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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Police Release Body Cam Video Of Shooter; Gunman's Girlfriend Arrives In Los Angeles; Crime Scene Photos Emerge; President Trump's Visit To Puerto Rico. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 04, 2017 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning about the Las Vegas gunman. How he installed cameras to watch police and manipulated his guns to make them even more dangerous.
And while you were sleeping, the killer's girlfriend back in the country, landing at LAX. Wait until you hear what her sisters are saying this morning.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.
BRIGGS: Good morning, Christine. I'm Dave Briggs live in Las Vegas. It is 2:30 a.m. here locally, just over 48 from the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
And new this morning, details about the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock. His enormous cache of weapons, 47 purchased in four different states. His extensive planning.
His girlfriend now back in the United States. And in a new interview, Marilou Danley's sisters claim the gunman sent her out of the country before the attack. More on that in a moment.
We're also getting our first look at some newly released body cam video capturing the chaos as the attack unfolded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Gunfire)
POLICE OFFICER 1: Go that way, go that way, go that way.
POLICE OFFICER 2: Hey, they're shooting right at us, guys. Everybody stay down. Stay down.
POLICE OFFICER 3: Where's it at?
POLICE OFFICER 4: At the Mandalay Bay. It's coming out of a window.
POLICE OFFICER 5: At the Mandalay Bay. It's coming out of a window.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Police officials say the gunman appears to have fired on and off for between nine and 11 minutes after that first 911 call. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo says the shooter had cameras set up both inside and outside his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay. One on the peephole, two in the hallway -- cameras. Theoretically, he was using them to spot police and security that would approach his room.
Officials say they don't think the shooter was broadcasting that video over the Internet.
Even with the new details, the shooter's motive remains the mystery here.
The death toll from the attack has been revised downward by one. Officials now say 58 victims were killed, 527 injured.
Today, President Trump flies here to see for himself how the city is responding to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, expected to arrive at 9:30 a.m. local time, 12:30 Pacific.
Around 10:00, he should visit a hospital, visit with medical professionals and survivors, also expected to visit with law enforcement officials and first responders around noontime. He should be out around one.
Now, the gunman's girlfriend once again considered a person of interest. Marilou Danley was in the Philippines before and after the massacre, back on American soil now. Her plane arriving at LAX late last night.
We're also now hearing from the sisters of Marilou Danley speaking to our affiliate "SEVEN NETWORK" in Australia. One sister claims the gunman arranged for Marilou to be out of the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: He sent her away so that he can plan what he is planning without interruptions. In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister's life, but that won't be to compensate the 59 people's lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Sent her away, from the sisters of Marilou Danley.
CNN's Jean Casarez is here. She's been following the story of the girlfriend and really, the only person that might have some insight as to why this attack occurred. You have some interesting details about her travel that will certainly raise questions for investigators.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are so many questions here but, you're right. All eyes are focused on Marilou Danley who arrived back at LAX at 7:13 local time last night, accompanied by FBI agents. She did not come alone. Local authorities want to help participate in questioning her. They may fly to Los Angeles so don't expect to see Marilou Danley right here in Las Vegas anytime soon. But she is designated to be a person of interest.
And we don't know when she left the mainland to go overseas. But we do know that starting on September 15th she flew from Japan, so already there, to the Philippines, and then Philippines to Hong Kong. Hong Kong back to the Philippines, and then now back in the United States.
Her sisters went on to say that the perpetrator, Stephen Paddock, said you know, I've got a cheap ticket for you. Here, take it, go.
And CNN has also confirmed that not -- she hasn't been back there since 2015, so a few years ago. But she obviously didn't stay in the Philippines.
[05:35:02] And then, added to that, CNN was able to confirm that Paddock wired $100,000 to the Philippines. When, Dave, he did it, we don't know. Why he did it, we don't know. It's still a mystery, the timeline there.
But so many facets and she -- everyone wants to know what she knew.
BRIGGS: Yes.
CASAREZ: And she must have communicated to her sisters because we don't know that she was in Australia and "SEVEN NETWORK" interviewed them in Australia.
BRIGGS: Yes, still learning a lot. According to the reporting, she is from the Philippines but is an Australian citizen traveling on an Australian passport.
Some new photos have been leaked that show the inside of the crime scene, some of them very graphic.
CASAREZ: That's right. The "Daily Mail" published them and they are graphic. They are the aftermath of minutes after all of this subsided.
You see just weapons all around the room as if they were thrown down. And, you know, authorities have said that different weapons were used during the nine to 11-minute shooting spree.
They did confirm late last night that that is the inside of the hotel room. That is the body of Stephen Paddock right there. And you can see spent bullets, you see magazines that are neatly stacked in the room.
Crime scene processing is still going on in this hotel room and they say it will be going on for some time. Meticulously, they are documenting everything. They've got the crime scene investigators and it does take a while.
BRIGGS: We're seeing many of the 23 guns that were found in that hotel room.
Jean, thanks so much.
Forty-seven total guns they are now confirming they found, belonging to Stephen Paddock, purchased in four different states. The federal ATF says 12 of the guns in the shooter's hotel room had what are called bump fire stocks or bump stocks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE LOMBARDO, SHERIFF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: What are the modifications associated with the weaponry? I can't give you an answer on whether any of them are automatic or not, but we are aware of a device called a bump stock and that enables an individual to speed up the discharge of ammunition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: On semiautomatic weapons, the trigger has to be pulled each time a round is fired. On automatic weapons, the trigger can be pulled and held once to fire multiple rounds.
Automatic weapon sales are banned in the U.S. There is an exception, though, if they were built prior to 1986, registered with the government, and a special exception with Treasury.
Now, these tools -- these bump stocks are perfectly legal. They convert semiautomatic weapons to fire like automatic weapons, allowing Stephen Paddock to fire hundreds of rounds per minute.
Gun reform advocates in Congress seizing on this latest revelation about the Las Vegas attack.
In particular, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeting, "I'm looking at ways to proceed with legislation to ban bump fire stocks and close" -- what she calls -- "this ridiculous loophole for good. Doing nothing in the wake of this tragedy is not an option."
Feinstein tried to pass this legislation back in 2013 after the Sandy Hook shooting. She was unable. She will certainly make another run at that.
I tried to purchase a bump fire stock here at one of the many gun shops in the area. Called more than a dozen shops. Only one said they sell them but only through their Website.
I visited two that confirmed to me they sold multiple weapons to Stephen Paddock.
Both said look, these are not devices we have ever had any interest in selling. These are not something our customers want. They are gimmicky, they are silly, they are for entertainment.
But sadly, Christine, readily available on the Internet. For just $100, people can obtain these.
ROMANS: Unbelievable. All right. Thanks so much for that.
You know, we know that the Las Vegas gunman planned this attack meticulously, yet still no reason why. Could his girlfriend hold the answers now that she is back in the country?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:43:33] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: He sent her away so that he can plan what he is planning without interruptions. In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister's life, but that won't be to compensate the 59 people's lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Brand new sound from the sisters of 62-year-old Marilou Danley. That, from our sister network in Australia, "SEVEN NETWORK." The girlfriend, Marilou Danley, of the Vegas gunman.
Now, you heard their claim. The attacker sent his girlfriend Marilou out of the country before the shooting.
Danley arriving in Los Angeles overnight on a flight from the Philippines. She is, once again, a person of interest.
Former NYPD sergeant and law enforcement trainer Joe Giacalone joins us now from New York.
Joe, let's talk about those sisters and Marilou Danley. She is from the Philippines, from what we understand, and an Australian citizen traveling on an Australian passport.
Jean Casarez told us her travels are interesting. Weeks before the shooting she went to the Philippines, to Tokyo, back to the Philippines. Now she's back in the United States.
What do investigators, first and foremost, want to know from her?
JOSEPH GIACALONE, FORMER NYPD SERGEANT, LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINER: Well, they're going to find out -- you know, they want to find out how long he's been collecting these guns, where he's been doing it, what has he been talking about it. Has he said anything to her in regards to what his plans were? Did he have any gripes with anybody?
[05:45:05] You know, when you have boyfriends and girlfriends and stuff like that, you share in some intimate moments and you say things that maybe that we don't know yet. So this is something where investigators are going to key in there.
And I believe from the very beginning that they had her -- they were like on top of her when they figured out exactly where she was and I don't think she was -- you know, they probably had her in a police facility somewhere questioning her already. Now that she's back on the U.S. mainland I think those, you know, investigations are going to continue with her.
BRIGGS: How key is that $100,000 wire transfer we learned about from Stephen Paddock to the Philippines?
GIACALONE: Well, one thing they teach you very early on about investigations, follow the money, right? So if you see a huge sum of money getting sent to the Philippines that's something that's definitely a red flag.
And you know what, they're going to go back in history and see if this has ever happened before. And if it didn't happen before then they might be able to key in on a specific event where he told her all right, you're going to get out of the country and here's the money.
I mean, for her just to say that oh, here's a ticket and leave, I think most of us would question like why are you sending me away? So I think there's a lot of unanswered things here that we will get answers to as the next couple of days unfold.
BRIGGS: Joe, a shocking glimpse this morning inside the crime scene.
GIACALONE: Yes.
BRIGGS: Leaked photos of the shooter Stephen Paddock, of the inside of his suite, of the very weapons he used to murder 58 people at that concert just over 48 hours ago.
How do those impact the investigation? How did they get out?
GIACALONE: This is very unfortunate that somebody leaked these things. They were probably sent through e-mail so there's going to be an electronic footprint left behind. They will find out who sent this and the person should be fired.
I mean, this is something from an investigative standpoint you never want to see happen because it actually then questions the entire integrity of the investigation because if this happened, what else could have happened? And it's very disturbing and you never want to see this.
BRIGGS: Yes. A lot of conspiracy theorists out there circling things on the photos. One appears to be a note on a nightstand. There's another one that we will not show you directly of the face of the shooter after having killed himself.
Lastly, some body cam video released by the sheriff here in Las Vegas from those first responders. As you've seen it, what might we learn from the events of two nights ago?
GIACALONE: Well, it just goes to show you that the police, no matter what -- even when they didn't know exactly where the gunfire was coming from they were actually going towards the sounds. As people were running by them they were running in the opposite direction. Cops do this stuff every day so, I mean, we have to give them a lot of credit for doing that.
But you can even hear on the conversation, right? I mean, where's the fire -- where's the shooting coming from? And then you hear oh, it's coming from the hotel -- the Mandalay Bay. So, as -- you know, the takes 10, 15 minutes to go through.
Now you've got to remember. You've got to get all of your ducks in a row, so to speak, and they have to get their SWAT teams and their -- all in place, and they have to evacuate some of these floors. I mean, if they were planning on doing this breach, which you knew they were, they had to have -- make sure that the civilians that were on these floors were already safe.
So I know people are questioning like why does it take an hour to get all this done, but it's really about continued safety because that's what the job of the police is. To stop the threat and keep everybody else safe from continuing carnage.
BRIGGS: Yes. Always something to be learned from investigations like this so they can apply to the future. We've learned that shooting went on for about nine to 11 minutes.
Joe Giacalone, thanks so much --
GIACALONE: Thank you.
BRIGGS: -- for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
Christine, as we get back to you in New York, all eyes on Marilou Danley --
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: -- the 62-year-old girlfriend who is now back in the United States in Los Angeles.
ROMANS: Yes. What new information will she have about the killer?
All right, Dave.
The president is wheels up to Las Vegas in just over two hours. He is hoping for a smooth trip, maybe smoother than his stop in Puerto Rico where he suggested there wasn't quote "a real catastrophe." We'll explain.
And, they were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, veterans, friends, teachers, police officers, so much more, now linked for eternity by this Vegas shooting. We remember the victims of this week's attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:53:27] ROMANS: President Trump is going to Las Vegas this morning to show his concern for the city and the victims of the shooting. He's hoping for a smoother visit than what you saw yesterday in Puerto Rico.
Joining us again, Zach Wolf, digital director for "CNN POLITICS." Good morning.
Smoother, I guess, because there were a few headlines the president made that were not really that favorable. I want to -- I want to listen to a little bit of what he said where he talked to the victims of the hurricane and reminded them that they were costing money -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico, and that's fine. We've saved a lot of lives.
If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous -- hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here. What is your death count as of this moment, 17?
RICARDO ROSSELLO, GOVERNOR, PUERTO RICO: Sixteen certified.
TRUMP: Sixteen people certified. Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Zach, that death toll today has risen to 34. There's grave concern on the ground from our reporters and from medical professionals who -- you know, there are people have not -- have been without dialysis, they've been without insulin. They're worried that this death count is going to rise and rise quickly here because of the health care situation.
Was the president -- did he strike the wrong note when he was talking about this?
ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICS: Yes, I think that's indisputably what he did.
I mean, you saw it in the body language of the governor sitting next to him there. He made his joke about the debt and nobody laughed. So clearly, I think it was a -- it went over like a lead balloon, that one.
[05:55:10] And then when he equated, you know, the tragedy of Puerto Rico to a real tragedy like Katrina, again, you know, that's not what people who are in the midst of basically an apocalyptic area outside of San Juan -- that's not what they want to hear.
ROMANS: And we saw the president sort of give the floor, at different times yesterday, to people who he knew would praise him and the response. You know, it is -- it is -- it is that feedback -- that personal feedback that he is always craving.
Yet, you know, he made that comment about the debt which was -- you know, shocked a lot of people in the room and a lot of -- a lot of us who have covered the debt of Puerto Rico. He made that comment about the debt, how Puerto Rico was cost -- adding to our budget problems.
And then he said on "FOX NEWS" that he was advocating for wiping out Puerto Rico's debt. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, we're going to work something out. We have to look at their whole debt structure. You know, they owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we're going to have to wipe that out.
That's going to have to be -- you know, you can say goodbye to that. I don't know if it's Goldman Sachs but whoever it is you can wave goodbye to that. We have to do something because the debt was massive on the island.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So that's really something -- $74 billion debt, the island is.
It's ironic to me. You know, the president, himself, was -- his businesses -- four casinos, I think, we under a crippling debt load in the 1990s and the people who helped him with his rescue decided that he was more profitable alive than dead, as you would say, in investing.
It looks as though the president has made a decision that he wants to advocate for wiping out Puerto Rico's debt?
WOLF: Yes, and this is something we're going to have to get more details on. You know, in the past, he's called himself the king of debt --
ROMANS: Yes.
WOLF: -- I think, even -- in response -- self-referencing.
So it's not clear that he's going to be able to do this with Puerto Rico or how exactly it would work. I think we'll have to see. The devil will be in the details.
But -- and not all the money, by the way, is owed to Goldman Sachs. A lot of it's owed to, you know, people who own mutual funds and --
ROMANS: Right.
WOLF: -- and taxpayers so that's another element to consider.
But is this him talking off the cuff or this is a new policy? I think that remains to be seen.
ROMANS: Yes. There are a lot of different investors -- hedge funds, but also people who invest in muni bond funds. You know, the triple- tax-free muni bond funds. There is Puerto Rico debt in those too so it could be regular -- you know, regular mom and pop investors.
But certainly, Puerto Rico needs a longer-term strategy. It sounds like the president is starting to talk about that.
The president, in three hours -- at 8:00 eastern time, he's going to be, you know, leaving here -- wheels up for Las Vegas. What is the tone likely to be, do you think, from this president?
WOLF: I -- you know, I think -- I'll be really surprised. He's not going to talk about gun control. He said he wants to wait for that even though a lot of Democrats are talking about it.
I think this is going to be a -- you know, a time for mourning and healing, maybe what we expected him to do in Puerto Rico. This is a second chance, in some ways, for him to sort of strike that more presidential tone. I'm sure that's what his advisers will be telling him.
ROMANS: Yes. I mean, this is really -- you want to get the right -- you want to have the right tone, for sure, for something like this. This is just a real tragedy.
And if history is a guide, President Obama had 14 mass shootings and 14 speeches and appearances he had to make after those mass shootings. This will not be the last one for President Trump, sadly. That's just sad but true.
All right, Zach Wolf. Nice to see you today. Thank you so much.
WOLF: You, too. Thanks.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for joining us here at EARLY START. For Dave Briggs in Las Vegas, and for me, I'm Christine Romans.
"NEW DAY" picks up our coverage right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: To our viewers in the United States and around the world, this is NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, October fourth, three o'clock in the morning here in Las Vegas.
And, Alisyn, of course, holding it down in New York.
We have new details this morning of the killer's meticulously planned attack on concertgoers. It took 58 lives, it injured more than 500, and it was planned to every last detail.
The police also releasing body camera video of first responders. You see their desperate efforts to help thousands of frightened people, making people get to safety, figuring out where the shots are coming from, all while gunfire the likes of which we have never heard in this country was raining down.
We're also seeing for the first time the massive weaponry used to carry out this massacre from that 32nd-floor hotel room at the Mandalay Bay resort. Officials have now recovered 47 firearms from three different locations. Their belief is that this was an arsenal built up over many years. Twenty of the guns found in that hotel room were rigged. They did
have an accessory on them called a bump stock. You're going to hear a lot about that and we'll talk about why he wanted it to make these weapons fire even faster.
Police say the killer also set up cameras in his room.
