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Tribute To The Victims And Continuing Coverage Of Orlando Club Attack. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 14, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There was no question there was paramedics and people who went on the scene. And you just hear from these stories, this lasted a long time. You and I have covered a lot of these tragedies and most of them over, if you will, in a few minutes.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Most of the -- frankly, an active shooter situation, some of the fatalities take place I think for an FBI statistics, it was first five to six minutes.

GUPTA: And here you had it spread over a few hours. And think about the challenges for the EMS folks. Many of them have to go in with law enforcement into areas where people were hurt. They needed to get there quickly even though there was an active shooter situation because, you know, time was of the essence. They were doing things as they told me like tourniquets. Everyone knows what a tourniquets is and we use them all the time. But here, the tourniquets were taking on a different role. It was really the only thing they can do for a period of time until they could actually pull these patients out of that active shooter situation using things that they developed in war zones. A gauze that has a solution that basically stops bleeding. So you put the gauze on and it accomplishes that.

COOPER: Let me ask you this question because I mean, we have seen so much video of people, you know, literally carrying gunshot victims to get them to the hospital because there was couple of blocks, right putting them back of pickup trucks. I have always heard, you know, somebody should just remain where they are, wait for a balance but it's a judgment call. I mean, should if you're close to a hospital, if you can get them there in a private vehicle, should you take - I mean, this applies to anybody, who runs - across somebody a traffic accident, anything.

GUPTA: Yes. I think, you know, obviously, this is an unusual situation. In that there was, you know, still an active shooter and people --

COOPER: There are also with so many victims that it would have been hard for enough ambulances to get there.

GUPTA: Absolutely. I think that everyone talks about this thing of the golden hour. You and I talked about that. And so to answer your question, I think getting them to a hospital, getting them to some level of care is got to be the right answer.

COOPER: Golden hour meaning within that first hour of the wound is vital that they get some sort of treatment.

GUPTA: Your chance of survival, your chance of doing well, increases exponentially if they can get care within the first hour. So it does makes a difference. You do worry, for example, in a car accident if someone has a broken neck and has damaged spinal cord, you want to be careful on that situation, obviously. But getting someone to some level of care makes a huge difference, even putting a tourniquet on, even putting a chest tube in, something like that can mean the difference of surviving and not surviving.

COOPER: Yes. Well, it is good to know. (INAUDIBLE).

GUPTA: Yes.

COOPER: Sanjay, thank you. As always, for your reporting.

Brooke, back to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:24] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Welcome back. We are live here in Orlando on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we are hearing all kinds of JUST horrendous details from survivors, from the Pulse nightclub massacre here in town. How the cold-blooded killer reloaded his weapon, fired repeatedly.

Survivor Samuel Maldonado told my colleague John Berman that he is still living the horror.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMUEL MALDONADO, SURVIVED ORLANDO CLUB ATTACK: Still in shock. Nervous. I haven't slept. Me and my partner, we both haven't slept at all. Constantly, if just close your eyes, especially him, when you close, it's just -- you can just see these bodies and, you know, when we were able to see what we saw, especially the young girl that fell in front of us. It is just -- he's just constantly having those type of nightmares and stuff.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can't imagine. You were working inside the courtyard with your husband. What happened? Walk us through what happened.

MALDONADO: It was just a typical night. Busy. We were celebrating the (INAUDIBLE). It was very busy. Music. Good music. Crowd. Everything was going smooth running, laughing and enjoying people, our friends coming towards us. And to that very end, being that there's music outside and then the music inside sometimes, you know, you cannot determine what was the noise, but then we started seeing people just running from the inside because the door that connects the courtyard towards the inside is always open so when you see these people just running towards the courtyard and then realizing that then the deejay that it was outside turned the music off and then you hear this -- all those shots, that's when you say, oh my God, what's going on? We just realized that it was more serious when we saw this young girl just with blood in her clothing. And she was going like this because I know that he was like -- I guess he noticed that he was running and shot her more because she went like this and then all of a sudden she just fell right in front of Junior and myself. That's when we said, oh my God, so me and Junior immediately we just got on to the floor. We hid on our tables because I have -- we sit up outside in tables and they were covered with the table cloth that it was black. That's literally where we were hiding.

And then all of a sudden there was no music, no shot and then we heard when they said get out, Junior was more quicker to get out because he was in the table was closer to where the exit was going to be. I was in the other side. So when I got -- when I was able to get up and ran behind Junior, I noticed that I didn't saw his face. I just saw a gentleman walking but then I saw the rifle pointing towards the floor. So I knew it was him. But when he was going from the inside going towards the courtyard, instead of me continuing to run, I went back. And hid under the table but then when I noticed that I was going to go back into where I was, there was this young lady right there. And she was nervous, ranting, screaming, crying, and because there was no music, and no shotguns, I literally, went on top of her and I covered her mouth. Because I didn't want him to see because when I literally went to the floor, there was a gap that I was able to see the door. And he was walking just getting closer and closer and closer. So I literally was just covering her and when he was getting closer, that is when you noticed that what I heard and I saw the cartridge went to the floor and then I hear when there was one put back in. And it was a big noise when it just -- it said -- and then he did another step but then he just, all of the sudden, he just turned back and continued walking towards the inside.

As soon as he walk into the inside, then you were still again hear the gunshots. When I saw that he was on the inside and then I got up, turned and when I looked because the table was almost facing the door, when I look, I was just hearing and you would just see the bodies that were already on the floor. They were literally just jumping and then into -- more than I got up and quicker that I was just going and grabbed a young lady, you would literally see him. I saw the back and he was just going bop, bop, bop and you would see these bodies just jumping inside and he was just literally -- and because he was turned, then I just immediately ran off with the young lady. And they were -- as soon as we walk off, there were already two officers towards the fence already with their guns and then just literally walk us out. But that's when I really saw.

BERMAN: You were separated from your husband.

MALDONADO: Yes.

BERMAN: Junior. What was that like? Those moments?

MALDONADO: It was terrible because I thought -- as soon as Junior walk out and then as soon as I walk back in and I saw him, his feet getting more closer to where I was. And I tried to cover more her mouth because I was afraid that if he would hear us, there's no way for me or her to get out because the way that the table was set there was no entrance, no exit there. So I was afraid that where he might go behind the table and just shoot or just turn around where we were. It was -- it was shocking. Yes. It was just literally say, OK, well, there. But tried my best and cover her so he would not hear. All of a sudden, it was just you think, you know, sometimes you don't think about yourself. The first thing is about your kids. You are not going to see them no more. Junior and if he's OK. Because when I saw him got out, yes, he was -- he had blood on his clothing so sometimes oh my God, he got hit. But when I was finally got to able to see him, you know, it was OK. But it's hard. It was hard.

The most thing is it was just seeing all these bodies just there in the middle. Because sometimes you wanted and I don't know what made me do but instead of running and just going towards where I was, I was still running but I was still looking toward that door and just see him the way he was just shooting on the ground. Just literally at these people. They were already on the ground.

BERMAN: You're OK. Junior's OK.

MALDONADO: Yes.

BERMAN: Try to think about that. Try to keep that image.

MALDONADO: Yes.

BERMAN: In your head going forward.

Samuel, thank you for talking to us. And we are sorry you had to go through this. And every day, every day you have with Junior now is a blessing.

MALDONADO: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:49:49] COOPER: I'm outside the hospital in Orlando with two of my CNN colleagues, Ramon Escobar and also John Sutter. John work in the digital side.

You've been focusing on the gay and lesbian community here in Orlando. What are people saying to you? What are they expressing?

[15:50:04] JOHN SUTTER, OPINION COLUMNIST, CNN DIGITAL: I mean, I think people are still in shock. I think this is a community that's still reeling from this tragedy. I think last night at the vigil when they rang 49 bells, one, you know, one for each of the victims, that was one for a lot of people that I have been talking with and sort of spending a lot of time with, that's when this became real. I have met people who knew, you know, 10, even 17, in one cases. In one case, you know, people who died in the club. And so, I think the real scope and depth of that within the LGBT community here is just it is almost impossible to describe.

COOPER: It's also I think hard for people who are maybe not gay or lesbian or transgendered or haven't been to gay club to kind of understand the roles sometimes a gay club can play in a gay person's life. Because you know, when we heard that this guy, according to dad, saw two men kissing on the street and it upset him by now. Given now what we have learned about this man that seems kind of unlikely given that he has been in gay clubs before. But it's so rare to see gay people kissing on the street or holding hands. And a gay club is often a place where you can feel free and you can feel yourself.

SUTTER: Yes. I think it is a safe space. And that is why people feel so wounded by this in part. And you know, I think I heard from a lot of people in the LGBT community here that they really only have each other in some case, if their parents have rejected them, if their families, you know, aren't open to gay people, they really are family.

And so, one guy who I talked to this morning who lost five of his friends in the club, you know, told me that it was like five chunks of his heart, five pieces of his family were ripped out. It is really that important support.

COOPER: Well, Ramon, I know one of the young men who died had just come out to his family this year and he had been concerned about how his family would react, thinking that they might reject him but in fact they embraced him and which is an extraordinary thing and certainly given that he lost his life, thank God for his family that they did do that, that they had this last year with him.

RAMON ESCOBAR, CNN VICE PRESIDENT, TALENT RECRUITMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: What we certainly learned from all the tragedies, one of the most important things you have is family. And as we speak, Anderson, you have families getting on planes in Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic not to mention all of Puerto Rico descending here. And some of these parents don't even know that their child was gay. And they have to find out that their child is gay and dead.

And so, you know, this is a really important issue in the Latino community that a lot of times they don't like to talk about. You know, (INAUDIBLE), you know, that word (INAUDIBLE) which people like to throw around, it is a very powerful word and parents and family. I mean, now is the moment for Latinos everywhere to -- look, they all have issues, we get it. I mean, the church has issues. Many of us grow up catholic or are very religious. But you don't want to be in a situation where this is the moment where you learn your child is gay because you couldn't come to grips with it. And many of those kids at that club in the Pulse were in the safest place they would be that night because maybe their homes weren't safe. Maybe they -- there wasn't such tolerance. So I think that's one of the big messages I hope that comes out of this tragedy.

COOPER: There's also the fear -- I've talked to a number of survivors of people who lost friends in that club who wondered, you know, what happens now. I know there's a whole sort of thing online of people showing photos of men kissing because this idea that you know what, if person can be so outraged that they saw two men kissing on the street, that I think there's a reaction among many gay people to want to normalize it, to want to, you know, if we're truly to be equal, we should be allowed to hold hands on the street and not fear of being yelled at or fear being attacked or fear being killed. SUTTER: And I think that's one of the really scary things. I have

talked to couples who say they are nervous about holding their hands on the streets in Orlando now. And then at the vigil yesterday they were looking over their shoulders, looking up in parking decks trying to see is there something that could happen here.

COOPER: You know, I talked about this on the air yesterday. And I got a bunch of tweets from people who say, well, I don't like to seeing public display of affection by anyone, straight or gay. But I think straight people don't realize just the full extent which we edit ourselves as gay people that, you know, I don't know that I would walk in an airport hand in hand with my partner, and yet you see straight couples doing that all the time. You risk getting -- even if not physically attacked, yelled at or stared at or you know, people whispering under your breath.

ESCOBAR: But a public display of affection is even a photo on your desk, it's a wedding ring. I think that's you know, we just want to do the same thing that everyone else does.

COOPER: Right.

ESCOBAR: And what is really ugly right now --.

COOPER: But it's not about making out with somebody. It's about holding hands.

ESCOBAR: No. I mean, no one really likes that. But I will tell you what's really destructive right now is, you know, what's happening, for example, with these pastors. There's a lot of pastors, one in particular in Sacramento who has come out and said some really horrible things about all 50 pedophiles died. We are very happy. This is in a sermon. It is on You Tube that he had to take it down. We have a Mexican government official (INAUDIBLE), Mexico who went on and put on his Facebook, 50 dead, I wish it was 100. Now, he is since been fired, but this is some of the stuff that we're talking about that we have to confront. And I happen this, what happened at the Pulse, now allows us to have that kind of dialogue.

COOPER: Ramon Escobar, John Sutter, thank you so much for all your work and for being here.

Brooke, back to you.

[15:55:00] BALDWIN: All right, Anderson, thank you so much.

And before we go to break, I just want to tell you I was talking to a member of Orlando law enforcement. And as we are so mindful, of course, not only just the victims and the survivors here in Orlando and the tremendous hospital staff, the doctors, the nurses, the first responders, also the medical examiner's office. He was just passing along to me one detail, that in those initial hours that the medical examiner was receiving all of these bodies, just imagine the sheer volume, that ty were challenged because phones were constantly ringing, not their own phones, phones in the pockets of the young men and women who had lost their lives and who they were working on at the ME office and presumably phones, calls from loved ones trying to find them, trying to find them. Just mindful of that here.

We are going to go to break. And when we come back, I will share some video that will send chills up your spine, the London games (INAUDIBLE), a tribute to those who lost their lives, here in Orlando, Florida.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:59:17] BALDWIN: Just wanted to end these two hours with something just so absolutely beautiful. This is the London gay men's chorus. You know the song. This is Simon and Garfunkel's "bridge over troubled water" as part of a vigil organized to honor the victims here in the Orlando attack. Thousands of people by the way were in the streets, including the new mayor of London (INAUDIBLE). How about that.

Thank you so much for being with me here today. We are back in Orlando tomorrow. And our special live coverage continues now on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper.