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Body of Toddler Taken by Alligator Found; Nurse Describes Her Visits to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort; Gay Community, Muslims on Guard after Orlando Shooting; Blood Banks See Massive Response after Attack. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired June 16, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead, back here in Orlando, we'll talk with the chief of the SWAT team, Captain Canty (ph), who responded to the attack at Pulse nightclub Saturday morning, orchestrated the operation to take that gunman down. We'll ask him what exactly happened. He will join me live here.
Also ahead, new developments involving the toddler who was grabbed by that alligator at a Disney resort. We'll talk with an Orlando woman that visited that same resort multiple timings with her a grandson. What she has seen in that very same lagoon. Stay here.
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[14:35:01]BALDWIN: Here in Orlando, what a week it's been. First the nightclub, and now the tragedy over at one of the Disney properties, and a family's worst fears realized, because divers found the body of the 2-year-old little boy taken by an alligator in a Disney resort here in Orlando, Florida. The little boy's been identified as 2-year-old Lane Graves.
Officials say divers found him about six feet underwater yards away from where he was attacked. His body, we're told, was pretty intact with just a few puncture wounds. The local sheriff believes he drowned after being pulled underwater. The autopsy on the little body is under way and the hunt and search continues for the gator that took him.
CNN's Victor Blackwell has more on the investigation.
Victor, obviously, just your heart goes out to this family, taken underwater. Tell me more about this.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that the family, Matt and Melissa Graves, here on vacation from Elkhorn, Nebraska, with their 2 children, a little girl and 2-year-old Lane Graves, who was splashing in the water at Seven Seas Lagoon when he was snatched in. The sheriffs said he believes he was drowned and, as you said, the results of the autopsy will determine exactly what the cause of death was.
They are, of course, waiting for that, but also waiting for answers from Disney officials. We, as early as 5:00 this morning, put in specific questions about Seven Seas Lagoon and the signage and the information around that, asking Jackie Wallace (ph), the vice president of public affairs, saying were there signs, not just "no swimming" but saying "beware of alligators," "do not feed the alligators." Now that this has happened, is there a buffer zone, any additional precautions, if they're making changes.
We, just a few minutes ago, got a new statement, "All of the beaches are currently closed and we're conducting a swift and thorough review of processes and protocols. This includes the number and placement and wording of the signage and warnings."
It's a new statement and not new information. I'm sure that the Graves family and any family that's going to come to Disney this summer wants an answer to the question about the signs and the gators and what Disney knew about the gators in the waters. But we have not yet gotten any specifics after more than a day now of asking those specific questions -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: All right. Victor, thank you.
We are learning that the lagoon where little Lane Graves was playing is a popular area, both for tourists and for locals. It's a massive water area, a massive lagoon.
In fact, an Orlando nurse shared the photos of her grandson, Colin, here playing just by the water's edge in the sand at the beach at the lagoon here at the Disney Grand Floridian.
And Jordan Ranges is an annual pass holder at Disney. She says she's never seen an alligator there and is at the resort all the time.
Jordan is on the phone with me now.
And, Jordan, my goodness, to think of little Colin there. How did you take this news in?
JORDAN RANGES, NURSE & DISNEY'S SEVEN SEAS LAGOON VISITOR (voice- over): Devastated. Just absolutely devastated. You know? Seeing that that happened to a child just a little bit younger than Colin. And knowing that, you know, for the last couple of years he has run up and down that very same spot many times and played at the water's edge. In fact, he's put his feet if n there. We never swam but, you know, just with many other kids he -- he's often played there.
BALDWIN: Had you ever seen any alligators in and around this lagoon in your years going to the Grand Floridian?
RANGES: No, I have never. I've been going there personally for about 14 years. And Grand Floridian is my favorite of all the hotels and I often stop in there. Never seen one gator. Never. And I take photos all the time. That's what I like to do in my spare time. I have -- I've never seen anything.
[14:40:16] BALDWIN: Jordan, thank you for calling in, giving folks perspective. This is an area where kids play, Disney World. And so glad Colin is OK. And the beaches are closed for the foreseeable future. Thank you so much, Jordan Ranges.
We have more, staying here in Orlando, more on the breaking news in the investigation here of the terror attack and hate crime here at the Pulse nightclub. And we're now hearing the gunman and the wife communicated during the shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning. So more on that. Also, the shopping spree he went on just before this attack.
We'll be right back.
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BALDWIN: Here in Orlando, as I'm speaking with you, the president of the United States and the vice president are here meeting with families. This is a picture of Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio here in downtown Orlando, taken moments ago. There's a huge -- I saw it last night -- a huge memorial growing in downtown Orlando. You see the sign on an adjacent building, "Pray for Orlando." Everywhere you go, restaurants, hotels, everyone just weeping with this community over what has happened. Both of them have come down with the president and the vice president who we should see at some point today addressing members of the media, reflecting on yet another senseless mass shooting in this country.
The gay community here in Orlando is on high alert after the nightmare that unfolded at the club. That's word we got from the FBI yesterday.
Also, on guard, the members of the Muslim community, worried about public backlash after the killer declared allegiance to the Islamic State. That fear is multiplied for those at the intersection of both of those worlds.
Including one man who happened to be visiting Orlando at the moment the rampage erupted. His name is Riaz Patel. He joins me now from Los Angeles.
Riaz, thank you so much for joining me.
RIAZ PATEL, GAY MUSLIM VISITING ORLANDO DURING SHOOTING: Thank you. My pleasure. Really my pleasure.
BALDWIN: So, you come at this with a pretty extraordinary perspective. As a gay man, as a Muslim, who happened to be -- did I read this correctly, one mile from the Pulse nightclub that night?
PATEL: Yes, about a mile. And I would add, foreigner. I'm not born in America. I was born in Pakistan. I'm a homosexual Islamic from Pakistan. A subset of a subset of a subset.
BALDWIN: Why are you speaking out today?
PATEL: I think I've gone through this for most of my life, honestly, you know, whether it was people picking on me because I'm gay or a foreigner or a Muslim an I'm at a beautiful family wedding in Orlando and Islamic Arabic family full of colors and sights and this thing happened and couldn't be more personal because at the same time I'm being accused of being the weapon, because I'm a Muslim, as well as the target because I'm a gay man and hard to do both.
[14:45:07] BALDWIN: But let's work through some of those feelings because I have to imagine as I've talked so many people in the gay community here in Orlando you're saddened, devastation, but then anger and then for you fear because you have, you know, a father, walking down the street, you have a child --
(CROSSTALK)
PATEL: 8-weeks-old.
BALDWIN: 8-weeks-old! So what are your fears as far as retribution or being a target? That is a fear here in the community in Orlando.
PATEL: I'll tell you. I have to at this point in my life and part is becoming a father and part of it being so close and a gay club and so personal, I have to put my fear aside at this point because the problem that was happening and I was a conservative Christian news report yesterday is fear is sparking anger and anger is the problem. That in this rift between Donald Trump and his words and Democrats and Muslims and Americans, this is where ISIS plays and this is where they recruit. So for me, I have to put the anger aside to be effective. As a subset of a subset of a subset, I scan rooms.
BALDWIN: Is that easy for you to do?
PATEL: It's taken 42 years and looking at an 8-week-old and her on the streets and saying, quite honestly, I can't do this, I can't do this anymore. And so however I have been effective, tried to be effective and the media, we have to come at this from a different angle. Because the rift and the division is where they recruit. They don't care if you're Muslim, if you're white, they don't care if you understand Islam. They want to know you're lost, disenfranchised and something you're running from, whether your own homosexuality, tormented, teased, poverty. Running from something, ISIS will offer you a place to run. And that is what I'm trying to say. Is that it's not about gay. It doesn't matter who they attack or holding the gun. In terms of is' mind-set because it's not about Islam. It's about finding people who can get them this worldwide media attention and create this havoc.
BALDWIN: Media attention, you are correct, indeed. So sad some of the patterns that we see repeated in the mass shooters.
Riaz Patel, thank you for taking the time. I appreciate your candor. 42 years --
(CROSSTALK)
PATEL: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
(LAUGHTER) PATEL: Working on it still. Working on it still.
BALDWIN: We all are in different shades, I'm sure.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Coming up, here in Orlando, we'll talk live to the mayor and also the commander of the SWAT team who led that raid to save lives at the Pulse nightclub. Do not miss this.
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[14:51:55] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
After gunfire erupted inside of the Pulse nightclub, people wanted to help in any possible way. Health officials pleaded with this community to donate blood for the dozens who were injured. Hundreds upon hundreds of people lined up ready to give.
One Blood vice president, Susan Forbes, joins me now.
Susan, how has everyone been? Have you gotten enough? Tell me what you need to tell the community.
SUSAN FORBES, VICE PRESIDENT, ONE BLOOD: It's been a tremendous outpouring of support by blood donors throughout our service area.
BALDWIN: Awesome.
FORBES: They responded immediately. And they replenished the blood supply in record time.
BALDWIN: A heads up for people. O-negative is the universal blood type.
FORBES: Yes. O-negative --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You want it all but --
FORBES: O-negative is universal red blood cell donor meaning goes to anyone regardless of the blood type and vital in the trauma situation. There's no time for doctors typing people at the time. They reach for O-negative to save their life. You can have the most talented doctor in the world but if you don't have the blood on the shelf when they need it there's not much they can do.
BALDWIN: This is personal for you, not just because it's your community but you all lost one of your own.
FORBES: We did. It's been tough. It's been tough. One of our own did pass away in this and we've been focusing on collecting the blood and keeping him in our memories because we know and people are here and we would be helping save lives. BALDWIN: Can we talk about something people aren't talking about?
Folks may not realize, this is a gay nightclub and many members of the community in Orlando who wanted to turn out to give blood. And the FDA recently changed its restrictions, so, you know, before the previous year, it was essentially a lifetime ban. You couldn't give blood and now if you have been -- if you haven't had sex in a year, you can give. What do you make of that?
FORBES: Well, all blood centers are mandated to follow the rules handed down by the FDA. We have been -- One Blood is in support of having this ban lifted. And so we have been working diligently to implement the new guidelines. The new form came out that we the donors filling out. So we have all the pieces coming together. And we anticipate moving to that new guideline in a very near future.
BALDWIN: Susan Forbes, One Blood, One Blood.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Thank you so much for your time today.
FORBES: Thank you.
[14:54:23] BALDWIN: I appreciate that.
Coming up here, we'll be talking with the mayor of the city of Orlando and commander of the SWAT team who led the raid into the Pulse nightclub.
All of this as we're learning the guan and his wife communicated during the shooting. Plus, the shopping spree this madman went on just before this attack.
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BALDWIN: Here we go. Top of the hour. You're watching CNN special live coverage here in Orlando. Thank you for being with me.
We are here again talking about what we have learned with regard to the massacre at the gay nightclub, Pulse nightclub that left 49 dead, dozens more wounded. At this moment, the president of the United States and the vice president are here meeting with families, meeting with law enforcement. They're offering their own condolences and hoping to begin the healing after what happened, the atrocities Sunday morning. They're meeting not only with the families but also survivors, medical staff, members of law enforcement.
So first, let's begin with this hour with Boris Sanchez here in Orlando on the president's visit.
You know, people are keeping tabs on the mass shootings in the country. This is President Obama's tenth visit to an American city reeling from a mass shooting during his eight years in office.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Brooke. The White House saying this is an emotional trip for the president, understandably so. This is the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. But it's a trip the president has had to make again and again, not only going back to last December --
