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Stock Market Update; Dylann Roof's Friend Arrested; Brutal School Beating; Helicopter Pilot Recalls Navy Yard Shooting; Boston Media: "Baby Doe" Identified; Ref Blindsided: Football Players Speak Out on Attack; Mets End "Homophobic" Kiss Cam Joke. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 18, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:06] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Oh, we just missed the opening bell. It just rang seconds ago, but Wall Street is reacting this morning to the Fed's decision to hold off on raising interest rates. Officials say they're waiting until the U.S. employment rates so further improvement and global markets stabilize. In the meantime, you see stocks down just about 72 points.

CNN's Alison Kosik joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. So go like this. Close your eyes. Don't look at the red because the fact that the Fed decided to do nothing, not to raise interest rates, actually means good news if you are an average consumer. It means continued low interest rates. So whether you're taking out a mortgage, refinancing your mortgage, carrying a balance on your credit card. In fact, some say - one analyst - in fact, some analysts are saying that now may be a good time to actually transfer your balance on your credit card to a zero interest rate credit card. That is, of course, if you're carrying a balance on your credit card. Not something I'd suggest, but at least analysts are suggesting now may be the time for that.

One thing about raising rates. You know, you see - you see how the market's reacting right now. You see the Dow down 121 points. But one thing about raising rates, some people believe that it will go ahead and stifle growth and actually keep employers from hiring. So one good thing to come out of this, some say, is that this will keep employers looking to still add on that their payrolls. Beside the fact that you're going to have lower interest rates when you go to, let's say, get a car loan or take out a mortgage or refinance your mortgage.

Now, if you're invested in the market, that's another story, as you see the volatility continue. The red on the screen. The Dow down now 150 points two minutes into the trading day. Many traders telling me, Carol, buckle up. There are a lot of potholes ahead because there's a big question mark. We get to do this all over again next month, whether or not the Fed is going to raise rates. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the friend of the Charleston church killer behind bars this morning.

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[09:36:43] COSTELLO: Three months to the day after the massacre inside an African-American church in Charleston, the FBI has arrested a friend of the confessed killer Dylann Roof. Joey Meek had been under investigation for allegedly knowing about Roof's plan and not alerting authorities until it was far too late. CNN's Nick Valencia joins us.

You just got ahold of some court documents. What do they say?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Joey Meek is a familiar face and name for those who have followed this story from the very beginning. We just, in the last few minutes, got some paperwork here. It's notifying us of the two counts that he's facing, two federal charges. One - count one is making false statements. Count two, misprision, which essentially boils down to having knowledge of the commission of the felony and not notifying authorities.

Since this summer, Meek, the man that you're looking at there on your screen, has been investigated by the FBI for allegedly knowing in advance about the Charleston church shooting and not telling authorities about it. This summer he told our CNN crew about one night when Dylann Roof allegedly got drunk and vowed to start a race war. He told our reporters that he didn't want to get in trouble because he had his own probation to worry about. He didn't want to get in trouble for stealing a gun, so he gave it back to Roof. It's that gun that authorities believe Roof used to carry out the massacre there at the historic Emanuel AME Church. He also told our reporter, Brian Todd, this summer that he played a huge part in capturing Dylann Roof.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY MEEK, DYLANN ROOF'S FRIEND: And I had called the FBI agents and the FBI came here and they were at my house for like seven hours yesterday. And I just told them everything I knew about him. As soon as I called the hotline, I described him, I told them his full name, I told them exactly what shirt he was wearing and what was exactly on his shirt. But, umm, I mean it was me that helped them find him. You know, if it wasn't for me telling them that his name, they would never have found his license plate number. They would have never done anything.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you feel like a hero?

MEEK: I mean, I don't feel like a hero. I'm just answering the questions that the families in Charleston have. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Meek told our reporter, after years of not having contact with Dylann Roof, Roof showed up at the trailer where Meek lived looking for shelters in the weeks just before that shooting. And again, just to tell our viewers here, we just got these counts in against Meek. That's misprision of a felony, which boils down to having knowledge of a commission of a felony and not telling authorities, as well as making false statements. Carol, he's expected to make his first court appearance in the 11:00 a.m. Eastern hour.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back. Nick Valencia, many thanks to you.

Checking some other top stories at 39 minutes past the hour, the wildfires burning through California have killed two more people, bringing the death toll to five. Two massive fires, the Valley Fire and the Butte Fire, have scorched nearly 150,000 acres and destroyed more than 800 homes. At this hour, at least two people are missing.

A bizarre story out of Florida. It started when police went to a woman's home to assist probation officers in serving arrest warrants. The woman would not be taken into custody. She refused. Instead, investigators say she lunged at the officers, swinging a sword at a sergeant's head and missing by just inches. When they went inside the home, that's what they found, a virtual house of horrors. Thirty-five hundred knives, swords and other blades. The home was even bobby trapped with those knives. Some of the bobby traps went off while the home was being searched, injuring several officers. It took five hours of negotiating, several rounds of bean bags and a stun gun before this woman was finally taken into custody.

[09:40:15] And a brutal beating inside a city high school. One student lies on the ground having a seizure, the other now behind bars in Baltimore for trying to kill him. Here's WJZ's Meghan McCorkell.

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MEGHAN MCCORKELL, WJZ REPORTER (voice-over): The horrifying video appears to show 17-year-old Sean Johnson knocking a 16-year-old classmate to the ground and pummeling him in the face again and again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I saw that I was like, oh, this has gone too far.

MCCORKELL: The attack happened Wednesday during lunchtime inside the cafeteria at Frederick Douglas High School. It ends with Johnson stepping on the boy's head and walking away as the victim has a seizure lying in a pool of his own blood. WJZ is not showing that part of the video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just started fighting but then everybody started running over there too, was breaking it up. MCCORKELL: According to charging documents obtained by WJZ, the

incident began when Johnson asked the victim, did he steal the visor from his football helmet? When the victim continuously denied it, authorities say Johnson attacked.

MCCORKELL (on camera): School official say staff inside the cafeteria intervened in the beating right away.

MCCORKELL (voice-over): The victim was rushed to Shock Trauma with a concussion, facial fractures and a fractured nose. The video of the beating now going viral on FaceBook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually cried because that could have been my son who was attacked like that.

MCCORKELL: Many parents at the school feeling the same way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's ridiculous. Kids in school fighting, you know, sending each other to the emergency room. It shouldn't be like that.

MCCORKELL: Now one student faces serious jail time for this brutal attack.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That was Meghan McCorkell. Thanks so much.

And we just got a - we just got a statement from the school district saying the victim is in stable condition and has been transferred to the University of Maryland Medical Center. The school says its investigation is ongoing.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a high school football players claims he was, quote, "doing what he was told" when he blindsided a referee during a game. Hear the player's story in his own words just ahead.

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[09:46:45] COSTELLO: It's been two years since a lone gunman killed twelve people and wounded three others at the Washington Navy Yard and for the men and women who helped rescue those trapped (INAUDIBLE) inside, it was a mission unlike any other.

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SGT. KEN BURCHELL, UNITED STATES PARK POLICE: This is the modern day version of slaying dragons and rescuing damsels. My name's Ken Burchell, I'm a pilot sergeant with the United States Park Police and I'm a helicopter pilot.

This unit flies an average of 1100 hours a year. About 200 search and rescue missions, four or five hundred law enforcement missions and between 150 and 450 medivacs a year.

The United States Park Police is sort of the urban law enforcement arm of the National Park Service. We do hoist rescue, we do medivacs, we search for snipers. But at Navy Yard, we had to do all of those things at once.

ANNOUNCER (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: We're learning of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): We know several shots fired. We know people injured.

BURCHELL: That morning I was the day work pilot. And as we got on the ramp outside our hanger, we could hear over the PA system at the Navy Yard the instruction to shelter in place. There was a mass casualty situation, there was an active shooter and there were officers down. So we knew right away that we were going to be oversaturated with tasks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): We don't have a firm count yet on how many injured.

BURCHELL: A report came in that the suspect was now on the roof with a rifle. When we popped up over the roof, instead of finding a suspect, what we saw was one of our officers with a rifle with four civilians. One was a Navy Captain. Two Navy civilians and a woman who was lying down and covered with blood.

We hoisted her up to the door. She'd been shot at close range. Lost a tremendous amount of blood, was severely wounded. In the midst of all this she was trying to yell to our crew to look out of the shooter.

Our job is clearly to get people out of bad places. That is what we do. You are never sure what is going to come next but we try to train for the possibilities. I can think back to a rescue we performed on Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. The poor climber had been injured since the previous night and nobody could get in to rescue him. Visibility was just zero almost everywhere. We had a rock face on one side and a sheer dropoff on the other side and fog in front of us. So it was a stressful moment.

We also responded to Katrina and to 9/11 at the Pentagon. When you pull somebody off a rock or get them to the hospital in time, it is a tremendous sense of accomplishment and reward. I take tremendous pride in what this unit has accomplished and what it continues to accomplish. I feel like if I had the chance to serve in this unit for one day it really would be a tremendous honor. And I've been lucky enough to do it for 25 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more of our special digital series on parks police, you can go to CNN.com.

[09:49:53] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Peyton Manning says he ain't done yet. And last night against the Chiefs he certainly proved his doubters wrong.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right. We're getting word out of Boston from media reports that "Baby Doe" has been identified. You might remember "Baby Doe" was a little girl found in a trash bag. Her body was found on a beach south of Boston. She was, as I said, inside a trash bag. She had brown hair and brown eyes, 3 feet tall. Police could not figure out who this child was or how this child died. It's been a huge mystery for months right now, but they do believe that "Baby Doe" has been identified. And I'm reading from the latest wire that I have, so bear with me now.

[09:54:56] Police say the break came after a search warrant was executed in a Boston neighborhood on Thursday. "The Boston Globe" reports that the search warrant was carried on Thursday night in the Madipan neighborhood of Boston. Now supposedly, pollen was found on this little girl's body and that pollen helped police determine which Boston neighborhood the little girl might have come from. That's about all we know right now.

Alexandra Field is working on this story and she'll bring you more information as she gets it.

Checking other top stories for you at 55 minutes past.

14 Taliban militants have been killed by Pakistani security forces. Officials say each of the 14 attackers killed took part in an overnight raid on an Air Force base in northwest Pakistan. As many as 16 people were killed during that initial attack. It was reportedly the largest assault on military personnel this year.

American Airlines flights back on schedule this morning after a computer glitch grounded flights across the country on Thursday. The ground stop causing major delays and cancellations at O'Hare, Dallas, Ft. Worth, and Miami international airports. Officials say the computer problem affected mostly check-ins at the airport.

Two Texas football players accused of targeting and tackling a referee are speaking out. The pair have now been suspended from the team and the school and they're facing calls for criminal charges for this incident. In the meantime, an assistant coach is on paid leave for allegedly telling players, quote, "That guy needs to pay for cheating on us." On "Good Morning America" one of the football players addressed this claim against the coast and explained why he followed through with the alleged order from the coach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MORENO, SUSPENDED FOR HITTING REF: You know, you put your trust into this, you know, grownup, a guardian, your coach, who's been there since -- for me, since my sophomore, freshman year. You know, I trust him. You know, he wants the best for me. I just did what I was told. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. CNN's Coy Wire is following the story. So do you believe him?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Who knows who we should believe, Carol. We'll find out. Not only are the two high schoolers blaming the assistant coach for their actions, they are also saying that the game official who they tackled was using racial slurs toward their teammates. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR ROJAS, SUSPENDED FOR HITTING REF: He told one of my Hispanic friends, he told him, speak English, this is America. And I told that and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear that or did one of your friends tell you that?

ROJAS: No, I heard that. And then to the African-American on the team, he told him the "n" word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You heard him say the "n" word? Did you?

MORENO: Yes. I heard him when he had called Moses Reynolds, you know, the "n" word. And it was just really --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says that's a lie.

MORENO: That's not. It's the honest truth right there. I wouldn't lie about that situation. Just how bad it's gotten, the truth needs to be told.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, Carol, the official, Robert Watts, again, he denies using any racial slurs towards anyone. This is an unfortunate, ongoing case. We'll keep our eye on it for you, for sure.

Now from the high school gridiron to the pros. The Chiefs and Broncos went toe to toe last night. The question all week has been, what's wrong with Peyton Manning? He'd only throw one touchdown pass in his three previous games combined.

But before we get to Manning, check the scene at arrowhead. Chiefs safety Eric Berry evokes elation. A sensational ovation running through that tunnel. It's his first regular season home game since overcoming his battle with cancer. What a comeback.

Speaking of comeback, under a minute left, Manning slings a touchdown sight (ph) to Emmanuel Sanders to tie the game at 24. Peyton would finish with three touchdown passes. And Chiefs next drive, 36 seconds left, Jamaal Charles spills the pill and that will seal the deal. Broncos' Bradley Roby scoops it up. A stunning comeback by the Broncos, 31-24. An awesome game indeed. Now Peyton started shaky but he's now 14-1 against the Chiefs all-time, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. I got to talk baseball right now because I understand the Mets has changed its policy when it comes to the kiss cam. This is monumental.

WIRE: It is. It is a great story here. The New York Mets, they say they're going to stop featuring a kiss cam joke at Citi Field that had some fans calling it "homophobic." During some of the home games, you see the Mets would show opposing players on the Jumbotron, a big pink heart around them and a frame as an apparent joke. Well, that garnered complaints by some. So the Mets released a statement saying, quote, "While intended to be lighthearted, we unintentionally offended some. We apologize for doing so and no longer will include players in the feature. Our organization is wholly supportive of fostering an inclusive and respectful environment at games," end quote.

So they're already seeing some positive responses, Carol, on the move and combine that with a great play on the field and things are looking on the up and up in New York.

COSTELLO: So people can't even joke about the -- I don't know. I don't even know how to feel about that. I mean, I can understand it, but come on. It's a joke. The players don't have to kiss each other, for God's sakes, right?

WIRE: That's right. That's right, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So speaking of kiss cam --

WIRE: Oh, this is great.

COSTELLO: -- I can't even say this. Oh that's so cute.