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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

At Least 49 Dead In Terror Attacks At New Zealand Mosques; Australian PM Says One Suspect Is Aussie; North Korea Mulls Suspending Nuclear Talks With U.S.; Israel Retaliates After Rockets Fired From Gaza; Ethiopian Airlines Pilot: "Request Back To Home!"; Opioid Maker Gets FDA Approval To Make Opioid Antidote; Sandy Hook Families Win Court Ruling. Aired 5-5:30am ET

Aired March 15, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: -- who have lost their lives in this act of extreme violence.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: New Zealand's prime minister there, a terror attack targets two mosques in New Zealand, at least 49 dead in Christchurch, three suspects in custody.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking, are nuclear talks with North Korea over? Pyongyang's foreign minister suggests they could be. Good morning everyone and welcome to "Early Start." I'm Dave Briggs.

KOSIK: Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik. It's Friday, March 15th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East, 10:00 p.m. in Christchurch, New Zealand.

And breaking overnight, at least 49 people killed in a terror attack in New Zealand. Police say the mass shootings happening at two mosques in Christchurch, the country's third largest city. Nearly 50 people are in the hospital. Much of the city remains on lockdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARDERN: It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack. From what we know, it does appear to have been well planned.

MIKE BUSH, NEW ZEALAND POLICE COMMISSIONER: We are currently dealing with an unprecedented situation in New Zealand. It's very grave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Official say three people connected to the attack are in custody. Police are not aware of others involved but cannot rule out the possibility more shooters are at large. Here's what an eyewitness told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barricade wall there, a wall we had to jump out of the wall and still we were like hearing the sound of the gun. It was continuously shooting from form maybe 10 to 15 minutes and later we use the backside and then came out on the other street. And since then the police -- we called to the police and (INAUDIBLE) and when I came to the street I saw that the one person got shot on his chest and ambulance came and the police came there, the doctor was taking care of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: CNN's Anna Coren is monitoring the situation for us. She joins us live from Hong Kong. Anna, what are we learning?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave, as you say, 49 people are now dead but that death toll could very well rise. There are dozens of others that have been seriously injured, being treated in hospital. So as I say, that death toll could rise.

This is unprecedented, this act of violence unprecedented in New Zealand. Never before has there been a terror attack in New Zealand let alone on this scale. This was a massacre.

The gunman who we believe to be an Australian citizen, he has been charged. He is in his late 20s. He live streamed his killing spree on Facebook. I've watched the full video and it is absolutely horrendous.

You see him drive to the mosque. You see him get out, arm himself with semi-automatic weapons. He walks through the gates, starts firing at people outside the mosque, walks into the front doors of the mosque and just mows down every person he can see. You hear people screaming, people moaning, asking for help. He reloads in the corridor, comes back out and continues his killing spree.

He then very calmly walks out of the mosque out on to the pavement, obviously people by this stage have heard the multiple rapid, you know, gunshots that he has been firing and he starts picking off people on the pavement.

He goes to the car, he gets more ammunition, walks back into the mosque where his killing spree continues. And he goes up to these bodies on the floor of this mosque and at point blank range he executes every single one of them.

He then walks out, he sees a woman on the pavement, he shoots her. He then walks up to her once again at point blank range, he shoots her. Before that she's saying, "Help me, help me."

He then gets in his car and he drives off. He is talking. He is laughing. You can hear the police sirens roaring towards the mosque. And he is firing out the windscreen. He's firing out the passenger window. I mean, these were the actions of a deranged individual.

The only thing that we can compare it to in that part of the world was the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia back in 1996 when 35 people were killed. The death toll in New Zealand, a country of some 5 million people, now stands at 49. And as we know, Dave, it could very well rise. BRIGGS: Anna, you are from Australia and we here unfortunately are far too accustomed to mass shootings, but how peace loving, how peaceful is New Zealand and how rare are these types of attacks?

COREN: New Zealand is such a beautiful country and it is peace loving, it is welcoming. It's a country that opens its borders to migrants, to Muslims, people who are from these war-torn countries seeking the sanctuary, seeking safety and a lovely place for their children to grow up in.

[05:05:05] You know, as for any of this racial hatred, you don't see it in New Zealand, that's why there was no security around these mosques. It just doesn't happen there. Obviously that changed today.

But the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, she said, "This is not New Zealand. This is not who we are. We condemn these terrorist acts. We condemn this ideology, this hatred." She said, "The people who perpetrated these acts, they do not belong there."

But those three people who've been apprehended, one of those charged an Australia citizen, none of them were on any sort of terror watch list. They had all flown under the radar.

BRIGGS: I spent several weeks in New Zealand, including in Christchurch, and I would agree with you, just the most welcoming, peaceful, happy country arguably in the world. South Island in New Zealand will never be the same. Anna Coren, thanks so much for your insight there.

Let's bring in now CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and retired FBI Supervisory Agent James Gagliano. Jimmy, good to see you this morning.

KOSIK: Good morning.

BRIGGS: Sorry again on unfortunate circumstances. If you can, talk about what you've learned from this disturbing 17 minute Facebook post and what do you make of the police response.

JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure. So we know that the video that was uploaded as well as the manifesto was YouTube, and Facebook, and Twitter have been scarring quickly trying to getting take it down. And sometimes people avoid doing that by avoiding the algorithms, the artificial intelligence that screens these things out, by cropping the videos or posting the manifesto in an image.

I know that's all been taken off. I've seen the video. I can only describe it as the level of depravity and in-humanity that's exhibited in this, somebody that would shoot innocent worshipers inside of a mosque, any place of worship --

BRIGGS: Laying down some perhaps dead, most of them hiding in the corner.

GAGLIANO: And literally going back a second time to make sure that people that had already been shot were completely dispatched. These were cold blooded executions. I mean, in having seen a lot of crime scenes in my 25 years in the FBI, this was harrowing to watch.

KOSIK: Walk us through the mind of this deranged killer. You know, the manifesto that we had seen online, it was posted in a social media, post before the attack in an account believed to belong to one of the attackers, posted this link, it's an unsigned manifesto. You've had a chance to read some of it. What strikes you?

GAGLIANO: You always want to be careful in law enforcement. You always want to follow the evidence. And wherever it takes you, that's where you go. And you want to be careful because sometimes in the immediate aftermath of something like this, a horrific tragedy, we're inundated with leads, we've got to be careful.

Police can't get focused on one thing or the other. It was confusing. It was the mindset of a mad man. It was -- there was obviously hateful rhetoric in there, but there were some deceptive things where you couldn't tell if he was trying to make police look in one direction but trying to do a fake to another side, very confusing to read.

KOSIK: And he was calm, he was calculated.

GAGLIANO: Yes.

KOSIK: He had time.

GAGLIANO: Well, obviously he prepared for this. I mean, I couldn't tell exactly from the video the type of weapons. It was clearly appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon, but cold and calculating and using a GoPro on a helmet or on a facemask to be able to video it in the style emblematic of a violent video game.

BRIGGS: And the story throughout the day will undoubtedly be this manifesto if and when we can confirm that it was from the very shooter. It's laced with references to the United States, to Fortnite, the game, to President Trump as a reference in there, to Candace Owens, a Trump supporter who inspired the person that wrote this manifesto, we cannot confirm that is the shooter, but it is stunning 74 pages.

If you can talk about, though, the gun laws in New Zealand in relation to the United States and to neighboring Australia.

GAGLIANO: Absolutely. So New Zealand's got some pretty strict gun laws, not as strict as Australia, but they're obviously stricter than say the United States. Now, I looked it up. So you've got to be a licensed gun owner there. You've got to have a CCH, a criminal history background check before you can purchase a gun and a mental health review. You've got to participate in a gun safety program. You've got to give the authorities an explanation for how and why the gun will be used.

Your residence has to be visited. Almost like if you're adopting from a pet adoption agency in the United States, well, they have to -- the authorities come in and do a home residence security check to make sure that you've got the proper receptacle to secure the weapons. And you've got to get testimonials from friends and family as far as your mental health and whether or not you should own weapons.

Interesting to know, New Zealand is a country of 4.6 million people and there are only 1.2 million guns there, so one gun for every four people. They generally average single digits in gut murders per year in a country of 4.6 million people.

KOSIK: Well, clearly there are going to be lots of questions how this gunman got his hand on so many weapons.

GAGLIANO: Yes.

KOSIK: All right, James Gagliano, thanks so much.

BRIGGS: All right, we'll check back with James as we learn more about the shooting.

[05:10:02] Breaking overnight as well, North Korea announcing it may suspend nuclear talks with the United States. This is the largest fallout so far from last month's failed Hanoi summit.

Let's go live to Seoul and bring in Paula Hancocks who's been following the story for you -- for us. And Paula, couple of questions again. Now, one, would anything go out that wasn't sanctioned by Kim Jong-un and how much should we trust state run news out of Russia task?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave, the second question first. There were other foreign media that are based in Pyongyang who have reported this as well, task has a bureau in North Korea. So we can assume that this is pretty accurate.

The Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui saying that North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un is now deciding whether or not he wants to continue diplomatic talks with the United States. Also saying he is trying to figure out if he is going to keep this moratorium on nuclear and missile testing.

Now, Choe would not have said that if it had not been sanctioned by Kim Jong-un. It is just out of the question that he -- that this did not come from the North Korean leader himself. Now, the U.S. President did say when he left Hanoi that Kim Jong-un had guaranteed to him, at least, that he wasn't going to keep testing nuclear and missiles weapons.

Now, a couple of quotes from Choe, she also said, "We have no intention to yield to the U.S. demands put forward at the Hanoi summit in any form nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind."

Also specifying once again as they did at that middle of the night press conference as Trump left Hanoi that they didn't ask for all sanctions to be lifted as Mr. Trump had said, but only a few that affected their people.

Also saying, "The U.S. were too busy with pursuing their own political interests and had no sincere intention to achieve a result." So this really has been seen as an ultimatum, as really something that's not surprising, a straight act of the North Korean playbook that they are trying to put pressure on the U.S. President to go back to negotiations.

Interestingly, though, they don't -- they do say that the relationship between Kim Jong-un and President Trump is still good. They put the blame on the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and also on John Bolton. Dave?

BRIGGS: Yes. Paula, that's the fascinating part. They describe the chemistry as mysteriously wonderful between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. Paula Hancocks live for us in Seoul just past 6:00 p.m. there. Thanks, Paula.

KOSIK: OK, overnight Israel launched a strikes into Gaza, its retaliation for rockets fired towards Tel Aviv for the first time since the 2014 war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:16:48] KOSIK: Israel retaliating overnight after rockets targeted Tel Aviv for the first time since the 2014 war with Hamas. Israel hitting targets in Gaza following the attack.

CNN's Melissa Bell is live for us at the Israel/Gaza border. So, Melissa, we have just learned that the Israel Defense Force thinks that rockets from Gaza that started this escalation may not have actually been sanctioned?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is according to Israeli media reports for the time being suggesting as you say, Alison, that the Israeli Defense Force's assessment at the stage is that those original rockets that kicked off this exchange of fire overnight between Hamas within Gaza and Israel could have been -- the responsibility could have been carried out by low level Hamas operatives, that is not authorized, not approved.

And so, that really confirms something that had been the suspicion of many of those watching this overnight escalation, which have been -- who've been taken by surprise, frankly, by the fact that Tel Aviv should have been targeted straight away and after what had been a relatively quiet period along this border.

Now, when I say quiet, it is relative. There are, of course, these weekly protests Friday after Friday that have been going along on that fence just behind me between the border -- on the border between Gaza and Israel. It's been a year now, Alison, since those have been carrying on.

We're now hearing from inside Gaza that given the escalation overnight, today's Friday protests have been canceled which suggest that there is a decision, a desire perhaps on the part of Hamas to see this latest escalation calmed down.

So those Friday protests, which had been due to take place this afternoon as they do every Friday for the time being we're hearing canceled. So the question will be whether those efforts, whether those decisions, whether that announcement will help ensure that along this border things are kept quiet over the next few hours, Alison.

KOSIK: All right. CNN's Melissa Bell live for us from the Israeli/Gaza border, thanks very much.

BRIGGS: All right, also this morning, our first glimpse of the harrowing final moments in the cockpit of the doomed Ethiopian Airline jet that crashed Sunday. "The New York Times" reporting the captain called controllers in a panicky voice three minutes into the flight as the plane accelerated to abnormal speed.

Someone who reviewed the air traffic communications tells us the times the captain radioed, "Brake, brake, request back to home," and then asked for a route back to the runway.

KOSIK: Controllers saw the new Boeing 737 Max 8 was climbing and plunging hundreds of feet in just seconds. It was a clear sign something was very wrong. Today, French officials say technical work is set to begin in Paris on the jetliner's black boxes.

BRIGGS: Stunning almost a week after that crash.

KOSIK: It is.

BRIGGS: Technology was not there in Ethiopia or in Germany. We continue next with more on our breaking news from the shootings in New Zealand, 49 people killed on two separate mosques in Christchurch. The latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:24:19] KOSIK: OK, we are following breaking news in New Zealand where at this moment it is 10:24 in the evening. 49 people have been killed, dozens more injured in a terror attack at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. This happened as Muslims were gathering for prayer services.

Police say one man in his 20s has been charged with murder. Three people total are in custody. Two explosive devices were found in one of the attacker's cars. And we've got a live report coming up in just a few minutes.

BRIGGS: But now, the FDA fast tracking an antidote to opioid overdoses to be made by the same company that makes OxyContin, the drug that's fueling the very opioid epidemic.

[05:25:00] Purdue Pharma says it is committed to finding solutions to the opioid crisis even though it is named in dozens of lawsuits for allegedly accelerating it and then making drugs to treat it. In a statement to CNN, Purdue Pharma has called the allegations irresponsible.

KOSIK: The Connecticut Supreme Court handing a victory to the families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims. They can now move forward with a lawsuit against gun manufacturers.

The families claim gun maker Remington knowingly marketed its AR-15 rifle to people for offensive military style combat missions against their enemies. Connecticut law does not allow ads that encourage criminal behavior. Remington's AR-15 Bushmaster model was used by the shooter in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.

BRIGG: All right, coming up, New Zealand's darkest day, 49 killed, dozens more injured at a terror attack at two different mosques. We are live in Christchurch, New Zealand when we come back.

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