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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Nightclub Terror; Victims Hospitalized; Survivor's Story. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 13, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining us. Our special breaking news coverage of the Orlando massacre continues right now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW. My colleague Chris Cuomo joining us also live from Orlando right now as we follow the breaking news of the terror attack and deadliest mass shooting in United States history.

Within the past few minutes, CNN brought in the first video of the Orlando rampages as it happened. A young woman named Amanda Alvaer (ph) was Snapchatting when the shooting erupted and a friend later posted that video to FaceBook.

I'm about to play this for you. And you should know two things. The people in the club were not immediately alarmed when they heard these gunshots because they thought that those pops were sound of the music. You should also know that Ms. Alvaer did not survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the club.

I'm at the club.

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: This morning, in a briefing by city, state, and federal authorities, Orlando's police chief described the killer as cool and calm during an ordeal that lasted three hours. The chief said the carnage occurred at the outset as Omar Mateen shot his way past an officer into the crowded club.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JOHN MINA, ORLANDO POLICE: We had an extra duty, off duty officer working for Pulse Nightclub in full police uniform. At about 2:00 he responded to shots fired. He did engage in a gun battle with the suspect somewhere near one of the entrances. Shortly after that, additional officers responded. Those additional officers made entry while the suspect was shooting, engaged in another gun battle with the suspect, forced him to stop shooting and retreat to the bathroom where we believe he had several hostages. As soon as it kind of stabilized and the suspect had barricaded himself in the bathroom, our negotiators were talking with him and there were no shots at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Authorities say they have now identified 48 of the 49 innocent people killed at the Pulse Nightclub shortly after last call early yesterday morning. The 50th person killed was the shooter himself. Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, 29 years old, American born, the son of Afghan immigrants who worked for years as a private security guard in Florida.

You may have heard that Mateen pledged loyalty to ISIS during this rampage, but a source familiar with the investigation tells CNN there is no evidence at this point that that shooting had any actual contacts or even communications with any ISIS members. He did travel twice to Saudi Arabia in recent years, but those visits, the Saudis say, were pilgrimages to Mecca, and not unusual.

We've also learned that in addition to the rifle at the end at least one handgun that Mateen brought - bought days ago, he tried to buy body armor as well, but the store was sold out.

We have a very busy hour of coverage for you. At quarter past, FBI Director James Comey is expected to make a statement. And you're going to hear it live right here.

At the bottom of the hour, Hillary Clinton is due to hold an event in Cleveland, and we're going to bring that to you live as well.

Today's White House briefing is set for 12:45 Eastern Time. We will carry that live right here on CNN as well.

And I want to get you right down to my colleague Chris Cuomo, who's standing by live in Orlando.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ashleigh, there are a lot of open questions here. And when it comes to the murderer, who perpetrated this deadliest shooting in American history, he's really only relevant in terms of what he teaches us about what the threats is here, in terms of whether he was a lone wolf and then, of course, what went into this for him. And that's slowly developing.

We're going to hear from James Comey, from the FBI, the head of the FBI, as you indicated earlier, Ashleigh. That's going to be really important because there were two different points of contact between the murderer and the FBI over the years. In 2013 he was the focus of an investigation. In 2014, he was part of an inquiry that they were involved in. And yet when he went to buy these weapons, the background check, which was also conducted by the FBI, the agency was not able to flag him despite these two prior contacts with him and at least ask him questions about what he was doing. And that's one of the big issues that this event at the nightclub just over our shoulder in Orlando is giving us a window into.

[12:05:25] Now, in terms of what we know at this time, the best source is going to be the president. And in a Homeland Security briefing at the White House, President Obama did relay information about what they understand this man's motivation and connection to terror to be. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is being treated as a terrorist investigation. It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet.

At this stage we see no clear evidence that he was directly externally. It does appear that at the last minute he announced allegiance to ISIL. But there is no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by ISIL. And there, also at this stage, is no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot. This is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So what does it mean and what could have been done to stop this? Those are the big questions. Let's bring in CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. We also have the latest on the investigation and we're going to go to colleague Victor Blackwell as well. He's at Orlando Regional Medical Center. And that's a big piece of this story because there are many families who are still searching to find out whether or not their loved ones are injured and in an area hospital. So we'll get to victor with that in a second.

But, Jim, listening to the president, other than the concern about larger plot and concerted action, like we saw in Paris at the Bataclan, after that it's kind of all equivalencies, isn't it, like whether he was talking to somebody, or self-radicalized or just read something?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is the thing. From ISIS' perspective, it has the same deadly affect, whether they were directed and trained and funded, as they were in Paris, which you and I were sadly there again it seems like not long ago, or here, as the president said, sources I've spoken to familiar with the investigation say, no contact with, no communication with ISIS central. But the thing about ISIS is, ISIS can still inspire people, even without that e-mail connection, that phone call. People read it on the web and low and - they pick a target and they go out and kill people.

CUOMO: And, look, he made the 911 call.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CUOMO: He said he was doing it as an extension of ISIS.

SCIUTTO: Yes. CUOMO: He mentioned the Boston bombers. Obviously in his own head, that's enough to have the deadly intent.

SCIUTTO: Absolutely.

CUOMO: And to be clear, that - that expression of allegiance to ISIS is key because that is something that ISIS expressly asks its supporters to do when they carry out acts of violence. It says, as you're doing it, we saw it with the San Bernardino bombers, we saw it as well with the - with the Paris attackers, they say as they're underway, I am doing this in the cause of ISIS.

CUOMO: A perverse form of brand recognition -

SCIUTTO: Absolutely.

CUOMO: For these murders. And also here, this target speaks to an ISIS favorite as well -

SCIUTTO: Right.

CUOMO: Which is to denigrate and attack and try to kill homosexuals.

SCIUTTO: (INAUDIBLE). Yes. We've seen it. They've done it in Iraq. They post videos. Among the many gruesome videos they do of them throwing homosexuals off the rooftops of building. I mean this is - this is sadly been a consistent kind of target for them.

CUOMO: Now, one open question, the FBI, 2013, they look at this guy. They hear things from coworkers about him threatening to kill people.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CUOMO: Was that legitimate intent inspired in the way this was, or was it some of the bipolar stuff that his ex-wife talks about? Either way, they don't find enough connective tissue to make a real case against him. In 2014, he comes up again and yet, when he goes to buy these weapons, even though the FBI knows him and the FBI is doing the background check, right, that's part of their operation within the system of our gun ownership, they can't even pick up the phone and say you need to come in again to talk about why you want these guns.

SCIUTTO: You have a couple issues here. One, the idea that attacks like this can have multiple motivations.

CUOMO: Right.

SCIUTTO: It can be Islamic extremism, this expression of support for ISIS. It can be what we've heard from people who knew him, that he just had a particular personal issue with gays.

CUOMO: Right.

SCIUTTO: Hatred, an act of hate. And then you hear from his ex-wife says that he was a violent person. Those things - that kind of witches brew of motivations can cause an act of violence like this to be carried out. The other track, I should say, that they're looking into is his foreign travel because oftentimes foreign travel -

CUOMO: Right.

SCIUTTO: That can be a motivator. It can be something that contributes to your radicalization. We do know - we reported earlier today - that he travelled to Saudi Arabia twice, but that was for a religious (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: Maybe for hajj.

SCIUTTO: They don't know yet if he had contact with bad actors, if that in any way influenced him -

[12:10:02] CUOMO: OK.

SCIUTTO: Because many people go there. But it is - it's a line of inquiry that they're looking into.

CUOMO: All right, so we go from the man who we care about least on most levels, to those we care about most. Those who are still hospitalized. Hopefully all at this point identified. But this is a developing aspect of this tragedy.

Victor, what do we know?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, we're just getting a clearer picture of what the situation was like, how desperate it was in the moments after the shooting and what it looks like today. We're getting through the Twitter handle for the Orlando Regional Medical Center some characterizations of what happened in the moments after the shooting.

Orlando Health tweeting that many patients had multiple high velocity gunshot wounds and were transplanted to ORs immediately to stop the bleeding. That coming out in just the last few moments.

Now, there is a broad spectrum of the severity of the injuries because we're also learning from the hospital that some patients were awake and able to speak upon arrival. And for those patients, based upon their recover at this point through the Twitter account for the hospital, we're very optimistic for the patients' prognosis right now. However, we're also seeing how grave the situation is for others. A number of patients currently in our care remain critically ill and in shock. Five patients remain in grave condition. That coming out from the hospital in the last few moments.

Also we're learning that as of this time - and this was at - in the 11:00 hour - six patients had been discharged and 29 patients remain in the hospital. Again, that is here from the Orlando Regional Medical Center. They say that they're not giving large amounts of blood at this time, but they went through so much of their supply that there has been this large call for blood donations. We've learned from one blood, which is the organization that collects blood across this state, that 5,300 people donated yesterday alone. A single day record. And people are back in line today, Chris. CUOMO: You know, Victor, as you have reported beautifully since the

beginning of this, often when things are at their worst, people turn out and wind up being at their best. And we're going to keep telling that story about how this community comes together in the aftermath of this horrible, horrible situation. So I'll come back to you in a little bit.

We want to talk Jim Sciutto as well.

For right now, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to cover the part of this story that is the hardest to tell. What was it like inside the club last night? What did it take to survive? Was it about what people did? Was it just about luck? And how are they dealing now with their injuries? We have someone whose friend was in there last night bartending and now they're in the hospital fighting their own battle. We'll talk to them right when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, we're waiting on the press conference with the head of the FBI right now, James Comey, to update us on the Orlando shooting and what they know about what was potential motivation for this gunman. But, remember, there's also a lot of history for the FBI to address. Two separate investigations they had in 2013 and 2014 with this murderer. So we'll get that and we'll give it to you as soon as Comey's at the podium.

But we want to bring in someone now to tell a really hard part of this story about what it was like inside the nightclub and what it took to survive. His name is Chris Enzo. His friend was shot at the club last night. He visited him at the hospital.

We spoke this morning, Chris. So your buddy was bartending. He wound up taking three bullets in his upper body, his shoulder, his elbow.

[12:15:07] CHRIS ENZO, FRIEND IN SURGERY AFTER ORLANDO MASSACRE: Right.

CUOMO: You went to visit him. How is he now?

ENZO: Right now, as we speak, he is currently in surgery and we are hoping that he's going to have a very successful and a good recovery (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: When you got to see him earlier this evening, was he able to talk to you? Was he able to say how he was?

ENZO: Actually we decided that it was best not to see him right now so we could give him some time to get his recovery - so he could be prepped for surgery. And we're just going to give him the time that he needs before he comes back out here and he talks to everybody about what happened that night.

CUOMO: Now, he's a bartender. What do you understand about what happened last night? ENZO: Well, I understand that he probably is never going to work there

again. But I do understand that he is very, very hurt overall, very traumatized that this happened to people that he knows at that place. And he - he's even scared to think about how many people he knows that were working there that were his friends, his peers that he was working with that are now dead.

CUOMO: He's - you told me earlier today that he had to watch a young woman right in front of him wind up fall victim to this murderer while he was in there and that kind of reinforced just how close the circumstances were and then he got hit himself.

ENZO: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Tell people who didn't get to hear it this morning.

ENZO: So what he described happen - what he described happen in his own words is when I went to talk to him, he said that the assailant came inside the nightclub and at first didn't really seem to be a problem, but very shortly after that the assailant whipped out a rifle with a semiautomatic caliber gun. So he heard - what he describes is he heard very precise shooting, very calculated shots. He describes the bullets as hitting people every single time. He remembers what the sound of human flesh to a bullet sounds like. And that in and of itself is very tragic.

So after that, he describes the woman in front of him that he was bartending for, she was unfortunately shot and killed. And that must have been impactful in and of itself. But right after that he was shot three times on the job. And the force of those bullets pushed him to the ground, where he had to decide whether or not he was going to fight for his life or sit there and kind of wait for a break in the shooting. But he said there was never a break in the shooting for the entire duration of his time there.

CUOMO: How did he get out?

ENZO: Well, what he decided to do in and of itself, being the strong willed person that he is, is that he decided to muster up his strength and run out of there before the hostage situation took place. So he was lucky to run into a friend that escorted him over to Orlando Regional.

CUOMO: You know, one way or the other, whether he took their life or he hit them, one in just about every three people that was in there wound up being hit by this guy one way or another.

ENZO: Right.

CUOMO: So he had a lot of time, he had a lot of ammo and he had a lot of evil intentions. Now, what are you and your friends telling each other about what this means about life right now? You know, this was a specific targeting by one murderous person, but went after gays in a club to kill as many as he could.

ENZO: To be all the way honest with you, that is everything that is me and my friends and everyone in the Orlando community are talking about right now. That is the number one subject, how are we going to live? So far I've been trying to promote the idea that we are going to stand strong. We are going to unite as a people. And so far we've had very, very successful blood donations.

CUOMO: That's huge.

ENZO: It's -

CUOMO: They had over 5,000 people get online, all different colors and creeds and ages -

ENZO: Right.

CUOMO: And mostly young people coming out to show that this community is behind you. Acts like that will help going forward, but you're just starting to deal with the impact of what this was about.

ENZO: Right. That's who we are in Orlando. Out here, everybody knows somebody who was affected by this incident. Out here, we are a community of people that do care about each other, that don't - that do not exercise violence against each other. It's not often that you'll see crimes like this or crimes where people are violent towards each other out here in Orlando. But this assailant, he came far. He was something we could not expect. He was something that we are going to have to always want to counter now.

But my biggest message is to my friends that still currently feel scared to come outside of their house, scared to go to work and scared to go to the night scene. We, and the people that I'm talking to, that want to put on a - like a celebration later this week about putting on like a big moment of silence for all the people that were executed, because this was an execution of innocent people. Our message is, do not give into terrorism having the last laugh. We will never, ever, every support terrorists winning on American soil.

CUOMO: Well, that's the attitude to have because, obviously, that's the goal of the terrorist, to make you change how you are, make you live in fear.

Chris, let us know how your friend does.

ENZO: Thank you.

CUOMO: I hope everything is well. And thank you for talking to us about this.

And we're waiting on some of the big answers that everybody wants in this situation. At any moment, the head of the FBI is going to update us on where we are in understanding what made this Orlando shooting happen. As soon as it starts, we're on it.

[12:20: 06] Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SALLY YATES, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Unfathomable losses that the people of Orlando have suffered. And our thoughts and prayers continue to be with their families and their loved ones.

As Attorney General Lynch said yesterday, the full resources of the Department of Justice, which includes the FBI and ATF, the national security division at main Justice, as well as the U.S. attorney's office in the middle district of Georgia, are all supporting the ongoing investigation. Our agents and investigators have been on the ground since the very beginning and have been working around the clock since yesterday. And they'll continue to do so in the days ahead.

[12:25:06] I want to thank our law enforcement colleagues in Florida for their tireless and extraordinary work so far, and their dedication to the ongoing investigation.

I've also been in contact with the attorney general, who is currently on her way back from China, and continues to monitor developments in the case.

Words really can't express the depth of our sorrow our the measure of our grief for losses that have been suffered by those and lives that have been changed forever. What happened in Orlando yesterday was a horrifying act. A horrifying act of evil and terror. For the LGBT community, Pulse was more than just a place to go and celebrate and see friends. It was a place that promised inclusion, and freedom to be themselves. The same promise that our country holds for everyone.

This was an attack on that promise. It was an attack on our values as a country and our national community. It was an attack on who we are as a nation and as a people. And our country as a whole stands united in response to this cowardly and despicable act.

And so, with this, I'll turn things over to Director Comey, who will provide some additional details on where we are in the investigation right now.

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Thank you, Sally.

I want to echo who the deputy attorney general said just now. Our hearts are broken and ache for the people who were lost in Orlando, those wounded, and their families. We are so sorry for your loss and your suffering.

I also want to say a word of thanks and express admiration for the work of local law enforcement in Orlando. They showed professionalism and extraordinary bravery that saved lives. We are very lucky that such good people choose lives of service in law enforcement.

And last I want to say a word of thanks to the people who rendered care that saved lives at the scene. The docs, the EMTs, the nurse, the victim's specialists, and the ordinary citizens who stopped to help family and friends. You showed us the best part of humanity in the midst of terrible loss.

As you know, this is a federal terrorism investigation, led by the FBI, with the assistance, as we always do, of our state, local, and federal partners. The reason for that is there are strong indications of radicalization by this killer and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organization. We are spending a tremendous amount of time, as you would imagine, trying to understand every moment of this killer's path to that terrible night in Orlando, to understand his motives and to understand the details of his life. You will notice that I'm not using the killer's name and I will try not to do that. Part of what motivates sick people to do this kind of thing is some twisted notion of fame or glory. And I don't want to be part of that for the sake of the victims and their families. And so that other twisted minds don't think that this is a path to fame and recognition.

So what I want to do is give you a sense of what we know so far and then tell you as much as I can about our past contact with the killer.

We are going through the killer's life, as I said, especially his electronics, to understand as much as we can about his path and whether there were anyone else involved, either in directing him or in assisting him. So far we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States. And we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network.

It is also not entirely clear at this point just what terrorist group he aspired to support. Although he made clear his affinity at the time of the attack for ISIL and generally leading up to the attack for radical Islamist groups. He made 911 calls from the club during the attack at about 2:30 in the morning Sunday morning. And there were three different calls. He called and he hung up. He called again and spoke briefly with the dispatcher. And then he hung up and then the dispatcher called him back again and they spoke briefly. So there were three total calls.

During the calls he said he was doing this for the leader of ISIL, who he named, and pledged loyalty to. But he also appeared to claim solidarity with the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing and solidarity with a Florida man who died as a suicide bomber in Syria for al Nusra Front, a group in conflict with the so-called Islamic State.

The bombers at the Boston Marathon and the suicide bomber from Florida were not inspired by ISIL, which adds a little bit to the confusion about his motives. And, of course, we're working to understand what role anti-gay bigotry may have played in motivating this attack. An attack that occurred during the very month when we recognize and celebrate our LGBT brothers and sisters.

[12:30:08] Again, it's early.