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Tributes in Orlando Tonight; Student Found Guilty in Gang Rape; Why Is Bernie Still In The Race?; Country Continues To Mourn The Victims Of Orlando Shooting; Sad One-Year Anniversary Of Emanuel AME Church Shooting; Candlelight Vigil To Be Held Tonight In Orlando. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 19, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again. Thanks so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Take a look right now. Live pictures at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke and Lake Eola Park both in Orlando where in just a of couple hours from now thousands of people will gather to honor the 49 gunned down at a gay nightclub there.

It has been one week since the tragic event at the Pulse nightclub and police are estimating more than 20,000 people could turn out to show their respects at a candlelight vigil for the victims. Five victims of that shootings were laid to rest yesterday, four others still remain now in critical condition.

In the last hour, we learned that one more victim has been released from the hospital. CNN's Bry Gingras is at Cathedral Church of St. Luke and CNN's Ed Lavandera is at Lake Eola Park where the candlelight vigil will be taking place.

Ed, let's go to you first. Organizers are stressing that this is not a religious nor a political event but simply one to mourn, grieve and celebrate the lives of those lost.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, it speaks volumes to just how many people they are expecting here, thousands and thousands expected to turn out for this candlelight vigil now just exactly a week since the deadly rampage at the Pulse nightclub.

It's interesting, Fredricka, after you have spent time here over the last few days and you walk around this city there's definitely that need and the urge from many people that you speak and see around town to feel that bond and that connection and that's what this vigil is supposed to do in many ways.

So a long line of speakers. Organizers say they are expecting perhaps some of the survivors and victims' relatives to show up here this afternoon. But as you mentioned, thousands and thousands expected. Blocks and traffic being cordoned off to make room for all of the people that are expected to turn out here over course of the next of the next few hours. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

All right. Brynn, to you, the church where this vigil will be held - it was one of the first groups to respond to this tragedy and really give kind of a big embrace to people there.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely. It's also why they're starting this whole entire evening at the church with an interfaith service. They're expecting as you said thousands to show up to both events. Of course this church, though, can't fit all those people, 600 people max is what they can fit. Last night they actually had a funeral for one of the victims and they squeezed in 750 people. So they are expecting a sort of packed church and the ceremony here or the mass, rather, is going to be titled "Healing and Hope" and you just heard Ed talk about that. How the people are really looking for that healing and for hope right now in the wake of this tragedy one week ago today. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.

All right. Many are now speaking out after the Orlando attack saying it's time for Congress to act on gun reform. Wayne McNeil is a survivor of a random shooting attack outside his Alabama home in 2012. He's also a gay man who has visited the Pulse nightclub several times and he joins me now from Orlando momentarily. He'll be with us and we'll talk to him about his experiences and what he is hoping just might potentially happen, especially with the U.S. Senate vote with four proposals tomorrow.

All right. There's no better way to really understand the terror that unfolded in the Pulse nightclub one week ago today than to hear it firsthand from the survivors themselves. Here they are in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: It was a great night. No drama, just smile, just laughter.

JEANETTE MCCOY, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Shots were going all over the place. You start feeling - you can tell at that moment it felt like a war room. There was a lady who was shot next to me and I started to duck and I'm turning around, as I'm turning around I see the gun, I don't see the guy but I see the gun because of all of the flare, the fire that's coming out.

CHRISTOPHER HANSEN, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: It went with the beat almost until you heard just too many shots. It was just like, bang, bang, bang.

ANGEL COLON, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: We started running and unfortunately I was shot about three times in my leg so I had fallen down. I tried to get back up but everyone started running everywhere. I got trampled over and I shattered and broke my bones on my left leg.

MIGUEAL LEWA, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: We all kind of rushed into the bathroom and it was about maybe 40, 50 people in that one bathroom and then he told us to - he said everybody must come out because everybody's going to die so people started running out frantically and he just started killing people right there in the hallway.

NORMAN CASIANO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: That's when the gunshots got extra close and at that point you hear everyone under their breath praying and crying and like trying to be quiet so if he was going to go into the bathroom, he would have heard us.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: He came back and shot to our stall, went to the bathroom, over the stall and into the stall, where we were, killing more people.

[16:00:05]

COLON: He's shooting everyone that's already dead on the floor, making sure they're dead and I'm just there laying down, I'm thinking I 'm next, I'm dead.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: It was really hot in there, people were getting dehydrated and sweating and bleeding out. We tried to speak as little as possible.

OFFICER OMAR DELGADO, ORLANDO POLICE: I went inside with my other brothers in blue and tried to secure the scene as much as we could.

COLON: And I'm looking up and some cop s -- which I wish I can remember his face or his name because to this day I 'm grateful for him. He looks at me, he makes sure that I ='m alive and he grabs my hand and he's like "this is the only way I can take you out." I said "please carry me, I'm in pain right now."

SAMUEL MALDONADO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: And suddenly it was like dead silence and then a few hours that's when you heard that big bomb.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That the police set off? The police set off a bomb to try to get in.

MALDONALDO: Correct. And all these cars, their alarms (INAUDIBLE) they're all starting turning on and it was a big commotion.

LEIVA: The police never got to come in the bathroom where we were. They actually blew the concrete wall off and used the SWAT battering ram to make a hole so we could go out through. There was about 30 of us in there, only seven of us made it out alive.

COLON: I looked over and there's bodies everywhere. We're all in pain. They brought us over here. We were able to get to the ambulance. They brought us over here. The way that you guys have taken cared of us, this hospital is amazing.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We must remain strong so we can continue to make a recovery and it's a long road but slowly but surely I believe we can all make it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: My next guest is Wayne NcNeil, he has been to the Pulse nightclub, he wasn't there the night of the shooting but he's frequented it before. He's joining us now from Orlando. He also happens to be a survivor of another very close call, a random shooting attack outside his Alabama home back in 2012 and I understand, When it's your feeling that it's time for U.S. Congress to be much more involved in promoting some sort of change as it pertains to gun reform and as well as standing up against hate. Explain your position.

WAYNE MCNEIL, GUN SAFETY ACTIVIST: Well, absolutely. Now is the time for Congress to take action, they need to close the terror gap, suspected terrorists who are not allowed to board a plane shouldn't be able to legally purchase a gun. We need a background check on every gun sale and America needs to ask for this and our politicians need to listen.

WHITFIELD: You were not at that club one week ago but you feel a very personal connection to it. You are there in Orlando, you'll be taking part in the vigil this evening. Why is it important for you to be involved?

MCNEIL: Well, I think it's important to honor the 49 lives that were ended too soon and those that were injured that evening but also everyday in America more than 90 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are wounded, like myself. And I think we all need to support each other.

WHITFIELD: You said you were an advocate for some specific gun control measures, that being if you're on a terror watch list, no-fly list you should not be able to obtain a weapon by a gun. I wonder if you have a feeling whether this shooting, now the worst mass shooting in America, is that thing, that tragedy, that will help further push forward some sort of reform, the kind of reform that you speak of which actually happened at this juncture.

MCNEIL: I hope so. I hope politicians will also make it illegal for people convicted of violent hate crimes. I hope they'll be prohibited from purchasing firearms as well.

WHITFIELD: Wayne McNeil, thank you so much for your time and your sentiment, appreciate it.

MCNEIL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:12:42]

WHITFIELD: We soon will know some of what Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub shooter, told police during his attack last Sunday. Tomorrow, the U.S. Justice Department will release limited transcripts from three phone calls he had with the negotiators that night on CNN's "State of the Union" with attorney general Loretta Lynch said they will help explain the gunman's motive and how hostage negotiators handled the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL: They will talk about what he told law enforcement on the ground as the events were unfolding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did he tell them?

LYNCH: You know, as we have said earlier, he talked about his pledges of allegiance to a terrorist group. He talked about his motivations for why he was claiming at that time he was committing this horrific act. He talked about American policy in some ways. The reason why we're going to limit these transcripts is to avoid revictimizing those who went through this horror but it will contain the substance of his conversations and there were three conversations between this killer and negotiators.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he was, of course, in a gay nightclub. Did he talk about his feelings about gay Americans?

LYNCH: You know, he didn't get into that. So we're still exploring why he chose this particular place to attack. We're asking people who have information to come forward. People have. We greatly appreciate that. We are trying to learn everything we can about this individual's motivations.

As you note, he was in a gay nightclub. This was an act of terror and an act of hate targeted against a community, the LGBT community, the Latino community, and, of course, the LGBT community is so far too often the victim of these types of crimes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Lynch will go to Orlando to meet with survivors, their families, and first responders, she will also be briefed on the latest in the investigation.

Let's talk a little bit more about those transcripts. Former House intelligence chairman and CNN national security commentator Mike Rogers joining me now. So what are the key things potentially to learn from any portion of a phone call like this?

MARK ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, a couple of things. You'll learn about the state of mind of the shooter. So he'll communicate important information especially to forensic investigators, forensic psychologists about what his state of mind was when he walked in to conduct the terrorist act, number one.

[16:15:00]

Number two, you will learn about his motives. He will likely - and we have seen some of these transcripts already - lay out what his motives were. I think there's a lot of public debate about what they were and was this a target of this demographic of Americans or another. We do know he picked three different locations. This is the one he finally went to. All of those conversations will be used to try to make sure they come to the right conclusion about motive, allegiance to ISIS and why he picked the target.

WHITFIELD: And then I want to transition now to the reason why you are at the International Spy Museum, you're also the host of CNN's new series called "Declassified" and it premiers tonight and exposes the untold stories of American spies. Let me play a clip and then let's talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We were looking all around the world for recruits who were vulnerable to our approaches who we could turn. We found one in Bogota.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We became aware of him through a telephone tap that the CIA had on the Soviet embassy.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: He was doing things in Bogota that showed that he might be vulnerable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So today, for example, would the CIA embed someone in an area where ISIS is prevalent and try to see if they could gather intelligence in the same way that they did in the scenario with, say, Russia?

ROGERS: Absolutely. So what you saw in that first episode people will see tonight at 10 o'clock on CNN is that first they call it a human operation. A human spy collecting from some agent who wants to give information to the United States. Very dangerous. They'll use lots of techniques.

The same techniques get used today. As a matter of fact, if they were trying to infiltrate an ISIS cell anywhere in the world, likely in the Middle East, even in Syria, what they would do is they would use disguises to meet with those individuals as to not give away American presence.

And right here, we have behind us an interesting show of just exactly how that would work. In the far left is exactly how that agent or officer would start out and if you follow this around you can see the dramatic transformation of that individual. What's interesting about this is you're going to see a woman - an older woman, you're going to see someone who is in this case a Sikh and you're also going to see somebody that you would probably not want to date your daughter.

Those are all the same person and that's what the CIA will use as a technique to make sure that they're not caught in clandestine meetings even in a place like Syria, Iraq or anywhere else around the world.

WHITFIELD: Also fascinating. And then tonight's episode features the first female spy to embed in Moscow. What kinds of people are employed with the CIA around the world in order to do something like that?

ROGERS: Well, in this case, she broke the glass ceiling, really, in the CIA. It was the first woman who was assigned to Moscow on a very sensitive case. So this was an individual very senior in the Russian government providing nuclear information. What was the intent of the Soviet government at that time when it came to its nuclear arsenal. She was responsible of collecting that information by herself and they have never used a woman for this purpose in Moscow before. It was wildly successful. The Russians actually never thought that she was a spy They didn't follow her a big chunk of the time.

Tonight you're going to learn about the turns and twists of this particular case and the intrigue and the danger but she was a ground breaking CIA officer and Americans are going to be, I think shocked and pleased and honored to know that she risked her life in defense of the United States.

WHITFIELD: So fascinating. All right. Mike Rogers, thanks so much. Of course, we will look forward to the premier episode of "Declassified." Tonight, 10:00 Eastern, on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:45]

WHITFIELD: All right. Tragic news. Actor Anton Yelchin, known for his roles in "Star Trek" and "Alpha Dogs" was found dead at his Los Angeles home early this morning. Here's a clip of him in the movie "Star Trek"" from 2009.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Anton Chekhov (INAUDIBLE), sir.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Fine, Chekhov, (INAUDIBLE), ship wide mission broadcast?

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Yes, sir, happy to.

Enter authorization code 95-wictor-wictor two.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorization not recognized.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Enter authorization code 95-victor-victor-two.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Access granted.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: May I have your attention please? At 2200 hours (INAUDIBLE) detected an anomaly in the neutral zone, what appeared to be a lightning storm in -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police say Yelchin stepped behind his car for a moment when it slipped backwards pinning him against a brick pillar and a security fence. Police aren't sure whether car was running at the time. Yelchin was found by friends who went to his house to check on him when he didn't show up for a rehearsal. He was just 27 years old.

And a former Vanderbilt University football player is facing up to 25 years behind bars. Brandon Vandenburg was found guilty for his role in a gang rape of an unconscious female student back in a dorm room back in 2013. I want to warn you this next part is very disturbing and some of you might find it difficult to watch. The events leading up to the attack were caught on surveillance tape.

Vandenburg was seen carrying the young woman out of a car and into his dormitory. He was with several other members of the football team. She was eventually taken into a dorm room and after about 30 minutes, Vandenburg was seen leaving the room, a towel covering his head to block his face from the surveillance cameras. Then the other men inside ran out. The woman stayed in Vandenburg's room. She had no memory of what happened. CNN affiliate WZTV followed the trial, which came to an end late last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We the jury find the defendant Brandon Vandenburg count one aggravated rape, guilty of aggravated rape.

[16:25:00]

ERIKA LAUGHEN, WZTV REPORTER (voice-over): It took just less than five hours to find Brandon Vandenburg guilty of aggravated rape, sexual battery and unlawful photography but there are no winners.

TOM THURMAN, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: When you look at all the young lives that were destroyed that one night based on the situation. There was so much promise, things in a that room, from all those individuals and now their lives are pretty much destroyed as to what they can accomplish.

LAUGHEN: Vandenburg's mother left the courtroom in tears, concluding a trial that's been emotionally taxing for everyone involved.

JAN NORMAN, ASSISTANT DISTRIC ATTORNEY: It's impossible to not be emotional about the case. The facts are horrific and what happened to this victim is horrifying no matter how many times you say it, no matter how many times you see it. It's horrifying every time, nothing gets easier. I actually think it gets harder.

LAUGHEN: Prosecutors say they couldn't have made without he work of Metro Police.

ROGER MOORE, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Detective Mayo (ph), (INAUDIBLE) Sergeant (INAUDIBLE), can't say enough about the tremendous work they put into this case.

LAUGHEN: And the unwavering courage of the victim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's one of the strongest people that I know. She has incredible courage and she's just an amazing, intelligent young woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Thanks to Erica Laughen of WZTV for that report. Four students in all have been charged, Vandenburg is the second to have been found guilty. Two others are still awaiting trial.

All right. Up next, Donald Trump says he knows why Bernie Sanders won't quit and endorse Hillary Clinton just yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, he's waiting for really the FBI to do what everybody thinks they're going to do. I mean, think that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again. Thanks so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

As Hillary Clinton is poised to win her party's nomination after the convention, many Democrats are confused as to why Bernie Sanders insists on staying in the race.

[16:30:02] But Donald Trump says he's figured it out.

TRUMP: Well, he's waiting for, really, the FBI to do what everybody thinks they're going to do.

(CHEERS)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I mean I think that's it. I think he's sort of saying look, let's hang in there because ultimately it's called "the FBI convention" and then we'll be the only people and we will have done something like Trump did, I want to be like Trump. I want to be like Trump.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring back our political panel. I know that would have them chuckling. Brian Morganstern is a Republican strategist and Ellis Henican is a political columnist and author of "The Party's Over." All right, so Ellis in all -- in all seriousness, you know, some people argue every day. Sanders stays in the race and it does help Trump. Why is Bernie Sanders still staying in the race?

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Well, it's hard to keep Donald's analysis too seriously. You know don't why he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still win the nomination? I think the way things are going, Hillary could be eating off a metal tray in the Supermax prison in Colorado and she might beat Donald.

First of all, there's no evidence that the FBI is going to bring any charges that the U.S. Attorney is going to indict anybody and I don't think that's what Bernie Sanders is doing. He wants to affect the future, affect the platform, get his issues fall. I just don't think he's waiting around for anybody being led out in handcuffs.

WHITFIELD: And Brian, then there's this, this is Sanders are releasing this video pledging his help in defeating Donald Trump. Listen.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The major political task that together we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.

WHITFIELD: What is that role going to be, Brian?

BRIAN MORGANSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Oh, that's an excellent question. I mean like I have said, he's going to have to get his supporters on board with Hillary, which is going to be a Herculean task. But that is quite a change of tone because the Sanders' campaign had been putting out talking points along those lines that they were saying hey, we've got this investigation going on, who knows what's going to happen?

That's not just Trump saying that. That is something that's been thrown, you know, banded about quite a bit. I don't know that this justice department, this White House, would ever allow that to happen and so, you know, as much evidence as we have out in the public sphere, you know, it probably -- probably won't happen.

It looks like Bernie is going to begin the process of bringing his people over as reluctant as they may be. I don't think he's going to be able to get all of them, but he'll -- he'll, you know, make as much of an effort as he can.

WHITFIELD: And you know, and Ellis, you know, Clinton will be delivering her economic speech on Tuesday. Her last big speech about foreign policy was an all out attack on Trump and perhaps, you know, her campaign were also hoping that she'd appeal to some of those Bernie Sanders supporters, but really will it take Bernie Sanders to instruct his supporters to throw their support behind a Hillary Clinton.

HENICAN: Yes. I might say urge more than in trotter (ph)...

(CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: ...I mean, Bernie's -- Bernie's role is hugely important here. And, you know, he's been reluctant. I mean campaigns are bitter things, and you know, people say a lot of hot stuff in the campaign. And he seems like he's moving in that direction but you're right it's a process.

WHITFIELD: And Brian, when does that process begin? I mean we're in June now, almost the end of June, we're less than a month away or about a month away from the conventions.

MORGANSTERN: Yes, Hillary wishes that process started quite a while ago and you could sort of see the frustration in some of her comments over the past I don't know month or so where she was clearly frustrated that she's having to fight a two-front, you know, battle here campaign wise because she feels like she had the, you know, she had a basically inevitable status a long time ago.

And now Hillary or pardon me Bernie may have overplayed his hand a bit here because now he's got the lingering, you know, guys staying after last call as "SNL" portrayed him and that's get where he had a little bit more leverage, you know, maybe a month ago or so.

He may have lingered himself out of the power to convince her to lean a certain way on a given issue or to do certain things at the convention giving him more, you know, of a prominent role speaking wise. He still has -- he's got a lot of work to go to try to unite the party here and he's in less of a position to extract concessions now I think.

WHITFIELD: Yes and Ellis we're talking last hour about the, you know, lack of unity in the Republican Party and the same almost can be said about the Democratic Party potentially a big problem?

HENICAN: Well, again I give it a pretty big almost. I mean, there are two different degrees I think quite -- quite dramatically but listen, you're right, I mean this is the time where you got to unite your people, get them out to the polls, rev them up.

But in the end most of the little ducklings come home on both sides. I mean the anti-Trump people ultimately will support Trump mostly and the anti-Hillary demes (ph) will -- mostly will come around at the end.

[16:35:00] WHITFIELD: Oh, such the optimist.

MORGANSTERN: Yes, I don't know. Ellis the verdict...

HENICAN: Where else are they going to go? Where else?

MORGANSTERN: They're -- apparently the jail because they're practicing getting arrested for the convention so that they can register their dissatisfaction. They're not exactly just rolling over and going away.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yay -- all right.

HENICAN: That's cute.

WHITFIELD: Brian Morganstern, Ellis Henican always good to see you. Thank you.

HENICAN: Thanks, good to see you.

MORGANSTERN: You too, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh, okay. Happy Sunday.

All right, well moving on now, the country is still mourning, particularly the victims of Orlando and it's hard to believe that it's been now one year since the shooting of the Mother Emanuel Church and the bible study there in Charleston, South Carolina. Up next, we'll take you inside that church and talk to a woman who survived that tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had faith, that's why I'm still here. I prayed under that table and he left me here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tonight in Orlando, a memorial service and a candlelight vigil will be held for the victims of last Sunday's nightclub massacre. You're looking at Lake Eola Park and the Cathedral Church of St. Luke. Officials say there could be as many as 20,000 people at tonight's events.

And as we await those services, it's hard to believe that it's been one year since another mass shooting has done the nation. Nine people inside the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina were shot and killed while in bible study. The victims included their pastor. Brooke Baldwin takes us inside that bubble study room and speaks with survivors and church leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[16:40:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: On June 17, 2015, like many other Wednesday nights, a group of people gathered for bible study at Charleston's Mother Emanuel AME church, one of the largest, oldest black congregations in the south.

POLLY SHEPPARD, SURVIVOR AT CHARLESTON'S MOTHER EMANUEL AME CHURCH: I stayed that night because my friend was leaving the bible study, Myra Thompson (ph), and she asked me to stay. Originally, I said I wasn't going to stay.

BALDWIN: Polly Sheppard was one of 12 members, part of this devout group who welcomed the stranger into their worship, a young white man who never attended before. Nearly an hour later as they closed their eyes in prayer, the man unloaded his gun. Evil walked into the side door of your church.

SHEPPARD: I had faith, that's why I'm still here. I prayed under that table and he left me here.

BALDWIN: The gunman told Polly Sheppard he would let her live. She was one of five people to survive the massacre one year ago. CNN was given rare access inside that bible study room and I spoke exclusively to those left behind.

This was the room...

REV NORVEL GOFF, PRESIDING ELDER OF THE 7TH DISTRICT AME CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA: This is the room.

BALDWIN: ...to where he came?

GOFF: Yes.

BALDWIN: This is where people were seated...

GOFF: Yes.

BALDWIN: ...around the table?

GOFF: Around the table, yes.

BALDWIN: Holding bible study.

GOFF: Yes, and he was invited to join them.

BALDWIN: Rev Norvel Goff preside over 30 churches in the district. He left Mother Emanuel just before the gunman entered the church through the side door.

GOFF: I left to go to another meeting and that was about 20 minutes late. My understanding the gunman was already in the parking lot.

BALDWIN: A dispatch log details the initial 911 calls from survivors that night. These chilling words show their pleas for help is "shot pastor, female is hiding under the table, male is reloading. The number of shots fired, so many."

Were you sitting around the table or are you in the back?

SHEPPARD: I was around the table -- the last table in the back.

BALDWIN: When you prayed under that table, we're you asking for something?

SHEPPARD: I was asking that he wouldn't kill all of us. Yes.

BALDWIN: First responders rushed to the scene in mere minutes, that's when Charleston police chief, Gregory Mullen got the call.

GREGORY MULLEN, CHARLESTON CHEIF, SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE: I was in my home with my wife preparing to go to bed actually and when I received the phone call, very quickly I realized something was bad because my deputy chief told me that we had a shooting in the church downtown. And then I'm on the phone talking with the mayor.

JOSEPH RILEY, FORMER MAYOR OF CHARLESTON: When police chief called it was about 9:30. After I hung up I went to my closet and put on a coat and tie and suit.

BALDWIN: Why?

RILEY: Because I knew that everything I said and did had to be perfect and I knew that I had to evidence complete respect for this church.

ESTHER LANCE, DAUGHTER OF ETHEL LANCE: When you see the church's (ph) TV overlay, "whoa, that's my mama's church."

BALDWIN: Esther Lance was among other family members and friends gathered around the block in a hotel waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones. When you knew something was wrong at the church, did you know your mom was there in that bible study?

LANCE: Yes. And I said listen, just tell me the truth. Is my mama in that church?

BALDWIN: So what did you say to those family members behind closed doors?

MULLEN: We explained to them that we had had a situation in the church as they were aware of and at this point that there were nine people that were deceased.

LANCE: All I can see is the body bag. But I knew my mama was gone. My heart was telling me this.

BALDWIN: You knew?

LANCE: Yes.

GOFF: We were now in the throes of planning nine funerals, home-going celebration.

RILEY: So, then they deducted that that was their brother, sister, father, cousin, friend and all the rages of weeping, crying, wailing, moaning, sobbing.

MULLEN: It was a gasp that I'll never forget when we -- when we told them that and at that point Reverend Goff broke out into a song and everybody was singing together and...

[16:45:00] BALDWIN: Holding hands and praying?

MULLEN: Holding hands and praying.

BALDWIN: After an intense 14-hour manhunt, police apprehended their suspect. We later learned the 21-year-old gunman hoped to start a race war.

GOFF: This act of terrorism, racism, bigotry was the act of one individual who wanted to create a race riot. What they found out is that our faith was greater than fear and that love will always overtake hate. We pull together to make sure that how we responded to evil was not with the evil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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WHITFIELD: All right, time to salute another CNN hero for parents of children with Down syndrome. It can be a very difficult and challenging situation, often made even harder by the reaction from mothers. At this week's CNN hero, Nancy Gianni (ph) is working to change that.

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[16:50:00] NANCY GIANNI, PARENT OF A CHILD WITH DOWN SYNDROME: Our kids whether diagnosis on their face. So, they're judged from the minute they wake up in the morning anywhere they go, whatever they do. So, we do have a lot to prove. We have to show that we can and we will learn to do everything everybody else does. It might just take us a little bit longer but we're going to do it. And you need to believe in that.

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WHITFIELD: To see how Nancy is changing the lives of people with Down syndrome and public attitudes about what they can achieve, go to cnnheros.com and while you're there nominate someone you think should be a 2016 CNN hero.

All right, the 49 victims killed in last Sunday's nightclub shooting in Orlando will be remembered tonight. These are live pictures of preparations for the memorial and candlelight vigil. Police expect the event to draw as many as 20,000 people. And it's not just family members and friends of the victims dealing with the trauma of this horrific shooting.

First responders are also struggling with what they have witnessed. Some of them have found a sanctuary at the Christ Church of Orlando. It's located just a block away from the shooting and it's opened its doors to the first responders. Today CNN was there as the church held its first service since the horrific event.

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WAYNE STEWART, CHRIST CHURCH OF ORLANDO MEMBER: It's a tragedy and we feel extremely bad for those who've lost family and friends but we're fortunate that we were able to be here and to be of help.

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WHITFIELD: Joining me right now is Paul Valo, the church's lead pastor. Pastor, thanks so much for being with us. We saw your sign there outside of your church over the last few days welcoming first responders in. What has the response been like?

PASTOR PAUL VALO, CHRIST CHURCH OF ORLADO: It's been pretty amazing. For the last seven days we've been open 24 hours a day where we have fed and housed first responders, hundreds of them a day, and it's been an honor, people from all the departments, all the first responder departments, and some of the politicians have been coming in and they've all come in to say that maybe on some level they've -- they've never had that kind of response from a church before and it's been honor -- our honor to serve those that are serving other people.

WHITFIELD: And Pastor Valo, thanks so much for competing with the sound there. They're doing sound checks there preparing for, you know, the vigil...

VALO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ...this evening. So, if you can continue to hear me I'll -- I'll try to ask you another question, you know. You all responded...

VALO: Sure. WHITFIELD: ...really quickly, you know. It was Sunday morning when this tragedy unfolded and you're actually on your way, you know, to the church which is just less than a block away from the pulse nightclub and you found out what happened, what did you do right away?

VALO: Well, the first thing that we did was we realized that standing right outside of our building were literally hundreds of officers from all kinds of departments and immediately after a word of prayer we were like OK. If these are the people that God is sending us today to help, those are the ones we're going to help.

So, immediately all of the products we have in the building our water, the things that we serve and all the departments on Sunday's we just pulled it upfront and immediately we started going -- we're going to help them, got the word out on the street, send for some more products.

Pretty quickly, even business started to respond, some of our members who even carry products on foot to our church came and carried, I mean just an overwhelming amount of products that came, food, drinks and -- so that we could support the people that were there and in the middle of that, you know, our hearts are broken also, you know.

And we can only imagine with the things that they're having to deal with and maybe even the things that they're having to see that maybe if we could just provide for them some shelter, some refuge and a place to maybe come in out of all of that and process just a little bit even in their own heart.

WHITFIELD: When they're, you know, my producer and I spoke with a couple of your staffers at the church and they made it very clear that your church has been very much an active part of the community. You opened your doors to everyone there in that community but something happened after this tragedy. The bond is stronger and it's fortified the relationship with the community. Can you explain further about that?

VALO: Well we've -- well, we've always had a heart to serve our community. We encouraged all of our members to go out and find other community service organizations particularly in May and June. We asked everyone in our congregation to find another community service organization and rather than us competing or reinventing those organizations for us to go and serve them

And so we've had a great relationship with other community service organizations. But this put us really in direct contact with many of our neighbors. It puts us in direct contact with public officials and -- and again, the law enforcement officers that really they needed some place to go and some help also in the process of all of this.

[16:55:00] One of the things that happened for us even on Friday was there was a first responder that came rushing into the building and she said "I'm hoping one of you guys could help, maybe a pastor can go down. We have -- one of the neighbors came out directly from behind pause and he's crying and he said they haven't been out of their houses, they can't get off of their street, they can't even get downtown to get to the services that they need and they're just panicked. They're filled of anxiety.

And that the first responder came to us and said "we think that you can help" and we were just humbled that they thought that we would be there to help him. That's what we want to do. We're going to go door- to-door in our neighborhood over the next few weeks, visit with all of our neighbors to make sure that they're OK and find out how we can help.

WHITFIELD: Oh, so kind. All right, Pastor Paul Valo, all the best to you and your endeavors in your church, your congregation. Thank you so much.

VALO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right and thank you for joining us today.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. CNN'S coverage of the Orlando vigil and memorial services for the nightclub victims continues next hour with Jim Sciutto.

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