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Orlando Shooting Survivor's Family Speaks Out About Lasting After-Effects; Orlando Fire Chief Talks About First Responders' Experiences in Orlando; Russian President calls U.S. Probably Only Superpower, Says Not To Meddle; Nighclub Shooting Survivor Shares Video From Inside The Club; John Walsh's "The Hunt" Returns to CNN. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 17, 2016 - 10:39   ET

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


[10:30:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So today families and friends will be saying their goodbyes, their final goodbyes to at least nine victims of the Orlando massacre. And in the midst of the tragedy, today will be about honoring the lives and the memories of their loved ones. It's pretty hard to put into words the heartbreak and the devastation this community feels. But many have found comfort in the way Orlando and the country really have banded together.

An example of that; this memorium made of wooden crosses, one for each victim. It was set up by a man who drove all the way from Illinois. 20 years ago his father-in-law was murdered and since then he has dedicated his life to spreading love and comfort in times of crisis. And last night I went to that memorial and I spoke to a number of people there with poignant stories about those who they are mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I know that the grieving has only begun, especially for the ones that were close. And I do want to see how humanity is going to respond in love. And how we're going to keep it going. Because I think the outpouring has been remarkable but I'd love to see it continue. Especially in my own community. Like I said this being, this being my hometown I want to see, I want to see people continuing to do things for each other just out of love.

WILLIAM MATTEAS (ph): I think this situation is to make -- to think more how you treat your friends, how you treat your family, how you treat your son, how you treat your brother. And every day and every minute in our life are count. And you need to make sure you support your family no matter what, you support your friends no matter what. That's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: William Matteas (ph) there saying a lesson, not taking any day or anyone for granted and expressing your love for your loved ones as often as you can. So it was a somber scene indeed on Thursday as President Obama and Vice President Biden payed their respects to the victims. It's a scene all too familiar to the President. Yesterday marked his tenth visit to a mass shooting site while he has been in office. And in addition to laying flowers, the President also met with survivors and families, including the Santiagos. Angel Santiago survived the massacre and earlier this week, he described that horrific scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGEL SANTIAGO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: We continued to hear gunfire, we dropped to the ground in the handicap stall. I hid as best as I could underneath the sink. There wasn't much protection there but I thought it was better than nothing. My friend Jeff was in front of me, there were a couple of other people surrounding us. But I believe overall maybe about 15, maybe 15 to 20 people if I'm recalling correctly, in that handicap stall just hiding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Gloria Santiago is Angel's mother. We're also joined by his brother Samuel Santiago, good to see both of you.

GLORIA SANTIAGO, MOTHER OF ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Thank you.

SAMUEL SANTIAGO, BROTHER OF ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Welcome (ph), God bless you.

WHITFIELD: So Gloria, Miss Santiago, how is your son doing in your view?

SANTIAGO: My view? Basically he's going to get better, I know. There is a surgery pending due to the shooting of his legs. Emotionally he's shaken and he can't sleep. He has memories, torturing memories, him and his friends. And he speaks to us but he doesn't talk too much about the incident. He doesn't want to watch T.V., the news, he doesn't want to read anything on Facebook that has to do with the event.

So I just pray that he will get better emotionally. He needed to speak to a Psychiatrist on Tuesday before he went to the news conference, because he was too shaken. And he said that speaking to the Psychiatrist, that helped him a lot. So that was a good thing.

WHITFIELD: So Samuel, you feel that your brother's psychological injuries may indeed be worse than his physical injuries. Well, at least the recovery will be far more difficult.

SANTIAGO: I definitely think that. He's going to need therapy after all this is done, when it comes to physical therapy, when it comes to mental therapy. But he really did like speaking to the therapist. He said that it helped him, it calmed him down. But he just doesn't really want to think about it. It's hard for him to speak to media, it's hard for him to just speak about it. When we're in the actual hospital room, if something comes on the T.V., immediately his demeanor changes. He's like, "hey change that, change that."

He doesn't want to see it, he doesn't want to think about it. And friends coming, family coming, people are showing their love and their support, it really helps him out. And that's what we're trying to do, we're just trying to show him love and that we're happy that he's alive. There are so many people that didn't make it and we're so sorry for their losses. But today we're blessed that my brother is here.

WHITFIELD: The young man that I spoke with that we showed at the memorial just before we introduced you all, William Matteas (ph), he talked about feeling guilty. He wasn't at the club, but his friend was. He wasn't there to protect his friend. He is feeling that survivor's guilt. Miss Santiago do you worry about that for your son? That he hasn't talked about the incident with you. Do you worry about that kind of residual feeling?

SANTIAGO: I really do. And I know that depression is something that creeps in little by little. And he might be depressed in the future. I have to go back to Philadelphia, that's where I live, so I'm not going to be here with him to talk to him, to comfort him ...

WHITFIELD: That's going to be particularly hard for you.

SANTIAGO: Is, it is, it is very, very hard. I have a job, I have to go. I just got married a year ago so I have another family in Philly that is waiting for me. But I'm leaving my heart here. I am broken, I am torn. Thank God that Sam is here and he will be with Angel. But I have to come back. I go back home but I have to come back.

WHITFIELD: And Samuel, how meaningful was it for your brother Angel, and for others, that the President would be here, would visit with friends, family members, have that direct communication and eye contact?

SANTIAGO: It was awesome. He was just smiling the whole time. He couldn't wait to take a selfie with Obama. He kept talking about it. He was like, "I'm going to meet the President, the POTUS." So he was super excited about meeting him. That brought joy that day. Even though it was a sad day inside that room -- you heard crying -- it was more like a -- I'm sorry, I'm losing the word right now, a funeral. But it brought joy to his life and I'm happy the President came and did that, and the Vice President.

[10:36:40]

WHITFIELD: Samuel and Gloria Santiago we wish the best to you and your family. And of course to Angel and his recovery, both psychologically and physically. And to all of the victims here at this Orlando Regional Medical Center. Thank you so much for talking (ph) this out (ph).

SANTIAGO: Thank you for your time. Thank you, thank you for your prayers. Thank you.

SANTIAGO: Thank you. Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Good people, safe travels to Philadelphia. Thank you. Alright Pamela, back to you.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much for all that (ph). We are just learning that FBI Director, James Comey will be here in Orlando visiting with some of the first responders and victims this afternoon. Of course we'll be keeping an eye on that.

And meantime, we're learning more about what unfolded at Pulse Nightclub as shots rang out across a crowded dance floor in Orlando. And then those calls started rolling in. According to the Orlando Sentinel, an incredible 603 calls to emergency services, some made directly to fire stations. A gunman armed with what looked like an assault rifle, rabelo (ph) shot, some already dead.

In all, fire crews took 26 of the 53 victims to the hospital. And we are joined by Roderick Williams. He is the Fire Chief for the City of Orlando. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us. Just tell us about what happened with the first call that was made and then after they continued to pour in. What was that like for you as the Fire Chief, and ...

RODERICK WILLIAMS, FIRE CHIEF, CITY OF ORLANDO: First of all let me just -- heartfelt condolences to the families. We mourn, we hurt for them. The Orlando Fire Department truly -- we are hurting for our community as a whole. And as these -- as this event unfolded, we had received multiple calls, as you stated, we had a fire station less than 100 meters away from the actual incident.

Not only did we get 9-1-1 calls, we had actual victims run into the fire station, knocking on the doors, trying to make -- trying to gain access to the fire station. Our personnel was just there 30 minutes prior for a medical call.

BROWN: Wow.

WILLIAMS: So when they came back to the station and began to restock their apparatus, do reports, they heard what you call, "some noises." Banging, bang, bang. Didn't understand exactly what it was until the calls started coming in, dispatch notified there was an active shooter right at Pulse Nightclub. And then they began to hear the knocks from the people who was trying to get away from the actual gunman.

BROWN: Wow, so you, so your men were there, men and women, were there 30 minutes prior before the shooting for a medical call?

WILLIAMS: Just 30 minutes prior. Minutes prior to that they would affect them and would decide to unleash his terror at that point (ph). Luckily for our personnel he didn't. But it's unfortunate for those in it, those innocent people, lives were lost in this senseless act of terrorism.

BROWN: I can't imagine the emotion for the first responders, and for you going through something like this. And having to go in and find the victims and take them away.

WILLIAMS: Well, again, at this point we didn't actually make it into the club because it was still considered a active scene. We had potential for a bomb or some type of explosion there. So our personnel really engaged all the other patients outside the club, as they exit the club, and right around the hot perimeter of the club, less than 20 yards, 10 yards from the club.

BROWN: I mean I imagine it was such a chaotic scene during all of this. I'm sure you've trained for the worse. But what was that like?

WILLIAMS: Truly chaotic scene. We had multiple trainings since the Aurora, since 9-11. We had multiple trainings for active shooters, domestic disturbance. It was a combination of all that training that came to surface during this. We -- it was -- you don't really prepare for it, you just train for the -- So we did our best and I will tell you right now, I'm very proud of the men and women in our fire department. As well as our men in women in blue.

BROWN: Tell me Rod (ph), how are they doing? I mean it's been such a tough week for all these first responders. How are they?

WILLIAMS: I would -- I would tell you the community's hurting. Our first responders are hurting. We have critical incident stressing briefing session set up for them so they can even talk about their experience or what they went through. And if they -- and they need additional counseling. We will, we have the resources lined up for them. But I would tell you the community's hurting.

BROWN: Yes.

WILLIAMS: We all are hurting. But the support we have gotten from Mayor Dyer, from the Governor, from the President, himself who greeted us yesterday. The community out support is overwhelming. Orlando is strong, Orlando is united. And Orlando is still a great place for you to come, play, work, and visit. So ...

[10:41:10]

BROWN: The country stands behind Orlando. Everyone is banding together as we've seen. Fire Chief Williams, thank you so much.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, Pam.

BROWN: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:40]

WHITFIELD: Hello everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, welcome back to Orlando where we continue to cover the tragedy that has unfolded as a result of the nation's worst shooting. Meantime, unrelated, Vladimir Putin has a message to the U.S.; "Stop meddling in Russian affairs."

The Russian President put the U.S. on notice short -- just a short time ago when he was asked about this year's election, by CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (via translator): The U.S. is a great power. At the moment it is probably the only superpower. And we accept this fact. We want to work with the U.S. and we are ready to do that. And no matter how these elections are held, eventually they will be held, there will be a new Head of State elected, they will have growth (ph) authority.

I know that there are complex economic and ecological processes in the United States. At the moment, the world needs a country as strong as the U.S. is. And we do need the U.S. too, but what we do not need is for them to interfere with our affairs all the time. To instruct us how to live, to prevent Europe from building relations with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And stay tuned because this weekend the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, the all powerful leader of the world's largest nation, is talking to Fareed Zakaria on GPS at Sunday morning, 10:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:10]

BROWN: Well this morning we're learning some new details about the clubgoers who hid in a bathroom at Pulse Nightclub during the shooting massacre. One of the survivors, Miguel Leiva, took video on his cell phone as he huddled in a bathroom stall with more than a dozen people for more than three hours. The video is very hard to see given the sheer terror of what was happening inside that club.

Our Anderson Cooper spoke to Miguel about what unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It was dark and hot, and the bathroom was full of panicked clubgoers. This grainy cell phone video is one of three taken by Miguel Leiva, who got pushed into the bathroom when the shots began.

MIGUEL LEIVA, PULSE NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I just remember like, you could smell like the blood. There was so much blood. There was like, you could just smell it. And it's like everywhere you leaned, all my clothes was full of blood, my -- we were sitting down and it was just like a huge puddle of blood. And after a while when it started drying up it just started like, to smell really bad.

COOPER (voice-over): Though some people were crying and whispering to each other, Miguel says he tried to remain quiet, and recorded these images to send to his girlfriend so she knew he was alive.

LEIVA: The only people who are alive in the video are the people who are talking and moving. Everybody else is dead. There was about 17 of us in there, only like five or six of us made it out.

COOPER: Had you been hit at that point?

LEIVA: Yes, I was shot in the foot.

COOPER: One point in the video you see -- it looks like people passing a glass of water. LEIVA: Yes, we were passing water around because there was one guy,

Chris, he was choking on his own blood. So we were trying to like, you know, make him swallow to make sure he was OK. He kept asking for water. And there was other people that were shot that was just -- they needed water and they wanted water and it was the only thing we could think of to calm them down at that moment.

COOPER: So there was a sink inside the stall?

LEIVA: Yes.

COOPER (voice-over): Twice, he says, the gunman fired into the stall. As the hours passed, they tried to help one another stay calm, in constant fear the gunman would return. In constant fear those already wounded would die.

COOPER: Were people talking to each other?

LEIVA: Yes, we were whispering to each other trying to keep everybody quiet.

COOPER (voice-over): Miguel was shot twice. On his right foot and his left leg. He's just been released from the hospital. He knows he's fortunate to be alive but says he can't stop thinking of those who died beside him.

LEIVY: So many people were innocent people, you know? Just there to have a good time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Gosh, man took (ph) cell phone video, anyone's worst nightmare. That was Anderson Cooper reporting. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Very powerful. Alright Pam, over the Summer, John Walsh is back as the latest season of his show, "The Hunt," searches for fugitives on the run. He sat down with my colleague, Carol Costello to discuss the case of Robert Fisher, who has been in hiding for nine years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALSH, HOST, THE HUNT: There is one guy who has been at the top of my top ten. I have my own personal ten. He slit the throats of his two children, two young children, and his wife's throat because she wanted to get a divorce. Burned the house down and took off for the last nine years.

So Robert Fisher, he's right up there at the top of my ten. So he'll be on "The Hunt" this year. So these are really horrible, horrible guys.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: Do you ever confront these fugitives once they're caught because of your show?

WALSH: Well I know that I don't want to give them their 15 minutes of fame. Many of them are lowlife, serious dirtbags that never accomplished anything in their life but horrible crime. So they want to be infamous. So I don't really -- I think over the years I've only interviewed one to show what a sociopath he was.

He had raped 27 women and had killed four people, two of them small children, and said he was innocent. And I just had to let him have it on air. But then I said, "you know what? These guys want the time. They want the media to make them infamous. They want to be the next Charles Manson serial killer, whatever it is." So I never give them that chance, never.

COSTELLO: Do you, do you ever get letters from them, or ...

WALSH: I do, I've gotten all kinds of letters. I've gotten many, many threats over the years. I profiled a couple guys that were on the run. One had escaped from prison and he shot it out with the FBI. He was going to shoot me with a high powered rifle in the studio in D.C. So fortunately the FBI got to him.

The other guy called our hotline every single week and said, "I will kill John Walsh before he catches me." Another dirtbag who had murdered a 14-year old boy. And they both paid with their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: "THE HUNT" with John Walsh returns with an all new season Sunday night at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

And thanks so much for joining us today. I'll see you throughout the weekend in the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

BROWN: And I'm Pamela Brown. After the break, new details just in about the Orlando shooter's problem (ph) overseas.

[10:56:40]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)