Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Market Worries; Illinois Manhunt. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 01, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: They have been on the run for hours after this officer, a 32-year veteran of the force, was murdered early this morning.

I can tell you the local high school is on lockdown while the search is under way, people in this area asked to shelter in place because, as you can imagine, police believe these three individuals, if you kill an officer, are extremely armed and dangerous.

With me now is CNN correspondent Ryan Young, who just arrived at the scene. Here is Anthony Roman, investigations analyst and former detective. Also with me, law enforcement consultant Tom Verni, retired DEA agent Ed Marcinko, and our national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick.

So, Deborah Feyerick, to you first. Then we will go to Ryan, who is there. But let's just back up. For people who are just now joining us, what do we know happened this morning?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK.

So this that happened at about 8:00 this morning, just a little before 8:00. A police officer saw three individuals who looked somewhat suspicious. He believed he had cause to approach the individuals, to question them. That's when a source says the men ran. The men began to run.

So the officer radioed for backup and then gave chase on foot. We don't know whether these men had exited a vehicle, but the police officer began to chase them and the responding officers we are told by the source were close enough that they heard at least one gunshot, presumably one of those that may have hit that officer.

He was shot and killed. And responding officers tried to find the men and that's when this huge manhunt began. We know that there are tactical teams, there are SWAT teams. Everyone is sort of armed with sort of high-powered weapons. The Lake County sheriff is there, the Illinois Police Department, all of them trying to at least make sure that these men -- or try to find these men who they believe may still be in the area.

BALDWIN: OK. We don't know what initially spawned the suspicious nature of this. We don't know if they were in a car. Speaking to that local reporter, you know, she believes from her reporting that they were just walking down the street and whatever that was obviously led to this officer sort of taking a second look and pursuing them.

Ryan Young, to you. You are in this Fox Lake area. I know we have you by phone.

And again, just reminding our viewers, you know, we're not saying precisely where Ryan is, because he's in the thick of things, seeing law enforcement. And obviously we're not showing anything live just for the sake of us giving away what is happening on the ground, in terms of finding these three.

That said, tell me roughly, Ryan, what you are seeing. How strong is the law enforcement presence there?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we have been working our way around for like the last hour-and-a-half or so this area.

We have seen more officers come in. It seems like almost every half- hour, we see another group of officers from another jurisdiction show up. In fact, we just saw some heavy machinery move in with officers in SWAT gear. They just arrived. And we're at -- behind -- on the background of like maybe a command center, we see some heavy armored vehicles that have also moved in.

The helicopters have been flying over this area very low for the last half-hour-and-a-half and we have seen them sort of doing a circular pattern. There's one street where we believe where this shooting happened that's completely locked down. There's no way to work our way back in that direction.

They have everything blocked off for it looks like a mile. Then we saw officers on top of bridges over the rail tracks making sure no one is working their way off the rails. And then on some of the waterways, we have seen officers above those areas as well.

Every time you look around, you see more officers in camouflage, hiding in bushes and looking around and we have seen the canine officers working their way around. Now, one thing I do want to say, Brooke, is something that you talked about before. At first, we didn't see a lot of people walking around and we didn't see people looking.

Now the bystanders have come out with their iPhones, with their cameras trying to get a glimpse of the search, obviously something that officers probably don't want to happen because now you're adding more people to the area.

So I'm sure they want some of these people to go away. This is a city of about 10,000 people. Obviously, there's a lot of people who have now come into this area as they're looking for these three suspects. What we have seen in just the last half-hour or so, we have seen people who seem like they're just coming out of their houses trying to look to see what's going on, some with signs that say police lives matter, some with their iPhones who are kind of walking around and taking pictures of all the heavy artillery that officers have brought out, but obviously changing the situation just a little bit.

BALDWIN: Yes.

Ed Marcinko, that's the last thing I'm sure law enforcement wants, the gawkers, those standing out and about with their iPhones trying to get a glimpse of some of this action out there out their front door.

ED MARCINKO, FORMER DEA AGENT: Absolutely, Brooke.

The citizens need to know to let the police officers, let law enforcement agencies do their job. I would strongly suggest that those folks go back into their houses and just stay on top of the situation and listen to all of the law enforcement agencies out there.

BALDWIN: Anthony, you made a point. I think it's worth underscoring, going back to you.

You know, A, you know, murdering an officer in the state of Illinois would be a capital case. So you were saying basically, you know, as these three are trying to evade capture, they have nothing to lose. Reportedly, they took the gun from this dead officer and ran. And your thought was, they could have taken his radio as well. And by taking his radio, they would have access to the rest of law enforcement trying to hunt them down.

[15:05:15]

ANTHONY ROMAN, INVESTIGATIONS ANALYST: That's right.

The officers, when they establish their command-and-control center, really have to move to the discreet or encrypted frequency in order to communicate with everyone else right now. Without doing that, the assailants could be listening in for several hours, depending on the battery charge of that officer's radio. And they will move about accordingly.

I'm sure that law enforcement is well aware of this. They know exactly what these assailants have taken and have taken the necessary precautions to protect the officers who are in pursuit and ensure that they're as protected as possible, especially while they're communicating with them.

But I have to emphasize what an incredibly difficult search this is. This mixed model area of some wooded patches, some patches of high grass, some vacant vacation homes, occupied businesses becomes a very difficult search. It will require a lot of manpower.

And very interestingly, no one has mentioned that it's likely -- and if it hasn't been done, it should be done -- that the Department of Environmental Conservation officers, who are also law enforcement officers, be employed in a situation like this, because they are incredibly good at tracking animals and human beings through the woods. They can be very useful in these types of circumstances.

BALDWIN: It's a great point. To your point also about just variables, then you also throw in, we have seen train tracks, we have seen a major highway, Interstate 12 there. Then you have the airspace. We know the FAA has now entirely restricted the airspace of the radius of two nautical miles just so anyone in the area with planes, drones, no dice.

You have to stay out of the area, as they have their helicopters in searching by air, land and sea.

Tom, to his point on the variables, I'm also getting, you know, maybe five steps ahead of myself. But if these individuals have nothing to lose, and let's say ultimately when police come upon them, how do you negotiate with people like this?

I mean, they're going to send in, I'm sure, if not the local police, but probably the state police, if not the federal authorities are going to send in some sort of hostage negotiation team, whether or not they take a hostage or not, to deal with this type of mentality.

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: As Deborah mentioned before, you never know what the mentality...

BALDWIN: You don't. You have no idea.

VERNI ... is behind this. There's some speculation as to what happened down in Texas, that this person may have been mentally ill. At one point, he was mentally unfit to stand trial, at one point. So we have dealt with incidents even here in New York, back over the holidays, when we had two police officers assassinated.

BALDWIN: In their patrol car.

VERNI: In their patrol car doing nothing but eating lunch.

So, that's why I mentioned before that police are being targeted. When someone has a uniform on and you shoot them, that's not the ice cream man that you're shooting. You know it's a police officer for crying out loud. And that's why I keep saying that they're being targeted because you couldn't mistake them for anybody else.

Here, when you have somebody who actually goes and shoots a police officer, it has to be something mentally unstable with them to begin with, aside from the fact that they may be a fugitive from the law and they don't want to go back to jail for the rest of their lives. And in some states like here, they could facing the death penalty.

BALDWIN: Right.

VERNI: And also, by the way, this is not far from the Wisconsin border. So, you know, the Wisconsin police, you know, state police I'm sure are going to be activated, if not on alert, for them crossing the border here.

They're not that far from Lake Michigan either. So the authorities that cover that jurisdiction are going to be on alert for them, looking potentially to hijack a boat and get out of there just to get across the lake. Like the other gentleman had mentioned, this search is problematic at best just because of the terrain.

BALDWIN: Problematic at best. VERNI: Just because of terrain that surrounds this area. This is not

like searching through the streets of Chicago, which that would be problematic just because of it being a large city. But here, the terrain is such -- if this was in the middle of the winter, I would be less concerned because all the leaves would be down and we could spot them easily from the air very likely.

But here, you have so much coverage for them. As nightfall comes, and I'm sure they're scrambling to try to get these guys before nightfall comes because that will increase the difficulty by 1000 percent.

BALDWIN: Quickly, yes.

FEYERICK: Yes. You also have to realize that what is going on is law enforcement is questioning anybody in the area, whether in fact these individuals were known to the community, whether they had been spotted maybe at a gas station, or had gone in to a luncheonette, or a breakfast place, something like that, so that they can at least get an identifier on these people.

So, it's not just a manhunt, but it's the overall investigation, so that they can try to identify these people. But, as Tom said, US-12, it runs from Wisconsin down through Chicago into Indiana. So you have got a large, you have got a very, very -- absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I have someone on the phone who is barricaded inside their home as I speak in this area. We will talk to this individual on the other side of the break, what he is being told from law enforcement.

[15:10:02]

Also some new information coming in with regard to that no-fly zone that we have just heard from FAA. A lot of moving parts here. Manhunt under way in the FOX lake area here of Illinois. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin. Back to our breaking news.

Armed and extremely dangerous, that's how law enforcement in the Fox Lake area here of Illinois just near Lake Michigan and just shy of that Wisconsin border. They're looking for the three individuals, one African-American man, two white men wanted in connection with the murder this morning of a 32-year law enforcement veteran as he was pursuing some sort of suspicious activity in the area.

We know this search area, according to my law enforcement friend here in New York, problematic at best. A lot of variables at play, including the air.

[15:15:10]

Let me bring in our aviation correspondent, Rene Marsh, who has some news in from the FAA.

Rene, what have you learned?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, what you oftentimes will see in a situation like this, when you look at the vast amount of land that they have to search for, these three suspects, what they really want to do is make sure that they have no interruptions and they have no issues as it relates to getting the police choppers and any other aircraft that authorities need to continue with this active man search.

What oftentimes you will see happen is local law enforcement will communicate with the FAA and say we want this airspace closed off. That's exactly what's happening at this hour. The FAA has established a no-fly zone in this area where this manhunt is happening, so that means if you're a commercial aircraft, and we should note that Chicago O'Hare is about southwest of this area.

So if you're commercial aircraft, you're a private general aviation pilot, you're not allowed to fly through this area. It's an active scene, as you can see, and they just want to make sure if you don't belong there, no one is there. That is in place right now. It's a two-mile radius around the search area.

And that's most likely the amount of space that they felt was necessary for them to safely operate and look for these three individuals. So that is the very latest. This is pretty normal. This is what you will see oftentimes law enforcement working with an agency like the FAA to make sure that when a search like this is happening, there are no other alternate issues that may pop up as it relates to safety because someone else is in the airspace when a police chopper is there, because, as you know, it's a very chaotic and hectic situation.

And that can just create more problems, so FAA saying that no one should be in that airspace, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Rene Marsh, thank you.

So you have the airspace, you have multiple lakes in the region, you have roads, you have a main highway, you have train tracks we have seen, all of this at play, all variables. It is still summertime, so it is a wooded area, very easy for someone to hide, all points that have been made by all these great members of law enforcement here who have been weighing in on the show.

Let me bring Katie Dahlstrom back in. She's on the phone with me. She's in the area walking around, I'm sure seeing a massive law enforcement presence. She's a reporter with "The Northwest Herald."

Katie, tell me what you know from the detective you were talking to as far as what happened this morning that led to this man's murder.

KATIE DAHLSTROM, "THE NORTHWEST HERALD": Well, what we know from detectives is that this officer about 7:52 this morning made contact with these three males and then radioed to his dispatch center that he was in a foot pursuit with them, and shortly after that lost contact with dispatch. Officers tell us he made contact with the suspects because of suspicious activity, but it's unclear what that activity was.

BALDWIN: And as we're looking at these pictures of all these different homes, you were telling me before, you know, what, back in its heyday, this was really sort of a resort community and now a number of homes are you know -- 365 days of the year people living year-round.

Are we to assume that a lot of people are home, are living in these houses and what are law enforcement asking them to do?

DAHLSTROM: Yes, there are a lot of people here. This is a residential community. There are still people boating. There are lots of boats on the water still. Officers are telling people to stay in their homes.

The three suspects that are at large are considered armed and dangerous. So police are telling people to be cautious.

BALDWIN: Katie, stay with me.

Ed Marcinko, I have you. Let's bring you back in, former DEA.

I know that a number of people have made the comparison, although there are a lot of differences still, to the situation with those two convicted killers who had escaped a prison in Upstate New York in a wooded area and were able to elude the authorities for multiple weeks. What are some of the similarities you see near neighbor states, multiple jurisdictions, et cetera?

MARCINKO: Well, like your other guest stated, it's problematic at best because you have an abundant amount of territory to cover, wooded areas, suburban areas.

You have places where the suspects can blend in easier than they did up in Upstate New York. You just have a whole rash of other areas that you have to search, and this makes it very problematic for law enforcement officers.

[15:20:03]

BALDWIN: Yes. Unlike those two in Upstate New York, here they would have here they would have access to cars, presumably cell phones.

MARCINKO: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: It's a different situation for them.

Ed, thank you so much.

Quick break. Back to our breaking news in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. We will get back to the breaking out

of Illinois here in just a moment, but first some breaking news with regard to the markets.

Let's go to Alison Kosik, as she's reporting on a lot of red on the screen, down 415 points.

Thirty more minutes to this trading day. What has happened, Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's all about China, old news, but some new news with China too.

It turns out that China announced that it got -- it had one of its worst manufacturing reports in three years. So what you're seeing is investors pretty much running for the exits. You're seeing the Dow down 418 points, these triple-digit moves become more of a norm these days.

[15:25:05]

Did you know that the past -- in the past seven sessions, six of those have had triple-digit moves, some to the upside, but mostly to the downside?

BALDWIN: The downside.

KOSIK: One thing you can count on is volatility as we see a lot of red on the screen. This last half-hour of trading, we like to really watch closely. That's when we see a lot of moves happening. We will keep an eye on it for you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And this comes, what, after the worst month in five years for the Dow?

KOSIK: Yes. This comes after the worst month.

Usually, historically, you look September can be one of the worst months as well as, and some are banking on it, believe it or not, not being that. But you never know, because the reality is, is that China's economy has been slowing for a long time.

It sort of came to a head, though, because what's going to be happening in the next couple of weeks, the Fed is going to be meeting, going to be deciding whether or not interest rates should go up. And many investors say the mix of having interest rates go up and then seeing companies' sales and revenue suffer because of lack of demand for those products from China, that could certainly crater a market. That's really what's worrying Wall Street at this point, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, closing bell 34 minutes away. Alison Kosik, thank you.

KOSIK: You got it.

BALDWIN: When we come back, we take you back to the breaking story, Fox Lake, Illinois, just shy of that Wisconsin border, by a massive lake, railroad tracks, highways, roads, wooded area, the search area problematic at best, according to this former NYPD officer here.

We have now established a live shot on the ground. We will take you there and talk to Ryan Young next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)