake area. This is just about an hour outside of Chicago. A 32-year police veteran killed this morning. Three individuals, police want to find right now. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:10] BALDWIN: Just about the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. We're continuing our special breaking news coverage here of the situation. This is Fox Lake, Illinois. We've got some pictures we'll show you of law enforcement, massive law enforcement presence here on the ground, FBI, ATF, SWAT teams regionally, U.S. Marshals, local law enforcement all looking through these woods, this lake area here outside of Chicago, trying to find three individuals, these three suspects, two white men, one black man, all of whom they want to find because this 32-year law enforcement veteran, who was out this morning on patrol, just before 8:00 a.m. local time, was walking along and was shot and was killed this morning. And so police, obviously, this is an extraordinarily difficult situation. Police in the area warning everyone to stay indoors, schools on lockdown, because of this - the sheer nature that these individuals, potentially were willing to murder a cop. So they want everyone to stay inside. I do want to show some pictures here that we have just gotten from

someone who lives in this community, who has shared some - some images with us and we'll look at all these together for the first time. So the law enforcement. And, Tom Verni, let me bring you in, as we're looking at these together. What do you see? I mean just the notion that these officers are going -

VERNI: Yes.

BALDWIN: And, you know, by land and by air trying to find them.

VERNI: Yes. And potentially by sea because you're not too far from a large lake.

BALDWIN: The lake.

VERNI: So there's a good possibility - again, and they're also on train tracks. So I don't know how frequently the trains run there. If those are passenger trains or cargo trains.

But these guys are going - are going to try to hitch a ride any way out of there they can. So whether they do it by air, by land, by sea, everyone who's doing the search - the search is going to be done in that manner, so they're going to have helicopters up in the air. I'm sure the harbor patrols on that lake are going to be activated. The security for the train lines are going to be activated. So if the guys are smart enough, they're going to just - listen, they've already made a big enough mess for themselves, so they're just better off just turning themselves in because they're going to be - they're going to be assumed to be armed and dangerous and the officers that are hunting them down are going to treat them as such. So if they, you know, are not going to comply with the officers, then they're going to be met with the same force that they showed this officer ultimately. So they need to turn themselves in. Let the situation just come to an end. And then take it up in court is their best course of action.

BALDWIN: Considered armed and dangerous to your point. If you murder a police officer -

VERNI: Yes. It doesn't get any more armed and dangerous than that.

BALDWIN: Doesn't get any more armed and dangerous than that.

VERNI: Yes, it's -

BALDWIN: I'm looking at you, Deb Feyerick. We've got to get another quick break in. I know you're getting information. You're on the phone consistently through the commercial breaks. Reporting happening right here live on CNN. We'll be right back. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)