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Two Dead After Gunman Fired on Crowd Near Pub; New York Man Arrested for Planned ISIS Attack on Revelers; Security Tightens for Rose Bowl Parade and Game; Update on Response to Teen's Police Death in Chicago; Ben Carson Campaign Shakeup; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 01, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:01] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: We'll be there, take you with us. While the Tiger looking to win their fourth title under Nick Saban. Clemson and Dabo Swinney, they have has the first team in college football history to finish a season a perfect 15-0. It's 2016 and today in the Fiesta Bowl, you have Ohio State and Notre Dame, Rose Bowl, you have Stanford-Iowa. It's going to be a great way to ring in the New Year -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. And what a great point, Coy. That Alabama QB just put a tear to my eye. That was too sweet.

All right, thanks, Coy. Appreciate it. Happy New Year.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

ANNOUNCEMENT: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: All right. More on this breaking news. Hello, again, everyone, I'm Fredericka Whitfield in for Carol Costello. Welcome to viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you so much for joining me.

We're following this breaking news out of Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city. A gunman has opened fire on a crowd outside of a pub and at least two people are confirmed dead and several more are wounded.

This is amateur video from inside the pub showing people ducking for cover as the gunshots explode and police are swarming a neighborhood, we understand, searching for the shooter and any clues as to whether this is terror-related.

CNN's Ian Lee is in Jerusalem with the very latest on this as we do look at that new video -- Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that's giving us a lot of clues or telling us exactly what happened, Fredricka. As we see a man coming in with that machine gun, spraying the bar with bullets and then running away.

It looks like the incident took place less than 15 seconds, although we don't know what happened once he went off camera. But this is the person that police right now are searching for in Tel Aviv. They are going door-to-door, they're going through people's gardens. A massive police operation, searching for this suspect, searching for this person that carried out this attack.

Now two people have been killed. Eight people injured. Four of them right now are in serious condition. And the police at this hour still are not saying whether this was criminal or if this was a terrorist attack. These are things they're investigating. But one thing one eyewitness told us, saying that the weather here, it's bad right now. That's likely prevented this from being an even worse attack as it's rainy, not a lot of people are out on this first day of the weekend, but right now police searching for that person that carried out this attack. Still a very dangerous situation there in Tel Aviv.

WHITFIELD: And then, Ian, the more we are able to look at that video, that cell phone video that keeps being re-racked and shown, you can see the gunman or what appears to be the weapon during that gunfire. Do you have a clear understanding as to whether investigators believe there's other video, how it will help them to kind of piece together or even try to figure out the identity or direction of that gunman?

LEE: Well, it's very likely, I would almost say certain that we're going to see other video come out. And this is -- Dizengoff Street, it is the -- the main street of Tel Aviv. There are CCTV cameras all over in Israel. Not just in Tel Aviv, but here in Jerusalem. We should see more video come out from different angles that can give us a clearer picture of what happened.

This video we're seeing appears to be from the cafe, the pub where this attack took place. But police very certain that they're looking at all the CCTV footage that they can get, the different angles, trying to figure out exactly who this was and what were the motives behind this attack.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ian Lee, thank you so much. We're going to keep those images up, that kind of cell phone video coming from inside that pub as the shooting was taking place and bring in national spokesman for the Israeli police, Mickey Rosenfeld, joining us by phone.

So, Mickey, if you could, give us an idea is there anything that you are learning from any new images like this, the cell phone or perhaps even the CCTV images in this very populated, popular area?

MICKEY ROSENFELD, NATIONAL SPOKESMAN, ISRAELI NATIONAL POLICE: Well, the Israeli National Police and its different units are continuing first of all to search the different areas neighborhood by neighborhood, in fact, building by building, to try and find the suspect who is behind that shooting this afternoon, just over two hours ago. At the same time what's developing is that we're looking both into the CCTV footage that we've now got hold of, which is part of what we can see exactly what took place at the scene itself both from inside the pub, which was relatively packed this afternoon.

Also try to look and find exactly from which angle and which near road next door the suspect came in from. But our main emphasis at the moment is to try and determine whether we're talking about a terrorist attack that was carried out in Central Tel Aviv this afternoon or whether it's a criminal-related incident.

[10:05:03] It's obviously very significant and very important both in terms of the security in the area, both in terms of the safety of members of the public on a Friday afternoon just before the Sabbath and therefore heightened security is continuing at the moment in the Tel Aviv area.

WHITFIELD: And you are convinced that there was one gunman? When we look at the images we see one gunman. Are you searching for more than one?

ROSENFELD: At this point in time we're searching for -- based on the CCTV footage that we have, for one suspect who opened fire with an automatic weapon, that we know for sure. Our different units, counterterrorist units, and undercover units and special patrol units are still working in the different geographical areas and neighborhoods of the Tel Aviv area.

Over the last 24 to 48 hours there was heightened security for the New Year celebrations that took off both in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other major cities and there was no incidents whatsoever. Also this afternoon there was no clear intelligence of any attack that was going to take place across any major city in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, and therefore, our main emphasis is try and find out the exact background, whether we're talking about criminal related or terrorist related. And that will obviously change the direction and the seriousness of the incident.

WHITFIELD: And then, Mickey, our latest confirmed information is that two were killed, four injured. And when you look at the video of that cell phone from inside the cafe, it almost appears as though the gunman is pointing toward the busy street.

Can you give us a better idea of those who were injured? Were they right there at the restaurant? Can you, you know, kind of paint the picture for us of who was hit by this gunman?

ROSENFELD: Yes. From what we understand and what we've seen and what we know from eyewitnesses is that people that were injured were on the sidewalk as well as in the pub itself. The shots were fired, maybe 15 to 20 bullets were sprayed at people that were in the streets, in the public areas by an automatic weapon. So that's part of the investigation which is continuing. We need to try and determine and try and find that suspect as quick as possible.

It's very important that this moment in time, in the evening, especially when synagogues will be packed with people praying the Sabbath coming in, in a short while. And therefore it's very important that heightened security continues in the Tel Aviv area and that we find the individual who carried out that incident.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mickey Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli National Police, thank you so much.

All right. Raw nerves and ruckus celebrations as millions of revelers celebrate year's end. Police scramble to end ISIS threats here in the U.S. and abroad. In Germany authorities evacuated two train stations in Munich after intelligence uncovered possible ISIS plans to dispatch suicide attackers. The plot supposedly to strike at midnight.

And in Rochester, New York, federal investigators say this local man planned to slaughter revelers in the name of ISIS. They say he had his weapons and had been in contact with someone overseas claiming to be part of the terror group.

More on that in a moment. But let's begin with the terror scare in Germany.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in London with the latest on that. So, Fred, just a little while ago we learned more about the potential suspects. Tell us more about them.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. The information that was given to German authorities apparently came from U.S. intelligence as well as some French intelligence also, separately of one another. So they got this from two separate sources and that's why they believe this was so credible and that they -- that they had to move so quickly.

The information that they got was that there was about five to seven potential suicide bombers who wanted to carry out attacks either at Munich Central Station or at a different station in the west of Munich. Both of those stations were immediately evacuated, immediately locked down. And obviously there was a very large police presentation there as well. And there was more information that the German authorities got from its intelligence service as well.

They got the information that these people were of Iraqi and of Syrian descent and also they apparently got some personal data including names and other data from at least some of these people that the Germans are now following up on, trying to find out whether or not these were real names or phony names, whether or not these people actually exist, whether or not these people might live somewhere in the Munich area. So all of this prompted them to take very, very quick action.

I can tell you, Fredricka, I've been following a lot of the police work in Germany over the years. And I have very seldom seen press releases come out with such a sense of urgency as I did last night. The Germans saying we have a very credible threats that attacks could be carried exactly at midnight while the bulk of the celebrations were going on. The Germans then put out a notice saying, stay away from larger crowds, stay away from these two railway stations.

[10:10:03] In the end then they reopened them. They said that nothing had happened. But of course the Germans still very much shocked by the fact that this terror threat was there. Of course as they were trying to celebrate New Year's like everyone else in the world as well, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Frederik Pleitgen, thank you so much for that update out of London.

All right. Now let's shift to the terror fears in upstate New York. CNN's Boris Sanchez joins us live with more on that.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Fred. Officials are saying the capture of this suspect, Emanuel Lutchman, is a great success considering what he was planning to do. The U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York telling CNN, quote, "This New Year's Eve prosecution underscores the threat of ISIL even in upstate New York but demonstrates our determination to immediately stop any who would cause harm in its name." Now considering the harm that this suspect was planning on doing, his capture was a tremendous relief.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): A homegrown terror plot to attack people celebrating the New Year thwarted by the feds. Twenty-five-year-old Emanuel Lutchman now facing charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS. His alleged plan? Police say he was looking to attack a bar and restaurant while revelers partied overnight in Rochester, New York.

MARK CHIARENZA, BAR OWNER, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: I was nervous, owning some establishments downtown, you know, it's a little scary. But then I, I sat back and thought, you know, we have very good security staff, there's great police presence on the East Avenue and, you know, they're really just trying to put the fear into us, and we're not going to let that happen.

SANCHEZ: Talking to an FBI informant, Lutchman allegedly discussed using a pressure cooker bomb and kidnapping people. According to a criminal complaint, he told the informant, quote, "I will take a life. I don't have a problem with that."

The Feds say that on Tuesday Lutchman went to an area Wal-Mart with the informant to stock up for the attack, buying black ski masks, zip ties, knives, a machete, duct tape, ammonia, and latex gloves. And the complaint says he planned to release a video after the attack.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK CITY: There's also a new normal when it comes to terrorism.

SANCHEZ: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo talking about the suspect's alleged path to radicalization.

CUOMO: He served time in Attica, became a Muslim, went out, became radicalized on the Internet, and became the proponent of one of these terrorist groups, the ISIL groups, and pledged allegiance to the ISIL group, and had a specific plan to assassinate people.

SANCHEZ: But Lutchman's neighbor say that's not the man they knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a street kid. He's not a hardcore terrorist, you know. He just jumped on a bandwagon, being a little stupid.

SANCHEZ: If convicted, Lutchman could face up to 20 years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: As Governor Cuomo mentioned, Lutchman had legal problems in the past. He served almost five years after a robbery conviction in Attica. He's due in court by next week -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much, in New York.

In southern California millions of people are getting ready for a New Year's Day tradition, the Rose Bowl and parade set to hit the streets of Pasadena, California, in just about an hour. But amid the festivities, of course, tensions remain high after last month's terror attacks in San Bernardino.

Sara Sidner is in Pasadena tracking the efforts to keep everyone safe this holiday.

Hi, Sara, and happy new year.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year, Fred. Yes, I mean, they really are extra, extra, extra serious this year. We've been watching so many planes and helicopters in the sky that are blanketing the area. But it's not just that, the increased terror threat in the United States and across the world really had the police and dozens of other agencies on high alert.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): The terror attacks that shocked the world from Paris to San Bernardino have had a ripple effect on how police in America deal with large-scale events, such as New Year's Eve and New Year's Day parades.

CHIEF PHILIP SANCHEZ, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: We are always prepared for these kind of situations.

SIDNER: For the Pasadena police chief and his department, all eyes are now on the Rose Bowl parade and game. It's a tradition that brings some 700,000 people. Now what used to be looked as good, clean fun is now scrutinized as potential soft targets for terrorists since the recent attacks.

P. SANCHEZ: We have lessons learned from San Bernardino. We've looked at Paris. We looked at Mali.

SIDNER: Here, just as the flower-covered floats are choreographed seamlessly, Pasadena police are working to do the same with dozens of other law enforcement agencies which this year includes Homeland Security.

P. SANCHEZ: We have rapid response teams that are uniformed officers who are highly skilled, highly specialized with a specific mission. And that mission is if there is an unusual occurrence or an emergency, those teams will be immediately deployed.

[10:15:06] SIDNER: And citizens will notice differences in what they can bring with them. Everything has to be in clear plastic bags at the game and everyone should be expect to be on surveillance cameras more times than they can count.

For other cities, New Year's Eve was the big test for American security. New York City deployed 6,000 police officers in Times Square alone. Bomb-sniffing dogs and even nuclear and chemical agent detectors, all in an effort to assure the public their safety is top priority.

WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: We monitor threat information and intelligence information through our partners with the FBI and all the other government agencies, Department of Homeland Security, CIA, et cetera.

SIDNER: The result, a safe celebration in New York. Now the attention turns west as thousands gather for the Rose Parade. They can be sure police here are watching more than the floats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And it's not just what you see but what you don't see that is helping secure the crowds. And this parade, you can hear it, it's about to get started. But there are lots of undercover officers who are just kind of milling about within the crowd as well. But the police chief very clear in saying that generally speaking because there are so many more members of the public, if you see something, say something. It is the public that can help secure itself -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, everyone playing a role in what is always a beautiful and very ornate parade there. All right, Sara Sidner, thank you so much from Pasadena.

All right. Still to come, they are the questions that have consumed Chicago. Who knew what and when in the shooting death of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald. Our Rosa Flores is combing through newly released e- mails now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:12] WHITFIELD: All right. Mounting trouble out of Chicago. Newly released e-mails now revealed that advisers to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, police and independent body investigating them, appear to have coordinated their response to a 2014 deadly shooting of African-American teenager Laquan McDonald by a white police officer because they knew the case would and could spark unrest.

The 17-year-old was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke. Earlier this week Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to murder and misconduct charges.

Let's get right to CNN's Rosa Flores in Chicago. She's going through the e-mails right now.

And what are you learning, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Good morning. Well, CNN specifically requested any e-mails to and from the mayor,

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, regarding the Laquan McDonald case. Now we got thousands of e-mails, and so we've been going through page by page, reading these e-mails to try to assert what was going on. Like, I can tell you, that there are very few e-mails that were actually to and from the mayor that we received. A lot of these e-mails, the bulk of it is e-mails -- strings of e-mails between staff, figuring out the comment that the city was going to generate.

Figuring out the comment both from the city side and from the Independent Police Review Authority. And so it's a lot of the behind- the-scenes efforts to respond to what was going on. You know, this was a huge story in the city of Chicago.

Now I want to point out one e-mail. And I'll start with this one because this was an e-mail that was sent from a lawyer who has worked with the city before and it was sent to one of the mayor's top advisers. And I'm going to read it here. It says, quote, "I'm concerned that the city may erupt when and if the video," and this of course is referring to the Laquan McDonald shooting video. "If the video gets out, what if the mayor and some community leaders, such as Father Pfleger lead a peaceful demonstration with 100 plus African- American youth wearing red mortar boards to symbolize education as the solution while also invoking the image of Laquan McDonald in a positive period," end quote.

So that's just one of the e-mails. So this is someone outside the city sending their concerns to the city about what could happen in the city of Chicago after this. Now we received a statement from the city this morning regarding all of these e-mails. Again we're still looking through them. That statement says, "We made the decision to release e-mails from the mayor's office, the law department and top officials in the police department in the interest of transparency and being as open as possible. We even opted to waive the right to withhold attorney/client privileged discussions," meaning hundreds of e-mails which would have otherwise not been produced have now been made public.

Now I've got to give you the background here. This is all about the shooting and killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. That shooting happened back in October 28th of 2014. Everything surrounding this shooting is talked about in these e-mails. Now, we know, we fast forward time, we know that the mayor replaced the superintendent of police after this. He replaced the head of IPRA, the Independent Police Review Authority, which is the agency that investigates every officer-involved shooting in Chicago.

We know that Jason Van Dyke, the police officer involved, was charged with first-degree murder and also misconduct in this. And we know that he has pleaded not guilty to these charges. That trial is going on.

So, Fred, there are a lot of moving parts here. And what these e- mails show is what's happening in the background, what's happening behind the scenes in the mayor's office. So we're still looking through them. And as soon as we find anything of significance, we'll bring it to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rosa Flores, thank you so much in Chicago. Appreciate that.

All right. Still to come, three of Dr. Ben Carson's top aides stepping down, including his campaign manager. And in just a few minutes, we will be speaking live with the new campaign manager with the Ben Carson campaign. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:14] WHITFIELD: All right. Turning to the race for the White House, Dr. Ben Carson is starting the New Year with a shakeup atop his campaign. Carson's presidential campaign manager, deputy manager and communications director have all resigned.

This comes as Dr. Carson continues to struggle in the polls. In October he was rivaling Donald Trump for the lead. But the latest CNN poll shows him a distant third place.

CNN's Sara Murray joins us now with the very latest on this.

So, Sara, what's the reaction from the Carson campaign? How are they spinning this?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has been a very interesting shakeup because at first Ben Carson did interviews saying, I'm preparing for a campaign shakeup. Then he sort of walked it back, saying he was happy with his senior team. Ultimately a number of staffers have ended up leaving anyway.

And look, they -- basically they left, they put out a statement and they said they respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from the back in the field to the top-tier status. They said they're proud of their efforts and they wish him the best but ultimately they just felt like they couldn't stay on.

And when you look at how the Carson campaign is responding to this, Ben Carson put out a statement essentially saying, "We needed this sort of transition to jump start." And he said, "It's necessary to invigorate my campaign with a strategy that more aggressively shares my vision."

So it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of love lost on either side in terms of this departure. And look, a lot of this friction that we saw in the campaign had to deal with these outside operatives, dealing with Armstrong Williams, who's Ben Carson's long-time business manager.

Armstrong was on CNN yesterday and, you know, he acknowledged that the Carson campaign has sort of been working on their candidate and that sometimes, you know, after these terrorist attacks people have gotten the sense that Ben Carson maybe isn't as tough as they wanted their candidate to be. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, BEN CARSON'S BUSINESS MANAGER: Dr. Carson is not the one that stands like Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz, and say all these things, sometimes incendiary, and people think because you speak loud and you say fiery things you're a leader and you're in control. He's soft spoken. And sometimes people confuse soft-spokeness --

(END)