Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Memorial, Vigil Underway For Shooting Victims; Lynch: Calls Shed Light On Killer's Motive For Attack; Colorado Gov. Slams Trump's Response To Orlando; Trump: U.S. Should Consider Profiling Muslims; Scandal in Oakland Police Force; Thousands Gather for Memorial and Vigil in Orlando. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 19, 2016 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It is 7:00 in the evening in Orlando. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York, in for Poppy Harlow. You are hearing members of the Orlando Gay Chorus lending their voices at a memorial service for victims of last Sunday's mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub. Orlando taking this day to show the world it hurts, but they hope they will heal as well. These are live pictures of a memorial service underway at the Cathedral of St. Luke. The names of all 49 shooting victims were read aloud during the service. The priest telling those gathered, hate is easy, love, he said, takes courage. A memorial service being followed by a candlelight vigil. I want to bring in Ed Lavandera because he's there at Lake Eola where that vigil will take place. Ed, this is a city showing its grief, and in numbers, I imagine trying to show some hope, as well.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a great deal of hope, and this is a massive gathering. Tens of thousands of people already showing up for this candlelight vigil, and I've got here with us the three kind of key leaders who brought everything together here today. This is Chris, Kermit, and Chelsea. Let me start off with Kermit, because Kermit, this was your idea last Sunday in the hours after the attack. Why did you do this?
KERMIT SILVA, CANDLELIGHT VIGIL ORGANIZER: Well, actually it was Chelsea's idea. She said that I should do something to get involved, and I just wanted to get the community together and show that, you know, we're one Orlando. You heard us, everybody, just look around. We will all get together and rise up.
LAVANDERA: When you started putting this together last Sunday, did you expect a crowd like this?
SILVA: Actually, if you look at the original description on the Facebook event, I said that I would bring 100 candles.
LAVANDERA: One-hundred?
SILVA: Yes, I was expecting maybe 20 or 30 of my friends to get together. I didn't think it was going to be very impactful at all. I just figured I'd reach out to kind of the service industry community because everybody knows somebody who worked at Pulse or has worked at Pulse and I figured they might want to get together on Sunday night and just be together. And I brought a hundred candles thinking, no, I don't need this many.
LAVANDERA: About 19,900 short. Chelsea, did you think you'd see an event like this, of this size?
CHELSEA FROST, CANDLELIGHT VIGIL ORGANIZER: I didn't. It's really inspiring, and you look around and watch. Like you said, you invited 20 people, and within hours, you have thousands responding, wanting to know how to help, want to know how to get involved, how to get in touch with family members, services, donations -- for anybody at home who wants to oneorlando.org and continue to help the families after this, it's been amazing.
LAVANDERA: I've been in a lot of cities after tragedies like this, and I always tell people, people mourn, cities mourn, and communities mourn in different ways, but I'm struck this week by the kind of outpouring of public-ness of the way people kind of are dealing with it. Have you sensed that? Why do you think that is?
FROST: I think there is -- obviously, LGBTQ and (ph) Hispanic community that was targeted and it was hateful and it was public, and I think it has to be public for the rest of the community to stand up and say that we're not OK with it and we're going to get behind them and provide them the support and the strength that they need, and that we love them, so we will conquer that hate with love. We will take care of them.
LAVANDERA: Chris, what's this like for you, to see this?
CHRIS NAULT, CANDLELIGHT VIGIL ORGANIZER: Overwhelming. There is a lot of emotion. Just the amount of unity, the diversity of the people, and just everyone getting involved in the city of Orlando was so helpful, and making sure it structurally even happened, obviously. Seeing these guys even getting it started and this was a community event. This was, kind of everyone jumped and got involved, helped on different levels, and this was way more than the three of us easily. It took hundreds of people to make this happen. The response is amazing. Amazing.
LAVANDERA: So when Kermit called you, he said I only have 100 candles and things spiraled out of control --
NAULT: That was kind of like the phone call. It was like, hey, I think we need help, and I think you can help us, and that's where we're at. So I did the best I could, and we've turned into even closer friends than we were before and now we are -- that kind of purity of this event just being -- it's a terrible word, just. It's a gathering of friends. And now we have 30,000 friends, and it's touching. It's great.
LAVANDERA: It's amazing to see. Kermit, real quick, before -- I've seen -- I think there are a lot of employees from the Pulse club that are here, some family. What can we expect? What people are here tonight?
[19:04:57] SILVA: Well, we can expect, I think everybody is just going to share their message of love. I'm sure they're going to express their experience with this personally, but I think everybody is onboard on the same page and this is just a message of unity.
LAVANDERA: Very good. Congratulations to you guys and quite an effort here, Jim, and just a week effort, as you heard Kermit say. Start off with maybe just a gathering of a hundred or so people and it has blossomed and exploded into a massive gathering, tens of thousands of people here in downtown Orlando tonight. Jim --
SCIUTTO: Let's hope it helps to begin to heal the deep, deep wounds there. Ed Lavandera there in Orlando.
Now, to the investigation of the Orlando shooting. Soon, we will know exactly what the killer told police during his bloody rampage inside the Pulse nightclub. At least we'll know some of the killer's words. The Justice Department says that limited transcripts of Omar Mateen's three phone calls with police and hostage negotiators will be released tomorrow. Attorney general Loretta Lynch telling CNN, the calls shed light on Mateen's motive for the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: 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 re-victimizing those who went through this horror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Lynch does say that the shooter's pledge of allegiance to ISIS will not be part of the transcripts which are released. I want to bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, he's a former FBI assistant director. So Tom, what's the value of releasing these transcripts of the shooter during the night of the attack?
TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think, Jim, it's just for credibility that he did make these statements, that he was pledging loyalty to the terrorist group, which we've been told is ISIS, from other accounts, and I think it's just an effort to show that he did make these calls and this is what he actually said during those phone calls.
SCIUTTO: Now is there a danger here? Because killers, whether they pledge allegiance to an Islamist group -- but many of these mass shooting perpetrators here in the U.S., they want the attention. They crave the attention. Does this add to that attention unduly?
FUENTES: I don't know about unduly. It certainly adds to it, and every bit of our reporting for the last eight days has added to it, so I think it's a little bit late maybe to worry about that aspect of it. This was really a difficulty for the media. You have to get the name of this subject, the photo of the subject out, if you want members of the public to call in and say, wait a minute, I talked to him five years ago and he said he wanted to do such and such, or I knew him in school, or I knew him in my workplace. So you need people to be aware of the fact that he is the subject, he did this act at that nightclub, and try to get the help of the help of the public. So I think that part of it's true. The other part of it is, the authorities obviously worry about copycats and others that want their glory from committing such a horrible act, which is how they see it if they're going to be glorified for doing it. So really, you have to report the facts, but if you do report the facts, you're going to be giving them glory and attention that they shouldn't get, but in a way, it's inevitable and has to be done.
SCIUTTO: I imagine part of the process now -- the killing, sadly, is done. You can't stop that. But part of the focus now is helping add to the profiles, plural, right? Because there are so many, of folks who choose to do this sort of thing, filling that out -- is that part of this filling out that profile so that they could better identify who is more likely to do it down the road?
FUENTES: Well, of course, it is. And we've been doing these profiles of serial killers and others -- I can remember, go back to Charles Manson. They go to, let's say analyze his brain and figure out why he did it and we'll be able to prevent others. Well, the problem is, the prevention part doesn't kick in because of everybody's constitutional rights, so people can fake that way. We can look at them, in this case, this guy from third grade and see his anti-social tendencies throughout his young life and his adult life, and yet we're not in a position to say, you know, you think a lot of bad thoughts, you do a lot of bad things, even though they're not major yet, we're going to lock you up for the rest of your life. We just can't do it. We don't do it. We shouldn't do it. And yet, that's what happens. You're asking the FBI to almost play a game of chicken with these guys. How far can they take it without a guy actually doing a violent act or crossing the line to indicate he's going to do it and he's going to do it now, not a matter of maybe someday he might, and that's really, really difficult. So, yes, we profile these people, we gather all of the information, what they were thinking, we try to analyze every bit of their motive -- was it was homophobia, was it terrorism, was it because he's a psychopath and would have done anything anyway? All of that is important, but in a way, it adds to this guy's profile. It doesn't necessarily help us prevent the next one.
[19:10:01] SCIUTTO: I know you have strong feelings about this because we've talked about it before -- the missed signals by the FBI, the previous investigations, they were closed. Tell me your view as you look at this, because we also know that the FBI has got an enormously difficult job, hundreds of possible suspects. It's virtually impossible to know what someone is going to do in the future -- but how about lessons learned for the FBI from this attack?
FUENTES: Well, it should be lessons learned from the public, and what does the public really want? In 2013, when they closed the ten-month investigation into this guy, he hadn't indicated that he was about to be violent and there was nothing more they could do with that so they had to stop it, they had to close it. Now we -- there are public guidelines that tell the FBI not only do they have to close it, but what they can do with the information and where we go from there. And typically, after one of these events where we're just so mad, why didn't the FBI stop that? Why didn't they guess what he was thinking in his brain even though it was three years ahead of when he actually acted? But then, two or three weeks from now, we don't want the FBI to crack his iPhone. We don't want the FBI to have metadata. We don't want the FBI spying on our people. We don't want the FBI doing 24/7 surveillances. So really, it's a public policy decision that has to be made. It's not FBI policy that tells them, stop working on an individual. If they don't have the facts to keep the case going, they have to close it, and then there was a lot of information this week about how terrible the FBI is over this gun shop issue, and the fact is, the FBI went to that gun shop several weeks after Mateen visited that gun shop in connection with looking for other individuals who they found and determined were police officers. And then the gun shop owner says, oh yes, a couple of weeks ago, this guy came in, clean cut, white male. He wanted to buy body armor. We don't sell body armor. And the FBI says, OK, did you get his name? No. Did you get a license plate number? No. Can we look at the surveillance video? I didn't save it, I overwrote it. So apparently at the time he came into that gun shop, he wasn't all that suspicious at the time because that gun shop owner -- when you go into a gun shop to buy a gun or buy other sensitive equipment, it takes about a half hour to fill the forms out. So that gun shop owner, if he really was truly suspicious back a couple weeks ago, he could have just stalled him long enough, go in the back room, call the FBI, and like the other gun shop owner that called the FBI, they would have been out there in a matter of minutes and they would have been able to catch Mateen right in that gun shop, or at least have descriptive data on him. Part of this thing about the FBI has been false reporting in the first place.
SCIUTTO: Well listen, a lot of those signals also look a lot clearer in retrospect than they did at the time, so we understand that.
FUENTES: They look clearer, but --
SCIUTTO: Tom, thanks for walking us through it.
FUENTES: If there wasn't a signal, they're not going to get it.
SCIUTTO: Understood. Tom, thanks very much, as always.
Ahead live in the CNN NEWSROOM, a man is arrested at a Trump rally in Las Vegas, charged with attempting to take an officer's gun. We'll explain. Plus, we'll return to the heart of Florida and the city saying good-bye tonight. Thousands are gathering in Orlando to pay their respects to those 49 people who lost their lives just one week ago. We'll take you there. And later, stories of survival. Hear from the victims of the Pulse nightclub, the ones who came out alive in their own words. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:16:09] SCIUTTO: Welcome back live to the CNN NEWSROOM. We're getting new information about an arrest made during Donald Trump's rally in Las Vegas yesterday. The secret service says that a man has now been charged for attempting to disarm an officer inside that event while Trump was speaking at the time. Cameras, as you're seeing there captured the man being led away in handcuffs. The suspect has now been identified as 19-year-old (ph) Michael Sanford, but there's no word yet on whether he was a Trump supporter or anti-Trump protester or exactly what his intentions were. We will let you know when we learn more.
At that rally, Donald Trump said, what happened in Orlando would, he said, happen again, and he argued that America's lack of common sense is its biggest problem when it comes to preventing future attacks. Now, after renewing his call for a temporary ban on all Muslim immigrants, the presumptive Republican nominee is floating another controversial idea. He told CBS News today that the U.S. should consider profiling Muslims to combat terrorism. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Well, I think profiling is something that we're going to have to start thinking about as a country, and other countries do it. We really have to look at profiling. We have to look at it seriously, and other countries do it, and it's not the worst thing to do. I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to use common sense. We're not using common sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: That latest statement from Trump comes as chatter grows about a possible delegate revolt inside the GOP at the convention. CNN's Chris Frates has more on that. Chris --
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, a small group of Republican delegates is pushing for the party to adopt a so-called conscience clause that would allow delegates to vote against Donald Trump. Now, a convention coup has little shot at success for a couple of reasons. Trump has installed his own loyalists on the convention's most important committee, so he's got a lot of influence there. And perhaps more importantly, there is no alternative candidate to Trump. The never-Trump-ers have been unable to find someone, to find anyone to challenge Donald Trump, but the group and top Republicans who have been critical of Trump have gotten the billionaire's attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (via telephone): They shouldn't be talking so much. They should go out and do their job. Let me do my job. I have tremendous support from both politicians and the people. Tremendous support. Unfortunately, the media just likes to cover really a small number of people that maybe have something to say. I think they should go about their work. Let me run for president. I think I'm going to do very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Still, it's Trump's own rhetoric that has helped keep the dump Trump movement alive. His comments that a judge hearing a lawsuit against him had a conflict of interest becaue he was of Mexican descent were called racist by members of his own party, and when he doubled down on his policy to ban Muslim immigration in the wake of the Orlando shootings, top Republicans again opposed that idea, with House Speaker Paul Ryan even suggesting the House might sue a President Trump to stop that ban. With a general election under way, Republicans had hoped Trump would tone it down a little bit and act more presidential, something Trump has said he'll do as soon as he's president, but many Republicans worry that if he doesn't do it sooner, he'll never get that chance. Jim --
SCIUTTO: Chris Frates in Washington, thanks very much.
Well, if Republicans have an issue with Donald Trump's response to the Orlando shooting, it's no surprise that Democrats would take issue as well. Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado slamming the presumptive GOP nominee saying his response showed no sense of dignity. I spoke with Governor Hickenlooper about his concerns just in the last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: You call Trump's reaction mean-spirited, said he was seizing a political opportunity -- explain that.
[[19:19:52] GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D), COLORADO: Well, I mean, you're still in the very process of dealing with the tragedy. I mean, the victims in the hospitals and the family members of the victims, the whole community is the going through this traumatic process and he's patting himself on the back. I mean, it's almost unconscionable. It reflects an almost total absence of any kind of empathy or real caring about what's happened to everybody, all these people.
SCIUTTO: But you know the enormous hurdles for both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to pass regulations, even if they're small and incremental. You know that groups like the NRA will jump on them. They'll attempt to get them barred from office or lose their elections in the primary stages and elsewhere. How do individual lawmakers who, frankly, have their political careers to think about, how do they overcome that hurdle when the price -- and we've seen this before, the price is so high politically?
HICKENLOOPER: Well, that's why this tragedy is so significant. The scale of it. The fact that it's a hate crime tied in to terrorism. Hopefully it can push us into a meaningful dialogue and dialogue requires listening, and so far Mr. Trump hasn't shown the capacity really to listen. He just shouts most of the time, and I think that's our challenge, if we're really going to try to make this country safer, it's going to be all of us coming together after a tragedy of this scale and rolling up our sleeves saying, here's how we're going to get to a better place. When we start looking at profiling, often times what happens is you miss the tip offs of someone who really is going to be a terrorist or a mass killer and that vigilance and really training our first responders in terms of what they should be looking for is probably much more useful.
I think there is fear, and I understand, I feel where people are coming from in fear, but I think it's the wrong response is to make these decisions based on how someone appears or what religion they believe in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: So let's talk more about Governor Hickenlooper's comments. Joining me now is CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord. Jeffrey, good to talk to you again.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello, Jim, my friend on this sad day.
SCIUTTO: Yes, yes. Seven days later. So you heard Governor Hickenlooper's comments there saying that his reaction, particularly in those first hours afterwards, seemingly congratulating himself, the renewal of the Muslim ban proposal -- Hickenlooper saying it reflected a total lack of empathy. What's your response?
LORD: Well, you know, Donald Trump, like most Americans, is furious about this. This happens again and again and again, and you know, I don't really like to deal in the politics of this stuff on a day like this. President Obama brought up guns at the memorial service, Governor Hickenlooper is saying these things. So I mean if I'm required to say something, I will say that this reflects Secretary Clinton's bad judgment. I mean, and the idea of killing gays comes from Sharia law, not from ISIS, not from al-Qaeda, but from Sharia law, and the Clinton Foundation has accepted millions of dollars from countries who espouse executing people because they're gay. I mean, I just think that that is beyond -- I mean, empathy? That's disgusting. Disgusting, and frankly -- Give the money back. You ought to give it to the people in Orlando. Give it to the LGBT community in Orlando. For heaven's sakes, have some decency here.
SCIUTTO: No one is supporting -- no candidate is supporting, certainly, attacks certainly on the LGBT community, but first, if you could answer that question -- because you hear this even from Republicans -- the presumptive GOP nominee missed an opportunity here to sound presidential, and to give a response that was policy-related as opposed to more emotional.
LORD: Well, I think he did sound very presidential. I mean, he is very, very disturbed that these incidents keep happening again. Boston, San Bernardino, Chattanooga -- there is no excuse for this. None, none. How many more times do we have to go through this? This is a terrible thing. And I really do think that so many people in America want something done about this. They want this kind of thing stopped. They want political correctness removed -- the head of the New York bureau of the FBI said the other day that political correctness lies over the FBI like a wet blanket. The military said political correctness was involved in the decision to let Major Hassan through the needle there to kill people at Fort Hood. Over and over and over again, we're getting these same problems that surface here. Something has to be done, and I think that Donald Trump reflects that urgency here, that anger, and he should.
[19:24:56] SCIUTTO: Let's talk about -- I mean, there are two issues, and God knows I've covered far too many of these mass shootings and terror attacks just personally as I was down there in Orlando, all week, I frankly as an Americans have the same feeling. The question becomes what that something is, and you had Donald Trump renewing his call on a ban from travel from whole parts of the world, but also profiling Muslims. Help justify that, because our legal system is built on protections against collective guilt. And frankly on innocent until proven guilty. How does this reconcile with that? LORD: Sure, Jim, in 1798, the U.S. Congress passed the alien enemies
act, which was signed by President John Adams, and it was done to restrict the presence in this country of people on visas who were French because they were involved with the French revolution and wanted to overthrow the U.S. government. This has been used all the way through American History. President Carter --
SCIUTTO: The alien and sedition acts, Jeffrey Lord, are seen as a horrible period in American history, not as our finest hour.
LORD: and what? I'm sorry, Jim.
SCIUTTO: The alien and sedition acts are seen as a bad period in American history, not our finest hour.
LORD: This is the alien enemies act, it was part of that, but the alien enemies act is still on the books right this minute. Franklin Roosevelt used it. And I'm not talking about the internment, the interment camps, which were racist and unconstitutional. I'm talking about the day after Pearl Harbor when he signed three proclamations dealing with Germans, Japanese, and Italians in this country who were on visas. I mean, Jimmy Carter did this with Iranians. This has been done over and over and over again.
SCIUTTO: But the fact that it's been done before doesn't justify it today. I'm asking you to justify the position today.
LORD: Sure, sure. Jim, this is where Americans get so frustrated at the lack of common sense. You go back in history to the murder of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi. You don't go to the black community in say, Idaho, or Southern California, and look for suspects. You go to white southern males who might have been in the Ku Klux Klan. And that's who killed them. When you're dealing, as Rudy Giuliani did, as a U.S. attorney with the mafia, you went into the Italian community in New York and elsewhere.
SCIUTTO: But you didn't, Jeffrey, bar Italians from coming into the country.
LORD: But Jimmy Carter did do this. He barred Iranians from coming into this country and collected their visas and some people were deported outright because they were Iranians in this country. So yes, it has been done. You do it to protect the American people. And all Donald Trump is saying is, until we get this system figured out and get it straightened out, in which case we start it all up again, because the whole country, 100 percent of it, is filled with descendants of immigrants -- I am, you are, everyone we know in our families, so we stop the system, fix it, and start it up again, and as is self-evident here, this system is not working.
SCIUTTO: Jeffrey Lord, thanks for taking the time on a Sunday.
LORD: Thanks, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, we'll return to Central Florida at a city doing its best to say goodbye tonight. Thousands are gathering for a memorial and candlelight vigil in Orlando.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:35] SCIUTTO: The city government of Oakland, California, no doubt hoping that the coming week is less chaotic than the last one was. The mayor of Oakland, Libby Schaaf, has either fired or accepted the resignation of three police chiefs in just nine days. She's furious, promising to get rid of the "macho toxic culture" within the ranks of her police force.
Two separate scandals with serious charges are shaking the Oakland P.D. to the core. CNN's Nick Valencia has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The message this week outside of Oakland Police Department headquarters was clear and deliberate.
We're saying that OPD is rotten to its core.
VALENCIA: Rocked by two separate scandals, members of the public and city officials are fast losing faith in the department.
MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF, OAKLAND: As the mayor of Oakland, I am here to run a police department, not a frat house.
VALENCIA: On Friday, Mayor Libby SCHAAF addressed allegations of widespread police misconduct including a sex scandal involving the exploitation of a teenager and racist text messages sent within the Oakland P.D..
SCHAAF: I want to assure the citizens of Oakland that we are hell- bent on rooting out this disgusting culture and holding those accountable, responsible for their misdeeds.
VALENCIA: It all started last fall with the suicide of an officer. Officials say an investigation into his death uncovered disturbing allegations. Within months an 18-year-old alleged she had sex with him as well as a number of other officers from Oakland P.D. and surrounding police departments.
NOEL GALLO, OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL: We may have to go to the complete federal oversight of our police department.
VALENCIA: Oakland city councilman, Noel Gallo, has watched the fall out, In just nine days, three police chiefs have been fired or resigned. One chief lasted only five days. Meanwhile, there are also reports that African-American officers within the OPD exchanged racist text messages with each other. The content of the messages have not been made public.
SCHAAF: We not only hold people accountable for engaging in unacceptable hate speech, but also for tolerating it.
VALENCIA: The department is already on a short leash with the feds over police misconduct dating back to 2003. It's now under civilian leadership.
SCHAAF: I feel that this is an appropriate time to place civilian oversight over this police department, and to send a very clear message about how serious we are of not tolerating misconduct, unethical behavior and to root out what is clearly a toxic, macho culture.
VALENCIA (on camera): The mayor of Oakland would not offer a time line into the sexual assault investigation, but said that the investigation into the racist texts could be wrapped up as soon as this week.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Thank you, Nick. There is something else. Since that report, CNN has spoken to the woman whose involvement with Oakland Police officers triggered this massive internal investigation and charges of sexual misconduct. The name she uses is Celeste and says she was a prostitute, not yet 18 years old when she began seeing many officers on the Oakland police force. She told us that without that investigation nobody would have found out.
[19:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELESTE: I mean, as long as people know that I didn't want this to happen because - there are people saying that I - that I wanted this to happen. That I screwed all these cops over on purpose, that it was me who put it out there, and stuff. As long as people know that. I didn't want this to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: The police force in Oakland is now being overseen by a civilian until the mayor appoints another interim police chief.
Straight ahead, more from Orlando as thousands gather in solidarity and resilience in the wake of a mass shooting. We will take you there live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: A huge outpouring of emotion in Orlando under way right now as the city holding a memorial service and candlelight vigil for the victims of last week's mass shooting there.
Let's bring in CNN's Ed Lavandera, Brynn Gingras is there as well. So, Ed, the scene there - this is going to be really tens of thousands of people expected there tonight, right?
LAVANDERA: Hi, Jim. Well, the organizers jut started the event saying that they've been told that as many as 50,000 people are here. We can see from one of our local affiliates the aerial shot of the scene here.
This is just a little lake on the edge of downtown Orlando. So many people that they can't even get into this atrium, this area that we're in right here. They're just surrounding the lake. It is a massive crowd and just a little while ago as you heard, Jim, we spoke to one of the organizers of this event. They said this originally started with the hopes that just a hundred people would be gathering here and from that in a week has blossomed and exploded into 50,000 people here in this outpouring of love and public grieving here in Orlando tonight, Jim?
SCIUTTO: 50,000 people. Incredible.
[19:40:00]
Brynn, I understand you're walking from the cathedral down to the Lake right now from the vigil then to this outdoor memorial. What's the mood like? What's the crowd like as you do that?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we actually just had the doors open now so this ceremony has just finished. This vigil, rather. People now are gathering their candles at this point and that's when we're going to start walking down to the lake where Ed is right now, but I want to bring in D.J. Snell.
He's from Orlando and he's going to walk with us, and you're heading to the lake, I assume, D.J.. You were part of this vigil. Can you give us what the mood was like inside there?
D.J. SNELL: Just very somber and sober and I mean, just people trying to find answers for why things like this happen. They're questions we're all wrestling with here.
GINGRAS: And I heard very emotional at one point when everybody went up to light a candle themselves. We're talking about nearly 350 people inside that church lighting candles. Can you describe what that was like?
SNELL: Again, it's again, just grappling with some way to kind of commemorate and memorialize what's happening and even offer a prayer and just a sense of connection to how we can show our love.
GINGRAS: Now, you said you were out of town, you came back to Orlando. This is pretty hard hitting, I'm sure, to return to this sort of mood in the city of Orlando. Tell me, how have this affected you so far?
SNELL: I was actually in Nairobi, Kenya. I was in the cabera slums that day, where Al Shabaab works and operates and I was very present there thinking about what could happen and ironically, it happens here, something as tragic. It just kind of blows your mind to kind of get your head around it.
The bishop was sharing about how he had to be intentional about connecting to the pain, and I think that's what we're all trying to do is be very present with it because it seems surreal. It doesn't feel real.
GINGRAS: Why did you feel so compelled to be here tonight?
SNELL: Because I just wanted a place to connect and was looking for a place to come and share in the grief of it.
GINGRAS: You know, I talked to a couple and they told me that, a gay couple and they said that before this, they would look around and see if anybody was watching them with public displays of affection. Now they said they just don't care. Do you feel the difference here in Orlando now?
SNELL: Yes, I think so.
I think something shifts and something changes when it hits this close to home and the differences that just aren't as important, you know?
GINGRAS: Right. Well, enjoy that vigil. I know this is a very emotional time one week after this and we're all here with you. Thank you, Ed.
So Jim, you can imagine how emotional this has been for everybody. Now everyone is sort of making their way down to that lake, and it was a long - it was a long vigil. About an hour and 15 minutes or so of prayer and also music and just readings and certainly, we have seen a lot of people coming out crying, but also certainly together in unity.
SCIUTTO: Brynn, you and I, we've seen so many communities go through this sort of thing. We've both spent time in Orlando this week. People struggle, as you say, to understand why. What are they talking about now? Are they talking about what they want to see happen next? Or are they talking about dealing with the grief? What stands out to you?
GINGRAS: Honestly, it goes from anything like gun control to seeing how people as Ed said view each other, to showing obvious signs of love for each other and unity. So, I mean, it really runs the gamut on the emotion that's here and you're right, we have covered so many of these and it's unfortunately, it never feels very different.
It's always sad, it's always emotional and it's always that question of why did that happen here and the feeling of you never thought it would happen here and then it did. So, yes, we're seeing a lot of emotions, but at this point one week after, what we're seeing is that Orlando's strong. We saw that after Boston and the feeling of we're together in this.
Not too long ago I had a chance to talk to a woman who was here because she lost - her daughter was injured in the Virginia Tech shooting. So she said she had to come down here with other people that have family members involved in mass shootings. So yes, there are just people compelled all across the country who want to be here and show Orlando that they're not alone in this.
SCIUTTO: Sadly, it's a big and expanding sort of brotherhood of people affected by these shootings. Brynn, I know you're going to walk from the cathedral down to the event and we have Ed Lavandera who is down at the vigil and we are looking at these aerial pictures and we get a sense of those numbers you gave us, tens of thousands of people. Is it quiet? What does it sound like? What does it feel like to be there?
LAVANDERA: Well, they've been playing a lot of music leading up to it, and now, a lot of speakers and the mayor and the police chief came out to a huge round of applause here. What's interesting is it's hard to imagine the other side of the lake is here off to my left.
[19:45:00]
So one of the speakers mentioned that those people on the other side of the lake should be able to hear what is going on here and it's now been - again those messages of unity, of togetherness and this public outpouring and what is really, really striking and poetic in many ways and right before the event started, a giant rainbow arched all the way across the lake and instantly everybody in the crowd just started popping off pictures and kind of grasping that moment.
You could tell that given the flags that are flying here in the crowd that that symbol was like another strong symbol to many, many people here. That means a lot to them so as soon as that rainbow emerged, people's iPhones and phones started popping up capturing that moment. You could sense that excitement rippling through the crowd when that moment emerged right over the scene and rather poetic beginning for this candlelight vigil tonight.
SCIUTTO: Goodness, there you see the rainbow a sign of hope and also, of course, the rainbow flag of the LGBT movement.
I remember down there earlier this week over one of the early memorials, a photographer shot a picture of some birds flying overhead and then counted the birds and then realized there were 49 birds like the 49 victims of that shooting. One of those signs for hope that you look for.
Ed, as you look at the crowd there, are you seeing a lot of tears, seeing a lot of hugs, are there any smiles? What's the mood?
LAVANDERA: I think somber, yet people are smiling at times and being together, but there is definitely a difference. Just here off to the side of the stage, a large group of employees from the Pulse nightclub. I was told that some of them were there that night. There's also some victims' relatives. Just seeing the body language in them standing clothe together is striking to see.
You could tell that this has been a truly dreadful and impactful week for them. So they get out here in public and see some friends who perhaps they haven't seen in the last couple of days and you can sense that energy and that powerful emotion that they're standing here and then when you - it's easy to get looked in that in your own little space and you kind of look up around here and you realized just how many tens of thousands of people have emerged and showed up for this event. I think for a lot of those people who have been living the story so closely over the course of the last week, really, kind of, it has to hit home. It's a powerful impact and a powerful emotion for a lot of those people who have been kind of stuck in their own moment for the last week and just dealing with all of the raw pain that they've had to deal with and here they are with tens of thousands of people who are trying to show their love, express their love to those people who are living the worst of this week, Jim?
SCIUTTO: Thank you, Ed. You're down there in the midst of that crowd we're seeing these aerial pictures of right now, in Orlando. Thousands, no question there, for the vigil.
We have our Brynn Gingras. She was at the Cathedral of St. Luke where there was a memorial earlier and they read the names of the victims, they said prayers and now the crowd from there walking down.
Brynn, what are you seeing as you walk down towards the lake?
GINGRAS: Well, at this point we're about two blocks away from where the vigil was held at that cathedral and now we're just about a block away from the lake. So it's a short walk, but certainly the crowds are gathering and as it is beginning more crowds are sort of by the lake at this point but we're going to continue walking here with Joshua and Raul because we caught up with them.
You guys did not go to the vigil today, but you obviously feel compelled to be at this service right here at the lake. Can you tell me why both of you wanted to be there?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Absolutely. Pulse is very close to us. It was actually the first gay club that I ever went to and we were actually supposed to be there that night but we decided not to. Thank god. We saw the police from our roof top. We live over there in our rooftop. We saw the police going to the club and it was crazy and it's a tragedy, and we have a lot of people that we know that went there, and we love everybody. We love Orlando, and it's just a tragedy.
GINGRAS: Joshua, the mood here, it's - you can taste it. You can feel it.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Orlando is amazing. The people are amazing. They're uplifting. Everyone's here and everyone's here for each other. There's no more I can say. You can actually look at it and see how great the people of Orlando see.
GINGRAS: And how about the people coming from out of state and out of the city, can you talk to me how you feel?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Out of the country and it's a big Latino community and everyone is coming and they're supporting us. They're supporting Orlando. It's a tragic event and it's just amazing to see all of these people out here.
GINGRAS: Raul, what has it meant to you?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: It's been a tragedy and I got friends there and some of them lost their life and, you know, we've been supporting them and leaning on each other. [19:50:07]
UNIDENTIFED MALE: There are a lot of fundraisers, we got our shirts, to support today. We got tattoos from Stigma supporting. All of the proceeds from the tattoos go to Orlando. It's great.
GINGRAS: What has been sort of the most heartfelt moment for you because I'm sure there are countless ones at this point.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Just the fact that me and my friends go there so often especially on Latin night, the fact that we could have been there that night, just thinking about that really gets to us.
GINGRAS: And the lost of so many people.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: So many people - it's just a tragedy and it should have never happened.
GINGRAS: And tonight, what are you expecting? We've seen so many vigils that have been just so powerful, emotional. What are you expecting here tonight?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Pure love. Pure love.
GINGRAS: Very simple.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Very simple.
GINGRAS: Thank you so much. We appreciate you stopping and talking to us.
So, yes, that is exactly what we're hearing and seeing here, Jim. Just pure love. People just happy to be together and to show their love and to continue. Jim.
SCIUTTO: We could all use a lot more of it. Brynn Gingras, she is there in Orlando. Ed Lavandera, thanks very much.
Please stay with us. We're going to come right back to this memorial after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Welcome back. You're seeing live pictures here from Orlando, Florida. This is a vigil tonight for those 49 victims, who lost their lives, just a week ago in that horrific attack at the Pulse nightclub.
This vigil, announced today and we are seeing tens of thousands of people coming to pay their respects. A message of hope. We have our own Ed Lavandera on the ground there among those crowds. Ed, tell us what the mood is, and what the events are planned for tonight.
LAVANDERA: Right now there are a series of speakers and on the stage right now is the woman by the name of Patty Sheehan, who is the first openly gay city commissioner here.
[19:55:00]
A very emotional speech that this crowd is reacting to. Incredibly loudly and that's the cheering that you hear behind me. In a matter of moments here, Jim, the candles are beginning to spread their way through the crowd here and as the sun begins to set, the candles will be lit and culminating in a very emotional evening here in Orlando.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Just that mood, as I 'm hearing there, I'm hearing cheers. I have to say I'm almost surprised to see it. I've spent many days down there and I know people are hopeful and they're strong. Orlando strong and that hash tag has had a lot of meaning, but it seems a more positive mood than I'd expect and perhaps a sign of hope in that.
LAVANDERA: Yes, I think so. We spoke with the organizers of this event and it's really a way of showing solidarity with the families and the victims and the survivors who have been so affected by all of this, but also extending a hand, I think, in their view to show them that hey, look, we got a lot of friends here. You have a lot of people who want to support you and smiling and laughing and cheering in the years and months ahead. It's something that will be very beneficial. So I think you see that. And one of the themes that you see over and over throughout this crowd here today is love conquers hate, and that is virtually on almost every sign that you see here throughout the crowd.
SCIUTTO: Well, it's a powerful message on this father's day.
Ed Lavandera on the ground there for us in Orlando, Florida. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. Thanks so much for joining me on this father's day.
"THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" will start in just a moment. We're going to leave you with these pictures of this vigil in Orlando.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
