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Terrorism Possible Motive in OSU Attack; OSU Attack's History; Fires Torch Tennessee Resorts; Plane Crash in Colombia; War in Space Threat. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired November 29, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00] ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're asking themselves why and could I have done something differently.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES (voice-over): Ohio State University police naming student Abdul Razak Ali Artan as the OSU attacker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abdul Razak Artan.
FLORES: A U.S. official telling CNN Artan was a legal, permanent resident originally from Somalia, who came to the U.S. in 2014 via Pakistan. Authorities now looking into posts he made on his FaceBook page expressing grievances about crimes against Muslims posted moments before the attack saying, quote, "I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured," and, "I can't take it anymore."
Back in August, OSU's campus newspaper quoted Artan in a profile saying he was scared to pray in the open as a Muslim. Investigators are looking into possible motives for the attack and say they cannot rule out terrorism.
CHIEF KIM JACOBAS, COLUMBUS, OHIO POLICE: We're always aware that that's the potential, and we're going to continue to look at that.
FLORES: Police say just before 10:00 a.m. Monday morning, Artan deliberately jumped a curb, ramming a car into a group of pedestrians.
CHIEF CRAIG STONE, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE: He exited the vehicle and used a butcher knife to start cutting pedestrians.
FLORES: Eyewitnesses desperately calling 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy ran a car through a crowd of students. He -- he did it purposefully.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm at Ohio State, right outside of Watts Hall, and there was a guy, crashed his car into a bunch of people and ran out with a knife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need an ambulance here fast. FLORES: A minute into the attach, OSU Police Officer Alan Horujko
arrived on the scene, confronting a knife-wielding Artan, shooting him three times, killing him.
MONICA MOLL, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: The officer engaged the suspect and fired shots and used deadly force to stop the threat.
FLORES: Eleven people wounded in the attack. All are expected to survive. As the attack unfolded, students barricaded doorways to avoid becoming a victim. The campus on lockdown for an hour and a half.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: And Ohio State will be stronger having come through this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: Investigators talking to family members, interviewing witnesses, trying to chase down that motive, but no word yet. Now, from talking to the Somali community here, from talking to some leaders, they tell me that they are very worried, Carol, about possible retaliation to that community. They're praying at this moment. They're meeting with religious leaders here hoping that this does not create retaliation against that community.
Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Rosa Flores reporting live from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
So let's talk about this. With me now is terrorism analyst Karen Greenberg. She's the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University Law School.
Welcome.
KAREN GREENBERG, TERRORISM ANALYST: Hi.
COSTELLO: All right. So we know that this kid came -- he's a refugee. He came in with his family. He's from Somalia. They lived in Pakistan for a sort time. But is there any indication that he was radicalized overseas and then somehow got into the United States? Because if you're a refugee, you do go through a stringent vetting process.
GREENBERG: Yes. Let's remember how young he is. He is in his late teens or mid-teens when he came here. And I think, you know, to say when he got radicalized, if he -- he did an interview --
COSTELLO: We don't even know if he was radicalized, right?
GREENBERG: No, we don't. And he did an interview before this attack talking about how he couldn't find a place to pray. It was almost like the university was too big for him coming from a community college and he was embarrassed about having to go in the corner to pray. So who knows what -- what actually the trigger was, but it does seem that it had to do with his discomfort as a Muslim in the environment he was in.
And so vetting him probably wouldn't have made any difference because who knows if he was radicalized, when he was radicalized or if this was just sort of a personal freak-out of some sort.
COSTELLO: Right, because he was having problems with his grades at Ohio State.
GREENBERG: Yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: You know he's in his early years at the university. So could he just be using his concerns about attacks on Muslims as a reason to lash out?
GREENBERG: Well, it may be that they overlap for him, you know, and the identification with an larger feelingly oppressed aliened group may have resonated deeply with him.
I think the real question here is, could we have caught this? Could we have seen this? Is there somebody who could -- a parent, a friend, somebody who could have said, not we think he's radicalized, but this kid is in trouble. And what does this mean? And so that's -- there's such a burden on society right now to understand lone wolves, whether they're of Muslim background or any other background at this point.
COSTELLO: Well, the type of crime he committed, it was so intimate, right? He got out with a knife and he --
GREENBERG: Yes. Well, you know --
COSTELLO: Right, that's different from shooting people from afar, isn't it, because it's just -- it's a much more up close and personal kind of crime.
[09:35:00] GREENBERG: It's more up close and personal. We've seen a number of these in the ISIS cases. There's 112 ISIS cases. At least 10 percent of them have used blades of some sort or another. Remember, that ISIS has called for use by any means. Use a car, use a knife, use anything that's available. And so people tend to overlap that with the ISIS message. I think it's more or like somebody who doesn't have access to a gun, who gets angry, who wants to do something, easily accessible. So, yes.
COSTELLO: So, I guess, you know, the bottom of all of this, like should we worry? Should this worry us?
GREENBERG: Well --
COSTELLO: Of course it should worry us, but how much?
GREENBERG: You know, look, what you can say about this is that no one was killed, with is a very good thing. You can say that not having access to a gun is a very good thing. That if it's a knife, it seems to be containable and you can get the individual before he, you know, commits too much damage to anybody or loss of life. You can also say that law enforcement is now trained to respond in a very quick way. This took place in less than two minutes.
COSTELLO: That's our students (ph), sadly, at universities, right?
GREENBERG: But here in New York as well with the Chelsea bombings. There was a sense of which this was pushed out onto the fringes and that it's very difficult to actually, without a gun, commit the kind of violence that we're worried about. So I think there is some comfort to take from the quick response, from the rapid resilience of the community and from the lack of loss of life. And so I think, yes, we should be worried and vigilant, but not in any panicked or particularly worried way.
COSTELLO: Karen Greenberg, thank for stopping by.
GREENBERG: Thank for having me.
COSTELLO: All right, still to come in the NEWSROOM, wildfires burning out of control in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, burning hundreds of buildings and forcing people to run from their homes and hotel rooms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband, at the door, there was trees on fire in front of our -- where we were at. So we tried to get to our car. And the smoke was so bad we couldn't. We covered our face with wet towels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:41:02] COSTELLO: The Chattanooga bus driver accused of killing six elementary school students appears in court this morning. Johnthonoy Walker's preliminary hearing was actually rescheduled -- or scheduled for today, but in court today that hearing was rescheduled for December 15th. Walker faces multiple counts of vehicular homicide. The school bus he was driving crashed into a tree. Thirty-seven children were on board the bus at the time.
A nightmare scenario unfolding in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. More than a dozen wildfires being fueled by a terrifying combination of fierce winds and dry ground. Four people have been hurt as hundreds of homes and other buildings are burned. The fires now threatening Dollywood Theme Park and an aquarium, after already destroying some resorts. Some guests making narrow escapes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just watched a building go down in flames to the right of us. And then we pulled in front of another building that wasn't on fire yet, but the firemen came and got us. I don't know who he was, but I thank him so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Firefighters are now hoping for help from a line of rainstorms. Thunderstorms moving over the region. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray live in Gatlinburg with more.
Good morning, Jennifer.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
We did receive some rain overnight into the morning. Unfortunately, it was not in time to stop these raging wildfires from destroying a lot of Gatlinburg. And, really, we still don't know to the extent to which the damage is. Now that the sun is up, we'll be able to assess, first responders from all over this area, hundreds of them, including the National Guard, in to help out and see what's left now that the sun has risen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRAY (voice-over): Wildfires threatening popular resort towns in east Tennessee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the previous fires I've been part of could not have prepared me for what we have experienced over the past 24 hours.
GRAY: At least 14 fires near the Smokey Mountains National Park forcing mass evacuations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We covered our face with wet towels and then we finally got in the car and we drove down the mountain a little ways, then we ran into a tree that was over the road. So we had to turn around. We couldn't see to get back up the mountain.
GRAY: Endangering homes and businesses in nearby Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. At one point, 30 buildings engulfed in the fires, including the 16 story Hilton Hotel. This amateur video posted on social media shows the raging fires just outside the hotel's windows. Guests anxiously watching from inside.
The fire now at the edge of the Dollywood theme park. The park not yet damaged, but portions of the resort evacuated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have multiple trees now falling with embers starting additional fires throughout the area.
GRAY: Wind gusts topping 70 miles per hour, combined with the worst drought in the region in nearly a decade, fanning the flames.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're dealing with the worst possible conditions imaginable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRAY: And we are at an evacuation shelter where about 1,300 people have checked in. We've spoken with some of them. Of course, it has been a horrific 24 hours for these people. They don't know if they will have home to return to. A lot of them don't know if their neighbors are safe. They don't know if their pets are OK. A lot of them did -- were able to bring their pets. Some people had to get out too quickly and just had to get in the car and go, Carol.
This is an historic town. It thrives on tourism. And so it's still unknown how many of those historic buildings are possibly destroyed. I know a lot of people have been also concerned about the aquarium where the employees had to evacuate. There are some 10,000 animals in that aquarium and they are all hoping that it is OK. At last check the fires have not destroyed that aquarium.
Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jennifer Gray reporting live from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Thank you so much.
I want to take you now to a South Carolina courtroom where a former police officer, his name is Michael Slager, he is going to -- he's on the stand right now. He's going to give his version of what exactly happened when he shot and killed a motorist. The driver, that motorist, his name, Walter Scott. He was shot five times in the back in April of last year as he fled from a traffic stop. Officer Slager was later fired. This whole thing was captured on a cell phone by a bystander. Slager is now facing a murder charge. His lawyers say the video does not tell the whole story. If convicted, this officer faces 30 years to life in prison. We're going to monitor it to hear what this officer is saying on the stand shortly.
[09:45:30] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, disaster in the Colombian jungle. A plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team crashes, but miraculously there are survivors.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team crashes in Colombia, killing nearly everyone on board, but six people manage to survive this. These are new images from the crash site. The mayor of Medellin, where that plane went down, says more than 70 people died, 81 people were on board that plane. The cause of the crash still under investigation. CNN's Rafael Romo is following this for us this morning.
Hi, Rafael.
[09:50:02] RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Carol, there are some indications that this flight should not even have happened. Just last hour, the Brazilian aviation officials said they denied the charter request of the Bolivian Lania (ph) Corporation to fly the team from San Polo, Brazil, to Medellin, Colombia. Why was the request denied? Apparently it didn't comply with international regulations. But authorities didn't reveal any specifics.
Now, when you look at the images of the crash site, you wouldn't think there would be any survivors. Amazingly, six crash victims survived, including a man who was rescued from under the fuselage of the airplane. Another survivor died on the way to the hospital. The death toll, as a result of the plane crash, now stands at 75. The plane was transporting the Chapecoence football club to Medellin, Columbia, where the Brazilian team would have played a match against the local team in the finals. The local team, the Atletico Nacional, as part of the -- these finals of the South American Cup. CNN has learned that at least two football players and one crew member survived.
As for the cause of the accident, Carol, a statement from the Medellin Airport says the aircraft declared an emergency shortly before landing. Pilots reporting a power failure.
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: It's amazing that anyone survived. Rafael Romo reporting live for us, thank you so much.
Up next in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump makes a key cabinet pick and it could mean big changes for the health care of millions of Americans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:55:43] COSTELLO: Tonight in a new CNN special report, the "War in Space." CNN's chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto investigates the new weapons being built to disable or destroy threats thousands of miles above us and the crippling consequences for a nation reliant on space. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Persian Gulf, an instantaneous burst of energy destroys targets. First on the surface, then in the air. Its deadly fire power moving literally at the speed of light. Obliterating its target, the Navy says, like a long distance blow torch.
This is the U.S. military's first operational laser weapon. And today it is deploying to defeat incoming threats at sea. Could it someday be used for targets in space?
SCIUTTO (on camera): Firing lasers in space?
PAUL GRAZIANI, CEO, ANALYTICAL GRAPHICS, INC. (AGI): Potentially, yes.
SCIUTTO: It's remarkable.
GRAZIANI: When you get into this, you get into all sorts of other classification levels that I'm not cleared into.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): This would require a major strategic shift for the U.S., deploying weapons for use in space. And so many took notice when in April this year Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work vowed that the U.S. will strike back if attacked in space. Strike back, he added, and knock them out.
BOB WORK, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: From the very beginning, if someone starts going after our space constellation, we're going to go after the capabilities that would prevent them from doing that.
SCIUTTO (on camera): That sounds like an offensive response to an offensive weapon. If shot, you will shoot back? WORK: Well, let me just say that having the capability to shoot the
torpedo would be a good thing to have in our quiver.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Jim Sciutto joins us now.
I was just -- that's just kind of scary stuff, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Well, it is. You know, I'll tell you something, when we started this project, I thought of this stuff as being conceptual. This is something they're thinking about doing, preparing for the future. But the fact is, it's happening right now. There are already lasers that have targeted satellites in space to blind them, dazzle them, put them out of commission. Now that's a current threat, the possibility of deploying lasers in space.
But there are other weapons or things that the U.S. is concerned are weapons that are already up there. Russia has launched a satellite that stalks U.S. communication satellites, circles them. The concern being, it could ram into them or disable them in another way.
China has launched a satellite that has a grappling arm on it, robotic arm that can grab satellites out of orbit. Of course China says, well, that's for maintenance. The U.S. concern is that that could steal a satellite out of orbit, a key U.S. satellite, whether it's a spy satellite or GPS satellites. This is the world we're living in today, not in some sort of distant science fiction future.
COSTELLO: I know that that's what it sounded like as I was watching a bit of your piece. So when will the special air?
SCIUTTO: It airs tonight at 9:00. You know, I -- the U.S. military gave us enormous access here to a lot of places that have never been seen before, secret operation center, very highly classified operation centers. But also they had very frank conversations about how real this threat is. You heard the Deputy Defense Secretary Work there talking about how the U.S. is taking this very seriously and thinking about taking a step it's never taken before, which is to deploy weapons in space to protect all the things we depend on down here, not just the U.S. military, GPS, et cetera, but you and I every day. It's really worth watching. I wouldn't tell you that if I didn't believe it, Carol.
COSTELLO: No, I'm excited to watch it. Thanks so much, Jim Sciutto, for the preview. We do appreciate it.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
A busy day is already in the works for Donald Trump. Moments ago, Mike Pence arriving at Trump Tower. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Mr. Vice President-elect, what's on the agenda today?
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: Having a busy day. Stay tuned (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:00:00] COSTELLO: And this morning we learned that Georgia Congressman and Obamacare critic Tom Price is Trump's pick for Health and Human Services secretary.
