Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Killer's Girlfriend Arrives in L.A., Met by FBI; Police: Shooter Fired for 9-11 Minutes from 32nd Floor; Trump to Meet with First Responders, Survivors; Stories of Heroism Amid Carnage. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 04, 2017 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: She will also be questioned by Las Vegas Police.

Also, new this morning, our first look at video from body cams worn by first responders as they arrived on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go that way. Go that way. Go that way.

Hey, they're shooting right at us, guys. Everybody, stay down. Stay down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's it at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North of the Mandalay Bay, it's coming out of a window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Also, the president right now is in the air. He is headed to Las Vegas where he will meet with some of those first responders, officials. He and the first lady will go to the hospital to meet with some of the wounded, the victims. We are following all of the developments as they break this morning.

Let's begin our coverage with daybreaks, CNN "Early Start" anchor who joins us. And Dave, you are between where the shooter was and obviously, where the concert was. What can you tell us about what's coming out of this connection to the Philippines, the girlfriend now a person of interest again. Why?

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Well, I mean, she's not just a person of interest again. When you consider that Stephen Paddock, at 64 years old at the time of his suicide, had no friends to speak of, she's really the only person that can speak to the mind-set, begin to give us some sense of a motive as to why he might have committed this heinous crime. They have a lot of questions to ask her. She might be the only one that can give them some insight.

As we mentioned, back in Los Angeles this morning, having flown in from her native Philippines to L.A.X., accompanied by FBI agents. We're also hearing from her sisters. They live in Australia. With their faces obscured, with their names not revealed. They spoke emotionally about why their sister was out of the country at the time her boyfriend opened fire and killed 58 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I know that she don't know anything as well like us. She was sent away. She was sent away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he's planning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She didn't even know that she was going to the Philippines, until Steve said, oh, Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Sent away, some chilling words from the sisters. How does Australia fit in? Well, she was an Australian citizen. She was traveling on an Australian passport and it was very active. On September 15th, more than two weeks before the shooting, we can confirm a flight from Tokyo to her native Philippines, but she didn't just stay there. One week later, a flight from the Philippines to Hong Kong. Three days later, on September 25th, from Hong Kong back to the Philippines, where she remained until traveling to Los Angeles, again, late last night, accompanied by FBI agents.

Why, to Poppy's question, is she again a person of interest? Well, they need to know about this $100,000 wire transfer from the shooter, Stephen Paddock, to the Philippines. What was behind that? Of course, they're searching for some sort of motive. And they would certainly like to know what she knew about this massive cache of weapons, 47 from four different states, including 23 that they found in that 32nd floor suite that we've now seen inside of, thanks to leaked police scene pictures.

You will see later in the program. It's about 500 yards from there to the main stage at the route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival, where Jason Aldean performed when shots rang out at 10:08 on Sunday night. Guys?

BERMAN: Our Dave Briggs on the ground in Las Vegas with really our closest view that we've had to date of that stage -

HARLOW: That we've had, the proximity.

BERMAN: -- and the proximity there. Dave, great reporting, thanks to you.

Just part of the new information on Marilou Danley that we're getting and also the killer, as well, and this sniper's nest he had set up in that room equipped with cameras.

Let's bring in CNN's Sara Sidner with much more information on the investigation. Sara? SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So what police are saying is they've given some numbers here that are really shocking. That the shooting went on from 9 to 11 minutes. That he had amassed 47 guns. Some of those guns were found in two of the properties he owned and some of those guns found inside of that hotel room here at the Mandalay Bay.

What we now know is that there were some stages that were set up for him, so there were little platforms that he used. And we understand that he had video cameras inside the room and just outside the room. Now, authorities don't believe that those cameras were used to broadcast out. So that someone else could see what was going on, but they certainly have some video from that. And they are reviewing that video.

[10:05:03] There is also bump stocks that were in the room. Now, what those are, are significant, because it allows you to put them on a gun and then that gun can fire much more quickly, quick enough, very similar, for example, to an automatic gun. A gun that's firing automatic rounds, which obviously, over 9 to 11 minutes, would make him be able to kill far more people in a far shorter amount of time.

We are also learning the details that you heard from there, about him and some money and the $100,000 that he supposedly sent to his girlfriend, who was now back here, talking to authorities. But we're talking about someone, if you look at the amount of guns inside that room. We do not know how many of those guns he used to kill innocents.

We do know, though, that authorities are looking at every different angle and the one thing that we all still do not know is why. Why would he do something like this? Why would he target so many innocents? Back to you guys.

HARLOW: Sara Sidner, so many questions, so few answers. None of them will ease the pain, though, for these families, left behind by the loved ones. Thank you, Sara, for the reporting.

We do have some video. It's body camera video that is released by the police. It shows the panic, the chaos, as this massacre unfolded. It also shows those first responders working frantically to get people to safety. A warning, before we play this, it is very hard to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go that way! Get out of here! There are gunshots coming from over there! Go that way! Go that way!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's gunshots right here!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's fireworks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go that way, go that way, go that way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're shooting right at us, guys. Everybody, stay down. Stay down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's it at? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North of the Mandalay Bay. It's coming out of a window.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get behind cover! Mandalay Bay (INAUDIBLE)

Go back! Go back! Get back! Get back! Get back!

I know -- there are multiple -- I know, get back! Get in there!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see muzzle flashes from the Mandalay Bay! It's from Mandalay Bay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That, again, some video from body cams we're just getting in from first responders, among the first to arrive on the scene.

The president who is on his way to Las Vegas right now, he will meet with some of those first responders when he arrives shortly. He'll also meet with some of the survivors of this attack.

CNN's Alex Marquardt in Las Vegas and joins us now live. Alex?

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That's right. This is something we've seen so much of the president doing lately, visiting these scenes of heartbreak and tragedy, first after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, now after this worst shooting in modern U.S. history.

The president and the first lady due to touch down in just around three hours' time, they will be making two stops here on the ground in Las Vegas. The first one, visiting a hospital where they will meet some of the 500 wounded in this attack, as well as the doctors who have been working on them. Then they will visit a second location, where they will be visiting with first responders, with the sheriff, and what the White House is calling civilian heroes.

The president says he's here to pay his respects on his way out of the White House. This morning, he told reporters that the Las Vegas Police have done a fantastic job. They're learning a lot more, which will be announced at an appropriate time.

Now, of course, this has reignited the gun control debate, which always resurfaces in the wake of these tragedies. And rather predictably, the responses have fallen along partisan lines, with Democrats pushing for more gun legislation. Republicans saying that now is not the time for this debate. The president was asked about that on his way back from Puerto Rico yesterday. He fell in line with the Republicans saying, that at some point, perhaps, this debate will be had, that is not today.

Democrats have argued that if anything is to be done, the president has to get behind it because they say Republicans on Capitol Hill won't do anything. The president and the first lady due to spend around 3 1/2 hours on the ground here in Las Vegas before heading back to Washington. John, Poppy? BERMAN: All right, Alex Marquardt for us in Las Vegas. Thanks a lot, Alex.

HARLOW: So let's discuss all of this. All of these new pieces of news that we have in the investigation. With us, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, and former CIA operative, Mike Baker. Gentlemen, nice to have you.

[10:10:04] And Tom, let me begin with you. It was the FBI that greeted Marilou Danley when she arrived from the Philippines to Los Angeles. They are calling her now, once again, a person of interest. She has taken all of these trips in the past few weeks, Philippines, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Philippines, back to Los Angeles. What do you make of this and what questions do they ask her?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, good morning, Poppy and John. I think, first of all, we should note that there was no legal process, which forced her to come back here from the Philippines. So the FBI working with the Filipino authorities, who they are very close to, met her and with the assistance of the Filipino authorities, talked to her. And she voluntarily agreed to come back to the U.S. and she was escorted back by the FBI agents assigned to the Manila office or some of the FBI assigned there. So, she wasn't under extradition. That could take a couple of years. And even deportation, you can only deport someone back to the last country they entered into from, or their country of citizenship. So, neither one of those criteria are met to bring her back to the U.S.

So in this case, she's voluntarily coming back or came back. And the FBI, of course, would be with her all these hours and have a chance to see if she would give up any information. But, in this case, the Las Vegas Police are still in charge of this investigation. So, what the FBI is doing is applying their considerable international resources to assist Las Vegas Police in the investigation.

BERMAN: One of the things we've learned, Mike, is that more than 30 of these 47 weapons were purchased within the last year.

MIKE BAKER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Right.

BERMAN: This is something where she may be able to help. She may be able to say, hey, there was something unusual going on. He kept on buying more and more weapons, more and more bump stocks, modifying them. What kind of behavior would you ask about?

BAKER: Well, I mean, there's so much to this. They've got to decide, OK? Are we talking to her as a cooperative witness or are we interviewing her as a suspect? They already have gathered a great deal of information. When you go into interviews like this, you want as much in your pocket as possible. So they've already done everything they can in terms of understanding the relationship between her and Paddock. So that will help frame how they pursue the questioning.

But, you're right. I mean, they're mostly interested in sort of the softer information. In other words, what did they share in the quiet moments? What did they talk about? What did he have on his mind? What did she, -- therefore, what did she know about his intent or about his thought process.

Look, it's very frustrating for everybody right now, right? We all want answers immediately and we want the answer particularly to "why." But investigations sometimes, and it's enormously frustrating, have to be built on fact. And they probably, frankly, know a great deal of information already related to motive. They're just not releasing it, because this is an ongoing investigation.

HARLOW: One of the facts we do know, Tom Fuentes, is that this mass murder had 12 bump stocks. These are legal to buy. They're 99 bucks. And they essentially turn a rifle, a semiautomatic rifle into what is a machine gun, essentially, OK? And they turn it -- something legal into something that would not be easy to buy legally in this country. What are your thoughts on that? I didn't even know what a bump stock was until this week.

FUENTES: Well, Poppy, you know many of these accessories to firearms are legal in this country and no other country would allow that. So, even these high-powered military-style rifles, even without being fully automatic, are not allowed in other countries. You're not allowed to buy body armor or gas masks or use armor-piercing shells or any of that kind of stuff anywhere else in the world except here in the United States.

So, I think that, you know, it's a question that always comes up is the armament and what kind of equipment and, you know, all of these issues. But we never -- we never really want to address it, anyway. So, yes, very simple to modify a semiautomatic long barrel gun into a fully automatic which essentially is what he did. And it's not illegal until you use it. And in this case, you know, he determined that he was going to go out in a blaze of glory, either suicide, self- inflicted, or suicide by cop. And either way, he knew he wasn't going to be charged with a violation of modifying these weapons.

BERMAN: Mike, do you want to jump in?

BAKER: Yes. I'm just going to say, I'm sure this will come up as part of the discussion, assuming there's a reasonable discussion at a certain point about gun control and the various issues, whether it's about background checks or about the kit used, for example, the bump stock.

Now, what that does, those pieces of equipment can be used to alter the platform, the AR-15 or whichever the rifle is, to use the recoil of the weapon itself to simulate, right, a fully automatic weapon. But you don't need the kit to do that, either. It's a technique that you can use with an AR-15, with an AK-47, with a weapon that you don't need a piece of gear to change that. And so, this is going to be a very complicated conversation going down the road.

[10:15:04] BERMAN: The part that's not complicated in this case gets to his mind-set, though, right, Mike? It's clear that he had these, 12 of them, to make these guns deadlier, to kill more people.

BAKER: Right. BERMAN: He went to that room, you know, with 30-plus guns or how many he had in that room, the 12 with the bump stocks. He kills many people as he them. For some reasons, he thought that would help him kill more.

BAKER: Well, it does. Because using a bump stock or using that technique, that method, it again, it simulates the automatic rifle. You still need a single trigger pull to discharge a single round, but it performs much more rapidly.

And so, yes, there was a bit -- we know from that, from all the other planning, there was a great deal of preparation. He chose the target. He chose the location, the timing, the method of attack. There was a great deal of planning -

HARLOW: Scouting out the weekend before, renting this condo, you know, with a vantage point over a festival. Gentlemen, thank you very, very much. We appreciate the expertise.

Ahead for us, stories of heroism emerging in the tragic aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, including the story of an off-duty firefighter who went from concert goer to first responder, his incredible experience, ahead.

BERMAN: Plus, as key senators get ready to provide new details on the Russia probe, a CNN exclusive. A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads, specifically targeted to two swing states, two of these states most pivotal to the president's victory.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:25] BERMAN: As the shooting began in Las Vegas, so many people stepped in to help those who were injured and in need.

HARLOW: Our next guest is one of them, his name, Robert Hayes. He is a Los Angeles firefighter. But on that night, Robert, you were not in uniform. You were there to enjoy the concert, like the thousands of other concert goers and the evening to you turned into a mission to save as many as you could. Ultimately, you said 20 people died as you were trying to help them. Can you walk us through that evening for you?

ROBERT HAYS, LOS ANGELES FIREFIGHTER, ATTENDED LAS VEGAS CONCERT: Absolutely. I would just like to say, start off by saying good morning to everybody and I'm praying for everybody who was there, that people are calling me a hero. There are a lot of heroes that night that people did a lot of things that they weren't trained to do and they acted on instinct. And for one, I want to say thank you to all those other people I saw that were helping.

It started, the third day of the concert. It was a fun time. Everybody was having a great time. Jason Aldean came on. Everybody was excited. The crowd was heavy. Honestly, at the first inside of it, we heard a few pops and everyone was like, what is that? And we assumed that, honestly, to me, I'm like, no, I know what gunfire sounds like, I'm telling my wife and my friends, and I said that's not gunfire. I said, I think it's just the electrical system. And Jason Aldean kept playing, and just like everybody else.

And then you kind of heard a more series of pops. And then it seemed like it went into automatic fire and people started getting down. I was still standing up, not sure. I told my wife and her friend, Michelle, to get down under a table. My other friend started to harbor in place. And all of a sudden a guy to the left of me said, hey, I have somebody down. And honestly, right away, the first thing I could think of, -- I said, I looked at him, I said, where, show me.

And I ran over with him, probably about 10 steps and I noticed a female that was down and right away, I tried to do something for her. I honestly noticed right away that there was nothing I could do. I told the gentlemen, give me a hand. We need to get her into a safe zone. I kind of tried to, in my mind, think about my triage, the way we do for the fire department. And I wanted to use this area. This was going to be our triage area.

So, I had that gentlemen and another lady, we were trying to grab her, and we were bringing her up the stairway to this little VIP area and I noticed as I'm carrying this lady, that was very bloody at the time, the hard part for me was, I've done that before, but when I looked down and I saw my wife looking at me from under the table, with her friend, Michelle, staring up at me, the first thing I yelled at her was -- not like this, but please get out of here -- because I didn't know where to send her at first, because I didn't know the direction of the gunfire, which at the time, I didn't know was gunfire.

And she got up and crawled through hundreds of tables and chairs with her friends and they got out to safety. I helped that gentlemen get their loved one or friend into a safe spot and I went back in, down and right away I came upon somebody else who grabbed my arm and they actually knew me. They said, Rob, you know who I am? My friend's been shot. Help me. I next grabbed that male individual. It seemed like at the time, I believe he might have had a gunshot wound to the upper clavicle area, in the shoulder. We picked him up, we got him to safety.

And then I went back down again and I think it was hard, as my wife stated. She knows what I do at my job, but it was hard when she looked back to see me running back in to an area that wasn't safe and then after that, it was like a war zone. And I've never been to war, but I've seen a lot of things in my job, in my career, like a lot of other law enforcement, police, military, and the stuff I came upon, my goal was not to be a hero, because in my mind, I don't consider myself a hero. I consider those people who don't do what I do, a hero. Because they risk their lives helping people and a lot of people that day saw stuff that they never should have seen in their life. And I was just trying to go around, honestly, and find people that were salvageable, to help. I came upon a lot of people and I got a lot of people out, but there was so many people that I wanted to help that I couldn't. I could not.

[10:25:12] BERMAN: It doesn't sound like not helping you - not helping people is something you're even capable of doing. It seems like you only have one speed and that's to help, Robert. Look, there's been a lot of focus on the monster who did this. We prefer the focus be on heroes like you and the people who lost their lives. Have you thought at all about this person who carried this out?

HAYS: You know what, it's hard for me to kind of fathom you know, understand why this would happen. I think I go towards the looking for the good out of this. That the good meaning that there were so many people helping, you see so many people of the police, the fire department that was there, that I encountered. There are so many things that I saw, personally, that made me proud to be an American. And I know it sounds strange, but the things that I saw were people helping people.

And I think that we need to really focus on, I know we're focusing a lot on the shooter and that stuff, and I think that we need to focus on is helping these people, you know, not just physically, the families, the friends, but mentally, there's going to be a lot of people that need some help. I know people have reached out for my job, counselors and what not.

And it's going to be a long haul for a lot of people. I saw a lot of people in their eyes that were in corners that were -- you know, I'm yelling, please come with me, please come with me. And I had a girl screaming at me, how can I trust you, how can I trust you? I said I need you to come with me to safety. Is anybody hurt? I said, I'm a fireman, please follow me. And they did.

And I directed them to a way that I thought was safe at the time, and thank God it was. But there was just so much stuff that was seen on that day by people, like I say, that it's not normal for them, you know? And for the shooter, you know -- and it doesn't go away.

(CROSSTALK)

And I honestly just jumped into the mode where I told my wife, and I'm going to be honest with you, my friend Derek and Trenton, they were a little upset, because my wife actually found her way out and they actually came upon each other, just by fate. My wife's two other sisters were there, as well. And they found each other and my friend, Derek, he was mad at me, like, where's Rob? I can't believe he stayed.

And then, you know, he told my wife, you know, I heard him say, hey, this is what I do. You know, I'm there to help somebody. So I just jumped into that mode. And that's why sometimes it's hard for people to say, I'm a hero. And I consider the police officer that passed away, was helping people, as well. There was law enforcement there. There were so many people -

BERMAN: Let's just say -

HAYS: -- just doing the right things.

BERMAN: I think, Robert, we can agree, there were a lot of heroes there. And I think we can all agree that you are the good that comes from this. So we thank you, Robert Hays, for what you did and thanks so much for being with us. HAYS: All right. Thank you guys very much. I appreciate it.

HARLOW: Wow, incredible man.

BERMAN: All right, we have an update on the Russian investigation coming very, very shortly. This as we have a CNN exclusive, highly sophisticated Russian-linked Facebook ads that targeted some of the most pivotal swing states in the election. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)