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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

10 Killed In Mass Shooting At Boulder Grocery Store; One Firefighter And Some Residents Unaccounted For In Fire At New York Senior Center; Secretary of State Looks To Rebuild Relationships At NATO Summit. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 23, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:43]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour.

More breaking news out of Boulder, Colorado where 10 people were shot and killed at a King Soopers supermarket -- among them, a police officer. A suspect in custody this morning who police say is being treated for injuries. So far, police have not determined a motive.

The attack itself harrowing as gunfire sent shoppers running for their lives. One person recorded this terrifying moment at the store's entrance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: We don't know but there's a shooter -- active shooter somewhere. It could be in the store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 2: Yes, one's in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: He went in the store?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 2: There's one right down there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: Oh my God. Guys, we've got people down inside King Soopers. Look, there's --

(Gunshot)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: -- police (bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You can hear the shock there. Family members and witnesses described what happened inside that store.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the call from my daughter and my grandchildren. And son-in-law walked into the pharmacy for him to get a COVID-19 shot and the shooter came in and shot the woman in front of them. They hid -- ran upstairs. They're hiding in a coat closet for the last hour and I'm trying to stay in contact with my daughter. They're OK.

RYAN BOROWSKI, COLORADO SUPERMARKET SHOOTING WITNESS: This feels like the safest spot in America and I just nearly got killed for getting a soda, you know, and a bag of chips.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Officials have been working to identify the victims as quickly as possible. The Boulder Police Department named 51-year-old Eric Talley as the officer killed in that shooting.

JARRETT: That fallen officer a father of seven children who the Boulder police chief described as a hero. The local prosecutor there promising justice for all the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DOUGHERTY, BOULDER COUNTRY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I also want to stress how incredibly sorry I am for all the victims who were killed at King Soopers. These were people going about their day doing their food shopping and their lives were cut abruptly and tragically short by the shooter who is now in custody.

I promise the victims and the people of the state of Colorado that we will secure justice and do everything we must do to get justice in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: CNN's Dan Simon is on the ground for us in Boulder. Dan, for folks just waking up this morning, bring us up to speed. What's the latest?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Laura and Christine.

We are just across the street from the supermarket and the complex and most of this area is still taped off and you really can't get over there. There's still quite a heavy police presence even at this hour.

And as you can imagine, just a chaotic scene yesterday where you had people literally running for their lives, people running for the exits, people jumping off of loading docks for safety.

So much sadness and shock this morning and, of course, so many questions. People wanting to know what would cause this shooter to go into this grocery store and seemingly start firing at random.

[05:35:03]

We do know that 10 people did die, including that police officer. Fifty-one-year-old Eric Talley had been on the force since 2010. I want you to listen now how it sounded on the police radio at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOULDER POLICE DEPARTMENT SCANNER AUDIO:

2:40 PM: 136, we're in a gunfight. Hold the radio.

2:41 PM: 136, still multiple shots being fired at us.

2:41 PM: I copy. We're taking multiple rounds.

3:14 PM: 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.

3:21 PM: Start pushing slow, but be advised we do not know where he is. He's armed with a rifle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: The investigation still very much in its early stages. We are told that it will take several days just to complete the initial investigation which will, of course, include processing the scene, talking to witnesses, looking at any potential surveillance video and, of course, gleaning what you can about the suspect.

At this point, authorities have not disclosed a motive. They have not named a suspect but we have seen that video of police taking somebody from the building who appears to be injured -- a person who wasn't wearing a shirt, wasn't wearing any shoes. Had some sort of injury to his leg and was placed on a stretcher and is being treated at the hospital for his injuries.

We do know that a press conference has been scheduled for 10:30 eastern time where hopefully, we'll get some more details -- Laura, Christine.

JARRETT: It's just so terrifying. You can imagine being there just for a COVID shot, you know? You're trying to do the right thing.

ROMANS: Awful -- all right. Dan Simon, thank you so much for that. Just awful, especially for Coloradans who've endured this for a generation now since Columbine.

No official response, so far, from the White House in the aftermath of the Boulder shooting but we're told President Biden has been briefed.

Jasmine Wright is live at the White House. When can we expect to hear from the president, Jasmine? JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Christine, the first time that we will likely see President Biden today is when he heads to Ohio to promote the American Rescue Plan.

As you said, last night, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that "The president has been briefed on the shooting in Colorado and he will be kept up-to-date by his team as there are additional developments."

Now, when Biden speaks we can expect that he will tap into that consoler-in-chief role that we are getting to know so well, trying to comfort those grieving victims out in Colorado.

But the question is does this latest shooting -- does he start to push for gun reform because of this latest shooting -- latest shooting. As a candidate, President Biden said that on day one he would put a bill to Congress that, in part, closes the loophole for background checks. He hasn't done that yet. Now, Democratic lawmakers are already calling for gun reform.

Now, President Biden has focused on things that seem more urgent and could possibly get bipartisan support, like his COVID relief bill and like this upcoming infrastructure push. We know that gun reform is not like that -- it's divisive. It needs Republican buy-in and Republicans have not really came to the call to push for gun reform.

But still, President Biden has campaigned on this. He said that he wants to do it. The White House has said that he wants to do it. So now folks will be looking for his actions to match his words as this is the second mass shooting in this country in just a week -- Christine, Laura.

ROMANS: Jasmine, thank you so much for that. Jasmine at the White House.

We're following another breaking story this morning, a fire at a senior assisted living home in Upstate New York. This video just in from the scene shows the building fully-engulfed. A firefighter is missing and some residents are unaccounted for.

This is Spring Valley, New York. This is about 40 miles, actually, north of New York City close to the New Jersey border.

There's no word how many of these residents are unaccounted for at this point. A second firefighter, we know, was taken to the hospital after suffering a heart attack.

This is a live picture from the scene where you can see the fire is still underway. We're going to have more for you on "NEW DAY" coming up at 6:00 a.m.

JARRETT: All right, to coronavirus now and a new milestone in COVID vaccinations. Nearly one out of every four Americans have now received at least one dose of the vaccine. The latest data from the CDC shows nearly 80 million people in the United States are at least partially vaccinated and about 45 million or one in eight Americans are fully vaccinated.

White House COVID adviser Andy Slavitt says the rate of vaccination has skyrocketed since President Biden came into office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR ADVISER TO THE COVID RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We're now vaccinating about 2.5 million people per day, up from 900,000 when we arrived. This weekend was the first time that the U.S. reported vaccinating more than three million people on consecutive days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:40:00]

JARRETT: The key here is whether the vaccine supply will ramp up to keep up with expanding eligibility.

Slavitt indicating the White House isn't sure that Johnson & Johnson will meet its self-imposed deadline to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March.

ROMANS: The AstraZeneca vaccine facing a new setback. Overnight, federal health officials said the company may have included outdated information from a large clinical trial in the U.S. Just yesterday, AstraZeneca said the trial showed its vaccine was 79 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness. Officials urged the company to ensure the most accurate, up-to-date information be released as soon as possible.

No response yet from AstraZeneca.

JARRETT: Federal health officials urging local leaders to slow down on relaxing pandemic precautions as they race to prevent another surge of new cases. Officials are worried Americans are too impatient for life to return to normal and that the increasing rate of vaccinations will make them overconfident.

CNN's Nick Watt has more now from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Christine and Laura, New York City, the biggest school district in the nation, just welcomed high schoolers back into the classroom in 488 high schools. Here in Los Angeles, the second-biggest district in the nation, they just cut a deal with the union that should get high schoolers back towards the end of April.

Meanwhile, some concern about what college kids -- spring breakers -- are up to down in Florida. A lot of partying, not a lot of masks. And couple that with the fact that Sunday was the busiest travel day of this entire pandemic. Some people, including the CDC director, are concerned about a fourth surge.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: We are at a critical point in this pandemic -- a fork in the road where we as a country must decide which path we are going to take. We must act now and I am worried that if we don't take the right actions now we will have another avoidable surge just as we are seeing in New York right now and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccination.

WATT (on camera): Other medical experts say it probably won't happen, partly because so many people have been infected already and also, so many people have been vaccinated already. Every American adult should be eligible for a vaccination by May first, according to the Biden administration.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Nick in L.A. Thank you for that.

To the COVID economy now. The housing market is on fire -- a seller's market and a challenge for house hunters. There is a record low inventory of homes for sale. Thirty percent fewer homes for sale today compared with last year. That's a record drop.

Homes are going fast. They're on the market for a record low 20 days. In the most popular part of the market -- those are homes between $250,000 and $500,000 -- homes were on the market for just two weeks.

Now, many buyers are moving. They're looking for more space as people work and learn from home. And later, they may even be this hybrid work-from-home economy. People are rethinking where they live.

It's sending prices up sharply, up 16 percent over the past year. You know, it's double-digit gains across the country for prices, although home sales did drop a little bit from January to February because people couldn't find the houses. Higher prices caused by low inventory, combined with slowly rising interest rates -- that may make it harder for buyers to find homes.

We'll be right back.

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[05:47:43]

ROMANS: Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Brussels this morning hoping to rebuild America's battered relationships with longstanding allies at this week's NATO summit.

Our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is monitoring this from London and he's got the latest. You know, this is his first official remarks as Secretary of State to this -- to this group and he began by addressing something that happened tragically in the United States, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, he did. He expressed his horror at what had happened in Boulder, Colorado and his condolences to the loved ones of the 10 people who were killed. And also, mentioning the fact that one of those killed was a law enforcement officer. So those were the first words.

He really paused at the beginning of what is a very important trip to Brussels to listen to other NATO members -- the other, sort of, 30 members of the alliance -- to listen to their views on a multitude of things. He called it a pivotal visit. He said this was to rebuild and revitalize the transatlantic alliance -- something very important, he said, to the United States.

One of the big topics coming up this morning will be Afghanistan. He noted that President Biden had said the May first drawdown -- withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan is looking difficult to attain that deadline in sort of -- in a timeframe. But he said he was here in Brussels to listen to what other NATO members had to say about that, remembering that more than half of the forces in Afghanistan are NATO forces, along with the U.S. troops -- 2 1/2 thousand U.S. troops there.

And he said that he was going to take this consultation -- the message that he heard from the other NATO members -- take that back to President Biden to help form -- help President Biden inform his decision on what to do -- next steps taken together. He stressed that.

One meeting that will perhaps be a little bit contentious and difficult for him later today with the German foreign minister on the issue of Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline that links Russia direct to Germany. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: President Biden has been very clear in saying that he believes the pipeline is a bad idea -- bad for Europe, bad for the United States. Ultimately, it's in contradiction to the E.U.'s own energy security goals.

[05:50:05]

It has the potential to undermine the interest of Ukraine, Poland, and a number of other close partners or allies. And I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to reiterate that, including the law in the United States which requires us to sanction companies participating in the efforts to complete the pipeline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, Sec. Blinken also expected to talk about Iran later on when he meets with the German, French, and British foreign ministers as well. A busy day.

ROMANS: All right, Nic Robertson. Thank you so much for that -- Laura.

JARRETT: So, vaccines have been available in Russia for months but today is the day Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to get vaccinated against coronavirus. Only a little over four percent of Russians have been fully vaccinated and Putin is hoping to encourage the process gently, privately.

Let's go live to Moscow and bring in CNN's Matthew Chance. Matthew, what took Putin so long?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think it was a very generous characterization you just made of what Vladimir Putin is doing to convince ordinary Russians to have the vaccine.

It's a very vaccine-hesitant country. Something like 38 percent, according to the latest opinion polls, are happy to have the vaccination. The rest aren't, which is why out of 146 million, you've had less than seven million people vaccinated in this country, which is astonishing given that Russia was the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine.

They created their own. It's called Sputnik V. And they've got, actually, two other vaccines they've approved as well and registered. Again, Sputnik V -- so they've got three of them.

Vladimir Putin has taken until now -- so it was approved in August -- until now to announce that he's going to have the vaccination. So the fact that he was apparently quite reluctant to have it himself didn't exactly kind of bolster the confidence of ordinary Russians, shall we say, that it's the -- it's the right thing to do. Which is the vaccine hesitancy -- is one of the reasons why vaccine hesitancy is so low and why they haven't gone further and achieved their objective of having many more people in this country vaccinated.

Now, you say he's slowly encouraging people to get a vaccination, but we're told by the Kremlin over the course of the last couple of hours that actually, it's not going to be in public. It's not going to be televised. There's not even going to be a photograph of Vladimir Putin having the vaccine. They're simply going to announce that he's -- that he's had it done when that's actually happened, we're told, by the end of the day.

And so, you know, like you mentioned last time we spoke, like President Trump in the United States, Vladimir Putin very reluctant to go public as it were with his vaccination -- Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, if hesitancy is a problem, doing it behind closed doors is not one to help that.

Matthew, thank you.

ROMANS: All right, it's 52 minutes past the hour.

Let's get a really quick check on business this morning -- a quick look at markets around the world. Asia -- Asian stock markets closed with losses. Europe has now followed suit, opening lower here in the early hours.

Also on Wall Street, you've got futures leaning lower here. They were higher yesterday. There was a rally in tech and a drop in long-term bond yields. The Dow ended up 102 points, the Nasdaq ended up about 1.2 percent. So the bigger move there in tech stocks.

Of course, daily moves in bond yields have been the driver for stocks lately. Last week, the 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to a 13- month high on forecasts that the economy will boom later this year.

Automakers, though, hit hard by a global shortage of computer chips. That's delaying deliveries of pickup trucks and SUVs.

The pandemic cut demand for new cars, leaving automakers to cut their orders for chips, but demand surge for computers and gaming systems causing a shortage when auto production ramped back up. Automakers were using the chips they had on hand to keep building their cars. Now they're having trouble delivering completed vehicles to the dealers.

Ford has started building the F-150 without some of the chips it needs. It's going to park those unfinished trucks while it waits for the missing chips to arrive.

All right, we are still following this breaking news in Colorado. Ten people dead, including a police officer. We do know there's a 10:30 a.m. presser where we're going to get some more information -- so in just under five hours. We also know that the president, Joe Biden, has been briefed on this.

We'll have more coverage on "NEW DAY" of this terrible story, the second in just six days -- mass shooting in this country. Just horrifying -- horrifying again.

Thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:20]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, March 23rd, 6:00 here in New York.

The breaking news this morning on the front page of "The Denver Post" -- "A nightmare," it reads. Ten dead in a mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado -- a nightmare. To be honest, it's America's recurring nightmare.

It comes less than a week after the spa shootings in Georgia left eight people dead. In Colorado alone, you have mass shootings so horrific they're known by one name -- Columbine, Aurora.

As we wait to hear more from law enforcement this morning we are getting new details in. The one known victim is 51-year-old police officer Eric Talley. He was the first officer to respond to the scene. He has seven children.