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New Details on Baton Rouge Police Shooter; Killed Officer Posts Feelings on Facebook; Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves Reacts to Police Shootings; Some Turks Want Death Penalty for Coup Plotters; Lawyer Says Nice Suspect was "Easily Influenced"; 3 Days of Mourning in France; John Kerry Meeting E.U. Officials in Brussels; Protests Expected at Republican National Convention. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 18, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:09] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We are live in Atlanta. I am Natalie Allen

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And I am George Howell.

We continue to follow breaking news at this hour in the state of Louisiana. A gunman from Missouri ambushed and killed three officers in Baton Rouge, wounding three police officers early Sunday.

ALLEN: One of the officers we are told in grave conditions.

Police received a call of a man carrying a rifle dressed all in black walking along a busy road. When officers arrived, you will hear this, the shooting began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The gunman died minutes later in a shoot out with police. Keep in mind, the situation in Baton Rouge was already tense after the police shooting of Alton Sterling on July 5th. Just last week, Louisiana State Police announced they have received threats against officers in the city of Baton Rouge.

HOWELL: The officers are identified as Mathew Gerald and Montrell Jackson and Brad Garafola.

U.S. president Obama called the Baton Rouge shooting a, quote, cowardly and reprehensible assault, and, again, condemned all attacks on all law enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Regardless of motive, the death of these three brave officers underscores the danger that police across the country confront every single day. And we, as a nation, have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. Attacks on police are an attack on all of us. It's the rule of law that makes society possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: We are learning many things about the gunman and apparently very active online.

ALLEN: And talked openly about the need to fight back.

Senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, has more on the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Police are calling this an ambush that took place here in Baton Rouge on this terrible morning in which three officers were killed and three others injured. The shooter dead. And as they look into his social media presence, they are painting a picture of a confused young man, a former Marine, 29 years old, African-American, out of Kansas City, Missouri. He would have driven 800 miles to get here. Police believe, based on where he was this morning, that he had been here and knew the train and staked out where he would strike and kill these police officers.

On social media and YouTube postings, he talked about the need to do more than protests of the killing of blacks by police officers. He gave a call to action and gave instructions as to what people should think of him, should anything happen if he would not be around.

Police continue to investigate this terrible shooting while they're also trying to deal with the Alton Sterling, the killing that took place in Baton Rouge that sparked protests in the city. All of this is going on while the Republican National Convention is getting under way. People are trying to get through what has been a deadly summer.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Baton Rouge.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Again, three officers killed. And one posted on Facebook of how tired he was, both physically and mentally. Montrell Jackson talked about trying times in his post from July 8th, one day after the Dallas police ambushed and three days after Sterling's death.

HOWELL: Let's take a moment to listen to what Jackson wrote.

I swear to god, I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me, in uniform, I got nasty looks and some considered me a threat. I've even experienced so much in my short live and the last three days, they've tested me to the core.

Earlier, Anderson Cooper spoke with Jackson's uncle and he said his nephew was dedicated to making Baton Rouge a better city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED JACKSON, UNCLE OF OFFICER MONTRELL JACKSON (voice-over): He was 33 years old going to be 34 this December. That's a tremendous dedicated individual and really believed in what he was doing and wanted to help people.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And he had a young baby.

JACKSON: Yes, have not been that long, three or four months old. Every time I had an opportunity to talk to him, he was all about what he could do to help some other people. He just wanted to do things that he thought he could do, something to help Baton Rouge to be a better city, which is a tremendous young man.

COOPER: He's written online in the wake of the Alton Sterling shooting about the pressure he's facing and the difficulties he's facing. But being a police officer, is that something he always wanted to do?

[02:05:10] JACKSON: Yes, that's what he was telling me, he always wanted to be some where that he can be protective and dedicated in helping people, you know he just was motivated and thought he could do something to help other people to be veteran. He's been like that all his life. He's a dedicated young man. That was just the way he was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: The mayor of Baton Rouge, Kip Holden, spoke to our colleague, Don Lemon, earlier.

ALLEN: He says it is up to the public now to support the police who work to protect them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIP HOLDEN, MAYOR-ELECT, BATON ROUGE PARISH: This was a major gut blow. Nobody expected for this to happen. We were winding down with activities with the Sterling family and we started to get into a mode of drawing down some of the officers that had been working 18 hours a day and saying we'll relieve you now and cutting back of some of the times you put in. This morning, first thing, we are bang, hit in the face with another incident.

I call on the community to understand those killed and injured were first responders. I said now is our time for first responders, for those who are victims of the senseless killing, and let them know we are standing there for them and we are going to be with them and, no, we are not going to let this define Baton Rouge.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Baton Rouge is already very tense after the high-profile police shooting of an African-American man there, Alton Sterling, who was killed on July 5th.

ALLEN: His family coming out condemning this violence. His aunt pleaded for peace in light of the violence. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED AUNT OF ALTON STERLING: We don't call for no bloodshed, that's how this all started. Bloodshed, we don't want anymore bloodshed.

(CRYING)

UNIDENTIFIED AUNT OF ALTON STERLING: Please, go home. This is our home. You cannot come to our home and killing us. That's what you are doing. At the end of the day, these people calling these families, they tell them that their daddies or moms are not coming home no more. I know how they feel because I got the same phone call. No justice, no justice, no peace. That's what we are calling for. Stop this killing. Stop this killing. Stop this killing.

(CRYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: You get a sense there of the pain that so many people are feeling in Baton Rouge and throughout Louisiana.

Earlier, I spoke to a U.S. Congressman from that state and I asked him how the community was coping after the last few weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GARRET GRAVES, (R), LOUISIANA: We have been through some of the world's worst hurricanes and some of the worst environmental disasters of oil spills and floods, we dealt with it all here. We have been able to come back and recover. This community is very, very close knit. People give their shirts off their backs to help one another. And to have a situation like this in the wake of the Alton Sterling shooting is awful. It is an effort to fill with hate and dividing us with the community. But I think you'll see very quickly this community is going to come right back together and not let this dictate our future.

HOWELL: From a journalistic perspective, I want to focus on the fact that we don't know much at this point, you know? We don't have any indications as to exactly what the motive is for investigators or this investigation certainly is under way. I want to point out what we do know that the person behind this followed several conspiracy group devoted to surveillance monitoring. Law enforcement sources say that he had at least two websites and described himself as a freedom strategist and a nutritionist author and spiritual advisor and he was part of some black groups. There's a lot of questions about who he was at this point. GRAVES: There is certainly are. Bottom line is you can track this

thing and you can think about strategy. This whole shooting that occurred today leads to nothing positive and leads to no outcome no matter what group you were associated with. It is stupid quite frankly and to have this type of death and injuries of our law enforcement, the folks that out there defending our community is senseless.

HOWELL: I want to ask you again from people who are talking to you today, what are people saying about this and how is the community trying to heal, given what happened?

[02:09:52] GRAVES: People are -- people are really just disgusted by what happened today. This is not us. Right after we heard of the shooting, we were talking to people right then in there, this is not somebody local. It is not the way we react to things. It is not the response from somebody from here would have. We didn't know anything about this suspect and only to find out that later he's from out of state and you know the protests of everything that happened hereafter the Sterling shooting for days, there were peaceful protests and the police were not in the vicinity, it was not from outsiders and folks from out of state making this a more aggressive protests than trying to engage officers. They came right here at police head quarters rather than where they have been having it for days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, is joining us.

Tom, thank you for joining us.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Thank you.

ALLEN: First of all, latest information, this was an ambush and police were lured there by possibly a 911 call. What does this say to you?

FUENTES: Well, Natalie, we've seen then actually in the U.S. for many years. Now lately, we are seeing it in this situation. It is a threat of when I went through rookie police training in 1973 where we were hearing about calls where police officers were lured to location and ambushed when they got there. It is not a brand new phenomenon but it is relatively new in the recent times.

ALLEN: One more thing that police officers have to think about during these tense times. Louisiana had a statewide conference where we talked about an increase sense of vigilance, police have maintain professionals and despite the tensions, what about that? And how should they be doing their jobs right now?

FUENTES: It is difficult. We had ISIS threats for two years that put out messages of killing officers and we had the attack of New York City officers a year and a half ago and then we have hate groups wanted to take out law enforcement and the FBI stopped the plot in 2010 and involving a white militia group in Michigan that wanted to kill hundreds of police officers. Now, we have a couple of black groups or individuals inspired lets say to avenge people who have been shot.

ALLEN: Right, so these are times and if there is any time that there needs to be a sense of trust on both sides or a sense of respect on both sides or now you used a lot of examples during history to show police officers have a lot of threats against them. The question is, how do we get there right now?

FUENTES: I mean this was a U.S. Marine that for certain reasons decided to take his anger out in a violent way and kill people.

ALLEN: That's true.

FUENTES: We hear so much in this country of community policing. The Dallas community had the most extensive and successful police program in the world. The shooter went in attack and killed Dallas police officers last week lived in another town. He lived in the suburbs of Dallas. In Baton Rouge, we don't know and we hear that the relations are not as good with the community and with the police in Baton Rouge, but this shooter came from Kansas City, Missouri, police at the local level can do a great deal in the community to try to win trust. When you have people driving hundreds of miles to attack officer in a town that they have no affiliations, I don't know how you fight that. We heard from President Obama calling for calm as we always does and Donald Trump said our country is a divided crime scene and these are difficult times.

ALLEN: That's a good question. We've heard from President Obama appealing for calm, as he always does. And even Donald Trump says our country is a divided crime scene. These are very difficult times.

We appreciate your expertise.

Tom Fuentes, thank you.

FUENTES: Thank you, Natalie.

HOWELL: Other news around the world. In Turkey, the crack down is in full swing against alleged plotters of a failed coup attempt Friday night. Why this might lead Turkey to revise the death penalty, as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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(SPORTS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:18:21] HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. The president of Turkey says he won't rule out of the death penalty for the plotters of a failed coup on Friday night. Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended a funeral Sunday for some of the people killed in the uprising there. At least 290 people died.

ALLEN: Mr. Erdogan also called for his supporters to continue their rallies. He said pro government protesters who took to the streets foiled the coup attempt.

Our Arwa Damon has more from Istanbul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some barely able to walk and others collapsing under the weight of their emotions. Loved ones and neighbors and strangers came to funeral across Istanbul for those who perished.

This is a nation already deeply divided, reunited this moment by grief.

48 hours after failed coup, this woman is among the many are still trying to come to it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Every bit of news we got that night, every explosion was not something that was just happening outside. It was as if each one for our soul apart.

DAMON: And who knows how or if their country will come together.

(on camera): Security understandably is very tight, as the president and other top government officials attend these funerals. This is a nation that's been bracing itself for more violence, but they were expecting something of a form of another horrific attack or strikes carried out by the PKK.

[02:20:07] No one would imagine that an attempted military coup would bring the country to the brink of such stability.

(SHOUTING)

DAMON (voice-over): Amid the pain of one of the mass funerals, calls for capital punishment, banned by Turkish's law.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: In response, President Erdogan pledged to a demand to the relative authorities and that the decision can't be delayed, a chilling promise.

Erdogan has been a deeply polarizing figure. He does have significant support. And most of those who opposed what they describe as increasing authoritarian rule, do not support from moving him from power in a coup.

But there are growing fears he will use this to purge the nation of any voices of decent.

Thousands have been rounded up in sweeping operations. Most members of the military, including the commander of the Incirlik Air Base, from where the U.S. launched its attacks in Syria and Iraq. Also detained, judges and prosecutors and others.

The government is demanding that the U.S. detain and extradite Fethullah Gulen, the cleric in self-imposed exile in America, who the Turkish government says is behind the coup, an allegation he has denied.

The people power that arguably saved Erdogan is still in the streets and continuing to heed his call, creating an odd celebratory atmosphere as Turkey is dragged into uncharted territory.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: CNN is live until Turkey at this hour. Our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is outside the courthouse.

Nic, 27 men accused of leading that coup are due in court there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, they are. They have not been able to see their lawyers yet. The first time the lawyers will be able to talk to their clients and clients will be inside the courtroom when they are there, stepping up to trial.

These are the 27 men the government alleged led the coup. In pictures we have seen released of the men, some of them, including one senior general, appeared to have bloodied and bruised face, and his arms, one of the again arms appeared to badly be bruised and have broken bones. All the men paraded in front of the camera with their hands behind their backs.

There was, just seconds ago, a protest outside the courtroom here of supporters of the president's party, the AKP Party. His supporters here protesting and calling for the death penalty. We know, in parliament, they are going to examine that question whether or not the death penalty can be reinstated for the people alleged to have led this coup. So 27 of them, leading military generals, will appear in the courtroom.

But it is just at the tip of the iceberg. More than 6,000 people have been rounded up and detained so far, and at least several thousands military offices and judges rounded up. We have seen photographs showing some people who have been rounded up, semi-naked, just with their underwear on, on their knees with their hands flexi cuffed behind their backs and, from what we understand, in horse stables, where they're being detained.

We understand that many of these detainees are not likely to be seeing lawyers, like the 27 here, and will not be able to see lawyers until they arrive in court. Also, not entirely clear of what those formal charges will be -- George?

HOWELL: I'd like to get your analysis on this point. We see images of people being detained and arrested and taken into the courtroom there. Critics question also whether this is an opportunity for the president who's popular with some and unpopular with others, whether it is an opportunity for them to defang the military and round up those who oppose him. But the question, as people in that country see these images, is there a sense that the president Erdogan will become stronger from this?

ROBERTSON: That's the picture that's emerging that he will become stronger. There's people worried about the amount of power that's transferring through constitutional efforts by Erdogan to have and more authority passed to him that used to be prime minister, and now he's becoming president, and he's been urging the parliament and more power when the prime minister seems to get in the way of that. He has to step aside. A new prime minister in the recent months. The impression that's created for those that worry about President Erdogan here that's the impression that's being created. He's taking more power. He does have a very large popular base here. The people demonstrating here, supporting him, and people been out on the streets recently here and Istanbul and elsewhere in the country, they clearly support him.

[02:25:34] But you only to listen this sort of season international diplomat like Secretary of State John Kerry urging President Erdogan to use his strengths and follow international diplomatic norms. The French minister as well, saying don't use the coup attempt as a blank check to round off all your opponents. So the international message seems to say that a lot of the international community fear that is what President Erdogan is doing, stripping out those who might criticize from the army and other institutions -- George?

HOWELL: CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, live for us. Nic, thank you very much for your insights and reporting.

ALLEN: Turkey's president is demanding that the U.S. arrest or extradite the cleric he blamed for the failed coup as we learned from Arwa Damon a moment ago. Fethullah Gulen lives in Pennsylvania, and he denies any involvement in this attempt.

The U.S. secretary of state spoke earlier with CNN about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I made it clear to the foreign minister of Turkey yesterday that the United States is not harboring anybody, we're not preventing anything from happening. We have never had a formal request for extradition. And we have always said give us the evidence, show us the evidence. We need a solid, legal foundation that meets the standard of extradition in order for our courts to approve such a request.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The cleric had a loyal following in Turkey known as Gulenists. He was once an ally of President Erdogan but, after a fallout, Mr. Erdogan now considers Gulen's movement a terrorist group.

HOWELL: We are following the story of more violence against police officers in the U.S. Once again, America is in mourning. We'll have more of the wounded and fallen officers in Baton Rouge. That's coming up.

ALLEN: Two more people are being questioned by police in connection with the terror attack of Nice, France. We'll have more in this latest in the investigation in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:39] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I am Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: I am George Howell.

We continue with braking news on CNN. Authorities in Louisiana are investigating the motives of the gunman who shot and killed three police officers Sunday in Baton Rouge. His name is Gavin Long. He was very active online, identifying himself as with the black separatist movement, though there's no indication he was directed by any particular group. He also followed several conspiracy group devoted to government surveillance and monitoring. Law enforcement said he had two websites where he described himself as a freedom strategist, a mental game coach and a nutritionist, author and spiritual advisor.

ALLEN: The three officers killed are Mathew Gerald and Montrell Jackson and Brad Garafola. Three others are wounded, one gravely.

President Obama says there is no excuse for this kind of violent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We, as a nation, have to be cloud and clear that nothing justifies law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The Louisiana's governor mansion, you can see here lit up in blue, honoring the officers.

HOWELL: CNN law enforcement contributor, Steve Moore, is joining us now live from Los Angeles. He's a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

Good to have you at this hour.

Given what happened at this state. Talk to us about the concerns of those who go out everyday that wears the batch.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Concerns are fairly obvious I am sure to you. You don't know from where the danger is coming anymore. Police work has been dealing with people one on one and you at least know where the threat is coming from. Now, there is being ambushed and shot by snipers or fed up or ambush by people of high rifles.

HOWELL: Does that make police officers second guess themselves when they go in this situation?

MOORE: Yeah, yes, it does. I can tell you police officers second guess themselves under normal circumstances, law enforcement officer do. As you know, there is not like a perfect way of doing it. It is kind of an art, making sure that you are doing it as safely as possible. Each time you go into a dangerously situation, you are critiquing yourself as you go.

HOWELL: It is important to point out what we know and what we don't know at this point. We don't know what time. We do know law enforcement there from Baton Rouge at one point indicated they don't believe that race, this maybe a race related case. We are also hearing that he was very active online. That he followed several conspiracy groups that were devoted to government surveillance and monitoring. He described himself as a freedom strategist, a mental game coach and a nutritionist and author and a spiritual advisor. So it was a very complex picture of who this guy was.

MOORE: Absolutely. It may not have been race based. It maybe just attacks against police. Either way, domestic terrorism is defined as violence aimed at changing political or social values. So he may have been after police, maybe not just white police but police in of itself. The other thing is mental stability. Obviously, the guy was mentally unstable and I don't know have many people who go out and kill in mass shootings any more sane. I understand what you are saying. We cannot tell whether this was race base or police anger or whether it was just pure insanity.

The fact that five officers were killed just a few days ago and now three officers here, and the coincidence of the city leads a reasonable person to believe that there's strong possibility that it is related to police actions and retaliations for that.

[02:35:17]HOWELL: Yes, there are several scenarios. There is one that's considered, you know, in the list of possibilities of suicide by cops. There's so many different scenarios out. As you indicate, rightly, that we have to wait for investigators, too.

MOORE: Yeah. You don't have to go 800 miles to get a suicide by cop though.

HOWELL: Yeah. We'll have to wait more for this investigation.

Steve Moore, live for us in L.A., thank you so much.

MOORE: Thanks.

ALLEN: The U.S. presidential candidates are reacting to Sunday's attack there in Baton Rouge. Hillary Clinton called the shooting an assault on all us. The Democrat presumptive nominee for president says, "There is no justification for violence or hate, for attacks on men and women who put their lives on the line everyday in serving of our families and communities."

Donald Trump had strong words about President Obama and the state of the country in the wake of the shooting. The Republican presumptive nominee tweeted, "President Obama just had a news conference but he does not have a clue. Our country is divided crime scene and it will only get worse." Trump spoke later in a TV interview with his running mate, Mike Pence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: We need toughness and strength. Obama is weak. Hillary Clinton is weak. Part of it that, a big part of that. We need law and order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: We'll hear more from Donald Trump and Mike Pence as Cleveland officials get ready for the convention, they say people there have the right to be heard but not to march anywhere they want. How Cleveland plans to keep a little protest at the Republican National Convention.

ALLEN: That is coming up here.

And new details on the suspect who carried out the deadly terror attack in France. What his lawyer says about the petty criminal that became a killer, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:28] ALLEN: We are learning more about the attack in Nice, in France. French authorities have arrested an Albanian couple in connection with the attack. Six people are in custody. The suspect's ex-wife was released on Sunday without any charges.

HOWELL: Investigators are trying to determine why Tunisian national, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, drove a 20-ton truck into a crowd that had gathered watching fire works Thursday night killing 84 people. He had a criminal record but was not perceived as a terror threat by investigators there.

Bouhlel was shot dead by police. He is lawyer described him as unintelligent and easily influenced.

HOWELL: CNN's Will Ripley spoke with the attorney and now has this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohamed Bouhlel was a driver with a wife and three children in a volatile personality. In March, he threw a wooden pallet at another driver in a fit of road rage. His lawyer in that case got him a six month suspended prison sentence.

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY FOR MOHAMED BOUHLEL: If I had done my job badly, he maybe in prison and would have never done what he did.

RIPLEY: He struggles with a sense of guilt and shock. His heavy drinking client was not an extremist but he did have a record of domestic violence of his estranged wife. He was very much the stereotype of the petty criminal, he says. There was nothing that would have suggested in reality that he was a jihadist. (on camera): He says the attacker did not stand out in a crowd and

would not have raise any suspicious when prosecutors say he came here to the promenade not once but twice in the days leading up to the attack. His brother said he sent a photo of him that night looking happy in the crowd.

(voice-over): Prosecutors also say Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel sent a text message to someone telling them to bring more weapons. Police are questioning several people. A source tells CNN, those who knew Bouhlel says he began in speaking of support of ISIS. The terror group has called him one of their soldiers.

"He was not very intelligent," he says. "I imagine he could have been easily influenced by religion."

Bouhlel was not overtly religious and never on a watch list. France's interior minister says he likely radicalized rapidly, committing one of the worst terror attacks in recent history, and nobody, not even his lawyer, saw it coming.

Will Ripley, CNN, Nice, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: France is observing the third of three days of mourning for the victims of the attack.

CNN's Max Foster is live at this hour in Nice.

Max, your location there at the scene very poignant. Set the scene for us.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was probably the most gruesome part of the massacre. This is where the truck thundered through and zigzagging through parts of the crowd. That's what eye witness told me. 40 current were injured. Twelve of them died and five of them are still in intensive care.

One story heard was how there was a crowd of children outside the candy store. The trucker targets them. Which is why we look at these memorials, there were so many toys which is for the child victims of this horrendous event. And a lot of messages from children as well.

I spoke to the minister of the recovery center where they're trying to help people, and she said, the best way of dealing with this is actually to talk about, people that's the best way of understanding.

But, I want to show you something over here. This is once of a memorial site where people are putting stones down with messages, a lot in France. If we try to come down here and we put the camera down the road, this is the most poignant part of today's event. If you look down at each cluster of flowers and candles placed where the bodies of a victim lay.

The reason we know the bodies were in these positions because these were where the bloodstains have been found and now covered up by tributes. It is a powerful image and we understand now. The florists in Nice are coming and they're carpet it with white roses. That will be a powerful moment. There will be moment of silence today. There was a service of a local mosque, where 10 members of the congregation died. They coming to terms with that that.

There's an outpouring of grief and there's not much more to say about it.

[02:45:48] HOWELL: Tributes standing on the bloodstains of men and women, husbands and fathers and children.

Max, thank you.

ALLEN: And ISIS has claimed the Nice terrorist suspect as one of its soldiers. The Nice attack follows similar attacks from civilians in Istanbul, Turkey and Orlando, Florida. Despite that, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN that the terror groups are losing grounds and these heinous acts are a sign that ISIS is feeling threatened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: People are acting out in various places but they are not growing in their ability to this. They are shrinking. We taken back 40 percent, 45 percent of the territory they held in Iraq. We're squeezing town after town. We've liberated communities. We're making progress now, advancing on Mosul and Syria. Likewise, they are not able to attack and hold towns. They are on the run. I believe what we are seeing are the desperate actions of an entity that sees the noose closing around them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Kerry is in Brussels now for talks with E.U. foreign ministers. Terrorism and the failed coup in Turkey will be on the agenda.

For more, CNN's Erin McLaughlin is joining us there live.

Erin, hello.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Natalie. The breakfast meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as well as the E.U. foreign ministers is now under way and the situation in Turkey expected to be a dominant discussion during that breakfast.

So far we've seen from E.U. leaders a two-pronged approach in terms of the reaction to the situation in Turkey. First, a condemnation of the coup attempt. But also an insistence on the return to the rules of law, especially in light of the thousands of individuals who have been detained in connection with that coup attempt.

We heard earlier from the E.U. high representative, Federica Mogherini, talk about the need to return to the rule of law in Turkey. Take a listen of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FEDERICA MOGHERINI, E.U. HIGH REPRESENTATIVE: We were the first, and I was personally the first, during that tragic night, to say that traditions needed to be protected. We are the ones that's paying today. Rule of law has to be protected in the country. There's no excuse for taking the country away from that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: E.U. officials and diplomats I have been speaking to talked about how they are concerned of an undemocratic overreaction to what happened there. Also, concerned Turkey can use this to increase its ruling hold over the country, rather the Turkish government could use this to increase its ruling hold over the government, described as a potential watershed moment for Turkey.

And this could potentially complicate that deal between the E.U. and the Turkey, the migrant deal, largely attributed for stopping the migrants from Turkey into E.U. One E.U. official telling me that it could have negative long-term consequences for the prospect for Turkey joining the E.U. as a member state coming forward. All conversations happening internally in Brussels probably as we speak -- Natalie?

ALLEN: All right. Another complication to follow in that region.

Thank you, Erin McLaughlin, covering it for us in Brussels. Take care.

[02:49:24] HOWELL: Let's talk about Cleveland, Ohio. The Republican convention is about to start there. But protesters got a head start. What city officials will allow on the streets and what they say is out of bounds, as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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ALLEN: We've made it to the convention in to this election or whatever you want to call it. Just hours from now, Republicans converge on Cleveland where they're expected to nominate Donald Trump for president.

HOWELL: At the same time, large protests are expected outside that area. It's locally known as the Q.

Martin Savidge explains how officials there plan to control the demonstrations without stepping on the right of the people to be heard.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Establishing a protest zone in Cleveland hasn't been easy because you run up against two very different ideas, security versus freedom of speech. Eventually, this was a compromise. This where it all starts. It's got access to public transportation and a wide open area. From here, you don't see the Q unless you are up at altitude like you are now across the valley and over the river, which is why demonstrators will be allowed to march about a mile towards downtown over the roots that took months of negotiations.

(voice-over): That's one of the guardians of transportation of this architectural feature of this is beautiful bridge. They get a great view of the Q but they cannot get near it. From a security point of view, it works out.

If there's going to be trouble, it'll be on the other side. There is no law specifically stating how close demonstrators can approached. Court rulings say it should be close enough for them to be seen and heard.

[02:55:08] This is closest that the demonstrators will be able to get a Quicken Loan arena. We're at the end of the bridge we just crossed over.

From here, they're supposed to turn in the opposite direction, something they are not likely to do because they want to be seen and heard.

And this is also with the police presence is likely to be heavy. That's why if there is conflict, it is going to happen here. Demonstrators and protesters will be pushing in and law enforcement will be pushing back.

But police say as long as everyone remains peaceful, that won't be a problem, but if that changes, they'll be ready.

Martin Savidge, CNN, Cleveland.

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ALLEN: Tune into CNN all week. We have our team right there. Christiane Amanpour, Kate Bolduan and Hala Gorani will be with you live from Cleveland.

And we'll have more from Baton Rouge after the break. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: I am George Howell.

The news continues on CNN in a moment.

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[03:00:09] HOWELL: welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world and our breaking news coverage.