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Terror Attack on French Police Officer; President Obama to Visit Orlando; Vigils Held Around the World for Orlando Vistims; FBI Says Shooter Appears to Be Self-Radicalized; Clinton and Trump Speak about Orlando Shooting. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 14, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ROBYN CURNOW, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN center.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: And I'm George Howell. Live in Orlando, Florida this hour.

CURNOW: And we're following breaking news in France where police are calling the murder of a police officer and his partner an attack of terrorism. An attacker stabbed the policeman to death outside his home. A SWAT team killed the attacker.

The officer's partner was subsequently found dead inside the home. Now we will have live report from Paris with more shortly. But right now let's go to George Howell in Orlando for the latest on the deadly shootings there.

HOWELL: Robyn, thank you. Two days after that shooting, and you see behind me here there is still a crime scene and there will be a crime scene here for many days to come. All the while, investigators are learning more about the man behind these murders.

The FBI believes the shooter self-radicalized online, finding Jihadist propaganda there. A performer says he saw the gunman at the gay night club at least twice a month for three years before the actual shooting.

Vigils are being held around the world to honor the victims. Thousands came to a candlelight ceremony here in Orlando.

Also, Thursday, President Barack Obama will visit Orlando. He says there's no evidence that the gunman was guided by ISIS.

There are also new questions about the gunman's background and accounts the he visited the night club just down the street, many, many times before. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, four regular patrons of the gay club say they saw the gunman there a number of times before Sunday's shooting. His ex-wife spoke with Erin Burnett about his past. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SITORA YUSUFIY, OMAR MATEEN'S EX-WIFE: When we had gotten married, he

confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time. And that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife. And there was a lot of pictures of him.

So, you know, I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he was gay?

YUSUFIY: I don't know. He never personally or, you know, physically made any indication while we were together of that. But he did feel very strongly about homosexuality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The investigators are also examining Omar Mateen's electronic devices, even his search history. That officials says the 29-year-old had searched for videos of ISIS beheadings and of a radical American- born imam.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is here and now joins us live in Orlando at this hour. Boris, good to have you. So, first, let's talk about the gunman's electronic footprint, revealing several new clues now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, George. Just to give you an idea of where we are, first, we're on the other side of this crime scene. It remains a massive investigation. And as part of it, we're getting a kind of a window into the mind of this shooter and the process of self-radicalization.

One U.S. official described what they found in his electronic records as quote, "he consumed a hell of a lot of Jihadist propaganda that includes the ISIS videos" that George mentioned, ISIS beheadings as well as videos produced by Anwar al-Awlaki. You remember, he's that American imam that was based in Yemen that produced countless videos that inspired really a generation of Jihadist.

He was even mentioned in the September 11th commission report essentially saying that he was the spiritual leader of some of the hijackers. Of course, he was killed in 2011 during a drone strike.

Some of these different influences might explain the discrepancy in the shooter's so-called pledged allegiances. When he was first on the phone with 911 and he pledged allegiance to ISIS, and then later he pledged allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra, which is an Al Qaeda group based in Syria, those are two competing groups.

So, this kind of reveals the inner workings of the shooter's mind. He was essentially looking for some kind of inspiration to carry out this attack.

[03:05:05] Aside from that, as you mentioned, President Obama will be here on Thursday, offering condolences and support to the victims and their families. This, as we watch vigils unfold around the world, including some in Orlando that coincide with the release of the last name of the last victim, that Geraldo Ortiz Jimenez. He is the 49th victim that has been identified by officials.

We can also tell you that officials are looking into the shooter's movements shortly before the shooting. It appears that he had been scoping out several locations. And as they flesh out their timeline, that will be certainly the focus, George.

HOWELL: Boris, tell us just a bit more about that. Apparently, the gunman spending time at nearby Disney Springs. How exactly were investigators able to track this down?

SANCHEZ: Right, well, they said that they used cell phone tower data to be able to pinpoint his location. And as you said, he was in an area known as Disney Springs. Just a few years ago it was called downtown Disney. It was an area that I frequent went in when I was a kid. It's essentially an entertainment center. There are restaurants there and different businesses. A lot of families are there.

And what investigators were able to figure out is that hours before the shooting he was in that area alone. And you can imagine that they want to hear from people that there at the same time to see if anybody saw him and perhaps they can glean something from what his demeanor was at that time as they put together this timeline to figure out just how all of this unfolded, George.

HOWELL: So, investigators learning a lot more about his background, his online searches, and even his electronic footprint, where he's been. Boris Sanchez, live for us. Boris, thank you.

CURNOW: And another aspect of this investigation, a store manager says the Orlando gunman tried to buy military-grade body armor in the days before the attack. He said the store didn't carry it but the shooter was armed to a handgun and an assault rifle when he went in to the Pulse night club.

Well, Jim Sciutto has more on the hours of terror that then followed.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN'S CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment Pulse night club turned from celebration to terror. Gun fire caught on video as 25-year-old Amanda Alvear chatted online with a friend. She did not survive.

Tonight, U.S. officials are calling the deadliest shooting in American history an act of terrorism. But there is no evidence the shooter, Omar Mateen had contact with ISIS or other terror groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of home-grown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: But today, the FBI director, James Comey said the bureau investigated Mateen for 10 months in 2013 and placed him on two terror watch lists. Though he was removed when the case ended, he was still able to buy two guns legally in the last two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We're working to understand what role anti-gay bigotry may have played in motivating this attack. Again, it's early. We're working hard to understand the killer and his motives and his sources of inspiration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Omar Mateen sprays a barrage of bullets into a crowd of some 300 people. Witnesses believe the initial gun fire is part of the music.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just dancing to music. And you hear bang, bang! But really it's just not even, I don't know, 150 feet in front of you. Literally, there's people being shot down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Around 2.30 a.m., Mateen calls 911 from the bathroom three times, pledging his allegiance to ISIS and other terror groups and expressing support for the Boston bombers and Abdeslam, the American suicide bomber who killed himself in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: 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 the dispatcher called him back again and they spoke briefly. So, there were three total calls.

JOHN MINA, ORLANDO POLICE CHIEF: He was cool and calm when he -- when he was making those phone calls to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Jim Sciutto, CNN, Orlando.

HOWELL: Now for the people who survived this mass shooting, we are hearing some incredible stories about how they escaped death. Norman Casiano is one of those people. He told my colleague Anderson Cooper what happened after he and several other club patrons ran into a bathroom to hide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADERSON COOPER, AC360 SHOW HOST: So you crawled into the bathroom.

NORMAN CASIANO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Yes. And it was just from that point forward, I just already knew that this was, it was going to go south from there.

COOPER: While were you crawling in the bathroom, were there continuing to be shots?

CASIANO: Yes. So I was like the fastest crawling. We're like military crawling, like, let's get out of here. So, we went into the bathroom. And we opened the stall, and there's already people lined up near the wall. So, I could only sit near the front, where if something was going to happen...

[03:10:09] COOPER: Was this a small, regular bathroom?

CASIANO: Just like probably like this whole square right here. So, like about four, four by, like 10? Like a small, like little, to the point where there's people sitting on top of each other.

So once I got in there, everyone ducked, and we got quiet and I'm like, just, I try to call 911. It wouldn't go through. It was busy. At that point, the gunshots are getting closer. And I call my mom. And I don't know if something was wrong with the service or it had something to do with what was going on, but she, I heard it pick up, and I said mom, mom, mom, and it dropped.

And then that was the time span of like not even five minutes. That from that point forward, that's when the gunshots got extra close. And at that point you hear everyone just under their breath like praying and crying and trying to be quiet so if he, you know, if he wasn't going to go into the bathroom, he wouldn't hear us.

COOPER: Could you hear people outside the bathroom?

CASIANO: No. It was just gunshots after gun shots. And you could hear the bullets hitting the floor. You could hear when he was like adding more bullets. I don't know how you...

COOPER: Reloading.

CASIANO: Reloading the gun, yes.

COOPER: How many people were in your stall?

CASIANO: I counted about like 20 or 30 people.

COOPER: Wow.

CASIANO: Yes, because there wasn't any room for you to just everyone have their own little niche to stand in. And it was like you need to sit on top, like one of my friends was lying on top of other people. And it's to that point where the people didn't care.

Everyone is just like ducking, and you know, just hoping for the best, praying and I myself was saying please don't let this be, you know, where I go, like this cannot be what going to happen tonight. So at that point, after the phone call, right directly immediately after, I see feet, and we're thinking it's the assailant, and...

COOPER: You see feet from under the bathroom stall?

CASIANO: Yes, there was like a space like this big underneath the stuff.

COOPER: Yes.

CASIANO: I'm thinking it's the shooter. And you just hear the door get slammed on and someone drops to the floor. And it's what another patron of Pulse, and he was bleeding. The floor started bleeding, like it was just all over.

COOPER: He was shot right then and there?

CASIANO: He -- I figure that he was running away from him, to go hide in one of the stalls. And as he was running, I guess he shot him from a distance. Once he shot him, he laughed.

COOPER: The gunman laughed?

CASIANO: Yes. And that's something that's imprinted in my head for the rest of my life, like I've literally been in the hospital for two days, trying to sleep. And one of the first things I hear when I close my eyes, guns, bullets hitting the floor and just that laugh.

Like it wasn't a multiple laugh, it's like a villain in a movie, like he was, it was like a laugh of satisfaction, like I am doing what I came here to do.

COOPER: Was it like an extended laugh or just...

CASIANO: Just like really quick like a chuckle like I can't even do it. Somehow like intense like it was just pure, and everyone I talk to, it's pure evil, that's what it sounded like. It didn't even sound like a person at that point. He didn't speak. The only sound we heard was a laugh.

So at that point someone started screaming. Like please, please, please don't shoot us. Don't shoot us. And he does the first round through the door.

COOPER: Of the stall where you were?

CASIANO: Of the stall that I was in. And that's where I got my first wound, which was an entrance and an exit. We start yelling again, please, please, don't shoot. There's people in the background just begging him, like please, please don't shoot.

Like we haven't seen your face, we don't know what you look like. You haven't spoken, we don't know anything, just please let us go, like don't do this. And I guess that just, like I said, it enticed him to do it more. And he put his hand over the stall and just free shot.

COOPER: You saw his hand go over the stall.

CASIANO: Yes, that's the only description that I was able to give to police was that I know he was tan. So, I said he...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Do you remember the gun that he was using when he did that?

CASIANO: Yes.

COOPER: Was it a...

CASIANO: It was a smaller one that...

COOPER: A handgun?

CASIANO: The handgun, yes. It was a .9 millimeter? So, it was -- I could see it clearly. I remember I looked up for five seconds and then looked I down and like shimmied over. And that's when he got me here. And he got other people and people screamed so like, you know, because a few of them did pass away at that moment in time. And I just dropped to the floor. And I guess he thought that whoever was in there he already got. So, he left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Clarity there of Norman's description just chilling, but I also want to update you on a breaking news story out of France. Let's go straight to Paris.

Jim Bittermann is standing by. We understand officials are calling the murder of a police officer and his partner an act of terrorism. Tell us more, Jim.

[03:15:07] JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Robyn. In fact, the interior minister calling it an abject act of terrorism, that was a short while ago after he had met with the president and other security officials here in France. And before he headed to the scene of this crime, which was to the west of Paris, it's about 45 minutes from the center of Paris.

And in that locality, which is a fairly calm suburb Magnanville, west of Paris, the police officer was heading home last night at about 8.30 in the evening when he was attacked and stabbed, according to media reports, nine times, stabbed.

He was in civilian dress, was not on duty at the time. And then the assailant went into the police officer's home and holed up there. SWAT teams came. They tried to negotiate with him for several hours, and finally, in a shootout killed him.

When the police officers got inside, they found that the companion of the police officer, who also works for the police as a secretary, in fact, she was killed as well. A 3-year-old child who was found inside the house was safe.

Now they're saying that the media reports here are saying that the assailant was connected to terrorism back in 2013, was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for his connections to a terrorist recruiting group. And the act has been claimed at least by ISIS and ISIS-related news site has claimed that this was something that was carried out by someone who was an ISIS soldier.

The fact is, though, that this came after the fact. And as no indication that ISIS was in fact directing this operation, Robyn.

CURNOW: Jim Bittermann there in Paris there. Thank you. On news that authorities are calling an incident there in Paris an act of terror. Thank you.

HOWELL: Back here in Orlando, dozens of victims are still in emergency care. We will give you an exclusive look inside one of the hospitals working to save them.

This is CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sport headlines.

Spain left it very late indeed to come away with a win from their Euro 2016 opening hold Spain are attempting to win the tournament in the third consecutive ties.

[03:20:03] They'll be relieved to come away with all three points against the Czech Republic. And De Gea headed by Gerard Pique in the 87th minute of the match was the difference between the two sides that saw 13 games that Spain have gone unbeaten in this competition.

Elsewhere, and there was a huge win for Italy who beat Belgium by two goals to nil in Leon both sides. Much fancied at this tournament the Italians deserved their victory. They lead to Emanuele Giaccherini and then secured the points with an injury time strike by Graziano Pelle. It means that after the opening round of games, Italy topped their group by two points.

And LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are still alive in their quest for their first NBA title. They beat the Golden State Warriors on the road in game five of the finals. The Cavs now head back to Cleveland for game six, still trailing the series, three games to two. Game six will be played on Thursday.

And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN special coverage of the mass shooting at the Pulse night club. This community dealing with a great deal of sadness and a great deal of pain.

I'm George Howell, live in Orlando, Florida.

CURNOW: And I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN center.

Cities across the U.S. and around the world are honoring the 49 people killing in the Pulse night club shooting.

In Orlando, it was a sea of glowing candles. Look at those images. Hundreds of people gathered to remember the victims. It was one of many, many vigils across the city on Monday.

In New York, a vigil was held at the symbolic Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 riot that launched the modern day gay rights movement. Again, very evocative images in there.

In London, hundreds of people rallied in the streets in solidarity with Orlando, and in Paris, a city no stranger to terror, the Eiffel Tower was lit up in honor of the Orlando victims. Half in red, white, and blue and half in the colors of the rainbow flag.

HOWELL: The pain and sadness real that people coming together around the world. We're also learning more about the situation at nearby hospitals here in Orlando, as dozens upon dozens of victims arrived Sunday morning for emergency care.

CNN got exclusive access inside the Orlando Regional Medical Center, one of the places where doctors have been treating patients round the clock since the shootings.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHADWICK P. SMITH, ORLANDO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER SURGEON: They said there was a gunshot coming in, and they said there were maybe a few more. The initial report was 20 gunshot wounds that are going to be coming our way, one patient came in, another patient came in, and then I realized this was not a drill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN'S CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Trauma surgeons Smith, Cheatham, and Ibrahim had been operating almost nonstop since the shooting at Pulse club.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHEATHAM, ORLANDO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER SURGEON: We were up to six rooms within about 90 minutes. They have 44 gunshot wounds victims come in all within a space of about an hour and a half, two hours. Certainly exceeded anything that we'd ever seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Reporter: Twenty six operations were performed in the first few hours. Injuries so devastating. One patient alone requiring four separate operations. Ninety units of blood and counting.

The patients will be wheeled into this area, they'd have about a dozen people surrounding them. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, anybody who could lend a hand. They'd make a decision really quickly in terms of was this person going to survive or was this person going to need surgery and how quickly was that operation going to be necessary.

How much blood was the patient going to get. You just imagine 44 patients coming in short time, bed after bed after bed and these doctors having to make those decisions. That's what's been going on here for quite some time.

They finally feel like they've got a handle on the situation, but they still have many, many patients upstairs who need their care.

And then in the midst of all that, a rumor that the hospital had become a target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is ORMC. We have the shooter currently inside ORMC. We cannot take anymore. We're on lockdown.

CHEATHAM: We actually barricaded the two doors to our trauma bay with X-ray machines and went back to focusing on the patients.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Patients, many of whom were still conscious and trying desperately to communicate till the very end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Several people asking if they were going to die, where their friends were, where their loved ones were. And, you know, just everybody kind of came together, tried to reassure them at the same time.

[03:25:00] There were some patients, unfortunately, that due to their injuries, you know, they were unable to be saved. And we tried to make them as comfortable as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: With us now Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And, Sanjay, when we talk about that night, it seems like hour after hour it got worse and worse and worse. What was it like for these surgeons?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think they initially didn't know what really to expect. There was a doctor on call. He gets a call and says there's a couple patients coming in initially. And that's not unusual for Orlando.

You may have a night where you have a couple of patients who have gunshot wounds, but then it was more and more. And at some point he had to make a decision, this was, first of all, it's not a drill, this was a real life. And he call for backup. So, he called two more surgeons, they called for three more surgeons, eventually there were at least six surgeons operating.

They did 26 operations in a short amount of time. And so they were taking care of these patients, triaging the patients, triaging the blood, they need to make sure they had enough blood. Triaging the other resources that were necessary. So, it's something that you think about, you try and practice for, but real life's always going to be a little bit different.

HOWELL: You know, there was a point where Mateen went outside and then came back in.

GUPTA: Yes.

HOWELL: And it's, you know, did the surgeons notice that they have one round of patients and then another round of patients?

GUPTA: Very good point. And this was a crucial difference than San Bernardino, than Roseburg, Oregon. All these other places than Newtown. Those are usually several minutes. This, in part because of the hostage situation as well ended up being several hours.

So, the way they described it was they essentially had two mass casualty incidents, they have one wave of patients, and then they basically had to stop. Think weren't doing any triage or any recovery at the scene, and then all of a sudden they got that second wave after the hostage situation was over.

So, that was a whole other thing. And you remember throughout the night, I mean, the numbers were all over the place.

HOWELL: Right.

GUPTA: Because nobody really knew what was happening.

HOWELL: I remember, I was on set that night.

GUPTA: Yes.

HOWELL: And we got information initially. And then it seemed like the information changed drastically. There was so many more patients involved. These different hospitals, you know, and major cities in Chicago, for instance, in Seattle, there are hospitals that are prepared for, that are designed for and trained for.

GUPTA: Yes.

HOWELL: Big situations like this. But Orlando, they do training.

GUPTA: You know, George, I think since I've been a journalist, this has been a big difference, I mean, the hospital where I worked in Atlanta, at Emory, we do training.

HOWELL: They do training.

GUPTA: You know, we don't think about this. I'm sure in Orlando you don't think that this is going to happen. No city is seemingly immune. So, if you're a level one trauma center now, you do training for mass casualty incidents.

They've always done it, but now part of their training is for semi- automatic weapons patients, multiple patients coming in with multiple wounds. It's not just, you know, big car accidents or even shootings which is single gunshot wounds. These are mass casualty incidents, more military style.

HOWELL: Pretty good times. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Yes, thank you. HOWELL: Robyn, back to you.

CURNOW: Yes. Thanks so much, George. Amazing insight there from Sanjay. Well, after this break there will be more stories of survival, and you'll hear from a man who lost eight friends in this mass shooting. Stay with us.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN center.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell, live in Orlando, Florida.

The FBI says that they think the gunman self-radicalized online. One official says the shooters devices showed numerous searches for Jihadist propaganda.

His current wife is cooperating with investigators with information helping them to build the timeline leading up to the attacks here.

The U.S. President Barack Obama is calling the mass shooting a result of quote, "home-grown terrorism" and is once again escalating. The call for more gun control. On Thursday, Mr. Obama will travel to Orlando, travel here to pay respects to the victims of this massacre.

CURNOW: And French officials are calling the murder of a police officer and his partner an act of terrorism. An attacker stabbed the policeman to death outside his home late Monday. A SWAT team killed the attacker and then found the officer's partner dead inside the home.

HOWELL: We are learning some terrifying new insight about this mass shooting from the people who survived and others who are struggling with devastating news about their friends and family members.

Our Nick Valencia has their stories.

JASON GONZALEZ, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: That was the scariest day of my life.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jason Gonzalez was one of more than 300 people who joined the Saturday night in Pulse night club, but around 2 a.m. it didn't take long for him to realize something was wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.

GONZALEZ: We were trying to run for our lives, you know, everybody was running for their lives. Some people were throwing themselves in the ground. Some people were running on top of each other. Some people were hiding in the bathrooms. It was just -- it was just straights chaotic.

VALENCIA: Gonzalez, an operations manager at Walt Disney jumped a fence to escape, ran to the subway across the street and locked himself in a bathroom. He survived. But two of his friends, Deonka Drayton, and Shane Tomlinson didn't make it out alive. Another friend was shot five times and is still in the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: Why did these people have to die? And why did it happen to us? For people who give so much love, we receive so much hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Gonzales hasn't slept much since the shooting, neither has Melissa Cruz, who was best friends with one of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA CRUZ, FRIEND OF ORLANDO VICTIM: I took a nap, and when I woke up I started crying, because I kept thinking, how did this happen? How did we lose all these people? Like where did we go wrong?

DANNY RODRIGUEZ, FRIEND OF ORLANDO VICTIM: All our friends, a lot of them has already passed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Forty nine people killed by the gunman, among them a bouncer, a Starbucks barista, an employee at Universal Orlando. For many friends and family who come to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, the gut wrenching news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGUEZ: Not even where you were just having a birthday, a birthday discussion with one of your friends. Now they're gone.

VALENCIA: Danny Rodriguez and his friend drove from Tampa Bay as soon as they heard eight of their friends were killed.

RODRIGUEZ: It's just, it's outrageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: For all of the victims affected by this tragedy, the next steps won't be easy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: We need to now try to move forward and make sure that those people that are not here today are not forgotten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Nick Valencia, CNN, Orlando, Florida.

[03:35:04] HOWELL: Forty nine killed, 53 wounded. When it comes to buying a gun here in the State of Florida, we've come to learn that it's not that hard. Semi-automatic assault weapons like the AR-15 used in the Pulse night club shooting just down the street here, are legal to buy in the state.

Buyers are required to pass a federal background check conducted by the FBI. That's required for all gun purchases from federally licensed dealers. Florida, like most U.S. States does not conduct its own background checks. And there's no limit on magazine capacity at Florida.

The state does require a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases.

Joining us now to talk more about this, CNN law enforcement analyst, Cedric Alexander. He is the public safety director for the Cob County just outside the Orlando, Georgia Center. It's good to have you.

I want to talk about this issue of guns. When you talk about Mateen, here's a guy who, again, he was on the FBI watch list, but he wasn't under direct investigation, still, he was able to go in and buy these weapons. How does that happen?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, well, you know, George, there's still a lot of work that has to be done. As it relates to guns in this country. And we have a Second Amendment. We have to respect it. And we will respect it.

However, both sides of the aisle need to come together and really begin to think about how do we find some resolve. The law, as it is, is what the law is. He's a U.S. citizen; he's born in this country. He did not have a record. There was no indication he had mental health issues, so therefore he was just as eligible to receive a gun just as much as anyone else.

This is going to be an ongoing debate. And I just think we have to have the conversation not just when something like this happens, but begin to have this conversation before it happens the next time. But we also still have to respect the Second Amendment is our right. And people have the right to carry weapons. But this is just going to be an ongoing debate for some time.

HOWELL: We have to respect it as you point out. This is the United States.

ALEXANDER: That's right.

HOWELL: The Second Amendment important, but look, things like this happen, it brings this issue to light time after time after time. I want to talk about his training.

Did he have? I mean, he did have some sort of specialized training. Walk us through that.

ALEXANDER: It is appeared, from what we know, he did do some training at one of the local academies here somewhere in the state. I think it was St. Lucie County. And with that training certainly he had some familiarization with weaponry and became comfortable with it.

Now whether he completed that training, I don't know. But a lot of times, people will start out training, but what they will also do is go on their own and continue to practice with and become comfortable with those types of weapons.

But when you start talking about high-powered rifles like an AR-15, it doesn't take a lot of training, because they're very deadly weapons, and anytime it hits human flesh, it can cause a great deal of damage.

So, this is just sad, and it's unfortunate, but we have a lot, still, to talk about as relates to this.

HOWELL: Very quickly here, let's talk about the crime scene, this is still an active crime scene, how long will it take to process something like this?

ALEXANDER: Well, it's going to take a while. This is a very large crime scene. We've had a lot of loss at this crime scene. In terms of deaths and injuries. And a lot of, a lot of rounds was fired at this crime scene as well, too, George. So it's going to be a while.

But I think it's very important that they take they time, they be very methodical, and they put this case together in a way in which we all can learn from it.

HOWELL: Cedric Alexander, thank you so much.

ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.

HOWELL: Robyn, back to you.

CURNOW: Thanks, George. You're watching CNN. After this break, Donald Trump delivered a fiery speech on the Orlando terror attack. But some of his angry comments showed little regard for the truth. We'll check the facts. That's next.

[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: The Orlando massacre prompted a swift response on the U.S. campaign trail. Both presumptive nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, weighing in on the shooting, reflecting major differences on terrorism and immigration. Clinton called for tougher gun laws and warned against alienating Muslim allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Inflammatory, anti- Muslim rhetoric and threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim-Americans as well as millions of Muslim business people and tourists from entering our country hurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: And Clinton also expressed solidarity with the LGBT community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLINTON: To all the LGBT people grieving today in Florida, and across our country, you have millions of allies who will always have your back.

(APPLAUSE)

And I am one of them.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: As for Mr. Trump, his speech on the massacre was filled with inflammatory rhetoric. Our Dana Bash checks the facts.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for joining me.

DANA BASH, CNN'S CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's 34- minute speech was brimming with the kind of nativist rhetoric that helped him win the GOP nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're pouring in, and we don't know what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: But as he doubled down on the solution to Americans' fear of attacks at home, limiting immigration into the U.S., Trump made lots of claims. Some true, some not true. In the category of not true, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The killer, whose name I will not use or ever say was born in Afghan. Of Afghan parents, who emigrated to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: His parents did emigrate from Afghanistan, but the killer himself was born in New York, which is why U.S. officials are calling it an act of home-grown terrorism.

Still, regardless of the Orlando killer being American, the thrust of Trump's response to the attack is focused on concerns about immigrants. He drilled down on Hillary Clinton's plan to let Syrian refugees into the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A 500 percent increase in Syrian refugees coming into our country. Tell me, tell me how stupid is that? This could be a better, bigger, more horrible version than the legendary Trojan horse ever was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:45:11] BASH: That stat that Clinton's refugee proposal would be a 500 percent increase over President Obama's plan is true. To be specific, Obama's plan allows for 10,000 refugees. Clinton's is 65,000. That would actually be a 550 percent increase, about what Trump claims. But he also argues there's no vetting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Having learned nothing from these attacks, she now plans to massively increase admissions, without a screening plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The reality is refugees now go through months of processing and paperwork before being admitted into the U.S., so that is false. Then there's the question of how many Syrian refugees are coming in now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have to stop the tremendous flow of Syrian refugees into the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: On CNN's New Day, Trump was more specific.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have, by the way, thousands and thousands of people pouring into our country right now, who have the same kind of hate and probably even more than he has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: On the numbers, what trump said is true. According to the State Department, 3,887 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the U.S. since last October. More than 2,000 of them in the last month alone. Though that's far fewer, so far, than the 10,000 President Obama said he'd allow. And on the issue of guns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Her plan is to disarm law-abiding Americans, abolishing the Second Amendment and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns. No good, not going to happen, folks. Not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Trump repeated his claim that Hillary Clinton wants to do away with America's right to bear arms, but that is false. Clinton does want to restrict Americans' access to guns but not abolish the Second Amendment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: If the FBI is watching you for a suspected terrorist links you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Beyond those specific statements, for Muslims in America, Trump's overall tone was no-doubt alarming, even as he said some American-Muslim communities are great and called for a partnership, he also said they know what's going on. They know that he was bad. Despite offering no evidence any of the killer's fellow American- Muslims knew about his intentions.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

HOWELL: They put their lives in danger to save others. Just ahead, a look at the heroes who bravely stepped up in the mass shooting here in Orlando, Florida. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with you on CNN Weather Watch.

The Southern United States the place to be if you like extreme heat. And over the next couple of days if you like thunderstorms. Because the ingredients in place here to spark off some afternoon variety storms.

You notice, again, a pretty widespread area of showers, some areas couls see some locally heavy rainfall. But severe weather concerns really well for the west across this area of say portions of Iowa, on eastern areas of Kansas, parts of the State of Missouri.

That's where the highest threat is mainly for hail and hail. Of course, tornadoes can't be ruled out in the middle of June across this region of the United States. But notice the oranges, the reds, and the yellows that is plenty of warm air. We're turning towards the southwestern United States.

In fact, it could be among the top three warmest days in recorded history for the City of Phoenix if everything verifies over the next couple of days with temps getting well into the mid and upper 40s across that region.

[03:50:07] But look at Denver, 28 degrees, around Chicago, same score. Atlanta beginning a gradual and slight cooling trend air. Temps into the lower 30s. And around the Northwestern U.S. still seeing some high elevation snow showers some wet weather also in place around that region.

And how about in the Caribbean, if your travel plans is take you here you know what to expect this time of year, plenty of afternoon thunderstorms. Kingston, Jamaica, not a bad day around 31 degrees is what we're looking at. And towards Quito, some afternoon storms also possible. Bogota looking at 19. Generally around showery conditions across this condition. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: I want to bring you up to date on some breaking news out of Paris.

French officials are calling the murder of a police officer and his partner an act of terrorism. An attacker stabbed the policeman to death outside his home late Monday. A SWAT team killed the attacker and then found the officer's partner dead inside the home.

HOWELL: Back in Orlando, you can't help but feel the pain. You can't help but feel the agony for people who lost friends and loved ones here. It is just really hard to think about what people are dealing with.

Forty nine people died down the street, 53 others were wounded and still some are fighting to survive. As we remember the victim, we also want to mention those who risked their own lives to save others.

RANDI KAYE, CNN'S INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: He was spinning records when bullets started to fly. Ray Rivera otherwise known as D.J. Infinite had just started playing Reggae music.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY RIVERA, PULSE NIGHT CLUB D.J.: I heard the shots getting closer and closer, and at that point out I was like, all right, time to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Time to go but he wasn't alone. He was holed up behind his deejay booth along with another man and a woman. The man took off running, but the deejay helped the woman escape unharmed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERA: The girl was down there panicking so I kind of, you know, told her she need to be quiet. And as soon as there was a break in the shots then I kind of just pushed her and said come on, let's go.

KAYE: When the shooting start the, Josh McGill ran outside.

JOHN MCGILL, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Oh, my god.

KAYE: Then more shots and screams, so he took cover underneath a car. That's when a stranger, this man, named Rodney Sumter began stumbling toward him covered in blood. Josh pulled him behind the car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGILL: He had multiple gunshot wounds, one in each arm. So I took my shirt off, tied it around one arm as tight as I could, took off his shirt, tied it around his other arm.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: The man had been shot in the back, too. Josh applied pressure on that wound all the way to the hospital in the ambulance. He talked to Rodney to keep him conscious, telling him God has got this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGILL: I was mainly scared. I was like, God, please don't let me break my promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Rodney Sumpter is alive and recovering. Chris Hanson thought the sound of gunfire was part of the music until he realized a gunman had entered the club. He hit the ground then crawled to safety across the street.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HANSON, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: There were people who were just blood everywhere. I was helping somebody he was laying down. I wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, and I was like, hey, are you alive, hey, are you OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The man, Chris says, was named Junior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANSON: I took my bandana off and put it in a knot and I shoved it in his hole, the bullet hole that was in his back. I was like, talk to me, stay with me, and I was holding pressure down, like, it's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: This woman also jumped in to help, her friend, a nightclub employee was bleeding badly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNETTE MCCOY, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: My only instinct was to help everybody else around my. My buddy Juan was the bar tender, and the first thing I do is see his wound and I take off my shirt and I just tie my shirt around his leg to stop the bleeding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: This medical student stayed around to help too instead of running for his life. Carlos Rosario saved one man who fell to the floor in his stomach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:54:57] CARLOS ROSARIO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I realized that he was hit that he had a gunshot wound to his back. I held pressure on his wound for about 20 minutes or so. And still, you know, checking in with him, keeping him conscious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: He also helped a woman who'd been shot in the hand. Even using his own cell phone to call the woman's mom so her daughter could speak to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSARIO: It was so heartbreaking, because I, even though she was saying those messages, I didn't want her to give up, and I didn't want her mom to give up on her. Like, I didn't want them to see their last good-byes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: In the face of hate, heroes emerged.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

HOWELL: Equality Florida, an LGBT civil rights groups started a page on the crowd funding site GoFundMe for the victims here in Orlando. They are collecting money to distribute to the victims and their families, and so far they've raised almost $3 million and counting.

Live here in Orlando, Florida. And you can see this investigation continues. The crime tape is still up. And investigators are processing this crime scene. There are many families that are dealing with the news that their friends, that their loved ones are not coming back. All because of this gunman and whatever issues he had.

That does it for this hour here in Orlando, Florida. I'm George Howell.

CURNOW: Thanks, George. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN center. Early Start with Christine Romans and John Berman is up after the break.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)