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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ten Killed in Mass Shooting at Boulder, Colorado Supermarket; President Biden Briefed on Boulder Supermarket Shooting; Still No Motive for Deadly Spa Shootings in Georgia; Germany Imposes Strict Lockdown for Easter as COVID Cases Rise. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 23, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:01]

STEVEN MCHUGH, FAMILY WAS AT KING SOOPERS DURING SHOOTING: There may have been as many as 50 or 60 shots according to my son-in-law.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And so, your son-in-law quickly scooped up the girls and they ran upstairs to a closet and they hid?

MCHUGH: Thank God. You know, then Paul would come out and try to silence phones and didn't know who was coming up the stairs next. A lot of the action was right below them at the pharmacy, extraordinarily terrifying. Of course, the little one saying, yeah, and, you know, the coats weren't long enough to hide our feet as they were standing behind the coats in the closet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Officials have not released the identity of most of the victims as police worked to notify their family members. But the Boulder Police Department named 51-year-old Eric Talley as the police officer killed in that shooting.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A procession was held to honor the fallen officer, he is a father of seven who the Boulder police chief described as a hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MARIS HEROLD, BOULDER POLICE: Our hearts of this community go out to the victims of this horrific incident. We know of ten fatalities at the scene including one of our boulder PD officers by the name of Eric Talley, who has been on the Boulder Police Department since 2010. He served in numerous roles supporting the Boulder Police Department and the community of Boulder.

And I have to tell you the heroic action of this officer when he responded to this scene, at 1430 hours, the Boulder Police Department began receiving phone calls of shots fired in the area and a phone call about a possible person with a patrol rifle. Officer Talley responded to the scene, was the first on the scene and he was fatally shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN's Dan Simon is live in Boulder for us this morning.

Dan, when you hear the her observation of that police officer, law enforcement arriving on the scene, had listened to the radio chatter that there was a suspect in a soft target, a supermarket with a long gun, the bravery it must take to run into the fire like that is just -- it's just unbelievable. What do we know at this hour, Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Well, so much shock, so much sadness. People still processing what has happened. We are across the street from the grocery store and there's still a very wide area that is blocked off by police tape and, Christine, of course, there's still so many questions this morning. The primary question what would cause the suspect to go into that grocery store and start firing, seemingly at random.

At this point, police have not named a suspect, they haven't disclosed a motive but we do know from that video that there was somebody who was taken into custody, somebody who is shirtless, wearing shorts, seemed to have an injury to his leg.

In the meantime, so much activity inside that grocery store, so many frantic activity, people dashing for the exits, people going to the back of the store, people jumping off of loading docks for safety, other people going upstairs and hiding in coat closets. As we know ten people shot dead including that police officer.

I want you to listen to how it responded on the police radio. Take a look.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BOULDER POLICE DEPARTMENT SCANNER AUDIO: 136. We're in a gunfight, hold the radio.

136, still multiple shots being fired at us.

I copy, we're are taking multiple rounds.

We were taking rifle fire, as soon as we, patrol, entered the building. If we can get the rolling shield up here ASAP, that would be perfect.

Start pushing, slow, but be advised we do not know where he is. He is armed with a rifle.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SIMON: Police Officer Eric Talley had been on the force for about ten years, leaves behind seven children, the youngest of whom just seven years old.

We do know that a press conference is scheduled for 10:30 Eastern Time. Hopefully, we will get some more details then -- Christine. JARRETT: Dan, any more sense of when we might learn more information about some of those other nine victims? I know police say they've been working to notify the families, they set up a center where people can sort of learn more information about people who are missing. Do you think that will come at the 10:30 press conference?

SIMON: Perhaps. You know, one of the things of course they have to do is notify next of kin before they release any victims' names. They have a lot of course to go through in the grocery store. We know that they're still there.

We're told that processing the scene is going to take some time and that the investigation itself will take several days. You know, when you have an investigation like this, not only do you have to process the scene, you have to talk to witnesses and you have to glean as much as you can about the suspect.

[05:05:01]

And, of course, they want to do it expeditiously to inform the public as you asked about the victims. Hopefully, we'll get a better sense when authorities brief us again at 10:30 Eastern Time.

ROMANS: You know, Dan, what are people in Colorado telling you? I know that my friends who live in Colorado were just heartbroken that this happened again. We had Columbine, we had Aurora.

I mean, gun violence in Colorado and soft targets is something that's defined an entire generation of people who live there. What are people telling you this morning?

SIMON: I think people are just in shock that once again this could happen again. Not only do you have several shootings that have taken place over the years in Colorado, but you have the second mass shooting in a week in the United States and, again, I think there's just a lot of grief and people still processing what had happened here.

You know, this grocery store just a couple miles from the University of Colorado-Boulder, a lot of students come to this grocery store. People were there yesterday, you know, buying sodas, sandwiches and also people getting COVID tested yesterday and also getting the vaccine inside the grocery store when the shots break out.

So, you know, to answer your question I think people are just -- have just had it and can't believe it happened again.

ROMANS: Right in the shadow of the beautiful Flatirons here is this human cancer that just continues to ravage this country.

Dan Simon, thank you so much for that.

JARRETT: All right. There has been no official response from the White House in the aftermath of this shooting, but we're told President Biden has been briefed on it.

CNN's Jasmine Wright is live at the White House for us this morning.

Jasmine, good morning.

The secretary of state has already weighed in offering his deepest condolences he is, of course, at NATO in Brussels. When do we expect to hear from the White House, hear from the president?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN REPORTER: Well, Laura, the first time that we will see President Biden today likely will be when he goes to Ohio to promote the American Rescue Plan and give remarks on the ACA. Now, as you said, we heard from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki who tweeted last night that the president has been briefed on the shooting in Colorado and will be kept up to date by his team as there are additional developments. Frankly, we haven't heard that much from the White House outside of that tweet yet.

Now, listen, it's the second mass shooting in a week and the question is, will President Biden bring up gun reform? For Tuesday's shooting in those Atlanta spas that started those Asian women majority, Biden focused his remarks on denouncing the rise in anti-Asian hate.

But the question is when does he pivot to gun reform? He mentioned guns briefly in those Friday remarks in Atlanta when he called it and another example of a public health crisis, that of gun violence in this country, but he didn't use that moment to push for gun reform and it's going to be hard for him to continue not to do it in this case.

Now, of course, anything that he tries to get passed is going to be an uphill battle in the Senate, we know that they have slim majorities and it requires public buy-in, but already lawmakers are calling for gun reform. We have Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, we have Colorado's own Senator Michael Bennet. It's going to be difficult for President Biden not to join in.

And as a candidate, he said on day one, we would send a gun reform bill to Congress that pulled back those liabilities, the protections for liabilities for gun manufacturers and also close the background checks loophole.

Now, he hasn't done that yet. So the question is, when is he going to do it? The White House says that he is still committed to reform, but, again, people are going to be looking to President Biden wanting to provide that -- that -- to express his condolences but also actions to match his words when it comes to gun reform.

JARRETT: By our count, this is now the sixth deadly mass shooting in 2021. So, no question this is now squarely on his plate.

Jasmine, thank you so much.

ROMANS: All right. Boulder now the second deadly mass shooting in a week. In Atlanta, police have still not announced a motive for the massacre at three spas that left eight people dead including six Asian women.

More now on that story from CNN's Ryan Young. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura and Christine, this still remains an active investigation. We did learn from the Cherokee County sheriff's department that they would no longer be sharing any information before this moves to court. We are not even sure when the first court appearance will be for the suspected shooter.

We did talk to a man who was actually inside the spa when the shooting started, he survived and he believes his massage therapist saved his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was by the door, that's when I jumped behind the bed and once she opened up that door, I heard that third gunshot and she actually dropped and I'm pretty sure she got shot in her head.

[05:10:03]

YOUNG: You can understand why Marcus Lyon (ph) feels like that massage therapist stepping out in the hallway ended up saving him. There are a lot of questions in terms of what happens next with this investigation, but we do know there are at least four investigations ongoing as we speak -- Laura and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Ryan Young, thank you.

Authorities in Boulder, Colorado, asking for patience, still searching for a motive this morning and answers to so many questions about what happened and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. We are following breaking news out of Boulder, Colorado. A shooting at a supermarket left ten people dead, including a police officer. The local police chief calls this investigation very complex and says it will take at least five days to complete.

Let's bring in CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

So glad to have your expertise here. We know this is a complex investigation with a lot of moving parts.

[05:15:02]

I was struck by something that the local union for 32 of the workers there in that store, that supermarket said, Juliette. For the last year, our members and other associates have fought an invisible enemy, COVID-19, but today several innocent souls were killed by an even human. It goes on to call for government officials and employers to help protect people from this constant threat of violence.

I am struck, Juliette, by how common this is. It is a soft target. It is a terrified population running for their lives. Supermarket workers helping people to the exits. I know there is a big investigation here under way, but this is --

seems like a problem without a solution.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. I hate to think that, but it is -- it is a consistent uniquely American problem. I think we are so used to it now, but as a country we deal with these mass killings -- well, in this case once every seven days in the last -- in the last seven days. And so -- and we've gotten used to it and that is unfortunate.

I think it's totally appropriate to begin immediately conversations about how do we minimize the risk to our populations, to our communities and, of course, to workers. No one believes that you can get the risk down to zero but certainly there might be smart gun legislation, physical protections that could make us safer, especially as we begin to re-congregate.

But I'm glad that you mentioned COVID because what we don't know in terms of what the United States may be facing in the months ahead is as we come out, as we conjugate, and as people who are -- who have not been together are now together in soft easy targets, will we see a spike in these kinds of killings just given the stress that is we've seen throughout the United States in the last year? That's something from a national perspective and from the White House's perspective I would be worried about just given the kind of stresses we've been under the last year.

JARRETT: Juliette, how -- walk us through what investigators are doing right now for this specific case. What's their top priority? Where do they start?

KAYYEM: So, your top priority still even though it's been several hours is still identification of the victims and protection of the evidence in the market. So that's going to be one huge piece of the investigation and I don't just mean the market. I mean, we heard things about stuff having happened in the parking lot and perhaps surrounding areas.

You will have investigators focus solely on that physical evidence aspect of this. Then you will have the perpetrator aspect of the investigation which is who is he, how did he access his weapon and what was his motivation and can it be determined. That may come from him, that may come from things that he was doing or saying online. That may be -- he may be known to law enforcement, in other words, he may have a past that they are familiar with and that, I think -- I believe that that's likely true only because they were so fast in saying there's no continuing threat to the community.

Then the third piece is going to be what threats is this nation under because of -- because of the access of guns, because of potential stresses that people may be facing right now because of a heightened threat environment. Those three pieces are going on simultaneously as we try to figure out what happened.

ROMANS: And layering in COVID. You are so right to point that out that we are a year into this COVID anxiety and we don't know how people are going to react. You really are concerned or saying from a national security point of view that COVID is going to be a challenge as we open up here for these soft targets.

KAYYEM: Right, we have -- we have the radicalization issue, we have the issue around just access to weaponry and then we have COVID, the mental -- the physical stresses we have all felt and the mental stress that is others have felt.

This was also we should just note this was a facility that was doing both testing and vaccinations. I don't know if that has any relevance, but COVID is so intimately tied in how we live right now that it can't be dismissed from the narrative and --

ROMANS: Frozen up her shot there. I think that's so interesting, Laura, that she says you layer on that COVID -- I had not thought of that one. That's different. We have covered so many of these tragedies this time the COVID angle is a little bit different. How are people coming unglued really because of what we've seen over the last year?

JARRETT: You've seen with more and more states opening up, this is now the sixth mass shooting by CNN's count. 2020 was so different because so many people were stuck inside, they weren't leaving their House all the time. This may be something we now have to contend with in a new way in 2021.

ROMANS: The next press conference should be 10:30 Eastern Time.

[05:20:02]

We should get more information. No word on a motive yet, but ten lives lost including the police officer who was the first there on the scene. We'll continue to update that.

JARRETT: And our thanks to Juliet Kayyem. Obviously, always great to get her analysis early this morning.

Still ahead for you, the White House urging states to slow down on relaxing pandemic requirements. Officials worry the people are growing impatient. They want life to return back to normal too soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JARRETT: Britain and the European Union now in an escalating conflict over exports of coronavirus vaccines.

[05:25:04]

While in Germany, a rise in cases leading to a strict five-day lockdown for the Easter Holiday.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in Berlin with the very latest.

And, Fred, another lockdown. What's the reaction this time around?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, there's a lot of people who are critical of that lockdown in Germany. I was following some of the comments as the decision was being released yesterday by Angela Merkel also this morning as well.

There are people who believe the German government is helpless at the moment to try to stop this third wave of coronavirus infections which has gripped the European continent, has gripped Germany as well, especially in light of the fact that so far there simply isn't enough vaccine available to be able to actually make a difference as far as the infections are concerned.

I was looking, Laura, earlier this morning at the number of new infections here in Germany, it's around 7,500. That's around 2,000 more than on the same day of last week. So, certainly, right now, the numbers going up very, very quickly. At the same time you do indeed have that row between the European Union and United Kingdom where the E.U. believes that AstraZeneca, the company that makes the vaccine, might be shipping some vaccines to the United Kingdom without fulfilling its contracts with the European Union.

The E.U. saying, look, they could ban exports going out of the European Union, the U.K. saying they believe that would be a bad idea and that the whole world is watching. Obviously the European Union is a bloc that prides itself on free trade.

And so, therefore, so far for the German government, all they have at hand is new lockdown measures and that's exactly what they're putting in place. Very tough lockdown measures over the Easter holidays with people not being allowed to go to many places, also everything closed, even supermarkets on most days. The general lockdown here which is in place anyway has been extended until April 18th as the Germans and, of course, other European countries as well are trying to stop this third wave of infections that is really hitting the continent very hard and right now what they have at their disposal is very tough lockdown measures.

ROMANS: All right. Fred, thanks for staying on top of it for us.

ROMANS: All right. Our top story this morning, ten people dead including a police officer in a shooting at a Colorado supermarket. The suspect is in custody. What we're learning next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)