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Police on Edge After Baton Rouge Attack; Police I.D. Baton Rouge Gunman as a Former Marine; Cleveland Mayor and Police Chief News Conference. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:01] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These spontaneous memorials have come up. This country is still grieving as the third and final day of the national period of mourning continues. The terror investigation also underway. Three suspects have been transferred to Paris where anti-terror investigators are questioning them right now and we could learn about charges in the coming hours, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Will Ripley live in Nice, thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, live at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks so much for joining me.

We are just hours away from the RNC officially kicking off as the country faces another senseless act of violence. Police across the country on edge after three officers were killed and three others wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The theme of the convention today in Cleveland, make America safe again. Any minute now, we're expecting city officials to hold a news conference. Amid party excitement, there's also plenty of anxiety. City officials keeping a close eye on security in light of the recent violence.

But I want to start in Baton Rouge because Baton Rouge is reeling after the attacks on their officers. Fredricka Whitfield is there.

Good morning, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Carol. They were fixtures in this Baton Rouge community and now they are gone. The headline of the local newspaper today, in the "Advocate," in a senseless act. They were taken out by a man with a Kansas City, Missouri, address. Someone who was here with an AR-15, opening fire on these three police officers. There remain at least one officer that continues to be in critical condition in the hospital.

Let me tell you a little bit more about the three police officers who were killed, who are featured right here on the paper. Brad Garafola of East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Department. He was 45 years old and is a 25-year vet. 41-year-old Matthew Gerald, Baton Rouge police officer with the department, just a year after serving in the Army and as a crew chief on a helicopter in Iraq. And 32-year-old Montrell Jackson with the Baton Rouge Police Department a decade. He has a newborn baby at home who will never see him again.

In fact it was Officer Montrell Jackson who had recently expressed worry, even disappointment, and seemed to express a realization that he noted on his Facebook page, and saying this, just four days after the Baton Rouge resident, Alton Sterling, a black man, was killed by two police officers here in Baton Rouge.

And Officer Jackson saying on his Facebook page, "I swear to God I love this city, but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform, I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. I've experienced so much in my short life and these last three days have tested me to the core. When people you know begin to question your integrity, you realize they don't really know you at all."

Louisiana State Police Colonel Mike Edmonson wants to reassure the men and women in uniform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. MIKE EDMONSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: I try to make it as simple as possible. I just tell my supporters that they are safe with me. While they're doing their job, which we train them to do, which we go to great lengths throughout their career, throughout a year where we do re-training, we talk about scenarios that happen around the country and we put our people inside and say, what would you do in that situation?

We make sure we talk about communicating with then. They've got to know you support them. A community -- they have to know that you have their best interest. If you -- they'll trust you. If they can believe in you and see that you're doing the right thing, they will trust you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And then we heard this tearful plea coming from the aunt of Alton Sterling, who's a father of five. He was killed at the hands of police two weeks ago here in Baton Rouge. There were lots of protests that followed. This was the aunt yesterday after learning of the news that three officers were killed here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VEDA WASHINGTON-ABUSALEH, ALTON STERLING'S AUNT: We don't call for no bloodshed. That's how this all started. With bloodshed. We don't want no more bloodshed. So if you're not on a car with us, leave, go home, go wherever you come from. This is our house. You can't come in our house killing us.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right, that was the aunt of Alton Sterling. That family is feeling like this is an assault on them, reliving the feelings that they felt two weeks ago and they still are trying to heal from that, this entire city. We consider itself a very close knit community and many people are trying to figure out what was the motivation of this Gavin Long. This was the gunman who, some believe, came directly from Missouri by way of Dallas and then here.

Our CNN senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has been looking into this shooter.

[10:05:04] What more are we learning about him, his motivation and what brought him here?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It is certainly a confusing picture. We have a young man who grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, went to high school, went in the Marines, served in the Marines, honorably five years. Got out, as a rank of sergeant. But then something seemed to change. He changed his actual name just last year, to a name Cosmo, and he began posting on Web sites, black nationalist sites. His own Web site, where there was a stream of what many would consider to be hate-filled comments directly responding to many of the police shootings as of late.

We know he left Kansas City in a rental car. He posted in Dallas that it's time to stop protesting. It's time to take action. It was almost like a call to arms. And then yesterday morning, 12:12 a.m. on his birthday he posted a very haunting message talking about how he would live after his body was gone.

This is what we know about the investigation. The police are making sure that everybody knows, especially in Baton Rouge, this guy came from outside. He apparently came here because of the Alton Sterling case. He had been in town for a while. He has been talking with some of the people in this city. They are now investigating and talking to them and seeing what he was all about to see if there was any affiliation with any other groups, which so far there doesn't seem to be.

If there was any prior knowledge that anybody might have had and certainly if there was any aid given to this now we know as a cop killer. But I think what you're seeing is a picture being painted as we've seen in many of these not only domestic shooting cases that we've all been covering but also in some of the domestic terrorism cases we're covering. It's a new kind of a name. It's not a lone wolf, it's a loon wolf. There's an element of mental instability which they're looking at very closely.

WHITFIELD: And as police tried to investigate, what ties, if any, that this man may have had with anyone here. Whether as you say, whether there was support, aid, whether there was contact of any sort, then there is also trying to understand this location. This is a major thoroughfare here, this Airline Highway. People, you know, traverse here, whether they're going to work, school, et cetera. There are gas stations, car dealers, you know, restaurants. And the location where this happened behind this, you know, Quick Stop near a beauty supply place, just an odd place, you know, for -- you know, for someone to be just walking.

What was behind, you know, his mindset of walking around in that location?

GRIFFIN: If you believe what the police chief here has been saying so far that this was an ambush, then the person who was trying to kill the police was trying to lure them in. We know that that stop is often used -- it's a Quick Stop convenience store, it's a coffee shop for cops who go there from this cop shop. Either switching shifts or just coming in and out of the police station. So the investigation may prove he picked that spot particularly because, number one, it's an area where the cops often go to coffee Sunday morning and it's an area very close to this police station and it's an area also very close to where all the demonstrations of the Alton Sterling killing have been taking place so it all kind of combined into one spot that he apparently chose carefully.

WHITFIELD: All right, Drew Griffin, thank you so much for that.

Of course we're continuing to look into developments here. We know that there may be a press conference still scheduled for later on today, Carol, when we get more information about that, we'll bring it to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Fredricka Whitfield and Drew Griffin, thanks so much.

Speaking of press conferences, we're expecting one to happen here in Cleveland at any moment now. The Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the police chief, Calvin Williams, will talk about security for the Republican National Convention.

As you know, 2500 officers are now protecting this very small area of Cleveland. They've added jail space and also they're keeping the courts in case people need to be adjudicated quickly because they're expecting thousands and thousands of protesters.

So joining us to discuss all of this from Washington is Cedric Alexander, CNN law enforcement and former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. He's also the author of "The New Guardians: Policing in America's Communities for the 21st Century." And with me here in Cleveland is Bob Reed. He's the former sheriff of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and also a CNN law enforcement analyst.

Welcome to both of you. Let's start locally in Cleveland because we're expecting that press conference to happen at any moment. So 2500 police officers are here from all across the state, all across the nation. Will it be enough?

BOB REED, FORMER CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO, SHERIFF: It will be. I mean, tensions are high obviously. And what happened in the last seven days, I mean, eight police officers killed. We haven't seen that kind of carnage in law enforcement since 9/11. So tensions are going to be high. But at the same time, you know, police live with tension every day. I think that they've trained over the last -- over a year with the

Secret Service. And the Secret Service has done 52 of these types of conventions and large-scale issues since 9/11.

[10:10:10] They've done 52 of them. They've been successful with them. So with the Secret Service taking the lead, CPD, the sheriff's office and all of them, I think they're ready and there's a few issues that need to be addressed. But I think they're --

COSTELLO: Yes.

REED: They're ready.

COSTELLO: And we're going to get into exactly one issue in just a second.

REED: Yes.

COSTELLO: I wanted to ask you, Cedric, like, how far can protesters push police you think until police act?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT: Well, here's what's important. I don't think it's very good that they pushed them, period. I think what's really important here is that the officers, and we've seen this demonstrated in the number of protests across the country. They have developed a sense of tolerance now, understanding that they're going to be provoked, but they're not going to allow that provocation to take them off target.

So I think in order to have a peaceful protest there in Cleveland and people be able to exercise their First Amendment right, which we all support, we're in a time now where those protesters I would ask to work close with police there in Cleveland, really because of where we are, the state of where we are in this nation.

But it's just not good to provoke a situation because we need all our resources, all of us as Americans, both police and now citizens out there or protesters, standing together at this particular moment. Exercise your First Amendment. Officers are there protect. Make sure you can do that. But let's do it in a way that's going to be really demonstrative of just how well we conduct ourselves at a time of crisis like this.

COSTELLO: So, Bob, let me ask you that question because, you know, I hope protesters don't provoke police but there are bad apples, right?

REED: Sure.

COSTELLO: In every massive crowd. And there are going to be thousands and thousands of protesters. So how will police handle that? Like what kind of behavior will they accept and how -- you know, help us understand that.

REED: Sure. Well, you know, over the last year they have been trained in de-escalation technique. They've been trained in trying to get voluntary compliance. They do -- they're not wearing -- they're not having helmets on. They're not having shields. They're trying to take a soft approach to the demonstrators. At the same time, I think that they're ready if, in fact, something gets out of control. That's why they've trained all these months. And Cedric said it well, I think over the years we've learned in law enforcement it's easier to take a soft approach first and then have to get tough than to look like you're tough and provoke an issue.

COSTELLO: But then isn't one of the problems with this soft approach, Cedric, that what happened in Baton Rouge because police also have to be worried about that? There's an open carry law in the state of Ohio. So there could be people walking around with guns.

ALEXANDER: Well, the --

COSTELLO: So don't they have to worry about all of that, too, and they're not going to be wearing their full riot gear at all.

ALEXANDER: Well, certainly there's great concern about that. But here again, I think what's important in all of this is that they're going to have eyes on those who may be out there with long rifles. I can guarantee you, they're going to be eyes on those individuals. And they're probably going to approach those individuals to make sure that they identify them without obstructing their constitutional rights.

So, yes, it is a delicate balance here. It does have some points of provocation that could lead to a situation, but I think the most important thing has been the training. There's nothing that they're going to confront out there over the next few days that they have not talked about, rehearsed for, and prepared for.

I had an opportunity yesterday to speak to Chief Williams there in Cleveland, and he is very confident. He's a great leader. And as he indicated to me for the last 18, 24 months, they have prepared for the next few days and of course anything could happen but preparation is key to success. And I'm quite sure they're going to be quite successful. While at the same time very, very cautious as well.

COSTELLO: I hope so.

Bob, the head of the police union here in Cleveland says Ohio's open carry law should be suspended for three days until the convention is over. Do you agree with that?

REED: I do. I just think it's just commonsense. I don't think that's stepping on the Constitution. I think it's just being reasonable. Open carry -- look at the resources that we now have to put on those individuals that do have long guns. We have -- the other day, we had one on the square. We had four officers -- four to five officers watching that one individual that had a -- that had a rifle. Now that takes away from the whole environment. And if you have more than that, the possibility of a discharge, accidental discharge, and now we don't know who's shooting at who and it can really escalate. So I agree with them.

[10:15:10] COSTELLO: OK. Stand by. We're going to go live to this press conference. I believe that Mayor Jackson is speaking now and of course the police chief of Cleveland -- the Cleveland police chief will also speak about security. Let's listen. This is the mayor.

MAYOR FRANK JACKSON (D), CLEVELAND, OHIO: That issue was brought up and it was vetted and it was taken up the chain and eventually it was decided that as the governor stated, that he did not have the authority to do it. So that -- so then we went to if he doesn't have the authority to do it, then we begin to plan around what do we do if open carry occurred during the convention. So I'll answer any other questions you have after the chief. Chief?

CHIEF CALVIN WILLIAMS, CLEVELAND POLICE: Good morning. Not a whole lot to catch you guys up on today. There is one impromptu march yesterday afternoon. It started at East 36th and Euclid, and ended at -- right out here at East 9th and Lakeside. Peaceful. Not too many issues. You probably saw our bike patrol officers out escorting that march down along with some other uniformed officers. But that was about it for yesterday.

Again that ended peacefully. No real issues. Of course the back and forth with the demonstrators and expressing their First Amendment rights but that was about it.

We also did have one minor arrest yesterday. A male was arrested for petty theft. A local male. I guess he had an issue with the equipment that one of our state troopers was carrying. Specifically his gas mask pouch on his leg and attempted to remove that pouch from the trooper's leg and he was arrested for petty theft. We think that arrested male may have some mental issues.

That's it. I think we have two marches scheduled for today. I'm not quite sure. I'll look at that schedule. And then the speaker's platform started today also on public square. That's it.

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

JACKSON: Well, the chief can tell you the latter part, but yesterday there was a small demonstration with open carry. I think two or three people only. And the police dealt with them. But in terms of whether it's loaded or not, I don't know. Are they -- the answer is yes, they can have them loaded.

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- plenty patrolling the neighborhood but this (INAUDIBLE) can actually turn out to be one of the deadliest of the year. There were five homicides this weekend. Upwards of 20 people shot.

I'm curious to know, were there more officers working in the neighborhoods over this past weekend?

WILLIAMS: Yes, there were. But as I stated to another outlet a few days ago, you know, urban issues and urban crime has cycles. Sometimes we'll get a weekend with nothing at all happening and sometimes we'll get a weekend as violent as this past weekend. But we did have plenty of officers out. A matter of fact, one of the shootings that we had near East 55th and Euclid, we actually had a car on 55th. The shooting happened a block over in Prospect. And the officers were actually right there in that area. Actually heard the shots and called it out themselves and responded with other cars to that shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Chief, to clarify, those were in essence a couple of days ago, but the open carry -- what is legal open carry and then at when and at what point does a person violate the law and their officers can respond?

WILLIAMS: Well, the person violates the open carry ordinance when they actually brandish that weapon or threaten someone with that weapon. The ordinance requires a person to safely handle a weapon so you can't point it at people, you can't threaten people with it, and any type of gesturing or mannerisms. So we make sure that people that open carry understand those rules, understand that part of the state law, and if they violate that, then they're subject to sanctions.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The tragedy in Baton Rouge, a number of departments around the country have beefed up. They're doing two-man cars, et cetera. Have you changed the way your staffing this based on that?

WILLIAMS: Our officers have been a two-man cars since right after Dallas. The tragedy in Dallas.

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

[10:20:06] WILLIAMS: I'll wait until -- open carry is like the way I'm dressed today. Your weapon out so that it's visible. Conceal carry is the weapon is not visible. For conceal carry, you need a permit in this state. Excuse me. There's a class that you have to go through. There's a shooting class. There's a written class. And you have to be certified by the county sheriff to get an -- a concealed carry permit in the state of Ohio. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Other than two-man cars, does the Baton Rouge --

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

WILLIAMS: For the convention, for the officers out in the neighborhoods, again, just like the tragedy in Dallas, you know, officers are more keen to things that are happening and our officers are told to be especially cautious during their tours.

Yes, we also about a week before the convention kicked off, we initiated a tip line that the FBI is manning for us and that's 1-800- 225-5324. It's a "see something, say something" tip line, so we encourage people, 1-800-225-5324. We encourage people to make sure that they use that tip line if they see something suspicious out there in the neighborhoods or even downtown here with the convention.

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

WILLIAMS: Well, there have been no real threats either to the convention or to the city or to the division of police itself. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tell us how you handled the protest march yesterday. How you handled things today. There did seem to be a very large police presence. You had the bikes, you had horses, you had people on foot. How many law enforcement people were there at that protest yesterday? What's the protocol?

WILLIAMS: Protocol is enough officers as we need to keep it safe. We want to make sure that the demonstrators are safe walking through the streets of the city of Cleveland. And we want to make sure we have enough officers to respond if things turn otherwise. So it's based on those commanders on the ground and what they think is necessary to ensure both of those things.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police officers pulled back to the perimeter and did not go in preventing crimes (INAUDIBLE). Have you seen any of that happening and if that were to happen in Cleveland?

WILLIAMS: No, we don't do that in Cleveland. No. Our officers take care of business. I mean, they are paid to protect and serve. They're paid to go in harm's way. They just make sure they're cautious and they make sure that they do things properly. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yesterday's protest about 6:15 when the Mounted Unit came in behind the officers who were standing about shoulder-to-shoulder, it looked as if those protesters were going to breach that security checkpoint. Was that what appeared to be happening?

WILLIAMS: To be honest, I didn't see the ends of the protest because I was on my way someplace else. We had monitored up until the point it got down here to 9th and Lakeside. But our officers on the ground are supervisors and the commanders, they know when to bring in more officers, when to pull back, when to give protesters room. We constantly, constantly communicate with what we perceive to be the leaders of these marchers and protests and we kind of give them the do's and don'ts that will keep everybody safe.

And we try to get them to comply when things start to, you know, get a little bit either out of hand or unsafe for the general public. And if that happens, then we bring in additional resources. And we try to make sure that people stay within bounds. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Chief, just to clarify on the open carry question about how it's vetted upward, was that -- you know, you and the mayor ask for guidance on whether or not open carry should be suspended or did that come from other sources?

WILLIAMS: No, the conversation started in the Executive Steering Committee for the RNC which is headed by the Secret Service. As part of that committee's duties, we had to assemble and vet all of the operations plans from the airspace security plan, dignitary protection plan, all the way down to the mass demonstration plan, has to be vetted through the steering committee. Part of the conversation was about the open carry law in Ohio. We basically had conversations amongst ourselves, the legal team

assigned to that committee, and then there's a legal subcommittee that took up that question and took it to Columbus and met with -- either met or talked to the legal staff in Columbus.

[10:25:05] And the determination was made that the governor did not have the power to suspend that particular law. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There was a report of protesters breaking windows near 12th and Euclid. Maybe entering, exiting the building and some arrests were made. Can you speak to that, if that actually was the case?

WILLIAMS: What do you mean?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were there arrests --

WILLIAMS: Right now or yesterday?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yesterday.

WILLIAMS: No, we didn't have any property destruction. Again we only had the one arrest yesterday.

I thought you were telling me something that I didn't quite know about because this thing is ringing while I'm up here. OK. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What are the restrictions on what type of guns --

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

WILLIAMS: The law has no restrictions. It states handguns and rifles. All right. Anything else?

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- were wearing, and a lot of people were on social media saying it was riot gear. I believe those two are different but could you please explain?

WILLIAMS: Well, just so everybody's clear, the city of Cleveland does not have riot gear. There's -- from our standpoint, there's no such thing as riot gear. There's personal protective equipment for officers. It's not an offensive material or protection at all. It's defensive for the officers, to make sure they're protected in the event that something is thrown at that officer. So we don't use the term riot gear at all. It's personal protective equipment.

And some of the bike officers have -- if you've ever seen motocross or BMX bike racing where those participants wear sleeves that kind of have padding, and things like that, protect them in the event they fall. Our officers do have that gear. Some of the officers yesterday were in reserve, kind of doing some stuff at another location. They were called out to assist in this protest. They actually had some of that gear on when they were called out. Yes. All right. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- to the city or --

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

WILLIAMS: Yes, it is. I mean, we've just re-instituted a real bicycle unit for the city and that's part of the gear that we purchased for the RNC. All right. Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right. You can see the mayor of Cleveland and Cleveland's police chief wrapping up a news conference. And they were talking about security at the Republican National Convention. And they say all will be well. All will be well.

It's been calm on the first day, we'll see what's to come.

Thanks to my guests, Cedric Alexander and you, Bob Reed, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the GOP focusing on unity within the party this week, but what about unity within the ticket? Where Trump and Pence have split on the issues? Next.

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