Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Dallas Chief: Killer Wrote on Walls in Blood; Soon: LA Governor Addresses Security Concerns After Protests; More Protests Underway in St. Paul After 100 Plus Arrests; Remembering Officer Patrick Zamarripa. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 10, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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

[15:59:53] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: In Chicago and New York, hundreds of protesters blocking traffic. Twenty people taken into custody in Manhattan there. President Obama is going to travel to Dallas. That is on Tuesday. He's going to deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service for the five officers killed in last week's protest ambush.

We are also learning gripping new details about the moments when gunfire ripped through that protest in downtown Dallas Thursday night. This is an exclusive interview with our own Jake Tapper. We're talking about Police Chief David Brown detailing how quickly things spun out of control and why two letters written in blood are a major focus of the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE: I think that this killer, obviously, had some delusion. There was quite a bit of rambling in the journal that's hard to decipher. I can just add at the scene where he was killed there was also -- he wrote some lettering in blood on the walls. Which leads us to believe he was wounded on the way up the stairwell on the second floor of the el Centro building and where we detonated the device to end the standoff, there was more lettering written in his own blood.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What did he write?

BROWN: We are trying to decipher that, but he wrote the letters "RB."

TAPPER: "RB"?

BROWN: And we don't -- "RB" -- yes. So, we're trying to figure out through looking yet things in his home what those initials mean. But we haven't determined that yet.

TAPPER: After the shooting, you suggested that the gunman must have had some knowledge of the parade route. You said, how would he know to post up there. And you also said that you have yet to determine whether or not there was some sort of complicity with the planning of this. Have you learned anything more about that?

BROWN: Yes. We had information prior to the rally that the rally would only be a static event at the Belo Gardens, and that after the rally ended, that people would dispersing their home peacefully. We had no indications that anyone was planning any type of violence toward people or damage toward properties. And so we really did our security planning around the things that we learned from the preplanning meetings that the protesters had.

Spontaneously, they began to march, and there was no route determined before this spontaneous march began, and they just began walking. What we know now is that this suspect was in a vehicle, what is a black Tahoe, and was leapfrogging the intersections in that vehicle and stopped well ahead of the march. You could easily see the march coming down the street they were walking. And saw an opportunity with some high perched positions, a couple of buildings in the pathway of the marchers and decided to take the high ground and start shooting right away.

And the vulnerability of the officers were because there was such a spontaneous decision to march by the protesters, we had to leak from intersection to make sure they didn't get run over by vehicles, by traffic, because we were not planning to block any streets because of the preplanning meeting, the information that we received, and we had to scramble to block intersections which did expose our officers to this attack and the suspect took advantage of that, and once he was in a high perched position, officers did not know where the shots was coming from, and we are learning some of the positions of our deceased officers.

And they were in a funnel, it ended up being a fatal funnel there, and then this suspect continued to move and shoot from different angles from the high perch position down at street level, then back up to the high perch positions at really diagonally, almost triangulating our officers with this rapid fire.

TAPPER: It sounds as though his military training really enabled him to be quite deadly in this horrific circumstance.

BROWN: We don't normally see this type of moving and shooting from criminal suspects. We're convinced that the military style was a plan and that he had practiced this and, again, I agree with you, Jake, the military training here received, you know, did influence how he planned to do it. I'm sure he had been deployed to Afghanistan according to his military record and likely have been trained and taught that type of tactic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Talk more about all of this. Our panel of CNN Law Enforcement analysts, former assistant FBI Director Tom Fuentes, former U.S. Marshalls assistant director Art Roderick, DeKalb County Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander, also author of the new book "The New Guardians." And also with us, retired police sergeant with Los Angeles Police Department Cheryl Dorsey.

Thank you everyone for weighing in on this. We have a lot to unpack. Tom, I want to start off with you first. So, we did hear the chief talk about that they went into this kind of preplanning meeting to determine what kind of coverage was necessary. They knew they were going to have a protest. And they figured it was going to stay in one place. That did not happen. It moved, it changed, very spontaneous. How do you prepare for something like that?

[16:05:32] TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Suzanne, you just heard him say that you just about can't because you don't have any idea where they're going to end up if you let them go. Now, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in the mid-'70s to allow the Nazi party to march in Skokie, Illinois, I had to stand in front of a number of those situations. And what the court ruled is that cities cannot deny a group, no matter how hateful their speech, no matter how much the public might disagree, the police have to protect that group to assemble and to speak.

However, the police can put limitations on where they go. So the chief mentioned that this was supposed to be a static rally in a particular place, but then they began to march in a way that he had no idea that that was coming or what direction they would go. And what we've seen in a number of cities are that the heads of law enforcement have decided to be very liberal, very permissive and say, well, you didn't plan this and we didn't give you initial permission that you could take off, you know, down the street.

But since you have, we'll follow along and try to protect you. So, it's really something that, as he mentioned, they really weren't prepared for. They did the best they could just to block streets so the protesters wouldn't be run over by traffic that didn't expect these people to be on that street.

MALVEAUX: Yes. And he seemed to indicate that it made it much harder to really figure out where the shooter was and, you know, how to combat the movement of the shooters as the protesters were also moving at the same time.

Art, I want to bring you into the conversation here and talk about the significance of the blood markings on the wall that he actually spread as he was moving about after he had been wounded -- the shooter had been wounded. And what do we suspect law enforcement is looking at? Is this going to potentially signal? Is it a sign to somebody else to do something or is it just him leaving some sort of marker, a statement that he's making on his own?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Probably more than likely he's leaving his mark on the wall there. I think the chief, the chief is going back, looking at social media websites, looking at information that they've got out of his house, looking at these afro- centric websites that apparently he was on prior to this. And we've seen this similar issue with these radical type websites both in Orlando and also in San Bernardino where these individuals start absorbing this hate-filled propaganda just prior to them going out and committing a scene like this.

And Tom is exactly correct when, you know, they've had a preplanning meeting, the chief is a very forward-looking individual here in Dallas and allowed them to march down the street because it was a very peaceful protest. And this individual took that to his advantage and was able to stake out a site from a high ground to be able to take out those police officers who were leapfrogging down the street to block the side roads.

MALVEAUX: And Cedric, I want you to listen to what Homeland Security Jeh Johnson actually talked a little bit about the tone and the mood of the community before this all unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It is critical for the public to know that the police is there to protect and to serve, to serve our communities. That what they do every single day. And the actions of a few who engage in excessive force are not reflective of the Law Enforcement Community at large who every day is protecting the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Cedric, one thing that Drew Griffin did a very good job in his investigative look at the shooter here was that he did make a distinction between the kind of extremist hate groups and just cultural black pride websites that he was following, but it was clear that he was following both here. Does it make it tougher, does it make it harder to police a community where you have that kind of tone and relations is just so poor, the trust is gone?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, you know, Secretary Johnson said it right, there are a lot of good police officers who are out there, and they do a fantastic and wonderful job in keeping our communities across this country safe every day. And many of the challenges that they're being confronted with today are very new type of challenges we have not seen before, particularly those that follow some type of terroristic act. The subject who was killed in this operation, of course, what was in his mind? What was his reasoning for following some of these websites? What was he looking for to support his thoughts that were clearly very dysfunctional?

What was it that he was looking for to generate, to motivate him to carry out these horrific acts? But I think during the course of the investigation, the continued investigation, something that is going to be very, very important, Suzanne, is that going forward, the more we know about what motivated him to do what he did, the better we're going to be from an intelligence position. Hopefully may be getting out ahead of some of this or being able to determine certain personality types or certain types of past behaviors that might subsequent lead to this are a variety of things, but I think there's still a lot of information still to be garnered and that will be done, I'm quite sure in good order pretty soon.

[16:10:54] MALVEAUX: And Cheryl, I want to bring you into the conversation here. There's been some discussion about the use of the robot putting an end to the siege. What is the objection? I know that you've spoken to some people who say that they did not think that that was the best way of ending this. Can you explain what people are talking about?

CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED LAPD SERGEANT: Well, you know, in the Black community, the concern is that white officers deal with white armed confrontational suspects very differently than they do black armed suspects. And so there's a concern that was there another alternative prior to deploying this robot with this bomb on it. And so, I understand that physical force and deadly force has to be used by police officers and police departments. And sometimes, you know, you have to give a person what they want.

And this young man seemed to want to die suicide by cop. And so certainly, he had taken a position and had proven that he was wanting and willing to hurt as many police officers as he could. And so while it's ugly, while it's not easy to look at, I understand and certainly I don't second guess the chief for making a decision to do that.

MALVEAUX: And the discussion that's taking place, what is behind that? I know you talked about, you know, the militaristic -- I mean, the concern of the militaristic tactics that are used but is there a balance here? Are people talking about the need that this was a very dangerous situation and a need to really resolve this matter after two hours of negotiations?

DORSEY: Well, certainly I get it based on my background and experience, but when I talk to other people, civilians who are not in law enforcement, they don't understand. And so, when we see things where we see armed white suspects confrontational with police and they take them into custody or let them go with little or no problem for that offender, when we see people like Eric Frein who was on an extensive day manhunt who had killed an officer be taken into custody with, quote, "without incident," black people don't understand how that happens. Why are police so tolerant of whites and not so with African-Americans? It's a problem.

MALVEAUX: And clearly all of us have work to do in that area to really be able to establish, re-establish the trust between law enforcement, between African-Amerlan community and so many others who are outside of that community who are looking at the course of this week and wondering what is happening in our country. I thank all of you for just starting the conversation. It is so important. Thanks again.

And still ahead this hour, heart wrenching interview with the sister. This is of Patrick Zamarripa. One of the officers who died on Thursday night's ambush in downtown Dallas. Now, she is saying -- she says she is the one who actually got her brother into the military after high school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA ZAMARRIPA, SISTER OF FALLEN DALLAS OFFICER: He knew he wanted to be a police officer. So, I had already talked to some recruiters about getting him to be a military police. So, since when we got him home, I just grabbed him by the hand and took -- made him enlist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Patrick Zamarripa survived three tours of duty only to be killed by a fellow veteran in the United States. Plus, how the country is trying to figure out where to go from here in

resolving the police-involved killings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They might look at you negative before they look at you positive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't play no loud music. No draw attention to yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they say turn around, turn around. Don't fight them. Don't reach for your pockets. Don't reach for anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do what you can. Keep yourself safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:17:42] MALVEAUX: We're looking at live pictures there. We're waiting now for Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards who is going to be holding a press conference about security concerns. This of course following last night's protest. The protest that started off peaceful but then ended violently. More than 100 people arrested. He's going to be talking about the kind of law enforcement tactics as well as the personnel that's going to be used to make sure that everyone is safe. And as soon as he begins to speak there at the podium that's been set up, we're going to take that live.

Today in Dallas, there was an emotional town hall. This is hosted by mega church pastor T.J. Jakes. He brought together politicians, the police, families of African-American men who were killed by police and Diamond Reynolds, you might remember her. She's the fiancee of Philando Castile who was shot by a Minnesota policeman. Well, she spoke to the town hall by phone. It was very emotional, as she has been when she had recorded her fiance being killed. She talked about the one thing that she would do differently the day of the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND REYNOLDS, FIANCEE OF PHILANDO CASTILE: I'm not even taking that route. We were just en route to have a regular family night, to go home and eat dinner, to be a family like we always wanted. And if I can change anything from that night, it was never to take that route because if we wouldn't have never been in the wrong place in the wrong time, none of this would have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in now our Kyung Lah who was at town hall in Dallas. And just first of all, just I mean, the gut reaction of the people in that room. Because just hearing her over the phone is powerful.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And she was just one of the people who spoke at this very moving town hall. This was church, a gathering of some 3,000 people. But they came here foregoing sermon instead to listen to a variety of speakers. The women you heard, she is just one of them. And if you look at the congregation there are some 3,000 people packing the room. Many of them were weeping. They were hugging each other.

And they were all trying to figure out how to move forward. One of the people who they also heard from was the aunt of Alton Sterling. Alton Sterling, who was shot in Baton Rouge outside that convenience store, she spoke. She's a woman who raised Alton Sterling. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDRA STERLING, ALTON STERLING'S AUNT: I am. They were too slow. They should have done the first day. Because I saw the tape the first time. It should have been done the first day. And Alton is my nephew. I call him my son because I raised him. When I saw the first tape, it hurt me and it pained me. But I was okay because I thought I'm going to say my child, nephew, didn't suffer. But when I saw the second tape, he suffered. He suffered. And it should have been done the first day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: They didn't just listen to victims of officer-involved shooting or their family members. They also heard from police officers. This is a city that just in the last few days has lost five police officers. So this community gave a standing ovation to the police officers. They remembered those five lost lives. And they heard from a couple of officers who served the city who wanted to tell the congregation that in the same way that these people wake up and they have breakfast with their kids and go to their jobs, they do the same thing -- Suzanne.

[16:21:29] MALVEAUX: Kyung, I know it's a tough question to answer because it really is just the beginning of the process, but do people there, do they feel confident that they can look at each other and trust each other again, that this is the first part of a healing, a long healing process?

LAH: It's very hard to tell. Because this is one room. Yes, it was a very filled room. But it's only a slice of the city. So in this room, there is certainly the sense that they want to move forward, that they understand they have to figure out a way forward. But this is just one part of Dallas. So if you look at any other large in America, Suzanne, the answer would certainly be different depending on what part of the country you're in.

MALVEAUX: Yes. It's a very complicated matter. Thank you so much, Kyung. We really appreciate it.

Dozens of protests, hundreds of arrests. And in St. Paul, protesters also some turning violent against the police. Throwing glass bottles, fireworks.

Our own Rosa Flores is reporting from St. Paul.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, for the most part, these demonstrations have been very peaceful like the one that you see behind me. But all of that changed overnight. Twenty one police officers injured, 102 protesters arrested. So how did this situation escalate? The details after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:31] MALVEAUX: Protesters back on the streets in St. Paul, Minnesota. Right now that's where more than a hundred people were arrested overnight. The protest escalating during a march down the I- 94 freeway. Now demonstrators, some of them launching fireworks, rocks, steel bars at police. Officers then responding with tear gas. Twenty one police officers were injured.

Our own Rosa Flores, she is live in St. Paul. And Rosa, what are we seeing right now and what is the expectation going into the evening as the sun will be setting soon?

FLORES: Well, Suzanne, as you take a look behind me, you can see that this is a very calm protest. I'm live just outside the Governor's mansion. Take a look. You can see tents, tarps, umbrellas, rain or shine people have been out here every single day, day and night, to make sure that they have their message heard since the death of Philando Castile. Now, as you mentioned, all of this turned overnight when protesters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails, rebar, pieces of concrete at police officers.

Now, from talking to one of the commanders, they tell me that some of those police officers were gravely injured and they are still in the hospital today. But like you mentioned, Suzanne, for the most part, the protests here have been peaceful -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And is there extra security? What kind of preparations are they making this evening?

FLORES: Well, we have seen a lot of police presence around this area. If we turn our camera around, I can actually show you that there are police officers around here. Now, we have seen these police officers 24/7 here. They are, you know, protecting the public during these protests. There have been police officers surrounding these protesters. Of course, a lot of them clearing the streets to make sure that it is peaceful and safe for the protesters to exercise their First Amendment Right.

And so we've seen the presence of very calm police officers. We walked through some of the route yesterday while it was very peaceful. And again, it was a clear exchange of just exercising -- people exercising their First Amendment right and police officers doing their job, making sure that the streets were safe for those protesters to demonstrate and exercise those rights -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Rosa Flores, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Coming up after the break, the heartbroken sister of fallen Dallas Police Officer Patrick Zamarripa tells CNN in an exclusive interview about her beloved little brother.

ZAMARRIPA: I was on a navy ship, and my brother was out on the oil rigs out in the Persian Gulf. We were communicating a lot through snail mail. And my brother was keeping tabs on it as often as he could of where my ship was at, you know, like -- and it just always like used to melt my heart that my brother was concerned for me. My little brother was worried about where I was at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That interview just ahead. But first, meet this week's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRI FRANKLIN, CNN HERO: Dogs that are old very, very often are the first to be euthanized because literally they just don't think the dog is adoptable because of its age. We're proving them wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's adopted.

FRANKLIN: Old dogs have so much to give. They have changed people's lives with their gratitude, with their tenderness. There's a soulfulness with older dogs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Go to CNNHeroes.com for the full story and to nominate someone you think deserves to be a CNN hero.

[16:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards about to hold a press conference, you see the podium there. They are getting set up for the remarks that are going to be made shortly. He's going to be talking about security concerns, that, of course, after last night's protests started off peaceful but then turned violent. That was when more than a hundred people were arrested.

We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it starts. We are also talking about this, one of the five Dallas officers killed by a sniper Thursday night was Patrick Zamarripa. He was a navy veteran who did three tours before joining the Dallas police department.

There he is, right, shown with his 2-year-old daughter, Lincoln. Our own Rafael Romo sat down for an exclusive interview with, Zamarripa's sister and mother and he is joining us from Dallas and I got to imagine Rafael that that was pretty tough.

[16:35:00] RAFAEL ROMO, SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR OF CNN: It was very tough, Suzanne. It's a very difficult moment for the Zamarripa family as you can imagine and the death of the officer Patricio Zamarripa or Patrick, as he was known by fellow officers here at the Dallas Police Department.

This is especially difficult for several reasons number one he would have turned 33 years old on August 15th. Number two, and we just saw the picture on our air, he was the proud father of a 2-year-old girl, named Lincoln.

His mother telling me that the little girl was the light of his life and other reason too was that he was engaged to be married to his long-time fiancee, Christy. They were expecting to get a date very soon for their marriage.

And both his sister, Laura Zamarripa and mother, Valerie Zamarripa were telling me that he loved being a police officer that he was very dedicated to the community and that he felt it was his mission in life to serve and protect. That's why it's so difficult for them to understand why he died the way he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA ZAMARRIPA, SISTER OF FALLEN OFFICER PATRICK ZAMARRIPA: Yes. He survived three deployments and then to come home and happen at home, but, I mean, my brother loved his country and his community. So I guess this is just his way of showing just -- I just can't wrap my mind around it. It's just so unreal. But I came home and tell him that everybody wants to know about him.

VALERIE ZAMARRIPA, MOTHER OF FALLEN OFFICER PATRICK ZAMARRIPA: If you knew him, you loved him, right away. I don't think he had a bad bone in his body or had any ill feeling for anyone -- anyone. He was a very humble, caring, passionate, lovable person. And he is nonjudgmental. He didn't judge anybody. He was a good-hearted, just, a good, good- hearted man, honest man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And the Zamarripa Family telling me that officer Patrick Zamarripa enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17 shortly after finishing high school. Also, she mentioned Suzanne, he served three tours of duty in Afghanistan 2002-2004 and 2007 he decided to become a police officer. Seven years ago, he joined the department behind me, the Dallas Police Department, for which he served very proudly. Suzanne, back to you.

MALVEAUX: And Rafael, I can't help but think about that 2-year-old, Lincoln that he has there, having a 2-year-old myself, do they have any plans? Do they know how they might raise her without the support -- the support of her dad -- the emotional support, as well as the financial support and everything that comes with the loss of your father?

ROMO: Yes. That's the -- one of the questions that I asked Laura Zamarripa, the officer's sister, and she says, I haven't even -- I haven't been able to think about what's going to happen. She's only 2. She, of course, doesn't understand yet. But she says she's been deprived of what would have been a wonderful father. She was telling me that he was very much a hands-on dad, that he would even do the pigtails for the little girl. And now she's been deprived of the opportunity of having a father, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes. It is just so heartbreaking. Rafael, thank you. Really appreciate it.

A head protest taking place in Washington, crowds taken in the streets to show their solidarity following the shootings in Dallas, we're going to take you there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:00]

MALVEAUX: A call for peace and justice happening right now in Washington, D.C. You're looking at the live pictures -- we're going to get live pictures there -- yes, you see it leaders from at least nine different churches are bringing people together, asking for unity in the aftermath of last week's deadly shootings and the police ambush in Dallas.

Hundreds of people have started to gather. Our CNN Washington reporter, Sherisse Pham is there. So, Sherisse, just give us a sense of what you're seeing and what you...

SHERISSE PHAM, CNN WASHINGTON REPORTER: Standing by.

MALVEAUX: ...anticipate in the moments ahead?

PHAM: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Sherisse, can you hear us? Can you give us a sense of what's taking place behind you? It sounds like Sherisse cannot hear us. We're probably going to -- we're going to try to go back to that when she gets hooked up and we can actually hear what we're -- what we're going to talk about.

But coming up, we have other news, Bernie Sanders hasn't endorsed Hillary Clinton just quite yet, but that could change very soon. All those details up ahead. And -- plus Donald Trump is vowing to build a wall along the border with Mexico. He insists he's going to get Mexico to pay for it. That could be problematic. Our interview with Mexico's President, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:00] MALVEAUX: Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards holding a conference right now about security concerns. Let's listen in.

JOHN BEL EDWARDS, LOUISIANA GOVERNOR: Folks who have protested and marched at various locations day and night very, very few have engaged in anything that was unlawful. Those that did, it was relatively minor misdemeanor offenses such as obstructing a roadway.

The police tactics and response have been very moderate. I'm very proud of that as well. And in fact, as I stand before you, there's been one injury to a police officer throughout all of this time period. And while one is too many, we can be thankful that it hasn't been more.

And so, I want to thank the law enforcement officials from across Louisiana, and I do mean from across Louisiana. While we're here in Baton Rouge and primarily we have the Baton Rouge Police Department and the Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office who are responding and providing for law and order here in Baton Rouge, the fact of the matter is, we have state troopers involved, we have folks from different sheriff's office around the State of Louisiana.

So, I want to thank them all for doing their part, to keep the demonstrations peaceful and to put themselves at risk to keep the demonstrators themselves safe. As I've said from the start, the best way to honor the memory of Alton Sterling, the Dallas Law Enforcement Officer and Philando Castile, is for peaceful demonstrations here in Louisiana.

Now, the sad fact is there are folks coming from outside of Louisiana and to our state in to Baton Rouge. And clearly they're welcome here so long as they're going to participate in a peaceful, lawful manner. However, they're not going to be allowed to come here and nor will our own citizens be allowed to incite hate and violence, to engage in unlawful activities.

And I want to be very clear that will not be tolerated. We don't operate like that in Louisiana. I'm certainly proud of the people of this community and the fact that, for the most part the vast majority of them have rejected the folks who were trying to incite them to violence or to do things that were unlawful.

The Baton Rouge community and people across the state can rest assured that the demonstrations are, for the most part, taking place in a proper way that protects an individual's constitutional right, to assemble, and to have their voices heard. And law enforcement is doing everything within their power to keep everyone, the protesters and the community at large safe.

Last night more than 100 individuals were arrested for various reasons. To anyone who wants a peaceful protest in the community here in Baton Rouge or anywhere else in Louisiana is critically important that you follow the direction of law enforcement

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:00] who were in that area. You have a right to be here. You have a right to demonstrate.

And clearly, you have an obligation to protect both of yourself and the surrounding community. If orders are made not to obstruct a roadway and you step out into the road, that is cause for arrest period. That is just as much for the safety of yourself as it is for the motors and the law enforcement officer as well as other protestors in the area.

Now, today is Sunday, typically a day of rest and certainly a day of prayer. Not much rest going on here although things have been relatively quiet but I can assure you that as I always did I am praying for the people of Louisiana for our country and I will invite black (ph) minded people to join their prayers to mine that we can all make sure that we move forward in a way that is non-violent, that is peaceful and that we can make progress on many fronts that are solely needed.

As I've said time and again we're going to come out of this tragedy stronger and more united than ever. We have to if we're going to make a difference going forward. With that I'm going to stop here and take a few questions if you have them.

Yes, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, what did you find out whether in the briefing you've been told or has there been any sort of intelligence that suggests that there are some sort of coordination nationally among some group of protesters from various cities, whether or not you've seen that and whether or not you fear that there may be a gradual or at least an attempt to gradually escalate the level of confrontation between the police officers and the protesters?

BEL EDWARDS: Well, first of all, I'm not going to get too deep into the information we discussed in the briefing. There is so much information available out there that I can't tell you that I haven't heard it because all you got to do is go online and you'll see some of this for yourself. We have very little in terms of credible sources of information that would suggest that that's likely to happen. But we are mindful that it is possible.

We're also mindful that there are people who will -- from outside of Louisiana who will seek to use this as a way to elevate themselves and their organizations whether it is for recruiting purposes or whatever serves their particular purposes at the time, but at this point in time, we're not especially concerned that there's an awful lot of coordination going on from outside the state. We are paying attention to that, however.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor?

BEL EDWARDS: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A question. Looking at the tactic used by the Baton Rouge Police Department last night and the amount of force and the way they were addressed and the mistrust within the community, do you think that there's a better way that the tensions can be deescalated and it is perhaps time for the Louisiana State Patrol to come in and maybe take over to create a calmer environment?

BEL EDWARDS: Well, first of all, you know, we continually re-evaluate what we're doing in light of the experiences we've had to see if there's a better way going forward, but the fact of the matter is I'm very proud of the law enforcement, the way that they have responded. The fact that we've had so few arrests that such minimal violence since the shooting incident.

And you talk about the force last night, I'm not sure what you're referring to in terms of force from the police officers because everything that I can gather and what I've seen myself is their response has been moderate and certainly it's in line with the situation. I don't believe that they are being overly aggressive.

And in fact, that's not born out in just looking at the statistics either the number of arrests that are being made or the number of injuries to either protesters or to the law enforcement officers. And so while we always seek to do better and we're not perfect and we will do better, the fact of the matter is I'm very proud of the response that we've had so far.

Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor and maybe some of the law enforcement leaders can fill the question as well. Given that this is going on for days now, what is the toll or impact on the various police departments, state police, Baton Rouge Police Department and do you think you have the resources to go days more?

[16:55:00] BEL EDWARDS: Well, first of all, I want to assure you and all the people of Louisiana that we will do whatever is required however long this may last to make sure that we keep law and order, that people are going to be safe, whether they're the general public or whether they're protesters or whether they are law enforcement officers.

I will tell you that at some point obviously it becomes very taxing for our law enforcement agencies. That's why it's so important that we have standing behind me folks who are from sheriff's departments from around the state because the sheriffs association has a task force that exists exactly for this purpose.

Sid Gautreaux, the Sheriff of Baton Rouge Parish has called upon the task force to respond in this situation. He's coordinating with them very closely. And what this allows to happen is not only do we have extra law enforcement officers on the streets here in Baton Rouge, but the folks from the Baton Rouge Police Department and from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office can rest and actually recuperate a little bit so that they can quickly return in good order back to the protests and wherever they're going to be assigned.

I'm going to ask Colonel Mike Edmondson from the state police to address the question as well, and then following that Sid Gautreaux from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office.

LT. COL. MIKE EDMONSON, SUPERINTENDENT LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: Thank you, governor. Look, we're human beings. We're tired. We understand that. We work through these issues. We trained very hard with it. I can tell you we may have an outstanding partnership of law enforcement in Louisiana.

We may have different color of uniforms or different shapes of our badge, but I can assure you we are committed to public safety and understand the trust of the public place into it. If you were out last night, you certainly saw Sheriff Gautreaux, you saw several (ph) sheriffs in the surrounding areas that were there, you saw Chief Carl Dabadie and you saw myself because we're observing what's going on, we're making sure our guys get the proper rest, get hydrated those types of things.

But, we're bringing in police officers and first responders from around the state to make sure they were committed to public safety. Because it's not just about the safety of those people that are out there, it's also the safety of the police officers out there. We want to make sure that it's done in a matter that's professional, that's ethically sound and they are doing the things that are based on our training.

It's a work in progress. We have to make changes and we can do that and we do so. We're working very, very closely with our faith-based community but keep in mind also that there are individuals that organized these protests. We work with them on the front end to be very, very proactive to make sure that we are addressing the needs of the people involved.

So, working with them doesn't give us the problem that we've had or we see happened in other states and the fact that we planned on these things and worked on these things together. But we are humans, they do get tired out there we make sure that we address that and have the necessary personnel to come in to work with them on that.

BEL EDWARDS: Sid, do you have anything?

SID GAUTREAUX, EAST BATON ROUGE SHERIFF: Yes. I'll just touch on what the governor said about our state wide emergency task force of Louisiana Sheriff's Association. We have sheriffs here from Assumption Parish Sheriff's Office, Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, Calcasieu Sheriff's Office and we had a contingency come in today from the Caddo Sheriff's Office.

All of these deputies are highly trained not only in crowd control but special operations as well. And the reason for it is not a show of force, as the colonel said, as the governor said, we're not here for a show of force. That's not it. But we have to spell and we have to relieve these deputies and officers.

They get burnt out. They get tired. And we have to constantly shuffle people in and out, so that's why they're here. I can tell you that we're prepared for any contingency that may occur. But we have the personnel here we need. As the governor said, to not only ensure the officers' safety, the public safety but also those that are out there gathering and protesting as far as their safety is concerned as well.

I will take this opportunity to touch on the arrests that were made. We had 30 arrests that were made Friday night. We had one weapon confiscated then. We had 101 arrests affected last night. Out of those arrests, these Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office was arresting agency on five of those arrests and the Baton Rouge City Police who is the lead agency in this made the other arrests.

Yesterday, we confiscated an additional six firearms and that was a total number there. The majority of the people that are being arrested are from the Baton Rouge area. We have had some people that have been arrested from across the state, and to date we've had 19 people out of that total 132 I think that have been arrested that are from out of state.

So, that kind of gives you an idea. They're all -- for most of them from misdemeanor offenses which is obstruction of the highway and so forth. And we made it clear since the very beginning, we certainly -- we certainly respect the rights, but we know there's a lot of tension out there right now, we know there's a lot of emotions, there's anger.

There's frustration. There's hurt. There's outrage and we understand that and we certainly respect the right people have to gather peacefully, to protest peacefully.